< PreviousG one are the days of “cookie cutter” corporate events, where typical event design included structured agendas, standard food and drinks, and meeting spaces that left attend- ees unimpressed and uninspired. Today’s corporate event design is teeming with creative ideas that “wow” attendees, giving them what they want: immersion and interaction. Taylor Bradford, event designer and owner of Sugar Creek Rentals, a specialty event company in Dallas, TX, has recently designed events for Ed Sheeran and Willie Nelson, as well as many corporate gatherings. In her experience, Bradford said there’s been a focus shift for corporate events to include custom experiences for attendees. For example, custom hat bars, unique food experiences, curated bever- ages, attendee concierge, and beverage napkins with unique information/entertainment, to name a few. Personalization is definitely top of mind for corporate events. “We’re seeing a push toward how each event can be more unique and experiential versus another event an attendee has to attend,” Bradford said. “We’ve seen an increase in lounge furniture groupings that foster attendee relationships and networking.” In her event designs, Bradford focuses on “wow” moments — whether it’s custom backdrops, custom Experiential Event Designs Giving Attendees What They Want: Immersion, Interaction Caryn Mambro / Opus Agency BY MARLENE GOLDMAN PLANNER TIPS 30 February 2024 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.cominstallations, custom scents or custom decor — moments that prompt attendees to pause and experience the event as a whole. Cameron Forbes, event planner and founder of Forbes Functions in New York City, leverages her extensive net- work of vendors to curate bespoke experiences for her cli- ents. From her experience, Forbes notes that the pandemic has accelerated certain trends in event design — from sustainable design to hybrid events, the industry has under- gone a transformation. Forbes noted that eco-friendly and sustainable event design has come to the forefront, with hosts and attendees alike pushing back against wasteful single-use products and other event purchases that can harm the environment. “Hybrid events have also started to become the norm, providing a chance for international and local guests alike to engage in a meaningful event experience,” Forbes said. “Inclusivity and accessibility are vital consider- ations, whether event designers offer flexibility in atten- dance, diverse speaker series or use data to personalize events to attendees.” Indeed, today’s event planners continue to innovate to have event design stand out to attendees. Forbes Functions has wowed them at corporate events with better-for-you food and beverage, engaging activations and impactful gifts. Providing health and wellness options for attendees, as well as accessibility and inclusivity, is always a priority for the Forbes’ team. “In the past, we have offered corporate attendees a juice bar upon entry, healthy light bites and other modern fare. To engage attendees, Forbes Functions likes to bring in alluring activations: illusionists, mixologists and com- ics are all pros at interacting with an audience,” Forbes said. “Finally, we prioritize the event takeaways and ensure every attendee leaves the event with a sense of impact. Pro- viding follow-up communication to attendees, especially personalized, is vital to continue to stand out. Additionally, unique gifts or party favors for attendees, such as a DIY cold brew or juicing kit, allow them to continue engaging with the brand long after the event.” Caryn Mambro, executive creative director at Opus Agency, a B2B experience agency, said that cultur- ally, beyond events and marketing, the zeitgeist has moved into an era of maximalism. Bold colors. Complex, layered designs. “Grids are being broken, and Helvetica is getting some much-needed rest,” Mambro said. “We are bringing this trending aesthetic into the expo floors of our events.” For example, at one recent flagship technology confer- ence, the colors, curves and curious all came together for an experience that was more of a festival than any corporate event the attendees had ever experienced. The expo was a bold and vibrant extravaganza with an eight- piece Mardi Gras-style band leading attendees from the keynote to the expo space. Stilt walkers greeted attendees, strolling performers kept them entertained, and attend- ees entered through a massive 3D sculpture that they could sign to leave their imprint. From there, attendees participated in a fully gamified experience, with more than a dozen touchpoints for them to engage and collect pins. All elements within the expo, including theaters, broadcast studio, gear store and activations, were visu- ally threaded from the front to the back with a highway of colorful ribbons. “This dramatic, festival-inspired design approach kept the energy and engagement at an ultimate high,” Mambro said. Health & Wellness Focus Health and wellness experiences also are proving to be an exciting and impactful way to make corporate events stand out, and event designers are taking advantage of this trend by incorporating better-for-you activities, meals and more for attendees. “Movement and outdoor activities are incredibly popular, whether a morning workout to start the day or destination-specific wellness experiences like hiking or biking,” Forbes said. Forbes pointed out that engagement in the local com- munity is becoming a critical part of corporate event design, where attendees can enjoy learning about their surroundings from guides at outdoor activities and chefs at cooking classes. Mindful and phone-free spaces are also encouraged. In the realm of catering, accessibility is essential — event hosts are providing vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and other alternative meal options for attendees. From on-site juice bars and produce to dinners cooked with ancient grains and fresh seafood, culinary wellness sets a corpo- rate event apart. Caryn Mambro / Opus Agency Event designers are using bold colors, as well as complex and layered designs to entice and motivate attendees. TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | February 2024 31“Unique wellness treatments, like infrared saunas, cryo- therapy and sound healing, can further give your event an exceptional edge,” Forbes said. Overall, the investment of money, time and attention into the health and wellness experiences is on par with what Mambro delivered in 2019. She continues to see trends like group yoga or running, early morning medita- tion and content focused on wellness. “In the broader ‘agenda design’ trends, our events are reducing content-centric time to prioritize more connection time for attendees. During these blocks of connection time, we are laying networking-centric activities, health and wellness experiences, moments for play, spaces for taking a break, zones for work and more,” Mambro said. They are also designing spaces for attendees to escape from the crowds and noise, with quiet rooms, meditation rooms and ASMR booths grow- ing in popularity. Entertainment Trends Post-pandemic, live music and other forms of in-person entertainment have been on a massive rise. As Forbes explained, with event technology improving at a rapid rate, new forms of entertainment have taken the place of more traditional ones. Projection mapping onto the floor or ceiling of an event can provide engaging audiovisual entertain- ment for attendees. “Traditional industries like catering and bartending are becoming infused with entertainment. From creative and interactive food service, like fresh oys- ters and pasta bars, to talented mixolo- gists, food and beverage is one new way to entertain attendees,” Forbes said. “Unique performers, such as electric violinists and saxophonists, have also become popular. Performers that engage attendees, such as psychics, illusion- ists and comics provide an impact- ful experience as they interact with their audience.” Today’s trending event entertain- ment is based on the overall theme of the event itself, whether it’s a country/western band with line dance instructors or a silent disco curated by a DJ and complete with headphones for each attendee. In Mambro’s event planning experience, live artists, light and laser shows and DJs (like Steve Aoki, a DJ and music producer famous for throwing cakes at attendees) are trending. Bands and comedians continue to reign. Group activities and gamification remain popular. “The key to entertainment is understanding what your audience wants so you can engage and entertain them in a way that really resonates,” Mambro said. “Validate your entertainment selection with pre-event surveys. The entertainment needs to tie back to your brand as well as the event theme and goals.” In Mambro’s event design, she is harnessing the power of “glimmers” to make the event memorable and bring the “wow” factor. As she explained, glimmers are those micro-moments that spark awe, joy, happiness, peace, gratitude, safety, calm and connection. Last year was tough financially for many B2B businesses. “Experts say embracing glimmers positively impacts our mental health, so we aim to spark glimmers for attendees throughout the event. The intent is for attendees to feel motivated to engage, and leave with positive memories of the experience and the brand,” Mambro said. “This includes experiences like light shows, aromatherapy sta- tions, culinary delights or animal therapy. For me, hearing laughter is a glimmer, and in turn, my sense of connec- tion is sparked.” Team-Building As with any facet of the meeting and events industry, the popularity of certain types of team building activi- ties ebbs and flows from year to year. Team building experiences are certainly being impacted by today’s event design trends. More and more companies are recognizing that team building experiences should not be limited to a conference room; instead, corporate event design- ers should think outside the box to engage attendees. “Hobby-based expe- riences, like cooking classes or crafts, allow teams to interact in a new environment,” Forbes said. Outdoor activities, like group kayaking or biking, also enable attend- ees to explore their surroundings while bonding with teams. In team-building spaces, Mambro said the big trends fall at the intersec- tion of pre-assigned cohorts, prioritization of play and active emphasis on belonging. The emerging tactics are yet to be new or innovative, but they remain meaningful. Things as simple as Lego tables with team-based builds still unite attendees in simple yet profound ways. “In the spirit of ESG (Environmental, social and cor- porate governance), community give-back activities are popular with attendees and create excellent team- building opportunities as attendees rally behind a shared cause,” Mambro said. Seasonal programs like scavenger hunts continue Providing follow-up communication to attendees, especially personalized, is vital to continue to stand out. CAMERON FORBES Founder Forbes Functions 32 February 2024 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.comto have a place in many meeting planners’ repertoires. Another favorite new team building event is referred to as the “Do Good Bus.” This team-building program delivers the team to a local charity to really give back, while conducting team building to and from the chari- table organization. When considering these types of activities, meeting planners should take the time to talk to the team build- ing company about the group and what they hope to achieve with the event. The more information shared with the team-building planner or facilitator, the better job they can do at customizing a program to make sure it is a really great fit. Personalization Is the Future Personalization of event experiences for corporate events is critical. Forbes pointed out that event planners can use data captured by event technology to understand their attendees’ needs, interests and concerns, tailoring the experience to fit their audience. “Involving attendees in the pre-event and registration process can engage them and allow them to define their agendas, further customizing the event to their needs,” Forbes said. “As AI and machine learning continue to develop, I foresee further integrating these technologies with event data to optimize attendee experience through personalization.” Suzanne Pruitt, event director for Indoor Ag-Con held in Las Vegas, is a seasoned event and marketing professional with 30+ years of experience. Pruitt said personaliza- tion is a key focus in today’s event design. “We provide attend- ees with the flexibility to customize their sched- ules, allowing them to choose from a wide range of educational sessions or tracks that align with their specific interests and expertise,” Pruitt said. “This tailored approach ensures that each attendee feels the event caters to their indi- vidual needs and professional goals.” One standout example of ways that Pruitt and her team have “wowed” recent attendees was at the Topgolf VIP party in Las Vegas. By co-hosting this exclusive event with the sponsor, Philips Horticultural LED Solutions, in a unique venue, Pruitt creates a great experience for VIPs, sponsors and speakers. “The combination of a lively atmosphere, casual net- working and golf-themed entertainment adds a layer of fun to the overall event, making it memorable for attend- ees,” Pruitt said. “Additionally, the co-location with another trade show — the National Grocers Association Show — in a complementary industry sector, has proven to be a strategic move, providing attendees with expanded networking opportunities and a more comprehensive industry experience.” The biggest movement for personalization is happening with agenda builders, noted Mambro. Platforms and brands are quickly layering AI to make highly personalized and predictive session recommendations. “For one flagship technology conference we lead, the registration system connects to their overall brand user account,” Mambro said. “AI then learns the details of each attendee and makes highly personalized session recommendations, from the products and services they use and what they have shown interest in, to the sessions they attended at past events and more. We expect this to become a baseline for flagship conferences in 2024 and beyond.” C&IT Caryn Mambro / Opus Agency Planners are making team building fun by priortizing play. TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | February 2024 33T he world of meeting technology has evolved in dramatic ways in recent years. Just ask any corporate event planner who has been in their role for even more than a decade. Technology has truly changed how meeting planners do business and orchestrate meetings and events. Recently, one type of technology — artificial intelligence (AI) — has begun to make a name for itself through a newly devel- oped AI platform, Spark. The brainchild of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), Spark was introduced in a beta version in spring 2023 and has already become well known within corporate planning circles. At its core, Spark is an AI platform filled with copious amounts of data related to event planning, as well as tools to help users in their meeting-related tasks. “A year ago, no one had heard of ChatGPT. Today, it has over 180 million users. At the same time, event organizers all over the world told us that they were living a workplace productivity crisis,” said Sherrif Karamat, CAE, president and CEO, PCMA and CEMA. “Events rebounded faster than anyone could have imagined ... but the workforce bandwidth could not keep up with the sudden business spike.” As Karamat further explained, in May of last year Project Spark was launched as an AI learning and produc- tivity start-up for event organizers. Tech Tools Sparking Innovation in Event Planning Courtesy Photo BY MAURA KELLER PLANNER PRODUCTIVITY Project Spark is the go-to AI productivity tool for almost 5,000 event organizers in over 40 countries. 34 February 2024 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.com“In September, 64% of business event professionals were currently using Generative AI to manage their events. Spark is now the go-to AI productivity tool for almost 5,000 event organizers in 40+ countries,” Karamat said. “Corporations and organizations are now exploring with us how Spark can be integrated into their entire enterprise event operations.” Prior to Spark launching, Beth Surmont, vice president of event strategy and design at Live360 Media, was play- ing around with ChatGPT, using it to help her with session descriptions and some research. “What I liked about Spark, and why it became my primary AI tool, is that PCMA overlaid a framework around it. I actually learned how to use AI faster because of Spark. It offers prompts, it tells you what you should ask next, it has specific categories of requests that are relevant to the events industry,” Surmont said. “What I really like about Spark is that whether you consider yourself a superuser of AI, or if you’ve never touched AI before, you will learn something about how to use AI better just by using the tool.” Prior to Spark and AI, in general, the typical method of meeting planning involved a lot of manual work — writ- ing of descriptions, developing formats, planning agendas and running of shows, creating invitation emails. “A lot of the manual work that used to take hours can now be done in sec- onds by using Spark, Surmont said. What further intrigued Surmont was that it was developed for the meetings and events industry. While she was already aware of AI and trying to work that into her process more, just the idea that it was engineered for event planners was really interesting to her. Surmont’s colleague, Carol McGury, is a longtime PCMA volunteer leader. She had asked for some people at the organization, Smithbucklin, to test out the tool and provide feedback on what they thought. “I still have my notes from that, and one thing that really impressed me was the ability to provide a video link and Spark would not only create a transcript, but it could pro- vide a blog post, a social post, an article, etc. from the link — all generated within minutes,” Surmont said. “Repurpos- ing content from an event is a huge missed opportunity for planners because it is such a manual process. But the idea that I could feed in some of the videos and get high- light articles that I can push back out to the community to keep them engaged and connected beyond the event is very compelling.” Surmont also just completed a content development project for a client event. They wanted to have a session that focused on making strategic choices. She used Spark to create fictional business case studies where there were three possible choices to make about investing money and resources. “I also used Spark to create a first draft of the questions for the discussion guide. I ended up with a very robust ses- sion that generated a lot of strategic conversation and led to the exact outcome the client was seeking,” Surmont said. “Creating this manually would have taken several days of research and writing. But I was able to complete the draft for their approval in about two hours.” Kristi Casale, CMP, DMCP, is vice president for meetings and continu- ing education at the American Acad- emy of Pediatric Dentistry. In the era preceding Casale’s introduction to Spark, her planning tools primarily consisted of recycled templates or hastily crafted documents on the fly. When confronted with unique challenges sans existing solutions, Casale’s go-to involved extensive searches for templates or contract language online. “The pursuit of speaker bios, in the absence of readily available infor- mation, meant repeated requests for details. Enter Spark — a game-changer that has allowed us to effortlessly extract bios by simply inputting the speaker’s LinkedIn profile,” Casale said. Gone are the days of laboriously sifting through an over- whelming volume of survey comments, striving to distill valuable insights into a cohesive summary that accurately captures attendee sentiments. Casale said thanks to Spark, this once time-consuming task has been streamlined to the click of a button. What’s more, Spark goes above and beyond by generating actionable recommendations derived from discerned trends in attendee feedback. “Upon hearing my colleague rave about attending Spark’s introductory webinar, my curiosity got the better of me, prompting an immediate dive into the platform. From the moment I created my profile, I found myself immersed in its seamless functionality and user-friendly interface,” Casale said. “The craftsmanship behind Spark is truly com- mendable, and it’s high time we spread the word about this transformative solution to any business event professional willing to lend an ear.” Casale had been a heavy ChatGPT user so when she caught wind of PCMA’s latest project, she eagerly hopped onto the platform for a firsthand experience. The Spark Whether you consider yourself a superuser of AI, or if you’ve never touched AI before, you will learn something about how to use AI better just by using the tool. BETH SURMONT Vice President of Event Strategy and Design, Live360 Media TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | February 2024 35sessions at Educon in Montreal proved to be an absolute highlight for her. “Positioned in the front row, I voraciously absorbed every nugget of information and valuable tip and could not wait to implement the strategies immedi- ately,” Casale said. Following EduCon, Casale began playing in the Spark sandbox and she delved deeper into its capabilities and dis- covered myriad use-case scenarios available for immediate implementation. Initially, she found herself casually explor- ing the platform, testing its responses to imaginary scenar- ios. Once satisfied with the results, she began commanding Spark to generate real responses to the tangible problems requiring her immediate attention. “The evolution from experimentation to practical appli- cation marked a significant turning point in my engagement with this powerful tool,” Casale added. Michele Byers, founder and CEO of Catalyst Manage- ment Solutions, had used the typical Microsoft and Google suite of tools for her event planning as they are familiar and after many years, she is quite adept with those. “But it’s a lot of manual data entry, especially if there isn’t any historical data, for instance with a new meeting or event,” Byers said. Byers first heard about Spark from PCMA several months ago, when it was first released. Quite randomly, she was seated next to the president of the firm that created Spark during a leadership luncheon and they had a good conversation about the product. “Our PCMA Gulf States chapter hosted a virtual demo and workshop for our local members, which was really well attended and got the wheels turning for me on the many ways it can be used for event planning,” Byers said. For Byers, who had been using ChatGPT on a regular basis to help with writing prompts and Excel formulas, hav- ing a product that was developed specifically for planners was intriguing. “I had seen some talk of how others were using it on some online and social media threads and thought I would dig in a little deeper,” Byers said. During the Gulf States chapter demo, Byers opened the application during the session and started working through the prompts to build a marketing plan for an event she is planning in San Diego for a niche group of military and fed- eral service physicians. It took about five minutes to enter all the relevant data and Spark provided her with an in- depth marketing plan to promote registration for the show, including strategy, messaging, cross channel integrations, target marketing, public relations, audience engagement tactics and a dynamic marketing schedule. “I then went back and updated the prompts to focus on exhibitor and sponsor outreach, and it provided sample email messages for communicating with pros- pects,” Byers said. “Was it perfect? No. Was it faster than if I had to write a marketing plan by scratch? Yes, by an order of magnitude.” Embracing Challenges As with any new technology, challenges emerge. That’s why Surmont recommends meeting planners treat AI, including Spark, like an intern. “It’s something that is learning, and you do need to check its work,” Surmont said. Also be sure to not put any private or personal information into the tool, that includes Screenshot via Spark AI can help planners do everything from brainstorming to content creation, and more. 36 February 2024 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.comabout you or your attendees. Similar to how you think about social media, don’t put anything in that you don’t want to appear on the front page of the news: personal information, business strategies and survey results. “You do need to inform people if you are using AI in a way that affects them. For example, I use an AI tran- scriber (not Spark) on the focus group calls I run, and I am required to inform everyone I am using AI,” Surmont said. For Casale, navigating the realm of AI often calls for a direct approach to yield optimal results and requires a number of revisions. She strongly recommends fram- ing queries in a commanding tone rather than as mere requests to extract the most useful answers. “I also find the login process with the one time password to be tedious, mostly annoying,” Casale said. “There’s room for improve- ment in streamlining this aspect for a smoother user experience.” Future of AI Surmont is trying to train her- self to use Spark first when she approaches a task. Experts say that AI is going to be very interwoven into our work and lives in just three to five years and Surmont wants to be prepared for it. “The other day, I had to cre- ate a job description and interview questions, and Spark created a great first draft for me. When I don’t know what to do with it, I’ll ask it — ‘I have to do this task, what do you recommend I ask you for?’ and it will give me some prompts to get started.” Overall, Surmont believes Spark will give meeting planners back time. As she explains, event planning is consistently named as one of the top five most stressful jobs. There are long hours, tons of manual processes, and AI is like having your own set of per- sonal assistants. “As it becomes more sophisticated, I look forward to it being able to create menus and check BEOs [Banquet Event Orders]; laying out space in a daybook; and proofing my program against my signs and against my mobile app,” said Surmont, who also believes the program will help planners create better audience experiences. Specifically, she loves the idea that it could analyze a schedule with 150 sessions and create individual audience journeys based on persona types. She also loves that it could make recommendations for products to see on a show floor based on the challenges an attendee is trying to solve. And she is excited that it could help with travel booking around the event schedule with the ideal arrival/departure times to not miss anything. “I also think that AI presents a huge opportunity for what events could be. Right now, we go to an event and consume a ton of knowledge, which we now synthesize into our own learnings and insights,” Surmont said. “AI does create a world where theoretically a bot could ‘attend’ an event and give you that same analysis. With this, events have to lean into the human side — the connection, the conversations, the listening and learn- ing from peers. I think AI is a threat to events where the primary value proposition is a ton of content. So planners must focus on designing for the intentional connections that we, as humans, crave.” Casale pointed out that the spotlight at PCMA Conven- ing Leaders event was predominantly on AI, recognizing its disruptive force across industries globally. “What may have escaped the audience’s notice is our industry-specific curated tool that holds the potential to save time, resources and significantly impact budgets (not to mention sanity!),” Casale said. “Whether it’s a fear of AI or a comfort zone with ChatGPT, PCMA has unveiled some- thing remarkable that I believe more industry peers should be aware of. To my fellow business event professionals, my advice is simple: log into Spark, take it for a spin, explore its features. You might be pleasantly surprised to discover how beneficial this tool can be for you and your teams.” C&IT Jacob Slaton / Whatever Media Group By using technology to make their lives simpler, planners can focus instead on networking with others and attending events. TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | February 2024 37U nder the best of circumstances, a meeting planner’s job is fraught with challenges. How does one choose the right destination, and venue(s) — not to mention food & beverage, educational content and entertainment — to meet or even exceed a group’s goals, and do it within budget? The tasks, and the weight of what could go wrong, seemingly are massive. Now consider all of that against the backdrop of current conditions. Inflation has been on the rise for a while and the labor shortage, while slightly lessened from when it first started, remains an issue for planners eager to execute optimal events. At the same time, by many accounts, meeting budgets are unchanged from prior years, or only slightly increased. Those headwinds, along with some other related trends, promise to give planners some very tall orders this year. But the good news is, these circumstances are not unsurmountable, they just require advance planning and strategic thinking. More than that, the growing power of events as a crucial part of a company’s year-round busi- ness and marketing strategy has sparked key conversations across corporations and industries. To reinforce that point, TED, the nonprofit organiza- tion on a mission to spread ideas that spark imagination, embrace possibility and catalyze impact through their Event Budgeting Planners Face Hard Challenges Head On Cindy Lo / RED VELVET 38 February 2024 | Corporate & Incentive Travel | TheMeetingMagazines.com BY RAYNA KATZ INDUSTRY INSIGHTmodel of short “talks” from influential speakers from vari- ous industries — business, education, science, tech and many creative and artistic field — promoted event strategist Monique Ruff-Bell to the newly created role of chief pro- gram and strategy officer. In a recent interview with BizBash, she said, “There’s a growing recognition of events strategists as true business leaders, strategists and revenue driv- ers,” said Ruff-Bell, who joined TED in 2022 as head of events. “This shift in perception and the increased representation in the C-suite is not only motivating but also inspiring to our indus- try. This milestone is not just about my personal achievement, but a testament to the broader acknowledgment of the crucial role events play in shaping overall business strategy.” Ruff-Bell handled events at a variety of high-level places, including Haymar- ket Media Group, Money20/20, and now TED for the last couple of years. Her current role reflects the growing recog- nition of event planners across all industries. “We’re being recognized as the innovators and thought leaders we’ve always been because of our resilience and adaptability in the face of challenges like the global pandemic.” While Ruff-Bell applauds the meetings industry for playing a pivotal role in the success and growth of any organization, she also recognizes the challenges — “budget resourcing for our events.” Inflation Landscape Last December, consumer prices generally climbed more quickly on a yearly basis than November: 3.4% com- pared to 3.1% previously, according to a January report in The New York Times. It’s worth noting that there are some signs that inflation is beginning to turn around. After stripping out food and fuel costs — commodities that the Times said are “volatile” — a “core” price measure climbed 3.9% in the year through December, down from 4% previously. That marked the first time the core index has dropped below 4% since May 2021. And while prices remain inflated, meeting planners expect to continue seeing especially elevated costs at hotels as well as off-site venues. Linda McNairy, global vice president, strategic meetings, American Express Meetings & Events, said her firm’s Global Meeting & Events Forecast, which surveyed over 500 planners, found expectations of 3.5% to 4% cost increases, “across all meeting types. Hotel rates and event production costs, in particular, were expected to rise. And inflation delivers a double whammy to meeting plan- ners. There are rising hotel costs, with room rates driven up by supply outpacing demand, as well as the passing on of hotels’ higher costs of food, labor, fuel, etc., while plan- ners’ own costs are going up, positioning them to have to do more with less. “Inflation is very real and budgets haven’t increased but you have to do a meeting on the same dime as before, so something has got to give,” stated Cindy Lo, CEO and owner of RED VELVET, a full-service experience agency, and Strong Events. Coping Strategies Lo advises clients facing cost-prohibitive prices to cut the number of attendees at their meetings, and/or to pare down the agenda. In some cases, Lo has talked to clients about taking the do-it-yourself approach on meeting ele- ments, such as flowers, which “can save quite a bit.” Meeting organizers need to be sure though that center- pieces created in someone’s kitchen, rather than a flower shop, don’t look cheap. “People often want to have these really creative, interactive centerpieces,” Lo explained, but when a florist’s prices become too steep, “the group might go to Oriental Trading and buy stuff and call it a centerpiece. Personally, I would rather just not have trash on the table.” Lo cautioned planners against saying yes to the DIY approach in most other areas. In other words, when an executive says “my brother is in a band so he can handle the music!” don’t do it. The cost savings don’t provide enough value when considering a meeting’s overall objectives — unless someone is really a professional singer. Or, to cite another area with potential savings, if someone is great on Canva, maybe a graphic designer is not needed, but again, most likely, deferring to the experts is best. In another money saving measure, McNairy suggested tweaking meeting agendas to reduce the duration of gath- erings. “Even cutting one night, depending on the size of Photo by Adrian Scat Some planners are cutting the duration of events to cut costs, and scheduling meetings in small bursts with longer breaks to hold attendees’ attention. TheMeetingMagazines.com | Corporate & Incentive Travel | February 2024 39Next >