Nancy Nachman, owner of The Meetings Concierge, Scottsdale.

Company outsourcing of meetings and events will continue to be popular and profitable, according to industry officials. A recent poll of 375 Meeting News readers showed that outsourcing has gained a permanent foothold on the industry playing field and is still on the rise. The top reasons for holding a meeting are education, training, decision-making, information exchange, research, sales, strategic planning, team building, new product information, problem solving and reorganization.

Training seminars make up the largest number of meetings planned, more than 216,000 annually. According to a survey by Meetings and Conventions, the number of sales meetings held in 1995 was 178,600. The number of trade shows that year exceeded 150,000, lasted an average of 3.5 days and was attended by an average of 1,700 people.

For Nancy Nachman, owner of The Meeting Concierge, Scottsdale, flexibility is the key word in the meetings planning industry. "I know the necessary ingredients to make successful events," says Nachman, who's been in business 10 years. "It's like making a cake. If you leave out a necessary ingredient, your cake isn't going to rise."

Nachman believes outsourcing saves companies money because it gives employees more time to do their "real" job. "Outsourcing also brings fresh new ideas to the table," she says. "In-house people are part of the culture, so they don't tend to think outside of that culture. An outsource person also brings specific expertise because we concentrate on a niche market.

"I always say the most necessary ingredient is communication-frequent and open," she adds. "You have to be part of the team with the company that hired you and wear their corporate hat. By dong so, you'll know if they prefer wine or tea at their lunches."