Growing Meetings and Events Industry: An Opportunity for Agents

Travel agents and meeting planners need to pay attention to opportunities in the growing meetings and events market, according to Dan Berger, CEO of Social Tables.

Berger, whose company designs software for the hospitality and events industries, spoke at the recent Incentive Travel, Meetings & Events (IMEX) conference in Las Vegas.

“Businesses spend about 1% of their annual revenues on meetings and events,” Berger said.

“The global spend for this industry is bigger than pharma. Agents and planners need to make sure they are getting a piece of that,” he said.

Twenty-five percent of the corporate planners surveyed by his company agreed that meetings and events were increasing in number and frequency, Berger said.

“And the number of professional events planners are on the rise as well,” he added.
Driving the global economy

As Bill McDermott, Global CEO of SAP, one of the world’s largest business software companies, put it, “Your industry is at the forefront of driving growth in the global economy.”

The Convention Industry Council places meetings and conventions spend at more than $280 billion in the U.S. alone, McDermott noted.

The face-to-face
Attendees at IMEX stressed that nothing replaces the value of face-to-face meetings even though hybrid meetings—meetings that incorporate developing technologies to facilitate remote attendee participation—are on the rise.

“During my time at Xerox I learned that you have to bring people together… you can’t motivate for growth by using email,” McDermott said.

Appreciation of those face-to-face meetings is growing, according to attendees.

Larry Luteran, senior vice president of group sales and industry relations for Hilton Worldwide, said the meetings industry is “now playing offense where we were once on defense.”

“We are all here to spread the word that when people come together something magical happens,” he said.

Bigger, not easier
But while the meetings industry is getting bigger, it’s not getting easier, attendees said.
Christian Savelli, senior director of business intelligence for Meeting Planners International (MPI) said meetings activity is picking up, “but it is only getting harder because planners are squeezed.”

“Increasing activity is not being matched by increasing budgets,” she added. “The hotel market is not adding inventory to keep up with demand and that is putting pressure on planners who are not getting the prices they need.

“The agents and planners now are very challenged by these conditions.”

Smaller, more local
There’s a trend toward squeezing what were three- to four-day meetings into two- to three-day meetings, said Savelli.

Savelli also said large meetings in resort destinations which require flights for attendees are being supplanted by smaller regional meetings in drive destinations.

Technology is also beginning to play a larger role in meeting planning, he added.

 “The use of technology for virtual meetings is helping to relieve some of the pressure, although research shows that it does not deliver the same value and impact as face-to-face meetings,” Savelli said.