There’s a lot to unpack in Convene’s 31st Meetings Market Survey, which will be published in November, but here’s one main takeaway: Planners are dealing with heightened expectations about their event experience from their stakeholders, while struggling with rising costs for everything from F&B and AV to room rates — all with reduced staffs and smaller budgets.
But don’t just take our — or our survey respondents’ — word for it. Development Counsellors International (DCI) has published an insights report — “A View From Meeting Planners: Winning Strategies in Destination Marketing” — whose planner responses mesh with those of Convene’s survey takers.
Conducted between August and September, the DCI study includes the responses of 173 global event planners, 57 percent of whom have more than 20 years of experience in the events industry. Slightly more corporate than association planners participated in the survey and the vast majority (95 percent) most typically plan business events in North America, followed by Europe (73 percent); Latin America (50 percent); Caribbean and Bermuda (43 percent); Asia Pacific (40 percent); and the Middle East and Africa (20 percent).
Planner respondents to DCI’s survey said they strongly agree with these statements: “My clients are expecting more ‘experience creation’ but in the context of declining/stable budgets” and “My current role in planning meetings and events involves more ‘experience creation’ for meeting attendees compared to three years ago.” Furthermore, nearly 7 out of 10 meeting planners see themselves as the primary party responsible for the “experience creation” for meeting attendees.
The thing that keeps most planners awake at night? That thing actually has three heads, each checked off by 41 percent of planners: responsiveness of suppliers (which may be attributed to their reductions in staff), increase in workload with no increase in staff resources, and declining budgets.
Destination Details
DCI’s report also includes site-selection insights, including the three destinations in each geographic region that respondents consider the best in class for hosting business events and up to three CVBs inside and outside North America that are most helpful in addressing planners’ needs. Spoiler alert: Visit Orlando and San Diego Tourism Authority came out on top in the U.S., and London & Partners was the top bureau outside the U.S.
Planners ranked meeting with new destination reps at industry trade shows the top way they gain awareness about potential hosts for their events, followed by colleague referrals. Not surprisingly, the CVB is the organization planners rely on most when evaluating destinations for their upcoming events. But this result may raise eyebrows: Despite the nearly universal challenge of managing one’s overflowing inbox, planner respondents said their most-preferred method for a CVB rep to reach them to provide information about their destination is via email. And no calls, please: Only 2 percent want to be contacted by phone.
Given their budgetary woes, planners said the factor that ranks highest in importance to their organization when selecting a host destination is the cost of meeting space and hotel rooms. Second is the “wow factor” — because, we can assume, they could use help in elevating the experience of event participants, yet another pressure they feel more keenly than in pre-COVID times.
Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.