An online survey asking about opinions and expectations related to the planner industry for 2009.  A total of 125 attendees completed the survey. 

The 2020 Assessment™ team is pleased to present its key findings from our recently analyzed survey conducted for the 13th Annual HSMAI's Affordable Meetings^® West Conference & Exposition held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, June 10-11, 2009.  This survey was a joint effort with Jason Smith from HSMAI and J. Spargo & Associates.

Major Takeaways:

The economy, coupled with a negative public and political perception about meetings as frivolous expenditures, is motivating creative and affordable solutions for maximizing business negotiations, client relations and promoting exceptional experiences for meeting attendees.

Event planners seek venues offering both significant value and a significant "wow" factor. Planners carefully evaluate these two principles with their clients in a small team format prior to a decision, so vendors must appeal to multiple shareholders and the competition among venues is probably going to be greater than ever before.

Budget cuts and contingency planning continue, but clients are unwilling to sacrifice quality for price.

Simple value-adds often significantly impact the site selection process, and the promotional items and benefits to conference goers that are seen as most important can be characterized with the mnemonic, "a perk that promotes pleasurable work." 

Main Findings:

Event planners form two groups: one servicing a small number of meetings (no more than ten) and a second that services many events (16 or more).  This anticipated number of meetings has largely decreased or stayed the same compared to last year.

Over all, budgets for events have decreased, and the majority of respondents reported that this decrease is moderate (11-25% reduction at most). The major reasons cited for the budget decrease are the economic downturn followed by a decrease in the number of registrants.

Following from the above, most respondents anticipate small event sizes -- with most servicing less than 100 registrants, followed by events between 100 and 1000 attendees.

Top three areas of focus concerning suppliers are: general venues, promotional items and entertainment. Event planning software shows secondary importance. Attendees want to connect with suppliers that bring a substantial value-add to their clients and earn their subsequent loyalty. This makes sense given the budget decreases and economic environment.

The trend for software makes sense given that companies report increasing reliance on technology in their meeting management and marketing. Respondents also report such technologies make their job easier. However, nearly 30% of companies have not adopted technologies/software, which gives a strong sales rationale to vendors as they attempt to convince those companies to become early adopters.

Related to the issue of technology, the majority of respondents report using some type of social networking service -- most utilize Facebook followed by LinkedIn. Most users of LinkedIn utilize the service monthly, whereas Facebook users tend to utilize the service daily. In other words, Facebook users are more active. The rising social networking service Twitter is hardly used at this point, and respondents overwhelmingly stated that they do not use any other social networking sites other than these three, except for perhaps Plaxo and MySpace. Most use social networking sites first and foremost for networking, followed by maintaining current relationships.

The informational sessions most popular with respondents involved maximizing internal and external business practices. The implication here is that event planners want to know how to better position themselves with customers and venues, as well as how to negotiate better deals.

Substantial changes from last year (and slight differences since the last show and survey) were noted concerning the top reasons planners selected a specific venue for an event. Price, Location and Quality of Event Space were consistently strong factors in selection decisions, although Customer Service remained within the top five. An important aspect to customer service is the support and attention given the event planner, in addition to event goers.

Promotional items and incentives for event attendees were seen as critical for enhancing customer experience and loyalty, and internet access in meeting rooms, high quality refreshments and a fitness center received the strongest ratings. Note that these perks speak to instant rather than delayed gratification and hence the immediate customer experience on-site. Venues that offer complimentary meeting rooms must consider how to structure packages or payment options so that profit margins are not nullified.  

For questions or clarifications about this study or its findings, contact: James Houran, Ph.D., President of 2020 Assessment™, +1 516 248-8828 ext 264 or jhouran@2020skills.com.