North American business leaders expect to hold fewer meetings in 2017 than they did this year, particularly larger meetings, product launches, conferences and trade shows, according to the 2017 Global Meetings & Events Forecast produced by American Express Meetings & Events. Overall spend on meetings, events and incentive travel is expected to remain flat, but activity may drop slightly.
The sixth annual report from American Express Meetings & Events is based on the company’s internal data, plus a survey of meeting professionals and hotel and airline suppliers and interviews with experts from around the world including companies such as Cvent, Delta Airlines, Air Canada, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Hilton Worldwide.
Important trends cited in the report include hotel consolidation and what it means to meeting planners, as well as the increasing role of technology in all aspects of planning and staging events.
“As adoption of meetings management programs increases across all regions, we see continued growth of technology use as well,” states Issa Jouaneh, senior vice president and general manager of American Express Meetings & Events. “Meetings management technology remains a central focus as mature organizations look to improve the data collected from their programs and how they use that data to inform program decisions, while others are implementing the technology to simply get a handle on spend across the organization.”
Technology was a topic that drew large audiences to educational sessions at IMEX America in Las Vegas in mid-October. Here are other trends highlighted by the American Express Global Meetings Forecast:
Downsizing – With property and other related meeting costs rising, many organizations appear to be adjusting the number and size of their meetings to stay within their budget constraints. Holding fewer meetings with more attendees or a more targeted attendee list is one option, as is using multiple local meetings to replace a larger meeting that requires significant travel.
Why we meet – Training is the No. 1 reason for meetings planned in North America, followed by “internal team meeting” and sales meetings.
Who’s meeting – Not surprisingly, conferences and trade shows draw the most attendees in North America (408), followed by product launches (255), incentive travel/special events (230) and sales/marketing (162).
What it costs – The cost per attendee, excluding air travel, is highest for incentives and special events, at $640 per person, and lowest for internal team meetings, at $293 per person.
Where savings are found – When a meeting budget reaches its limit, off-site evening events and the length of meetings are the first areas targeted for cuts. Cuts are rarely made in communication, registration, and audiovisual technology, because these areas are viewed as crucial to the quality of a meeting and the attendees’ experience of the meeting.
Affordable destinations – Predictions for booking second-tier cities increased from 20 percent in 2016 to 27 percent for 2017, while larger cities dropped from 80 percent in 2016 to 73 percent for 2017. The top two factors influencing the selection of location are the specific type of location needed, such as near a customer or near a training facility, and the ease of air travel and other transportation to that location.
Lead times vary – Meetings professionals continue to predict tight lead times, with lead times differing widely across meeting type and across regions. Respondents in North America predict the longest lead times and highlight how different the planning process can be from one meeting type to another. They suggest their lead times will range from 10 to 43 weeks, with shorter lead times for internal meetings and longer lead times for large meetings such as product launches and tradeshows.
