A free on-line benchmarking tool for organizations that are looking for ways to develop strategic event management programs is available at www.smmbenchmark.com. The process, developed by Debi Scholar, president of the Scholar Consulting Group LLC, relies on a series of questions that yields an assessment of the program for the event manager.

After creating a profile on the site, you can log in and be introduced to the Strategic Meetings Management Maturity Model which presents “a horizontal linear path to best in class, mature activities in each of the components” which progress from Learn, Develop, Evolve, Transform,  to Mature in categories which include things like strategy and governance, corporate social responsibility, and meeting and event requests.

A questionnaire provides you the opportunity as a meeting professional to develop an assessment of your event program, and there are also other helpful templates and resources for assessing your meeting and event program. After you complete the questionnaire, you will receive recommendations for improvements to your event program as well as other insights into your program. Your data remains confidential, and Scholar’s credentials are impressive.