As the economy threatens corporate revenues, travel budgets are being scrutinized - and travel managers are being pressed - for further cost savings and tighter management controls. While many have proposed managing meetings activities more tightly in the past, such efforts have often been passed over by executives who either did not realize the magnitude of meetings spend within their organizations or simply could not see the path forward.

Meetings spend is one of the least transparent spend categories in an organization. When corporations delve into the issue, they are likely to find that as much as 35 percent of travel spend is dedicated to meetings. With the progress travel management has made over the past 10 years - incorporating procurement strategies, sophisticated booking and tracking tools, and strict supplier management - the knowledge that organizations may leave more than a third of their leveraging power on the table should be an impetus for action. But the path toward integrating meetings and corporate travel is challenging.