How TROOP Helps Executive Assistants Plan In Person Meetings

If you search “What are the responsibilities of an executive assistant,” you’ll often find a list of duties like taking notes, managing calendars, and organizing documents. However, if you are an EA or work with one, you know these lists fail to accurately represent the breadth and depth of impact that executive assistants have within the corporate workplace.

Today, the role of the executive assistant has evolved significantly. EAs are responsible for optimizing executive productivity and driving operational excellence. Companies and their executives lean on executive assistants to help the organization remain agile while adapting to an ever-shifting market landscape. It’s become a dynamic position that intertwines strategic partnership, technological expertise, and operational excellence.

Inevitably, this transformation of the role means that modern executive assistants have more work on their plate than ever before. 

One responsibility that is often placed on executive assistants is planning in-person meetings such as team offsites, executive and board meetings, quarterly business reviews, and more. Unlike virtual meetings, in-person meetings require significant time, effort, and resources in order to be successful. Depending on the type of in-person meeting, an executive assistant will need to spend dozens of hours coordinating logistics to ensure successful outcomes.

As an EA, you must keep track of many tasks to deliver a high-quality in-person meeting including:

• Researching, booking, and coordinating flights, local transportation, and hotel accommodations for multiple individuals, all while adhering to corporate travel policies.
• Managing all meeting-related expenses, including developing the meeting budget, owning vendor contract negotiations and payments, and reconciling attendee expenses.
• Developing and distributing the meeting agenda, including presentations, activities, scheduled breaks, and meals.
• Managing all communications to and from attendees before, during, and after the meeting so they have all the information they need to effectively contribute.

If your head is spinning, it’s for good reason. Planning in-person meetings in addition to daily responsibilities is a lot to ask of one individual, regardless of how talented or experienced they may be. This is why it’s essential for executive assistants to have the best tools at their disposal.

How TROOP Helps EAs Plan In-Person Meetings

Luckily, it's not just the role of the executive assistant that has transformed, so have the tools available to EAs. TROOP is a great example of one of the best tools EAs can use to help stay organized when planning in-person meetings.

Does this sound familiar to you? You’re planning an upcoming in-person meeting. Let’s say it’s the quarterly board meeting. On one monitor, you have 25+ browser tabs open as you research potential locations, flight options, hotels, meeting venues, vendors, and more. On your other monitor, you have several spreadsheets and word documents, one to track expenses, one to track attendee dietary restrictions and travel preferences, one for all of your meeting-related tasks, and one with a draft agenda and other deliverables you need to provide attendees. You’ve spent the last two hours switching between browser tabs and spreadsheets, trying to coordinate travel for 10+ attendees, but feel like you haven’t even made a dent. Meanwhile, your inbox and chat are starting to overflow with unread messages.

TROOP eliminates the time-consuming and error-prone aspects of in-person meeting planning. Now, executive assistants can wrangle every detail, from group travel logistics to creating meeting agendas, all in a single, simplified platform. Below are 5 ways that TROOP makes in-person meeting planning as painless as possible for executive assistants.

1. Travel Logistics Made Simple

On average, executive assistants report spending 10 hours a week managing travel logistics. TROOP lets you reclaim that time by recommending meeting locations, flights, and hotels that comply with your company’s travel policies without sacrificing on meeting attendee convenience and experience. TROOP can even suggest travel options based on preferences like flight duration, cost, CO2 emissions, and more.

2. Estimate Meeting Budgets In Minutes

When planning in-person meetings, it’s difficult to accurately estimate meeting expenses, increasing the likelihood that you’ll end up over budget. With TROOP you can create a meeting budget using flight and hotel data to help you make informed decisions and get approval before booking. TROOP also makes it easy to compare your estimated budgets across multiple meeting destinations to find the most cost-effective choice on where to meet. 

3. Streamline Attendee Coordination

Coordinating meeting attendees can be a job in and of itself. TROOP lets you streamline your workflows and save time trying to keep tabs on attendees. Invite attendees, track RSVPs, and capture need-to-know details. TROOP generates a master attendee arrival and departure schedule for easy transportation coordination. 

4. Easy Meeting Management

Executive  assistants are essentially meeting planning professionals, so it’s about time you have professional planning tools. Ditch the spreadsheets and documents cluttering your workspace and consolidate all your meeting information in one place to stay organized and on schedule.

5. All Your Meetings In One Place

Planning multiple in-person meetings at the same time? TROOP gives executive assistants a birds-eye view of every meeting that you’re managing. Quickly see an overview of all current meetings and key details.

Conclusion

In the fast-paced world of executive support, the art and science of planning in-person meetings is a testament to the expertise of executive assistants. 

Just as your role has evolved, so have the tools available to you. TROOP isn't just another software solution; it's your partner in streamlining the complexities of meeting planning, empowering you to reclaim time and elevate your impact.

Request a TROOP demo today to experience firsthand how TROOP can help you level up your meeting planning skills.