While many of the logistical challenges of the event-planning world change very little year-over-year, some key results from our Meetings Today Trends Survey point to a major shift in some of the more personal issues of meeting planners.
Every year, Meetings Today polls its meeting planner audience on what issues impact their profession the most, from budget and attendance performance, to the facilities they prefer and their opinions on job security and the state of the industry.
This year we had 361 responses, which gives us a solid number to accurately gauge the meetings and events industry.
Some of the more interesting results stemmed from the question about how satisfied meeting planners were with their career. While this result has typically been on the sunny side in years past, more than 17 percent of independent planners downgraded their exuberance in this year’s edition, the survey for which was sent out in fall 2018.
This has to be because of the commission cuts that rocked their world at the beginning of 2018. And indeed, almost 20 percent more independent planners also selected “compensation” as the biggest threat to their career in this year’s survey, when compared to the poll that went out in late 2017.
Contrasting to the independent planner job satisfaction result, over 10 percent more government meeting planners were “extremely satisfied” by their career choice. Of course, the survey went out before the government shutdown that threw a big, entirely avoidable wrench into the works in January 2019.
Other questions on the survey include the severity level of attrition clause enforcement, whether budgets or attendance was expected to increase or decrease, the duration and formats of meetings, sustainability and whether organizations have a disaster/risk management plan in place. Spoiler—they don’t!
Perhaps the most interesting part of this year’s effort, however, are the in-depth replies we got from many of the respondents on some key questions. I encourage you to review those in the links provided below.
By delving into these responses, readers will get a better perspective not only on what their colleagues think about a given issue, but their strategies for dealing with complex issues such as Wi-Fi broadband charges, the rapid increase in attendee dietary demands and preferences and how to get leverage on room rates.
Also, if you haven't yet seen it, check out our top-level trends infographic at the link below:
To discover what your colleagues think about some of the most pressing issues that face our industry today, jump directly to their answers by clicking on the following links, organized by question:
- Are attrition clauses being enforced?
- Are you incorporating more, or less, activities?
- Are you optimistic about the economy and meetings industry?
- Do you have a security or disaster plan in place?
- Do you offer sustainable meetings components?
- How important is internet bandwidth?
- How was your leverage on room rates?
- How will 2019 shape up for the meetings industry?
- What are you noticing about dietary restrictions?
- What other trends are you seeing?
- What worries you about the meetings industry?
- Will your budget and attendance increase or decrease?
Thanks for reading, and perhaps contributing, to the 2019 Meetings Today Trends Survey.
Here’s to another year of happy planning!
