IMEX America tackles meeting & travel trends

Creating memorable meeting experiences, making the most of evolving meeting and event technology and the impact of the shared economy on the meetings events industry were primary topics discussed during the four days of IMEX America held in Las Vegas, Oct. 17-20.

At the end of the week, Chairman Ray Bloom reported that the sixth annual IMEX America, which is targeted to meeting planners and users of corporate incentive travel, set new records in terms of number of exhibiting companies (3,250) and hosted buyer attendees (more than 3,000).

The show’s Smart Monday kickoff, a daylong series of educational sessions, opened with a report on meeting and incentive travel trends from Tina Weede, vice president of research for the Society of Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE). The organization’s SITE Foundation partnered with J.D. Power to poll nearly 600 industry professionals — both buyers and sellers. Highlights of the SITE 2017 report include:

·   Increased incentive spending – Nearly half (49 percent) of buyers plan to increase incentive travel budgets (up from 46 percent in 2016).

·   Broader audiences – Sixty percent of buyers plan to increase incentive eligibility, opening programs in many cases to non-sales personnel.

·   Continued lack of ROI – Eight in 10 buyers and sellers believe incentive travel programs are a strong motivator of performance, but only 23 percent of corporate buyers and 24 percent of third-party suppliers are “always” or “almost always” tracking return on investment. Weede warns corporate spending on incentive travel remains vulnerable as long as there ROI is not a more prominent component of most programs.

· More direct sourcing – Corporate buyers are increasingly booking their own air, hotel and other meeting and incentive travel needs rather than use a third-party provider.

The shared economy

The highlight of Smart Monday was a panel discussion on the impact of the shared economy on the incentive travel and event industry. The panelists were primarily European entrepreneurs who have launched companies in recent years that utilize the shared economy in the meetings space. All of the panelists said plans are in the works for expansion into U.S. markets.

Jean-Michel Petit, CEO and co-founder of VizEat, explained his company’s model of replacing restaurant group dining with one-of-a-kind experiences hosted by locals, many of whom are gourmet cooks.

Dining is the ultimate immersive cultural experience, Petit explained. His network of cooking hosts are spread throughout Europe (Paris, London, Barcelona, Budapest and more). Petit says they create an experience that is often rated by meeting attendees as the most memorable part of an event. (Watch for more on VizEat and other sharing economy companies in the Jan/Feb 2017 issue of Sales & Marketing Management.)

Another participant on the sharing economy panel was Damian Jon Oracki, managing director of ShowSlice. His London-based company helps pair companies that are having an event around the same time and in the same area so they can share infrastructure and reap the cost savings.

“I started off at the bottom end of events, working as a crewman. Even after almost nine years, I still see the same types of events happening all over the place,” said Oracki. “Why can’t somebody just help them all communicate with each other and help them start combining some of their operations? The untapped opportunity for less wastage is as simple as information exchange.”

Panelist Ciaran Delaney says he founded his company, MeetingsBooker.com, after a frustrating search for a simple meeting room in Dublin for nine people took three days and more than 30 emails. The concept behind MeetingsBooker.com is to match those who need meeting space with those who have it. The online booking system eliminates the need to make dozens of calls and read through multiple-page contracts.

IMEX America 2017 is scheduled for Oct. 10-12, 2017 at the Sands Expo. More information is available at IMEXAmerica.com.