As part of an ongoing dynamic initiative from IACC, a second set of research has been conducted and reported following the survey of global venue operators, suppliers and industry experts.
IACC Meeting Room of the Future aims to transform the meeting experience through a global collaboration of leaders in conference space design, audiovisual technology, hospitality, academia and conference management. The first research, which surveyed meeting planners, was published in April 2016, with this next research focusing on the views of venue operators and suppliers, which draws parallels with the first research. The results were unveiled at IMEX Americas in Las Vegas last week.
Over 65 venues plus suppliers across four continents were surveyed for the project. Venues included a large number of IACC-certified properties, where the majority of business is derived from meetings.
Delivering a more Profound Meetings Experience
A key finding from this latest research was that venue operators and suppliers are aware of the changing expectations of meeting delegates and the majority of venue operators see it as their role to provide a great meetings experience, providing new options to the meeting planner.
Power has shifted to the participants such that venues and hosts have to deliver impactful and engaging experiences. Gamification, Design Thinking and Matchmaking at conferences, are all good examples.
The report highlights the need for venues to provide more networking and social spaces outside of the meeting room, and food and beverage service at lunchtime needs to facilitate delegates being able to meet people, eat and check in with the office and home during this period.
Physical Meeting Spaces and Design
The report states there are elements of meeting venues that are critical for successful meetings, and these have largely remained constant over the past several years and are projected to remain important in the years to come, including high quality broadband, strong acoustics and good lighting.
Conference and meeting venue operators are addressing their client’s needs by offering meeting rooms that are designed to foster creativity, ice-breakers and themed food and beverage. A significant percentage of operators are also offering outdoor meeting rooms or spaces as well as other physical spaces and activities that promote teambuilding.
Meeting planners do cite a continued trend towards more unique and flexible meeting spaces. When asked how strongly they agree with the statement, “Access to collaborative meeting space will become more important in the next two to five years” (on a scale of 1 -strongly disagree to 10 -strongly agree), meeting planners provided an average rating of “8”, indicating the need for more creative options.
“Attendees can no longer bear being stuck in a room listening (or not) to talking heads and mindless speeches,” said Jessie States from MPI. “And meeting professionals are being much more strategic about the where, why and how of bringing people together. Meetings are for ‘meeting’ and not for ‘attending’. They are for ‘participating’ and not for ‘observing’. Venues must provide spaces that encourage engagement, boost learning and enhance experiences that foster conversations and growth.”
Both operators and suppliers report the cost of investment as the greatest barrier to investing in new furniture/equipment for more flexible, creative spaces.
Meetings Technology
57% of venue operators indicated that they did not currently offer collaborative technologies (products which allow greater participation between delegates and presenter, such as Microsoft’s SurfaceHub, or Barco’s ClickShare and other related technologies) in any of their meeting rooms.
32% indicated they did offer collaborative technologies but considered this offering a premium with an additional charge to the client. Venue suppliers also view collaborative technology as a premium product offering to clients. 63% indicated they provide the technology, but at a cost to the client.
These extra costs are creating barriers to greater collaborative technology use for clients. Meeting planners expect the access to interactive technology to become more important than the current top priority when considering venues, being the flexibility of meeting room spaces.
It was evident from this research, that venue operators are increasingly looking to hire staff with IT backgrounds on the basis that is it easier to teach an IT specialist needed AV skills.
Communications & Connections
Currently 89% of venues surveyed provide meeting delegates Internet access free of charge, but 55% of those require a log in. 11% of venues still require delegates to pay for Wi-Fi, which indicates the balance has finally tipped and Internet access is being considered vital core offering needed by all.
In the first research published earlier this year, on the topic of paid versus free Wi-Fi, one meeting planner commented, “Access to strong, fast, secure broadband should be a given at all meetings and should be provided free by the venue. It still boggles me that some venues charge a premium for using Wi-Fi. When this becomes the norm we’ll be able to use other technologies without barriers.”
The program's long-term goal is to predict and showcase a clear vision of what is new for today and what solutions need to be sought for tomorrow's meeting rooms. Collaboration, productivity and inspiration will be at the heart of the 2016 concept, with the plan to build on this annually.
Current contributors and research partners include Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Microsoft, Development Councilors International, SICO, Corbin Ball Associates, Sli-do, Warwick Conferences, Summit Conference Centres, MGSM Executive Hotel & Conference Centre and PSAV.
A full copy of the report and infographic can be downloaded from the IACC website.
