How long now have pharma and bioscience meeting managers been saying they need to have a seat at the table, along with compliance, legal, and procurement, to secure their meetings' role in accomplishing in their company's goals and objectives? Well, now we have a pharmaceutical company CEO saying the same thing—no more excuses, folks, once the people at the top get what your role needs to be in today's companies. Of course, I'm sure not all get the importance of meeting managers to the mix as did this morning's Pharma Forum 2012 keynote speaker, Francois Nader, MD, president and CEO of NPS Pharmaceuticals, but still, the fact that a CEO really understands the role of meeting managers in corporate strategy was heartening.
To further strengthen his point, he exhorted the audience to "be meeting managers, not meeting planners. Be in on strategy, not just execution." In short, he said, you need to put yourself in a position to get the proverbial seat at the table. And you can if you understand the value you bring to that table, including:
* You are the compliance gate-keepers. Whatever the company's policies, you are the ones to ensure they are carried out.
* You own and can leverage the relationships on which this business still runs.
* You can help the company deliver the most benefit at the least cost, while still ensuring that the meeting's, and the company's goals, are met.
