April 2000
Time Out
Roll out new programs to diversify the association’s revenue stream, or invest in the show and conference to keep pace with the rapidly changing IT industry? With an operating deficit and flat show growth, the Association for Information and Image Management(AIIM) International, an organization of more than 650 corporations and 9,000 individual users and suppliers for the document technologies industry, grappled with these and other questions during eight months of strategic planning last year.
“We needed to take a step back and decide what we were doing, who we were doing it for, and why we were doing it,” says John Mancini, President of AIIM, a Silver Spring, MD-based association, which has continually evolved based on new technologies since it was founded in 1945. The document technologies market is expected to grow from $13.2 billion in 1998 to $41.6 billion in 2003, with most of the growth coming from the high-tech segment, according to the State of the Document Technologies Industry: 1997-2003, a study conducted by The GartnerGroup for AIIM.
Based on in-depth studies like this one and facilitated by management consulting firm Arthur D. Little (ADL) at a cost of more than $200,000, the strategic planning process yielded a restated mission and vision focused on helping its members make the e-business transition, as well as four major goals for the next 3-5 years. “The exhibitor list for this year captures our new direction, and initial registrations are strong,” says Mancini, who expects 20 percent more conference attendees at AIIM 2000, April 9-12, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
Change is inevitable. But if you plan for it, you can anticipate and adapt to it.
Unlike long-range planning, which charts a 3-year course into a predictable future for the business you’re in today, strategic planning pushes the planning horizon to 8-10 years. It views the future as unpredictable and asks what business you ought to be in based on assumptions about future industry trends. The challenge is to align strengths with opportunities and envision multiple scenarios in which you can achieve measurable goals and objectives over a 3- to 5-year period.
“Strategy is about seeing the options and making choices,” says Robert W. Bradford, President of the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Ann Arbor, MI, and co-author of Simplified Strategic Planning (Chandler House Press, 2000). Bradford defines the strategic planning process as a series of meetings structured to answer these critical questions: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? How much does it cost? When do we arrive? Who is responsible?
Before You Begin
Assemble a team that buys in to the process and has authority to
make change happen. Include visionaries and realists from marketing, finance and operations. DadiePerlov, CAE, Founder and Principal of the Consensus Management Group, Harriman, NY, recommends a group of up to 20 people representing
senior management and every facet
of the industry.
“You need a broad perspective,” she says. “Users and potential users. A futurist — someone who has a radical look at the future. A dissident or disappointed client. One or two outsiders from a related industry. A good facilitator can take advantage of the knowledge that people bring to the table by doing a lot of work in small groups.”
With a volunteer board of directors and chapters that share decision-making authority, an association faces a challenge. “You can’t compel them to do anything,” says Michael Allison, Director of Consulting and Research for CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, San Francisco, and co-author of Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations (John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1997). “The way you form the team contributes to buy in or sets
you back.”
Allison recommends a core group of six to eight representing the board, staff and chapters, with either the president or a board member taking the lead. “Make it clear who gets to decide what,” he warns. “Negotiate that before you get to the substantive issues.”
AIIM opted to hire a consultant to get an objective view of the wants and needs of its many constituencies and to facilitate two planning sessions. An 11-member group represented users, suppliers and geographic regions, with some members satisfying multiple criteria. The AIIM executive board took the lead, got buy in from the board, then communicated with chapters.
Analyze the Situation
Gather internal information - Step 1
Strategic planning begins with baseline information about your show’s history, attendee and exhibitor profiles, and financial position. Supplement existing data with surveys, interviews and focus groups. Use informal meetings and sales calls to ask questions. Delegate research to staff, or hire a consultant to gather market data and put it into a document for the planning team.
Precise information about market segments and customers comes at a cost. Bradford warns against getting caught up in gathering information and not moving forward — especially smaller organizations that don’t have the budget for extensive research. “Look at the balance sheet and income statement, then pick a short list of non-financial numbers that tell you about your success or challenges,” Bradford says.
Gather external information - Step 2
Next, look at the competition and business climate in your industry. A formal competitive analysis is a good idea. Use trade journals, credit reports and competitors’ Web sites to find everything from rudimentary financials to exhibitor lists. Also look at the political, economic and regulatory environments, supplier markets, and technological change. Then sort out which factors have strategic impact on your event, such as space availability, postal rates and labor shortages. If these conditions change, would you have to adjust your strategy?
ADL interviewed more than 50 AIIM user/supplier members, exhibitors and staff members, as well as conducting a focus group of chapter leaders to prepare a comprehensive report on the three industries in which AIIM competes — associations, trade shows and IT. A survey accessible to the membership at large through AIIM’s Web site (www.aiim.org) also contributed data.
Assess capabilities and competencies - Step3
Now step back and take a critical look at your show. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Why do attendees and exhibitors participate? Why do they stay away? Scrutinize every aspect of production — staffing, budgeting, site selection, programming, advertising, sales, promotions, operations — and define what makes your event unique.
“Identify what you have going for you that is extremely valuable to customers and very difficult to copy,” Bradford advises.
AIIM’s third-party interviews yielded candid responses from attendees and exhibitors. “People spoke with passion about our reputation in the marketplace as an unbiased source of information,” Mancini says. They were equally passionate about weaknesses, such as piecemeal operations. “We needed to look at more strategic relationships with suppliers and sell a comprehensive package of services, rather than real estate on the show floor.”
Generate Ideas
Make assumptions about the future - Step4
What strengths will be vital in 10 years? Gaze into your crystal ball and make some assumptions about the future, including the market, competition, business environment, opportunities, threats and long-term trends. Base assumptions on current facts, but avoid naïve projections that assume trends will continue at the same rates. Look at the underlying reasons for change and the limits to change.
“For each assumption, ask: What are the implications for your organization?” Perlov says. “You don’t avoid guessing, but your guess and my guess are as good as anybody else’s guess. You have to make your best guess about the future.”
AIIM refocused its vision based on major assumptions about the next 3-5 years. For associations, the Web and for-profit players will threaten the role of “infomediary.” People will join for personal connections, networking and advocacy. For trade shows, for-profit producers will dominate, and vertical events will be conference driven. In document management, Mancini predicts, “The tools that our members make and use will be the enablers of e-business.”
Formulate Strategy
Assess the opportunities - Step5
There are some critical issues to sort out before you can align your strengths with the opportunities the future holds. For example, they may be as simple as expanding the size of the exhibitor database, or as complex as the willingness of a venue to book an event with no track record in a new market. Consider industry growth potential, untapped market segments, global markets and possible alliances with other organizations, among other things.
While a for-profit event may be repositioned to capture a niche and maximize returns, an association may not have that flexibility. AIIM’s strategic planning group struggled with questions about how to position itself in the e-business space.
“We ran the risk of sending some confusing messages into the marketplace. We had to push our conference as an educational conference on management and technology issues,” Mancini says. Moving from departmental to enterprise-wide solutions meant attracting more upper-level managers. “That led us into a discussion of what our show floor should look like to create a meaningful experience for attendees.”
Choose your direction - Step 6
It’s time to declare a strategic focus and define your mission and vision, but making a decision may require resolving conflicting views among the planning team.
“Most conflict is around where to focus your efforts,” says Perlov. “If we focus on this, will we give up that?” Problems arise from classic tensions — between marketing and operations, or between national and local control. Frequently, organizations take on a new direction without dropping existing programs. “Then you don’t know what business you’re in. You’re trying to do too much.”
A good facilitator can build consensus. Bradford suggests: Gain agreement on the facts and assumptions. Then build agreement on the analysis: What are the implications of these facts and assumptions? Then get agreement on the direction.
In a for-profit company, the CEO may make the final decision. In an association, diffused authority can be paralyzing. “Nonprofits spend a lot more time at this stage,” says Allison. “They need to check with the stakeholders to make sure they’ve got commitment to the changes they’re making.”
AIIM’s executive board circulated ADL’s draft recommendations among key constituents three months before the board met to finalize the plan. “We spent that time figuring out how to operationalize the strategy and how to adapt the mission and vision to market realities,” says Mancini. Once the board approved the plan, Mancini issued an “AIIM 2000 and Beyond” report to the membership. “What we’ve been trying to do is communicate our direction, rather than the change in direction.”
Establish goals and objectives - Step 7
Define your measures of success — five to 10 annual goals stated in quantitative terms. Then identify not more than 10 specific objectives, initiatives you need to undertake within the next 12-18 months to move forward. These are your commitments to achieving your mission.
Goals and objectives should be ambitious but achievable. “You have to be realistic about what you’ve achieved in the past, what your assumptions are and what your resources will be,” says Allison. “Some leaders set measurable goals and work to surpass them. Others set unreachable goals and only get 80 percent there. It’s a matter of style: Shoot for the stars and be happy with the moon, or shoot for the moon and go beyond.”
For each of AIIM’s four goals, Mancini’s team planned specific strategies that would deliver the biggest returns. Some programs had to be dropped. To diversify its offerings
to suppliers, for example, AIIM created a menu of marketing opportunities
that included space in e-doc, which merged its Inform and Document World magazines earlier this year, and the AIIM Marketplace, an expanded
Web presence.
Plan for implementation
Formalize action plans - Step8
For each objective, write an action plan with doable action items that identify who does what when. Take the plans to enough level of detail so that whoever is responsible for the next step will know exactly what to do.
“This last part is tedious,” Bradford admits. Companies typically achieve only about 30 percent of their objectives because they fail to follow through. “You can achieve more than 80 percent if you do the pain-in-the-neck stuff.”
Allocate resources - Step 9
Without adequate resources, your plans will gather dust on the shelf. Establish a budget to fund the action plans. Schedule the plans in priority order, and make contingencies in case conditions change, such as getting a major new sponsorship. Ask your staff to estimate the time a plan will take, then record their commitments to start and complete dates.
“The staff’s role is to say what they can do this year, next year and in year three,” Perlov says. “You can’t do it all the first year.”
AIIM’s plan allocated additional resources for key initiatives. “We had to put together a sales team that could sell more strategically,” Mancini says. That meant recruiting a top sales manager and restructuring compensation. Producing events at the chapter level meant acquiring 16 regional events. And building the Web-based AIIM marketplace required adding Web developers and some outsourcing.
Monitor Your Progress
From the CEO on down, those responsible for action items need to report on their progress monthly. Review the assumptions and revise strategies in response to changing
market conditions at least quarterly. And once a year, update the entire strategic plan to stay ahead of
new developments.
“The value of a strategic plan degrades rapidly if it’s not kept up to date,” warns Allison. “Are your assumptions coming true, or not? If there’s a major change, your plan becomes irrelevant. Then you go back to functioning on an operational basis, making decisions as they come along.”
Cathy Chatfield-Taylor writes for new and traditional media in the meeting, convention and exposition industry. She is Co-Managing Editor of the Convention Industry Council Manual, 7th Edition, due for publication in Fall 2000.
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