Courtesy of IMEX America

This new year is already showing signs of a bright picture, as professional meeting and event planners worldwide are taking another glance through the proverbial crystal ball for events, seeing some positive event trends while dealing with several planner’s pain points.

From C-vent, IMEX to Caesar Entertainment, Marriott International and every corporate and incentive meeting and event planner, venue, vendor and hospitality professional, the industry is busy idealizing — new budgets, F&B menus, destinations, key event designs and technology, non-traditional event spaces, the uptick of large meetings, how to attract Gen Zers and the evolution of planners’ roles — all in a day’s work.

Last December, IBTM, the leading global trade show, released IBTM World’s 2024 Trends Report, which shows some interesting survey findings. The results, from a planner survey conducted by In-House Corporate Events (ICE), an association of internal planners who work at mid-sized and large companies, state:

52% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their present salary. Many cite that they’ve had increased workloads in the post-pandemic environment and they need to rely more on freelancers to assist with projects, while the freelance rates range between $450 and $850 per day.

50% of respondents say that their internal stakeholders “struggle to grasp the full scope and impact of event teams,” while many others cite that differing job titles for planners across the corporate landscape contributes to this. ICE notes that stakeholders’ struggle to fully understand planners’ scope of work and their value “is a large cause of anxiety for event professionals looking to progress their skills and careers.”

On the positive side, 71% of respondents say that their job resides within the marketing function of their companies now. The report says that “this shift should be seen as a positive outcome for the long-term future of the [events] industry.”

The Trends

In this quasi rosy picture, planners, and others in the industry, are not ignoring the high demand, limited availability and overall higher costs to execute meetings this year, and more to come. These issues impact where meetings and events take place and who they may appeal to, among other things. There are other trends, too, including some that have created significant shifts in how planners do business.

“The most significant challenges in the industry right now are nothing new but actually a continuation of the pace of supply and demand that has driven the cost of meetings up even higher,” Wayne Robinson, CMP, CMM, staff vice president events & multimedia at FM Global, says. “Not just room rates and F&B, but the ancillary expenses such as airfare, ground transportation and continued labor and supply-chain issues. On top of the challenges mentioned, planners are also asked to do so much more today.”

Robinson reminisced about those times when the primary responsibility of a planner was more logistical. And while that has not changed, a lot of things have been added to the mix, including evolving technology and navigating through the world of hybrid, which requires new skills.

“Data and analytics measuring a meeting’s success pre, during and post event has become the norm,” he says. “The C-suite is spending at record rates but the justification and return on spend has become an increasing part of the meeting planner’s everyday responsibility. Much of this has to do with technology.”

Planners today routinely run reports and manage data that wasn’t even thought of as early as 10 years ago, and this is in addition to the job planners have traditionally done.

“If you look at job descriptions of meeting professionals now, standard logistics are pushed further down the requirement list of priorities while engagement and technical know-how is much more in demand, especially among more seasoned meeting professionals,” says Robinson.

Even in a time of major cost increases, in-person meetings are on the rise, with hybrid and virtual meetings coming right behind. Technology is also playing an increasingly important role in the justification and reconciliation of spend and value to the bottom line.

“Examples of software used frequently in the meeting universe are Cvent for registration and data accumulation for meetings and related data, as well as webinar hosting platforms such as ON24, which also provide data analytic modules and a shelf life for virtual events,” Robinson says.

“That’s just a small sampling of the many event-related tools used in meetings and events nowadays. Additionally, most of the software tools used for events integrate with CRMs such as Salesforce and Microsoft products that focus on sales, customer service, analytics and application development,” he adds.

Ann M. Luketic, CMP, CMM, agency marketing specialist with Progressive Casualty Insurance, points out that some changes took place during Covid when hotels needed business so they were more lenient on concessions and cancellations. Those same hotels now have become far stricter. And there are more, and in some cases, higher fees.

“I’m seeing a lot more fees included on proposals, like housekeeping fees and fuel surcharges that were not included in the past,” Luketic says. “It was normal then to receive 15-20% attrition and now it’s become a hard negotiation point.”

Additionally, cancellation policies and deposit schedules are a lot tighter. In the past, groups only paid for room revenue if they canceled before 30 days out and a portion of F&B revenue if they canceled less than 30 days out. Now hotels are requesting they pay a portion of F&B revenue more than six months before the meeting. “For deposits, we were able to make smaller payments throughout the year and the final payment 30 days post-event. Hotels are now requesting larger deposits at contract signing and payment in full before the event,” she adds.

Attendees & Expectations

Luketic sees additional scrutiny from leadership, but not necessarily the C-suite, regarding those who can attend meetings.

“We used to bring more sales reps to our events, but this year, we’ve reduced our numbers significantly. Also, I’ve been asked to bring less onsite help and lean on the local DMC more to handle event logistics that would normally be managed by one of my staff at the event.”

Most industry trends and changes are general to events and not specific to insurance or financial groups but there is one thing Luketic has noticed that is specific to those groups.

“With the recent market conditions, I’m hearing that a lot more insurance companies, especially property and casualty, are cutting back on events and event budgets,” she says.

In terms of how trends and changes affect her meetings, she says there are a number of factors that have impacted her planning. One of them is how personalization has become a strong focus for her events. For that reason, she asks her attendees to share more, which helps her find new ways to increase attendee engagement.

Reportedly, attendees no longer want to attend a big, informal event where they are continually talked at from stage. They want inclusive events, including inclusive menus and general accessibility to standard operating procedures. They want more face-to-face time with speakers and other attendees. They desire other ways to engage with them rather than the typical social functions and main-stage presentations.

Attendees want to connect with and experience the community surrounding their event. This has shifted the perspective in the way hotels view meetings and event offerings, providing unique spaces that translate to memorable experiences.

In terms of technology, attendees want more information, and they want it now! They no longer make decisions to attend an event until they have all the fine details. On the other hand, some trends, however widespread, don’t affect every organization.

News, Networking & Destinations

“I see a lot of articles and webinars on CSR and sustainable events, however, I’m not required to incorporate these into our events,” Luketic says. Her first suggestion to planners in terms of keeping up with industry trends and making sense of them relative to their particular company and groups is to read everything they can daily.

“Take time each morning to review industry publications, listen to podcasts or webinars,” she says. “Follow industry leaders and influencers on multiple channels including social pages, webinars/podcasts and newsletters. There is so much that can influence your meetings and your attendees. Make sure you subscribe to newsletters or alerts from many sources like Flightaware. Stay ahead of current events that can affect attendance such as weather, political issues, the economy and so on.”

More than ever, planners are looking for ways to connect attendees without compromising personal data or having the host company be the conduit. Attendees are also getting younger and they want to attend more intimate events, where they can network, share knowledge and success. With that in mind, planners must create event designs that cater to Gen Zers by shortening event sessions and adding more key networking opportunities.

“I feel there will be more emphasis on finding better ways to create and maintain a community networking platform to facilitate meaningful connections between attendees based on their interests, industries or goals,” Luketic says.

There’s no question that it has become increasingly hard for attendees to get their preferred destination or hotel on their preferred dates. Experts have offered many reasons for it, including the fact that this issue became apparent when all of the canceled meetings were being re-booked at the same time planners were also trying to book their new meetings. Luketic also sees groups fighting, especially for domestic space.

“More companies are moving their events back to domestic locations only, creating far less availability in many tier-one locations,” she says. “We are being forced to use our second or third-tier choices for locations. So, that is a trend that will continue into the foreseeable future.”

Nancy Nachman, CMP, CMM, founder and chief connecting officer of Scottsdale-based The Meeting Concierge, works frequently with insurance and financial groups wanting to meet in Arizona. Most of the impactful trends these days are not specific to insurance and financial companies but these groups do have some ongoing trends that have remained in place.

“Typical contracting clauses we request are ‘no competitors,’ and they are listed by name of organizations so that my client’s direct competitors are not meeting in the same hotel over the same dates,” Nachman explans. “Additionally, sometimes these industry customers require meeting spaces that are separate or away from other meeting rooms, and/or they request that their company name is not listed on a reader board in hotels.” Like others, she’s seeing the rising costs of holding a meeting as a major trend, one that should push organizations to consider different destinations.

“We see higher prices on everything from hotel rooms to food and beverage and AV,” she says. “When planners can only meet in specific major cities, prices are just going to be higher. If organizations would consider second- and third-tier cities, they would find pricing to be more in line with what they expect.”

Nachman just had a client sign a contract for a one-day meeting in Manhattan at a five-star hotel and the meeting room rental was $20,000.

“Hotels do not have to negotiate much because, fortunately, and I do say ‘fortunately,’ demand is still very strong. Rising costs are not just in high-priced destinations such as Manhattan and it’s not just current meetings. With demand begin as strong as it is, it drives up pricing even more. No matter if the meeting is taking place in two months or two years, we’re finding pricing to be higher and not coming down. On the other hand, wouldn’t we rather be busy than what we all experienced a few years ago?”

F&B Trends

Regarding F&B, it’s simply a fact that organizations have to feed their attendees. Therefore, food and beverage happen to be the number one thing people at meetings talk about, or complain about the most.

A $100 per person lunch is not unusual; sometimes it’s a bit less in certain cities and often more in cities with greater demand. Attendance at meetings is very good from the C-Suite on down,” says Nachman. “Thankfully, people still enjoy and want to gather, and I am so grateful and thankful for this.”

Being well-informed is key. One way to deal with higher prices and less availability is to keep leadership well-informed and encourage them to act more quickly. “Planners always have to keep their C-Suite executives informed about trends on pricing, as well as high-demand and low availability and why hotels cannot hold space until a decision is made. Because demand is currently so high, by the time an organization is ready to contract, often that hotel is no longer available,” says Nachman, who also encourages planners to be flexible in this climate.

“I know this is very challenging, especially when it comes to dates,” she says. “However, planners can do their best to encourage their executives to come up with a list of ‘other’ potential destinations if saving money is important. A client just contracted a hotel in St. Louis that upgraded all rooms to suites and the group rate was so low. The client was so happy. If, however, an organization must meet in a particular city at a particular time, options will be fewer and costlier.”

Clearly, hotels see many of the same trends that planners do, though their perspective is different. Reina Herschdorfer, director of marketing, national meetings & events, with Caesars Entertainment, also sees high demand for larger and well-attended meetings. “Planners are booking further out as demand is high. In order to reserve preferred dates, it’s best to book early. Attendance,” she notes, “is back up to normal levels.”

According to Herschdorfer, the incorporation of wellness and CSR activities into meetings is becoming more of a standard and expected by attendees. “We have an upcoming conference that will be building food kits for 50,000,” she says. While that level of interest in CSR may not be applicable to every meeting, Caesars is seeing it as a solid trend.

Caesars Entertainment hotels also recognize the demand for special meals and dietary requirements are growing. “There are so many amazing options available now from quinoa, which is gluten free, to cauliflower tortillas, oat and nut milks etc.,” says Herschdorfer.

Planner’s Evolution

While it’s true that not every trend affects every meeting or group, there is a growing consensus that the role of the professional meeting or event planner has shifted. The biggest impacts to the job description are the need for planners to understand and use continually evolving technology to provide data and analysis — now a core requirement of the job.

There’s also increased need for planners to keep leadership more clearly informed about trends in the industry such as pricing, and the need for both flexibility and faster decisions in this time of extremely high demand. These days, only those who act fast are likely to book the destinations, hotels and dates they want.

Yet tomorrow may change the industry landscape entirely. As Greek philosopher Heraclitus said centuries ago, “Change is the only constant in life.” I&FMM.