Psychological measurement of attendee experience, behaviour and performance lies at the heart of the Meetology® Group’s Meeting Audit, which is designed to help organisations create more effective meetings.
The Meeting Audit is the latest product launched by the Meetology® Group as it continues to expand its portfolio based on the psychology and behavioural science behind effective meetings and is already being used by each of the company’s three target customer groups.
Available in three versions to suit businesses, venues and organisers, the Meeting Audit has been developed by the Meetology® Group’s team of leading psychologists from the University of the West of England who have created a four step audit process:
- Measuring: attendee experience and attendee performance
- Reporting: attendee experience and performance to the client
- Recommending: psychologically validated changes to various aspects of the meeting
- Evaluating: the impact of recommendations post-implementation using the same measurement process
Prior to official launch interest in the product was exceptional and has led to audits being undertaken in three sectors:
- Business – Reflex Nutrition (£11m turnover) is using the audit to quantify how much they invest in meetings and what value they get from them.
- Venue – the audit is now live for events at the Barbican, Europe’s largest combined arts and conference centre.
- Congress – September’s 700-delegate WYSTC youth travel association event in Sydney, Australia is currently undergoing an audit.
Meetology® Group’s CEO Jon Bradshaw explained: "Psychology and behavioural science can help those involved with the organisation of effective meetings create a benchmark for best practice. It can, for example, provide a real understanding of the impact physical design has on attendee performance – whether it be an office space, meeting room or conference hall – allowing organisations to evaluate what works best in any given situation."
“Psychology and behavioural science can help produce a post event evaluation questionnaire that delivers a real practical insight. Delegates often do not have the time to fill in long reports and, perhaps more importantly, interpreting the data is a skill that most organisers do not possess. Our psychologists have designed a questionnaire which plots attendee performance against their experience, which we then interpret on their behalf. We design the questionnaire in such a way that it identifies the factors that impact results - customers can then make improvements to specific aspects such as interaction, motivation, learning and creativity. It’s a great tool for organisations to have at their disposal and we’re pleased to see it working so well in practice.”
Dr Paul Redford, who leads the group’s psychology team, commented: "Getting an insight into how people feel emotionally as well as their behaviour and performance can be a far better measure of the success of a meeting than the traditional customer satisfaction survey. As a psychologist, I see human behaviour as sitting at the very heart of business meetings and am excited about just how much value we can bring to those who design them."
Bradshaw added: "The ultimate aim of the audit is to set benchmarks and track improvements in meeting performance based on the advice our consultants provide to clients. It gives us a greater understanding of how event design affects attendees and puts into place a best practice model which will aid on-going improvement and success."
