As we kick off the new year, eventprofs have a lot to look forward to, but the industry still faces lingering challenges as well. Knowland and ConferenceDirect recently released their 2023 State of the Meetings Industry Report, based on the results of a survey of meeting planners and event managers.
Knowland’s monthly meetings and event data for December indicated that the US meetings volume surpassed 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic, which is a very positive sign and trend that will hopefully continue.
As meeting volumes continue to rise, one of the key takeaways from the joint report is that attendee size is no longer a major challenge. We saw this trend play out in the second half of 2022, as many events that returned earlier in the year — particularly those that were affected by the Omicron wave — struggled to reach pre-pandemic attendance levels.
However, this report reflects a positive shift: 71 percent of respondents indicated that their 2022 events had attendance at or above 2019 levels. In addition, almost three-fourths of planners said that they were not at all likely or only somewhat likely to plan shorter in-person events, meaning that meeting length has remained largely unaffected by the pandemic.
A major buzzword of the past few years has been uncertainty — but that seems to be finally fading away when it comes to meetings and events, as almost 80 percent of eventprofs noted that they do not believe they will cancel or postpone events in 2023. Only a small fraction (3 percent) said they were extremely or very likely to cancel.
Of course, they may still be uncertainty around costs, destinations, and other factors, but having more confidence that events will actually take place is a huge turning point for the industry. In fact, 67 percent said that they don’t consider Covid issues a factor when selecting a venue, and the majority (58 percent) don’t plan to have any Covid protocols in place.
When it comes to the challenges still facing eventprofs, the largest proportion of respondents (46 percent) indicated that they see the increased cost of planning and executing meetings to be the biggest obstacle to a full return to pre-Covid meeting volumes. In addition, only 21.6 percent of planners are very or extremely satisfied with the response they get from hotels and venues on their meeting inquiries due to staff shortages and inquiry backlogs.
“While we have a way to go yet, the light is definitely shining bright towards a clearer sense of normalcy for our industry,” said Knowland CEO Jeff Bzdawka. “As attendees are more selective about how they invest their time, the style and character of meetings are changing. So responding to these key trends and unique insights into what meeting planners need to be successful must be considered as we head into a year of greater profitability and positivity.”