Future Partners Reveals 2024 Top Trends Impacting the Meetings Industry

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Future Partners Reveals 2024 Top Trends Impacting the Meetings Industry

4/9/2024
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Attendance at live meetings is expected to grow over the next three years as meeting planners face soaring costs, an increased impact of politics on destination selection, and a growing importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion of meeting attendees and speakers. Key to planners’ success will be the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to increase efficiency and improve attendee experience as well as strong partnerships with Convention & Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) to support the event.

These are the top 2024 trends meeting planners anticipate will have the biggest impact on the meetings industry, according to the 7th Annual State of the Meetings & Convention Industry study, conducted by Future Partners in collaboration with Miles Partnership and Digital Edge.

The State of the Meetings & Convention Industry 2024 surveyed more than 450 meetings and events professionals in the U.S. across a variety of planner types, including corporate, association, SMERF, and third-party. The study evaluates the current state of the industry as well as feelings about the benefits and challenges ahead. Unique to this study, the survey of meeting planners also gauges the value of the CVB or Destination Management Organization (DMO) in the meeting planning process.

“Shorter booking windows both for planners and attendees as well as heightened expectations for live events make the evolving job of meeting planners challenging,” says Erin Francis Cummings, President and CEO of Future Partners. “A core objective of our research is to develop a deeper understanding of the value CVBs can provide meeting planners and identify ways they can work together towards the ultimate success of the destination and event. Treating the relationship like a true partnership with proactive solutions, responsiveness, and an inclusive attendee-experience mindset makes all the difference.”

Key Findings:

Meeting planners are still being hamstrung by soaring costs, staffing issues, and hotels’ unwillingness to negotiate.

24.7% of planners feel their negotiating powers with hotels will decline (down 11 points YOY, but it is still the attribute planners most commonly agree will decrease in the coming years)
Destination selection is heavily influenced by hotel experience with planners rating Hotel/meeting facility service levels (81.6%), Hotels – quality (81.6%), and Hotels – rates (80.2%) as high or extremely high importance.
Planners are trying to find creative solutions to ballooning F&B costs, including sourcing boutique event centers as an alternative approach to using hotel meeting space. 17.1% of planners expect service levels to decrease at hotels/meeting venues in the next three years.
Planners are seeking AI solutions to make meetings more efficient and improve attendee experience. Additionally, some respondents shared that they plan to use AI in sourcing venues/destinations.

Planners expect increased attendance figures for live meetings, but also a wider impact on destination selection due to politics.

In-person and hybrid events are demonstrating their staying power with planners anticipated to host an average of 6.4 live events and 4.5 hybrid events in 2024.
63.5% of planners expect attendance figures for live meetings to increase over the next three years (up 16 points YOY).
61.2% feel the impact of local politics on destination selection will also increase.
More than half (53.2%) of planners agreed controversial issues caused planners to reconsider destinations.

Planners anticipate a growing responsibility to align their members’ values with both the destination and their meeting agenda.

Nearly two-thirds (64.1%) of planners agreed with the statement: “A destination must align with our members' values in order to host our meetings/events."
Over half of planners anticipate an increase in the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion of meeting attendees and speakers (60.3%), the importance of green practice certifications (55.5%), and an increase in corporate social responsibility initiatives (52.0%) being incorporated into meeting agendas.
Over three quarters (77.7%) are open to sourcing new destinations in the U.S. they had not considered before. This affirmative sentiment was most pronounced among third-party, sports, and SMERF planners.

As the demand and expectations for meetings and events grow, CVBs have a critical opportunity to showcase their meeting destination and forge strong partnerships with planners. A strong majority of planners (84.0%) reported they were certain or likely to use a CVB in the next 12 months.

“Building a welcoming environment for meeting attendees takes time, persistence, and a collective effort,” says Melissa Cherry, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Miles Partnership. “Destinations that understand the attendee experience and inclusivity in event planning can be instrumental in helping planners reach wider audiences. Those who can adapt to varied preferences will come out on top.”

“This year’s study really underscores a transformative trend in the meetings industry: the growing need for events to resonate with attendees' values on every level,” says Mya Surrency, Founder of Digital Edge. “By fostering strong relationships with DMOs, planners can lean on the destinations’ expertise in navigating the challenges in the market to produce events that are not just successful, but also meaningful.”

Request the State of the Meetings & Convention Industry 2024 report here.

Survey Methodology: The State of the Meetings & Convention Industry 2024 report is based on a U.S. survey of 479 meeting and event planners representing a variety of sectors, including corporate, association, and third-party planners, as well as those who plan for city-wide and those solely focused on self-contained meetings. The survey was fielded from December 20, 2023 – January 19, 2024. The sample also included a generational distribution of respondents: Baby Boomer+ (22.2%), GenX (42.0%), Millennial (26.9%), and GenZ (9.0%).

About Future Partners
Future Partners is a creative insights firm shaping winning strategies for travel, tourism, and hospitality leaders. As a team of market researchers with over 60 years of experience and supporting more than 250 brands worldwide, Future Partners crafts the future of travel for destination management organizations, travel brands, and tourism industry partners, from hotels and attractions to airlines. Future Partners also produces the longest-running study on American travelers with monthly livestream updates available publicly each month. Visit FuturePartners.com to learn more.

About Miles Partnership
Miles Partnership is a strategic marketing consultancy focused exclusively on travel and tourism. The company works with more than 150 destinations, hospitality businesses and other travel industry clients worldwide to develop marketing and management strategies that amplify local experiences, boost visitation, improve community relations and increase overall economic impact. Learn more at www.MilesPartnership.com.

About Digital Edge, an Agital Company
Digital Edge provides cutting-edge digital marketing solutions, off-the-charts creativity, and meetings expertise for sales and marketing teams on the B2B side of travel and tourism organizations. The agency’s services for destination organizations, convention centers, hotels, and beyond include strategy, creative, media, content, sales, research, and video. Visit digitaledge.marketing to learn more.

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