3 CEOs Weigh In on Muffingate

By Alex Palmer |

January 1, 2012

Nick Balletta, CEO, TalkPoint

While it's up to staff members several rungs below the C-suite to analyze the catering and other meeting details, Nick Balletta, CEO of the webcasting service TalkPoint, feels it's often up to the CEO to decide which meetings should happen at all. Balletta advises thinking carefully about what kind of off-site meetings are most effective for the company.

"Leadership needs to determine if the content of the meeting is absolutely something that could not be done over the phone or via virtual meeting," says Balletta. "You develop an esprit de corps at face-to-face meetings, where people are spending long amounts of time together and there's definitely the teambuilding factor at play. If that's the case, you've justified the expenditure."

Tony Ellison, CEO and founder, Shoplet.com

Tony Ellison, CEO and founder of online business-supply retailer Shoplet.com, suggests that upper management focus on shaping the content of the event and delegate the other elements. He relies on members of his team in developing and making purchase decisions about meetings. He, meanwhile, circulates the strategic framework of his company's meetings with senior management during the planning process. And ultimately, he is the one who takes the lead role in setting the agenda and taking responsibility for the event.

"As a team we finalize what the goals will be for a meeting," says Ellison, adding that, "Whether they are internal or with our trading partners, I am intimately involved with all aspects of meetings to ensure they are productive. That's the best defense against any criticism."

G.J. Hart, CEO, California Pizza Kitchen

Few CEOs have defended meetings as strongly as G.J. Hart, who earned the appreciation of the meetings industry in April 2009 when he went on NBC News to advocate the value of incentive events and conferences at a time when most organizations were cancelling meetings because of the AIG scandal. Then the CEO of Texas Roadhouse, he is now CEO of California Pizza Kitchen, and his stance on the importance of meetings has not budged—nor has his strategy towards dealing with media inquiries about them.

"My opinion hasn't changed one iota," says Hart. "I believe it's as important now as it was back then. The workforce is the largest single asset an organization has, and if you don't invest in it, then how do you ever expect to get a return? That's the only way to answer any question about the cost associated with a meeting."