Convene asked Meetings Market Survey respondents to share what’s causing them angst — and not surprisingly, they cited budget woes and escalating costs most often.

For many events industry strategists responding to Convene’s latest Meetings Market Survey, it’s a toss-up between a lack of time and a lack of budget. Here’s a look at other issues that made the list.

Each year, meeting planners who are members of PCMA and an additional group of Convene meeting planner subscribers receive an extensive Meetings Market Survey, which requests proprietary information and budget projections for their organizations. Here are the characteristics of that sample.

When respondents to Convene’s latest Meetings Market Survey were asked to write in their No. 1 on-the-job challenge, budget frustrations were the most-frequently cited woe. Here is a graphical look at more of the responses relating to operating ratios.

Respondents to Convene’s Meetings Market Survey 2018 reported that, on average, attendance at their largest convention/meeting exposition in 2018 dropped from 2017. The graphics below show more survey results relating to expositions.

Respondents to Convene’s Meetings Market Survey 2018 reported that, on average, they are booking their small meetings about 10 months out, the same as the 2017 survey. The graphics below highlight more survey results relating to small meetings.

Eighty-eight percent of respondents to Convene’s 28th Annual Meetings Market Survey said that it was more difficult for potential event registrants to obtain visas in 2018 than in 2017. The graphics here illustrate other results from the survey relating to international meetings and attendees.

In Convene’s 28th Annual Meetings Market Survey, we asked respondents two open-ended questions — What’s the No. 1 Challenge Facing the Meetings Industry? and What’s on Tap for this Year?

In the 28th annual Meetings Market Survey, Convene asked respondents who said that their organization has changed how it collects and uses participant data related to meetings and exhibitions to share what they have done.