StarCite and Experient Launch MeetingComplete to Provide Strategic Meetings Management Services and

July 13, 2011 - PRLog -- Twinsburg, OH and Philadelphia, PA -- Experient, Inc., the industry leader for integrated meeting and event solutions, and StarCite, Inc., the leading provider of Web-based technology to strategically manage corporate meetings and events, announce today the launch of MeetingCompleteTM to help small and mid-sized companies manage their meeting and event spend more strategically.  MeetingComplete is an innovative service and technology bundle that combines the benefits of Experient’s Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) strategy, implementation, and sourcing services with StarCite’s industry leading meetings management technology platform.

While StarCite’s client benchmark research has shown that SMM programs yield savings from 15 to 25 percent, small and mid-sized companies have typically lacked the internal resources needed to effectively implement a program.  MeetingComplete removes those barriers for the smaller end of the market, to help these companies jump-start an SMMP so the savings can begin immediately.  It provides a streamlined solution to designing and implementing meetings policy, centralizing sourcing and purchasing, facilitating data consolidation, standardizing attendee management and delivering concise, effective reporting to maximize program cost-savings and risk management results.

“We designed MeetingComplete as a turn-key SMM solution specifically for those organizations who are hungry to realize the cost savings, risk management, and process improvement benefits of SMM quickly and efficiently,” said Rick Binford, CMP, president of the Event Management Services division of Experient.  “This solution is specifically designed for small to medium-sized organizations with at least $1 million in total meeting spend and who want to be up and running and realize cost savings as soon as possible.”

Greg Dukat, President and CEO of StarCite said “We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Experient to further the reach of strategic meetings management to the mid-market. In our experience, small- to mid-sized companies have been quick to embrace new online tools, but many don’t have the personnel or bandwidth to dedicate to a strategic meetings management program.  Now, these companies may experience the same kinds of savings and efficiency benefits that larger businesses have come to expect from an SMMP.”

MeetingComplete is an innovative combination of service and technology that allows companies to establish a fully functioning SMMP and begin to fully manage their meeting spend. Key benefits include:

•  Quick-start end-to-end strategic meetings management solution
•  Full support for SMM policy design, implementation, and adoption management, including start-up training
•  Significant savings on meetings costs through Experient’s expertise in preferred vendor management, vendor relationships and buying power and by automating meetings tasks
•  Policy compliance with online meetings request form, approval routing and managed online sourcing that adheres to a company’s procurement guidelines
•  Risk mitigation and SOX compliance facilitated via expanded visibility into meetings activity and data
•  Built in meeting calendar for enterprise-wide tracking
•  Unlimited online registration without transaction fees
•  Expert meeting contract negotiation provided by the experienced sourcing team at Experient
•  24/7 reporting tools providing both single and cross-event reports

Procurement and finance leaders will embrace the ability of this product to provide transparency to enterprise meeting spend and greater accountability for meetings authorization. Meetings practitioners will appreciate the easy access to Experient’s broad sourcing services, online attendee management to promote meetings and workflow solutions to streamline meeting planning.

MeetingComplete is available to small to mid-sized corporations who are headquartered in North America. Companies that are interested should contact Experient at http://www.experient-inc.com/ps_main/strategic-meetings-m... or call 866-516-1460.

About Experient
Experient leads the industry as one of the best-known and most respected brands in the event management world. Its core services include providing registration, housing, event planning and management, site sourcing/contract negotiation, and lead retrieval services for association, corporate and government clients. Experient employs professionals dedicated to fulfilling its vision of perfecting the event experience to deliver leading-edge thinking, experience and technology solutions for meetings, conventions and tradeshows around the world. Visit http://www.experient-inc.com for more information. Media kit and available staff portraits may be found at http://www.experient-inc.com/press.

About StarCite
StarCite, Inc. provides a technology platform that makes meetings and event planning, booking and management simpler and more cost-effective for corporations, hotels, venues and meetings suppliers worldwide.  Through Web-based, on-demand technology, StarCite automates and supports every key element of the meetings planning and procurement process: planning, budgeting, buying, marketing and managing attendees, payment, and results measurement.  StarCite is based in Philadelphia, PA and has offices worldwide.  Its equity holders include Internet Capital Group , TPG Growth, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), and TL Ventures. For more information about StarCite please visit http://www.starcite.com.

# # #

Let Experient technology, experience, buying power and partner relationships help you maximize your event ROI. Our expertise in site sourcing, meeting planning, registration, housing and lead retrieval ensures your attendees are satisfied.