the meeting planner
Alisa Ross, CMP
Don't promise anything you can't deliver!
Fall 2010
ALISA ROSS, CMP is senior meeting planner for The Dow Chemical Company based in Houston. She was nominated to serve as the subject for the MPG* planner interview by her friends in the conference department at The Houstonian Hotel.
MPG  : What attracted you to meeting planning?
Alisa: I actually wrote my college thesis (at Northwood University) on being a wedding consultant. I had interviewed for a position at Dow Chemical in 1994 and I didn’t get the job. Six months later they called me back and I got hired.
What changed during that six month period?
The person they selected over me, who was a sales rep from a Las Vegas hotel, moved to Midland, Michigan (Dow Chemical’s headquarters) and didn’t like the position.
Were there any people who had a major impact on your career?
When I joined this department, it was very small - we only had four people. Over the past 15 years the department has grown significantly and we are involved in a lot of different areas of the company globally.
During the first year, I was trying to figure out what my job and what this industry was all about. I worked with someone internally who taught me what I did not want to become. She screamed at hotel A/V guys because there was no overhead projector - that she had never ordered. I watched how she demanded limousines for herself, her favorite wines upon her arrival, massage appointments, the works, all for herself. Not only is that type of behavior unethical, it’s an embarrassment to you and your company.
Tell us about the meetings that you plan?
Dow employs over 54,000 people globally. Since I joined Dow, our group has expanded to approximately 20 employees. Beyond meeting planning, we manage all of the customer events including high profile events like the Super Bowl. We also manage Dow’s Olympic program. Dow recently became the official chemical company of the Winter and Summer Olympics.
The meeting planning department has also expanded internationally. I spent the month of May in Sao Paulo, Brazil and I am getting ready to leave for Leipzig, Germany. We manage our customer accommodations center in Midland and we manage part of Midland Country Club. Our meeting planning role has expanded into every function and business within Dow, not only planning meetings, but the area we call entertainment also falls under the meeting planning umbrella.
A number of meeting planners have shared a frustration that they feel that they are not given a “seat at the table” in helping their company accomplish its goals and objectives in a strategic way. It sounds to me that your group does have that seat at the table.
Yes, we are very fortunate that my manager is proactive in making sure that our work aligns directly with our corporate goals. We may fare better than what other planners experience because we are not going to work on something that doesn’t have a specific purpose for the company. We are often included on the core team and our manager, Robert Long, who is based in New Jersey, ensures that all of our functions, whether it’s me working in Brazil, or someone in Midland managing tickets for the Astros baseball team, is focused on making sure that all those activities are aligned with Dow’s objectives.
The industry’s “perception issue” has changed the travel plans for some U.S. corporations. Have you felt that within your own planning?
I believe that we have scrutinized our own travel and meeting planning internally better than anyone else could. We have to be cautious of perception as far as locations and have made some changes over the last several years. We really watch the people who are coming to the meetings. If we are hosting a meeting of over 200 people, for example, we ask “do they all really need to be there?”
The key questions are, “are we spending the money effectively, do we have the right people attending the meeting and are we delivering the correct message?” The meeting is not worth having if the objectives are not going to achieve the proper results.
Meeting planners get bombarded with solicitations from a number of vendors. How do you want to hear from the vendors who wish to establish a relationship with you and Dow?
I’m the worst person to ask because I average 300 emails per day and I’m traveling a lot. It’s a hard question and a tough issue and I’m sorry to say I don’t have a good answer. I’m bad about not returning phone calls. Vendors have to realize that we are busier than ever and the personal relationship that I build with you is more important than you calling me three times per week. I also know that sales people are under a lot of pressure to produce, but if they could job shadow me for one day, they would understand.
What advice do you have for other meeting planners that might help them improve the quality of their meetings.
Be open and honest and don’t promise anything you can’t deliver. If you say you are going to produce something, you better produce it.
I’ve toured and used a lot of hotels. It is interesting when you meet their sales person and know instantly that they are just blowing smoke. There are so many wonderful hotel sales people. One young hotel executive here in Houston always tells it like it is. Her counterpart down the street will tell me anything.
Look to the future. What might be different about the meetings industry five years down the road?
Technology will continue to grow but we will always have a need for face-to-face meetings.
What I think will change is the way we use mobile technology within our meetings. It will become an A/V element, an interactive part of meetings in the future. For example, instead of hiring a vendor to set up an automated voting response, I think you will simply download an app to enable the attendees to participate actively in the session using their smart phones.
Any closing thoughts?
We are bringing social responsibility programs to more of our meetings – incorporating an event that helps give back to the community where we are meeting. For example, in Brazil, we drove to a small village about 75 kilometers outside of Sao Paulo and divided into teams. Some painted, some cleaned, some planted trees, and some worked with children, building toys.
Because it’s good for the community and for our employees, we always try to weave a social responsibility element into our programs.
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