Kimberly-Clark Meeting & Event Guideline

Table of Contents

1.Intent & Purpose

2.Scope

3.Definitions

4.Roles and Responsibilities

5.Guideline Statement

6.Guideline Owner and Responsibility

7.Meeting Sourcing Procedure

8.Meeting Planning Procedure……………………………………………………………………………………..4

9. Venue Selection Guideline………………………………………………...……………………………………..5

10.Air Travel

11.Contracting and Signing Authority

12.Lead Time for Meeting Requests

13.Payment and Reconciliation of Meeting-Related Expenditures

14.Meeting Cancellations and Attrition

15.Security and Risk Management Responsibilities

16.Ethical Responsibilities

1.Intent & Purpose

The intent of the document is to:

  • Ensure that Meetings and Events are sourced following a consistent guideline designed to provide Kimberly-Clark (K-C) with maximum value and total lowest delivered cost.
  • Ensure that expectations, guidelines, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and followed.

The purpose of this document is to:

  • Leverage spending to produce cost savings and enhance the quality and efficiency of services provided.
  • Minimize K-C’s legal and financial risk.
  • Improve spend visibility associated with meetings and events to establish management-level reporting on K-C’s meeting activities and expenditures.
  • Ensure that criteria used in meeting vendor selection is ethical and meets Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.

2.Scope

This guideline currently applies to all North American and European employees. The scope may expand in the future to include other geographic regions,if applicable.

This guideline applies to sourcing any meeting or event hosted by a Kimberly-Clark employee where at least one of the following conditionsexists:

  • 10 or more attendees staying at the venue for one or more nights.
  • A single day sourcing event that is $20,000 USD or greater, which does not include overnight hotel stay, but may include, but is not limited to: food and beverage, space rental, audio-visual rental, and/or other venue charges.

This guideline applies to meeting planning services for all North American and European employees where an outsourced supplier will be used to aid in the Planning Services (as outlined below in Definitions).

3.Definitions

  • Attrition – Allowable amount of attendee reduction in guestrooms and/or meals without a venue charging a penalty.
  • Contract Addendum – A document reviewed and approved by the Kimberly-Clark Legal Department and Procurement to mitigate legal and financial risks and protect the company’s interests in venue agreements.
  • Master Bill – A central payment method, either by Purchase Order or credit card, coordinated by the K-C Budget Holder or K-C designee for meeting-related costs. This alleviates the need for Meeting Attendees to pay for expenditures with their corporate cards.
  • Meeting or Event – Any event hosted by a Kimberly-Clark employee where at least one of the following conditions exist:
  • 10 or more attendees staying at the venue for one or more nights.
  • A single day sourcing event that is $20,000 USD or greater, which does not include overnight hotel stay, but may include, but is not limited to: food and beverage, space rental, audio-visual rental, and/or other venue charges.
  • Meeting Request Form – A webpage form to be completed by the K-C Meeting Budget Holder or K-C designee containing standard meeting or event data, budget, and venue details. The Meeting Request Form is available on the K-C intranet for North America under the North American Travel Centerand for Europe under the European Travel Center. This request form will initiate the venue sourcing process.
  • Planning Services - Services that are provided for a meeting. This may include, ground transportation coordination, registration services, building of meeting websites, menu selections, vendor management, production, audio visual setup, coordination of offsite activities, onsite staff or any other service that takes place for a meeting except for venue negotiations and contracting.
  • Venue –A facility such as a hotel, hall, convention center, conference center, ballroom, auditorium, or restaurant in which a meeting or event is held.

4.Roles and Responsibilities

This document establishes the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders with an interest in K-C sponsored meetings and events.

  • Meeting Attendee – A person that attends a meeting. Any airfare for K-C employees should be purchased through the designated travel agency. Depending on the meeting, all other expenditures may be paid by the attendee with the Corporate Credit Card or may be paid by a Master Bill if this has been arranged by the K-C Budget Holder or designee.
  • K-C Meeting Budget Holder – The K-C employee ultimately responsible for ensuring that the meeting or event expenses are accurate, reasonable, and necessary to achieve business objectives. The K-C Meeting Budget Holder must advise the Meeting Sourcing Supplier which payment method is to be used.
  • Meeting Sourcing Supplier – Upon completion of the Meeting Request Form by the K-C Meeting Budget Holder or K-C Designee, the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will be responsible for the following services: sourcing the meeting site, negotiating a competitive room rate, initiating and executing the contract, and providing an estimated budget to the KC Meeting Budget Holder or K-C Designee.
  • Meeting Planning Supplier – The Meeting Planning Supplier may be used for services outside of venue negotiations and contracting. The Meeting Planning Supplier will be responsible for services including but not limited to: ground transportation coordination, registration services, building of meeting websites, menu selections, vendor management, production, audio visual setup, coordination of offsite activities, and onsite staff, where applicable.
  • K-C Designee – The K-C employee that is appointed by the K-C Meeting Budget Holder, who identifies the requirements and registers the meeting information utilizing the Meeting Request Form. This individual is also responsible for creating and managing the overall project plan where appropriate, ensuring adherence with all corporate requirements and guidelines, raising a requisition for a Purchase Order, and reconciling the final bills for payment.
  • Travel Category Management Team – As part of the Procurement organization, Travel Category Management Team is responsible for ensuring the Kimberly-Clark Meeting and Event Guidelines are adhered to, including securing the authorized company signature(s) for contract approval.

5.Guideline Statement

Live (face-to-face) meetings and events should only occur when there is a significant value added that cannot be derived from teleconferencing, videoconferencing, or other methods. The K-C Meeting Budget Holder is responsible for ensuring that meeting or event travel expenses are valid, reasonable and necessary to achieve the desired business objectives. Whenever possible, live meetings should be held at K-C leased or owned facilities or venues. When K-C facilities are not available, meetings or events should be held at a site that minimizes travel and overnight accommodation expenses.

6.Guideline Owner and Responsibility

This Meeting and Event Guideline document is ownedby K-C’sGlobal Procurement. It is issued under the sponsorship of the Kimberly-Clark Chief Financial Office and Global Procurement Leader.

It is the employee’s responsibility to know, understand, and adhere with this Meeting and Event Guideline. All questions concerning this guideline should be directed to theTravel Category Management Team, which is responsible for maintaining and updating this guideline accordingly.

7.Meeting Sourcing Procedure

It is the responsibility of the K-C Meeting Budget Holder and/or K-C Designee to ensure that any appropriate departmental approvals have been secured for each meeting, prior to registering the meeting. All meetings and events should be registered with the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier utilizing the Meeting Request Form that is available on the K-C intranet for North America under North American Travel Centeror for Europe under European Travel Center to initiate the sourcing process. Meetings should be registered as far in advance of the meeting dates as possible to take advantage of the most favorable rates and greatest availability (see Section 11 for recommended lead times). Registration will initiate the following process:

  1. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will contact the K-C Designeeto review meeting requirements and procedures.
  2. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will compile a list of prospective cities and venues that will fulfill the requirements given by the K-C Designee and send the requirements via a request for proposal to at least three venues.
  3. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will compile the responses and forward to the K-C Designee, noting any cancellation credits available for rebook at venues that provide viable options.
  4. The K-C Designee should discuss the options with the K-C Meeting Budget Holder. The K-C Meeting Budget Holder will make the final venue selection, as this person is responsible for assuring that the meeting expense is warranted.
  5. Once the selection has been made, the K-C Designee should notify the Meeting Sourcing Supplier and raise a purchase requisition.
  6. Thedesignated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will contact the venue and negotiate the contract to establish favorable terms and conditions and apply the K-C Contract Addendum.
  7. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will forward the document to Travel Category Management Team to route for appropriate review. This will include any proposed changes to the standard K-C Contract Addendum.
  8. Once negotiations with the venue are complete, the designated Meetings Sourcing Supplier will send the final contract and addendum, along with an estimated budget with cost savings/avoidance estimates to the K-C Designee for final review.
  9. The K-C Designee will confirm that the contract meets their needs and instruct the Meetings Sourcing Supplier to move forward with contract signature. This should include confirmation of the purchase order number or written approval from the K-C Meeting Budget Holder if the meeting will be paid for by attendees on the Corporate Card.
  10. The Meetings Sourcing Supplier will forward the approval with the contract and addendum to Travel Category Management Team who will route the documents for signature by K-C Procurement.
  11. K-C Procurement will sign the contract and addendum and forward the signed documents back toTravel Category Management Team to forward to the venue.
  12. The Meetings Sourcing Supplier will give the final, countersigned documents to the K-C Designee for their records.

8.Meeting Planning Procedure

It is the responsibility of the K-C Meeting Budget Holder and/or K-C Designee to ensure that any appropriate departmental approvals have been secured for each meeting which requires planning services prior to requesting a contract.

For North American employees, meetings and events planning requests for an outsourced supplier should be registered with the designated Meeting Planning Supplier utilizing the Meeting Request Form that is available on the K-C intranet for North America under North American Travel Centerto initiate the sourcing process.

  1. The designated Meeting Planning Supplier will contact the K-C Designee to review planning needs.
  2. The designated Meeting Planning Supplier will create a work order which includes a fee schedule, payment schedule, management feecancellation schedule and scope of work and send it to the Travel Category Management Team.
  3. The Travel Category Management Team will review the documents to ensure that the pricing reflects the pricing agreed to in the Master Services Agreement.
  4. If the pricing is correct, Travel Category Management Team will forward the document(s) to the K-C Designee for their review. If the pricing is incorrect, Travel Category Management Team will request a change from the Meeting Planning Supplier.
  5. The K-C Designee will review the document(s) and make sure that the scope of work is correct. If so, the K-C Designee should forward the document(s) to the Meeting Budget Holder for approval.
  6. Once the Meeting Budget Holder approves, the approval email should be sent back to the Travel Category Management Team.
  7. The Travel Category Management Team will forward the document(s) and approval to K-C Procurement to sign.
  8. K-C Procurement will sign the document(s) and forward the signed documents back to Travel Category Management Team to forward to the Meeting Planning Supplier
  9. The Meetings Planning Supplier will give the final, countersigned documents to the K-C Designee and Travel Category Management Team for their records.

For European Employees, meetings and events planning requests for an outsourced supplier should be made to the European Travel Category Manager.

9.Venue Selection Guideline

Whenever possible, meetings should be held at Kimberly-Clark leased or owned facilities. When K-C facilities are not available or appropriate, meetings or events shouldbe held at a site that minimizes travel and overnight accommodation expenses. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will also retain a record of any credits that exist with venues frompreviously cancelled events. The K-C Designee and/or K-C Meeting Budget Holder are encouraged totake advantage of any such credits, where feasible,to further minimize costs when the venue is appropriate.

10.Air Travel

The Kimberly-Clark Business Travel Guidelines should be adhered to for meeting and event air travel.

11.Contracting and Signing Authority

Travel Category Management Team and the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier are responsible for handling all contract negotiations with the venue supplier. The approved K-C Contract Addendum should be used for venue contracts of any Meeting or Event, as defined in this Guideline,to mitigate risk. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will ensure that the K-C Contract Addendum is included with each venue contract. Once the venue approves the contract and contract addendum, if there are any changes, Travel Category Management Team will reviewand submit through the correct channels for legal reviews and forward to Procurement for signature.

Procurement employees are the only authorized signatories for meeting venueand meeting planning contracts.

12.Lead Time for Meeting Requests

The further in advance a meeting venue is secured, the greater the chance of finding appropriate accommodations within the meeting or event’s budget parameters. All meetings must be registered via the K-C intranet for North America under North American Travel Centeror for Europe under European Travel Center, regardless of lead-time.

Large meetings and events or those with very unique specifications require more advance lead-time. The following are the recommended minimum lead-times to submit a Meeting Request Form and engage the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier in the site selection and sourcing guideline:

Number of Attendees / Recommended Minimum Lead Time
Less than 50 / 3 months
50-100 / 3-6 months
101-300 / 6-9 months
301-500 / 9-12 months
>500 / 12+ months

Meetings registered after the recommended lead-time may not be able to receive the additional services provided by the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier but will, at minimum, receive a contract review and the K-C Contract Addendum.

13.Payment and Reconciliation of Meeting-Related Expenditures

K-C Meeting Budget Holders are responsible for the contractual commitments and reconciliation of all payments due to any suppliers engaged to support a meeting or event. Whenever possible, the Corporate Credit Card (T&E card) should be utilized for all meeting and event costs. Where the Corporate Credit Card is used for payment, a written approval from the Budget Holder should be submitted to the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier prior to the contract being signed (NA only).

Where the Corporate Credit Card cannot be utilized, purchase requisitions need to be raised for payment purposes prior to contract signature.

Event spend made via the American Express Corporate Card should be entered into the Concur Travel/Expense Management system by choosing the “Meeting/Event Expense Report” option under the Policy heading on the Report Header page in Concur. (US only)

Payments to the meeting Planning Supplier for management fees should be paid via the Corporate Credit Card and expensed as above. Payments to the Meeting Planning Supplier for third party deposits and payments should also be paid via the Corporate Credit Card and expensed as outlined above.

14.Meeting Cancellations and Attrition

In the event of a meeting venue cancellation or reduction of guestrooms and/or meal attendees above the contracted attrition (see definition in Section 5), the K-C Designeeshould notify thedesignated Meeting Sourcing Supplier. The designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will keep the cancellation or attrition on record for possible application of rebook credits on future meetings booked by K-C. If another K-C meeting requests space at the venue with the cancellation or attrition credit, the designated Meeting Sourcing Supplier will discuss the rebook potential with the original budget owner to determine the terms of the new meeting utilizing the credit.

In the event that Meeting Planning Services are cancelled, the Meeting Planning Supplier must be paid in accordance with the contract.