Meeting planner Lara Smedley’s clients are keeping her busy—and often with meetings that are coming together at the last minute. It’s frequently a case of hurry-up-and-wait. Despite all of the rushing to book the event, many are tackling contract review slowly.

At a time when many are experiencing sticker shock from inflationary prices, they’re scrutinizing every detail.

“They are going through each area, line by line, from F&B to AV to décor, to figure out what their potential budgets are going to be, before any contracts are signed, so that the front end of the booking process is extended,” Smedley says.

Sometimes, they’re requesting menus ahead of time to get the true costs and, if they are too high for the client’s budget, asking for a custom arrangement.

Smedley’s experiences reflect the complex realities of today’s business environment for meetings. While live meetings are coming back, costs are high, labor is still in somewhat short supply and there is considerable uncertainty, with dozens of elections coming up around the globe—including the U.S. presidential election—and ongoing international conflicts.

“As a speaker, my sense is that there is some apprehension and some concern with respect to really kind of getting one’s arms around where the world is,” says keynote speaker Michael Scott. “Economic and political forces are really forcing many meeting planners to look at what they’re delivering to their members, even in terms of where they’re holding conferences. I remember, back in the day, they would typically have conferences planned out three to five years in different cities but there is different thinking around that with the uncertainty that is taking place.”

Knowing the customer and delivering value

That said, industry professionals are generally feeling positive about the overall business of live events, with 76% of respondents to MPI's Meetings Outlook survey projecting favorable conditions for the year ahead. That’s up 6% over last quarter but down 9% compared to this time last year.

Meanwhile, in what is solidly a seller’s market, attendance projections continue to mirror the overall business conditions results, with 18% expecting an increase in live attendance over the next year of more than a 10%, nearly 21% projecting a 6% to 10% increase and nearly 38% expecting an increase less than 5%. Virtual attendance projections remain stable with 18% of respondents saying they expect favorable virtual attendance over the next year (this has stayed at 17% or 18% for the past four quarters). Significantly, however, nearly 49% expect virtual attendance to decline in the coming year.

Spending on meetings is also going up, with budget projections inching up slightly. 72% of respondents expect favorable changes over the next year.

Business has picked up so much that planner Stacey Sleem-Sanchez, CMP, CMM (MPI South Florida Chapter), senior director of firm events at DLA Piper in Miami, has had hotels turn down business due to high demand, with lower concessions and higher costs, according to her survey response. Her solution?

“Getting RFPs out at least one year in advance and being flexible has helped to navigate this new market,” she said.

The current environment is driving an emphasis on delivering value.

“There is a strong focus on content, content delivery and measurable outcomes, which implies the understanding of changing habits of delegates and a better knowledge of the audience, with particular attention to the way of learning of new generations,” says Antonio Ducceschi, CMM, vice chair of the MPI Foundation Global Board of Trustees and chief commercial officer at Starhotels Group in Florence, Italy.

Read the complete Q1 2024 Meetings Outlook report, available at no cost, out this month!