While question marks still hover as the economic recovery lurches along, one thing’s for sure, meeting and event professionals are riding the recovery wave with a close eye on their company’s or client’s purse strings.

Economic effects

These days, just about every structured meeting or event is facing some kind of economic challenge. From cancelled meetings to lowered spending, businesses are working hard to make today’s meeting and events effective for all involved. Like any enterprise, the meetings and events industry must be willing to make changes and be fluid in their thinking—it's simply no longer business as usual.

Here’s why: While meetings are still happening, the environment has become extremely competitive, especially as businesses continue to watch their bottom line as it pertains to meeting and event spending.

In fact, the recession demands that companies use the utmost creativity and innovation in meeting and event planning. Many businesses are looking for a way to demonstrate the relevance of their meeting or event to the bottom line and therefore increase attendance.  And with tight travel budgets and staff reductions, a business must be able to show the event's return on investment — connecting the dots directly to sales is mandatory or people will be reluctant to attend.

As a result, meetings seem to be shorter in length, attendees are not staying as long, and organizations are hesitant to commit to anything until they are confident in their numbers.  In fact, attendees can no longer afford to go to a meeting for a meeting's sake. Nowadays, even a simple cocktail party better have a reason for being other than the opportunity for free appetizers and drinks.

What’s more, many companies are opting to downsize large formal dinners into equally appealing, but less expensive options, such as a wine tasting with locally infused appetizers or perhaps a casual outdoor barbeque—offering a memorable experience at a cost savings from traditional banquets.

“Today's meetings are structured with less ‘fluff’ and more substance to maximize the attendee's experience and the return on their investment of cost and time,” says Allyson Wagner, project specialist at Atlanta-based Meetings Incentives Inc. “They are being condensed to do more with less.”

Wagner says the recovery in her industry remains slow, but companies are now looking to see how they can still hold an event and ensure a return on their investment.

“Many companies are realizing they can't afford to not hold a meeting or event, as this may be a way that they generate sales,” she stresses.

That said, meeting planners have about a six-month window to lock in the best rates and values that the industry has seen in years, and those who sign contracts now for future business will certainly look back and smile at the great deals they were able to secure for their clients. But that may not last much longer.

“What I've experienced as I book programs out into 2011 and beyond is that hotels are optimistic about the economy turning around, and are increasing their rates starting in 2011,” says Anne Cress, CMP and director of meetings and conferences at Assurant Health in Milwaukee. “The past couple years we've been able to enjoy unusually low group rates and special concessions due to the slowdown in the meeting industry, but it appears that this isn't continuing as I book further into the future.”

Hotels are beginning to put more business on the books than they have been over the past couple of years, she notes.

“For the planner, there still is opportunity to negotiate good rates for future programs,” says Cress.  “This is especially true if you are able to lock in one property for a multi-year contract.”

Cress explains how Assurant Health has modified some of its meeting and event programs due to the cancellation of others. “For instance, if we eliminated one of our meetings, we increased the scope of another meeting to make up for this,” she says.

“We also are much more cost-sensitive and looking for new, creative ways to save money without affecting the quality of the program. Everyone is experiencing slower sales, so attendance at sales meetings is lower than it's been in the past.”

Trends on tap

According to Jean Neider, president of Meetings & Incentives in Caledonia, there are a number of trends in play right now in the industry.

“The trends that we have seen are not glamorous, besides watching every penny, we have noticed shorter lead times for meetings and a much higher percentage of cancellation,” she says. “Of course, we have countered that trend for our clients by negotiating more flexible cancellation clauses and used the shorter lead time as leverage for better rates.”

She notes that, in the short term, corporations have continued to view cost control as the largest opportunity for immediate fiscal return.

“As part of that initiative, small meetings are targeted as a key opportunity to drive savings, productivity and reduce risk,” she says, noting that two-thirds of all meetings are attended by less than 50 people. “Small meeting sourcing and management is typically decentralized and does not consistently adhere to travel policy.”

Neider also sees a continued trend toward outsourcing meeting planning to third-party companies such as her own.

“Companies are focusing on their core business and service, thus, relying on experts in various out-sourced areas to provide strategically aligned expertise,” she notes.

Wisconsin holds its own

Industry experts agree that Wisconsin continues to be a very attractive region in the country for meetings and events, as the area continues to develop properties and infrastructure to meet the continued needs of companies both in Wisconsin and beyond.

Scott Dettman, director of sales at Hotel Sierra in Green Bay says that nationally the first-tier convention cities like Las Vegas, Chicago or Boston have been hit hard with the economic slowdown from the convention and meeting market. “The second- and third- tier cities have not been hit as hard because the cost to host a convention in a Milwaukee or Green Bay is more affordable from the national convention cost perspective,” Dettman says.

Dettman notes that the structure of conventions is usually two or three days, however during the past 18 months they have had some groups cut their conventions by half or even a full day to save money. “We have also had some groups go from a two-day meeting to a one-day meeting to avoid the cost of an overnight for the members,” Dettman says.

While Dettman believes meeting professionals will still host conventions and meetings during 2010, he foresees the number of people attending these conventions and meetings to be down by 20 to 30 percent.

“There have not been any signs that the meetings and hospitality industry will be turning around in 2010,” he says. “The window that meeting professionals book their conventions and meetings has closed when compared to previous years. It is not uncommon for a convention of 250 to 500 people to book less than a year in advance. In the past groups this size would book two to three years in advance.”

Stepping out from the competition

With today’s reluctance to hold meetings, it’s even more crucial for properties to differentiate themselves from the competition and offer more amenities to lure meeting planners. That’s where the trend of green meeting practices comes in. From efficient lighting to paperless offices to utilizing alternative fuel in the transportation of products, companies are trying to better accommodate to these earth-sensitive times.

Wagner says green and sustainable measures before, during, and post conference are really ‘hot’ right now in the meeting and events industry. “Efforts like this are transitioning from being ‘trendy’ to a way of doing business,” Wagner says.

That’s because in tough economic times, conservation is actually a revenue generator. Conserving electricity, water and other resources saves money and turning in recycled items actually generates revenues for properties and adds an element of marketability to businesses that are looking to hold meetings at green facilities.

In addition to embracing “all things green,” Wagner explains that companies, suppliers and planners are looking at ways to invest in new technology to make their efforts more efficient.

“New technology for managing registration, avoiding hotel attrition and generating a more targeted audience are all on the forefront,” she says.

For Dettman, the hottest trends that he is currently seeing for 2010 are the other methods that meeting professionals are looking into to host their events.

“With the advancement in technology webinars, teleconferencing and video conferencing are becoming more popular and cost effective,” Dettman says. “This is another form of competition that the hotels and convention centers have to compete against.”

A meeting conducted via a webinar can reach thousands of people in their offices and homes without those people traveling to a meeting destination, a change that is likely to be felt industry wide, though to what degree is yet to be known.

“This type of meeting will have some effect on our industry, but will not replace the traditional conventions that associations have on an annual basis,” predicts Dettman.

By Maura Keller

Maura Keller is a freelance writer originally from Wisconsin.

More Featured Articles