Social Tables, a collaborative event software provider, released the results of an expansive survey studying demographic trends across the meeting planning industry in a report titled Benchmarking the Modern Meeting Planner: How Do You Stack Up Against Modern Meeting Planners in 2016?
In order to learn more about the modern meeting planner, Social Tables conducted a survey with 350 event professionals, and collected the latest research to find what exactly goes into the role. The idea is that planners can then examine these results and see how they compare with their peers.
The report also presents 10 actionable ways that planners can “stay ahead of the pack.” Some of the tips include advice on gathering data, increasing social media participation and sustainability at your event.
“We know that meeting planners are some of the hardest working people out there—across any industry,” said Dan Berger, CEO, Social Tables. “So we conducted a study, and collected some of the latest research to see if we could quantify what that meant. In this report we took our findings and turned them into actionable insights to help planners use their time more wisely, collaborate more efficiently, and put on even better events.”
A number of interesting statistics from the survey are presented throughout the report, including:
- The average planner manages 37 events each year.
- Over 100,000 meeting planners are employed in the U.S.—and the industry is growing faster than the average across growth rate of all other industries.
- Washington D.C. has the highest concentration of event planners in the US.
- The average planner spends over 100 hours each year on site visits alone.
- 61% of planners still record information primarily with pen and paper.
- 50% of planners said the primary way they source events is online.
Social Tables’ report is available here in exchange for some basic information. Meetings Today receives a number of whitepapers and studies and this one does seem to be worthwhile. Also worth your time is this informal study, conducted by Meetings Today, industry veteran Joan Eisenstodt and CoreClarity.
