We received responses from nearly 700 meeting planners during the survey last October, which provides for a very valid sample size. Thanks to all who took the time to fill this out every year. We know it’s a very long survey, but it really does give us a good glimpse into what meeting planners are thinking, and how the previous year has shaped up.
It seems the market is sliding back into favoring sellers, with prices expected to increase.
The first thing that leaped out to me was a fairly big discrepancy in what various planner segments thought would be their biggest challenge next year.
Ten percent more government planners this year identified a lower budget as their biggest challenge, while about 3% less corporate planners and 4.4% less association planners said a small budget was their primary concern.
On the flip side of the same question, a whopping 10.3% more association planners said increasing costs was the biggest challenge, along with 5.1% more corporate planners and 4% more independent planners. 13.5% less government planners this year said increasing costs were their biggest challenge. A shocking 13% more government planners identified downsizing as the major threat to their career in this year’s survey. Maybe in relation to all this, an increasing amount of government planners said they were less satisfied with their jobs in this year’s survey.
On a positive front, 7.1% less association planners identified declining attendance as their primary concern for the coming year.
In general, planners are still skittish about the economy, with 8.3% more corporate planners and 6.7% more association planners saying that a poor economy was the biggest threat to the meetings industry.
One interesting trend we really just started noticing this year was declining organizational support for industry trade show associations. Nearly 30% more government planners said their organizations didn’t support their membership in meeting planning trade associations such as MPI and PCMA. The number was 8.2% more for association planners.
Other highlights of this year’s survey include the following:
· The number of virtual meetings is remaining fairly constant, and when it comes to hybrid meetings, which combine Internet participation with a face-to-face event, 27% of respondents said they had no effect on their live events, and 58.8% of planners said they have yet to hold a hybrid meeting. 9.4% of all planners said hybrid meetings decreased their face-to-face event attendance, while 4.9% said it actually increased attendance for their face-to-face component.
· Overall, the four most important criteria when selecting hotel are 1. Location; 2. Rates; 3. Service; and 4. Attrition policy.
· The number of planners who expect to hold a sustainable meeting in the coming year decreased, from 45% in last year’s survey to 39.3% this year. The vast majority, 87%, do not measure and report sustainable environmental practices for their meetings.
· Attendance expectations, as well as the number of meetings expected to be held over the next year, were roughly the same as in last year’s survey.
· As far as attrition clause enforcement, it seems there’s a major trend at work here, reflecting a move back to a seller’s market: roughly 10% less planners this year said the allowance for slippage was increased, and 4.2% more planners said attrition clauses were enforced more frequently.
Stay tuned for the full report--including feedback from industry analysts and responses from many of the meeting planners who took our survey--which will be included in the January-February edition of Meetings Focus MidAmerica, and the February issues of Meetings Focus East, Meetings Focus South and Meetings Focus East.
