Meetings professionals should be prepared for a busy 2012.
As we’ve seen companies becoming more strategic with every dollar that is spent on a meeting, event or incentive, the value of meetings is now largely recognized as a key enabler of deepening connections with customers, prospects and suppliers in a way that leads to loyalty and business growth.
As meeting professionals look at new ways to support their stakeholders and satisfy finance and procurement needs of managing costs, benchmarking and budgeting are only a part of the puzzle. It is going to be a balancing act of sorts, keeping meeting goals, stakeholder perception and attendee experience trending positively without compromising on limited budgets.
The Meeting and Events Outlook
This year American Express Meetings & Events produced an in-depth forecast to gauge the outlook of meetings and events in the coming year. The findings revealed that companies expect to plan more meetings, and in fact, of the suppliers surveyed for the forecast, 60 percent also expect the number of meetings to increase.
Suppliers, too, have costs on their mind, looking to maintain rates or even increase them in the coming year as demand continues. However, we also know that corporations are operating in a cost-conscious environment, with budget constraints likely, despite a growing need for meetings.
Additionally, as marketing departments and sales teams, typically the largest consumers of meetings and events, are now being asked by procurement and finance departments to demonstrate the ROI of every dollar spent, optimizing spend is the ultimate point of arrival for most meeting professionals.
Keeping all this in mind, meeting planners should prepare to be very busy this year.
As companies continue to accept the value of meetings, the focus will be on how to get the most out of each gathering and maximizing the outcomes within a limited budget. The emphasis on holding meetings will be in an environment of rising costs such as higher airfare and flat to higher hotel rates.
Beware Regulations
Another important trend that will be increased scrutiny on the meetings and events industry from a regulatory perspective. Meeting professionals that act as brand custodians will be a valuable asset to their clients or the organizations they work for. With the introduction of new regulations in the pharmaceutical industry and an increasing focus on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, meeting professionals have a duty to minimize risk and seek support from experts in key areas of the meeting management cycle.
The meetings and events industry has a higher risk profile due to the size of the financial transactions, the large number of downstream suppliers involved and its growing international footprint. Compliance, and compliance management, will be a key trend emerging in 2012 and beyond.
Creative Cost-savings
The main goal is striking the right balance of hosting a cost-efficient event that has the maximum return on attendee experience and outcome. Planners will be tasked with finding a location that can provide venues with the right amenities and hosting events packed with content to reach multiple goals like networking and business knowledge, all the while demonstrating the ability to maximize budgets. Negotiating skills and market knowledge will be tested time and again.
For some meeting professionals this means weighing the benefits of location and total time commitment, including travel. Many are looking to hold meetings in their own countries, and in fact, closer to where the majority of the attendee base are located in order to achieve cost savings, decrease travel time and shield events from some of the risks tied to travel—namely delays and exchange rate volatility.
Hosting events in second-tier cities will be another strategic cost-saver some meeting planners may consider in 2012. Our forecast revealed that 40 percent of the North American Maxvantage meeting professionals surveyed expect the demand for mid-tier locations to increase, while 70 percent of those surveyed expect to focus their bookings in primary city locations, versus the 13 percent who are shifting to second-tier locations. Another new element will be a full agenda, for example an increased merging of incentive programs with business content. This evolution is a smart way for companies to reward top producers while also providing them the resources, knowledge and networking opportunities they need to continue to succeed.
In the U.S. for Maxvantage, roughly 75 percent of client incentive programs now incorporate traditional meetings content in their incentive meetings—a notable data point showing this interesting integration. Importantly, this is what attendees have been asking for as well. Our forecast found 47 percent of suppliers surveyed are seeing a trend of clients requesting combined meeting and incentive programs.
In 2012, meeting professionals will have the opportunity to increase the visibility of the value they can deliver by helping to provide strong ROI for every meeting, all while balancing the objectives of stakeholders and delivering on an exceptional attendee experience.
Issa Jouaneh is the vice president and general manager of American Express Meetings & Events, and vice president of Maxvantage, the strategic alliance between Maritz Travel and American Express Meetings & Events in North America.
