Do virtual meetings pose a threat to meeting planners? We gathered a few key insights from the recently released 2015 Meetings Focus Trends Survey. The responses from over 500 meeting planners primarily in the corporate, independent, and association sectors paint a picture of what’s to come in 2015. Be sure to visit Meetings Focus for the full survey results.
Six Key Insights
The majority of planners still aren’t planning virtual meetings.
Two-thirds of planners have planned neither a hybrid nor virtual meeting. For the most part, the presence of virtual and hybrid meetings hasn’t been a threat to attendance. Only government planners have found decreased attendance as a result of these types of meetings.
Increasing costs pose one of the biggest challenges for planners in 2015.
This was the challenge most planners - particularly the government sector - cited, over lower budget and declining attendance.
Rates and location still top criteria for selecting a hotel; Wi-Fi and available technology follow.
The availability and accessibility of event technology is become a top priority for meeting planners when selecting venues. Notably, free Wi-Fi had the largest increase in importance for planners, up 4.4% from 2013.
Two-thirds of planners do not have plans for a green/sustainable meeting in 2015.
For all the hype around green events, having a corporate social responsibility program remains a low priority for the majority of planners. Perhaps, this is a result of increasing meeting costs.
Attendance has remained stable, though the number of meetings held is on a slight downward trend.
The number of meetings held decreased by single digits compared to last year’s survey. However, 26.6% of survey respondents believe they will hold more meetings this year, compared to the 13.8% who believe they will hold less meetings.
Public perception does matter.
Public perception issues affected choice of destination for 61.8% of planners and choice of facilities for 58.9%.
Check out some other statistics from the 2015 Meetings Focus Trends Survey in the infographic below. Are you seeing a similar trend for your events?
