Planners Focusing on Meeting Experience, reports MPI

Business event professionals are enjoying a healthy, stable business landscape and focusing on cultivating the entire meeting experience, according to the 2018 Spring Edition of  Meetings Outlook™.

Published by Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Meetings Outlook presents future industry trends and predictions from MPI members, including meeting professionals on the association’s Business Research Panel. It is developed in partnership with MGM Resorts International and supported in partnership with the IMEX Group.

Key findings in the just-released report include:

• 46.2 per cent of respondents expect their business to be affected by the recent cuts to third-party planner commissions by several hotel companies, suggesting concern from numerous parts of the industry, not just third-party planners.
• 75 per cent of respondents predict favourable business conditions, with a 3.9 per cent growth expected over the next year, the largest anticipated growth since spring 2015.
• 56 per cent of respondents predict favourable budget/spend, 28 per cent predict flat budget/spend and 16 per cent predict negative budget/spend
• Of the various meeting and event components (other than actual meeting space), the largest budget allocations are for food and beverage (34.3 per cent of budget), technology (16.8 per cent) and housing (16.5 per cent).
• Attendance at live and virtual events is expected to grow by 2.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively. Both live and virtual event attendance expectations are up slightly over last quarter.
• Top trends identified by respondents include: more virtual/hybrid/streaming (33.3 per cent); more interactive/hands on (23.3 per cent), new experiences/more experiential (23.3 per cent); more “outside the box” (23.3 per cent); more apps (20 per cent) and more local flair inside the venue (16.7 per cent)

About the Research

Every quarter, research firm Association Insights surveys MPI’s Business Research Panel, asking a short series of quantitative questions related to the economy and a qualitative questions regarding the individual’s professional outlook. Phone interviews are also conducted with randomly-selected MPI members. The report provides a quarterly tracking of current business conditions and future outlooks.