Debi Scholar

Speaker Bio: Debi Scholar (debi@debischolar.com) consults with Fortune 1000 and mid-size companies on supply chain and expense management categories such as airlines, hotels, meetings, ground transportation, corporate card programs, travel management companies, and entertainment assets such as country club memberships, venue suites, boxes and tickets. Debi has led numerous projects for global organizations, entertainment venues, and government agencies as she was the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Lead for Travel and Entertainment Expenses (T&E) strategic management and worked for the leading consulting firm for 13 years. Debi has a unique advantage as a consultant because she started as a practitioner by leading PwC’s internal group travel and meetings departments and has in-depth knowledge of the travel industry and suppliers. She is acknowledged nationally for groundbreaking efforts in shaping the Strategic Meetings and Events industry and integrating Travel and Meetings teams with Procurement.

Debi is a pioneer in the face to face and virtual meetings industry using virtual technologies beginning in 1998 to connect distant participants and e-learning attendees. She was the first Meeting Director to have included Virtual Meetings under her direction back in 2002 and since, has become a leading expert in how to effectively drive virtual meeting adoption to reduce travel costs and complement or reduce face-to-face meetings.

Debi participated on the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Foundation Board of Trustees for two years and was the co-chair of the NBTA Groups & Meetings Committee for four years. She currently participates on the Editorial Advisory Board for MeetingNews magazine. Debi was selected as the one of the top 20 Changemakers in the Industry, one of the Business Travel News Practitioners of the Year and one of the VIPs in the Strategic Meetings Management Industry. She has been featured in numerous industry articles and was the highest rated speaker for two years in a row at the Strategic Meetings Management Forum. She continues to be a requested speaker at numerous conferences, conventions and events globally and teaches webinars through EduFire.com. Read her highly acclaimed T&E Plus blog at: http://debischolar.typepad.com/teplus.

Debi’s designations include the Wharton Aresty Executive Education/NBTA Global Leadership Professional (GLP), the Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM), the Convention Industry Councils Certified Meeting Professional (CMP), the NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE), the Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT), and a PwC Six Sigma Green Belt.
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Do More with Less: Pricing Models for Meeting Services

Budgets slashed; people cut, but you are still held accountable for producing successful meetings. How do you identify what components to outsource?  This session will itemize the sourcing and planning process and help you identify the pros, cons, and costs of using the right resources for the right tasks at the right costs. 

Take-Aways:

• Itemize the various tasks in meeting management and meeting services
• Calculate the length of time each task may take
• Identify the right pricing model to use
• Learn how outsourced suppliers price their services
• Learn how to valuate outsourcing proposals among all of the numerous pricing models from managing your program to onsite staffing.

Session is Applicable to:

Planner/Business Type: Corporate & Association

Technology Level: Mid-level to Advanced

CMP-IS Domain: B. Project Management, 1-hour

CAE credit for actual clock time of education

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