Meeting professionals are optimistic about the state of the meetings and events industry, although their optimism has been tempered a bit as the industry settles into post-pandemic conditions, according to the Q3 2024 Meetings Outlook Report from MPI, released at IMEX America 2024.
“If you look over the last few years, while it's optimistic, the optimism scale is kind of slowing a little bit, so they're not as enthusiastic about their optimism as they were about a year or a year and a half ago," said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI during a press conference at IMEX America 2024. "And on the counter, we're kind of seeing a decline of projected attendance for the virtual/hybrid meetings. Respondents reported the most balanced [buyer/seller market]. We saw that get extremely out of whack during Covid, where it became an incredibly strong buyer market, and then with the rebound coming out of Covid, it switched very much to a very strong seller market. We're now almost back into a balanced market, which is good news for our industry.”
Key findings from the report include the following:
- 72% of respondents expect favorable business conditions for next year—a slight increase from last quarter.
- 72% have favorable budget expectations for the year ahead.
- 76% cited favorable projections for in-person event attendance.
- 43% indicated we are currently in a seller’s market; 31% said we're in a buyer’s market and 26% said it's a balanced market.
Other MPI IMEX America News
As the organizer of the Smart Monday educational day at IMEX America, MPI reported the following statistics:
- Smart Monday attracted 1,590 attendees.
- There was a total of 1,250 attendees that saw one of the three keynote speakers.
Van Deventer also gave updates on MPI Academy, saying that MPI Academy is at the heart of the association’s mission of providing education for its members and would focus on three key areas in 2025.
“MPI will introduce new tools and marketing initiatives to support chapters in managing our community’s communications and their events, and to ensure that our community remains inclusive and welcoming to all by rolling out training to all volunteer leaders on anti-human trafficking, anti-harassment and diversity and inclusion awareness with a focus on unconscious bias,” Van Deventer explained.
The association also rolled out an enhanced brand position titled “We Run the Show.”
“Over the past years, we've really been working on the brand positioning, taking our ‘When We Meet, We Change the World’ [branding] and putting some flavor to it; bringing it a little bit more into the common vernacular and sense of feel and emotion of our community, and really reinforcing what MPI does for this community,” said Drew Holmgreen, vice president of brand engagement for MPI. “So, you're going to see a new campaign that is actually debuting here at IMEX.”
Continuing on the theme of education, MPI announced that it had issued more than 1,000 certifications since the beginning of 2024, including more than 300 for its AI-Enhanced Event Professional certification. Other new programs include an Event Psychology Strategist and Event Welfare Champion certifications. The association also launched a June 18-20 Golf Event Program in Frisco, Texas, in conjunction with The Golf Tournament Association of America and hosted by Visit Frisco.
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