MEETINGS

Live, in-person events are projected to continue to grow at a sustainablelevel while the extreme seller’s market of recent years recedes, giving
many a glimpse of a more evenly balanced business landscape.

Q3 2024

A New Mindset,

Greater
MEETINGS
Equilibrium
MEETINGSMEETINGS
By Elaine Pofeldt

While many indicators suggest normalization is in the cards for event professionals inthe year ahead, challenges and unknowns remain.

Meeting planner Alicia Schiro, founder ofAced It Events in New York City, is findingthat 2024 has been a slower year thanin the recent past, thanks to factors likeinflation and the U.S. presidential election.
“People are waiting to see how things are going toshake out,” she says. “I think clients are being very cautious with budgets. Usually, they’ll plan several events
per quarter. Now it’s fewer events per quarter but moreis riding on them.”
And while room blocks are plentiful—“I’m finding
availability everywhere,” she says—so are stricter contracts. “The hotels are being tougher in terms of pricing,”
Schiro says. “They’re not letting people out of clauses
and things like that.”
And more hotels are charging “venue” fees, she’sfinding.

MPI MEETINGS OUTLOOK: Q3 2024

“So far, I’ve gotten them waived. By the time you add
up all the taxes and fees, it’s about 35%-40% on top of
the cost of the event,” she says, pointing to add-ons suchas administrative and service fees. “It’s madness and it’severywhere.”
The meeting and event industry is experiencing agreater sense of equilibrium, one in which, as meeting
professionals like Schiro are seeing, hotels and venues
still have to work to attract business while they are also
taking steps to make sure they are whole financially.
Respondents to this quarter’s Meetings Outlook
survey reported experiencing the most balanced market
conditions since MPI began asking specifically aboutthat data point, with 26% citing a balanced market, 43%seeing a seller’s market and 31% experiencing a buyer’smarket.
But how meeting professionals are perceiving the“Our business travel is challenged by increased costs in
Italy, making destinations such as Portugal, Turkey, Morocco andSpain more appealing.”

LAURA NOTARBARTOLO

Italian Special Occasions DMC and Events
MPI Italia Chapter
market reflects the experiences they are having intheir day-to-day business.
Cheryl Lovely, CMP, CTC (MPI Philadelphia Area
Chapter), vice president of World Meetings & Events,
sees a balanced market. She points to high demand
for meetings in the post-pandemic, work-from-homeenvironment.
“Now that so many employees are working from
home, the need for in-person meetings has become
extremely important,” she said in her survey response.
Yet her challenges include finding ways to lower
costs at hotels for F&B and AV, as well as getting
attendees to events amid full and delayed flights and“dirty, filthy airports,” she added.
Roxana Humphreys (MPI Sacramento/Sierra
Nevada Chapter), manager of events for the California
Chamber of Commerce, also sees a balanced market.
“Annual increases on AV and F&B prices are forcing
me to get creative and look for alternatives,” she saidin her survey response. “That might mean limiting
functions at host hotels that have F&B, encourag-ing the support of local businesses via discounts toattendees and holding more food-truck functions.”
Jonathan Goldwater (MPI Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter), vice president of creative services for GladTower
Live Productions, sees a balanced market, too. However, one challenge in the current environment, hesaid in his survey response, is “clients wanting to booklast minute for services sold out months ago.”
Against this backdrop, current conditions aresparking some suppliers to become more flexible.
“We’re adapting by integrating advanced technology for hybrid events, enhancing sustainability
practices, implementing rigorous health protocols
and offering flexible booking terms to accommodatechanging circumstances and deliver personalized
attendee experiences,” said one hotel-based supplierin the U.S., who requested anonymity.
But planner Laura Notarbartolo (MPI Italia
Chapter), founder of Italian Special Occasions DMCand Events, reported a slight buyer’s market, despite
domestic challenges.

BUSINESS CONDITIONS
Data reveals a slight bounce in overall business projections with 72% ofrespondents expecting favorable conditions for the year ahead. While this isup from last quarter, it remains below highs (80%+) from the earliest
pandemic-recovery years.

Favorable
Neutral
Negative

MPI MEETINGS OUTLOOK: Q3 2024

Q4 ‘23

Q1 ‘24Q2 ‘24Q3 ‘24

70%
14%
16%

76%
19%
6%

68%
16%
16%

72%
18%
9%

“Our business travel is challenged by increased
costs in Italy, making destinations such as Portugal,Turkey, Morocco and Spain more appealing,” she saidin her survey response.
A supplier in Italy who requested anonymity wasincreasing investment in events to stay competitive inan “ask/get more, pay less” environment, pointing to“mid-level customers [who] are requesting more complex and expensive events but…have small/reduced
capacity for expenditure.”
While the percentage of respondents citing a balanced market or a buyer’s market is significant giventhat a shift or adjustment appears to be taking place,the largest group (43%) of respondents are indeed
still experiencing a seller’s market.
Lou Marrocco, CMP (MPI Philadelphia Area Chapter), founder and president of Brandywine Events,
described the current environment as a strong seller’smarket, where one challenge is “trying to work withthe hotels on menus and AV costs.” He is also navigating a lack of support from vendors and travel-related
challenges, such as fewer direct flights and higher
costs on extra baggage.
Brad Dean (MPI Potomac Chapter), CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, sees a seller’s market as well—but
one he describes as slightly tipping in that direction.
It is one where he is seeing challenges in air travel,in which the “overall level of customer service has
declined, making travel less appealing and more challenging.” He cited “air service connectivity and ease oftravel” as among his greatest pain points.

In-person trends, challenges
This quarter’s Meetings Outlook saw a slight lift inoverall business projections with 72% of respondents
expecting favorable conditions for the year ahead.
While this is up from last quarter, it remains below
highs (80%+) seen in recent years.
The extent to which respondents expect businessto grow is worth some greater exploration as only
13% of respondents expect overall business conditions to improve by more than 10% over the next year.
This data point has been trending down for nearly
two years. In fact, the last time Meetings Outlook
found fewer respondents anticipating that level ofimprovement was for the survey in the field during
December 2019. This could suggest numerous outcomes—the meeting and event business may simply
be continuing to normalize; however, this could also
indicate an economic slowdown or concerns of moresignificant economic challenges.
In-person events continue to shine, with 76% ofrespondents projecting favorable live-event attendance, up from 71% last quarter and on par with Q1
results (76%). Meanwhile, virtual event attendance
projections remained stable.
“All the big conferences are back, whether or notthese companies have the budget to do an after-party,”
Schiro says. “Typically, they’ll spend a ton of moneyon the after-party. Now they’ll say, ‘What can you find

MARKET LANDSCAPE
Respondents are experiencing the most balanced market conditions
since we began asking directly about this data point. This topic, ofcourse, remains very market specific, but the collected data suggests,
at least, a softening of the widespread, impressive seller’s market
we’ve seen as in-person events flooded back.

Q4 ‘23

Q1 ‘24Q2 ‘24Q3 ‘24

Buyer’s market
17%
Balanced market 22%Seller’s market
61%

21%
20%
59%

25%
18%
57%

31%
26%
43%

MPI MEETINGS OUTLOOK: Q3 2024

“There seems to be a trend toward smaller events—20-person
leadership dinners versus large-scale events ... once a year.”
SARAH HATTER

ElevateCX

us for X amount?’ If people can afford it, they’ll invite
more, [however] some of my clients have struggledwith attendance.”
One case in point was an event that got pushed
when the organizer, who was trying to get attendees

to show up and buy its products, found that attendees
were not willing to pay for their own rooms.
“If you’re well known, like Dell or Microsoft, people
will pay,” Schiro says. “If you are a new company, likethis one, trying to get in front of customers, they won’t.”

BUDGET PROJECTIONS
Budget projections are stable, with 72% of respondents indicating favorable
expectations for the year ahead, very much mirroring results from thisyear’s Q1 report.

Favorable
FlatNegativeQ4 ‘23

Q1 ‘24Q2 ‘24Q3 ‘24

68%
17%
15%

72%
17%
11%

66%
19%
15%

72%
16%
12%

To what extent are budgets
expected to change? A strong
majority of respondents (60%)
expect budget increases of
1%-10%. Of potential concern—
considering the widespread
cost increases throughout theindustry—the percentage ofrespondents anticipating budget
increases greater than 10% is thelowest we’ve seen since 2021.

MPI MEETINGS OUTLOOK: Q3 2024

More than 10% increase
6%-10% increase
1%-5% increaseNo change
1%-5% decrease
6%-10% decrease
More than 10% decrease

12%
21%
39%
16%
7%
3%
2%

Speaker Michael Scott, who describes himself as a
global book ambassador, said he is finding there is astrong desire for in-person connection and community among attendees.
“I think meeting planners that are thoughtful
about ways to cultivate and facilitate that are going
to be the real winners in this environment,” Scottsays. “People are looking for ways to engage. Whatever tools you can bring to help ignite, fuel and foster
engagement among people is going to be criticallyimportant.”
In his own business as founder of Great Books,
Great Minds, which promotes books and reading
through curated events and a Substack newsletter,
Scott has found that there is a demand for smaller,
more intimate events.
“I would say the smaller, more intimate, thebetter,” he says. “One of the benefits of a facilitatedreading group is it allows the participants an opportunity to get to know each other on a more intimate
basis. People want to make connections with otherprofessionals they can compare notes with and get
useful advice with respect to their work.”
Also among those who are seeing a demand forsmaller gatherings is Sarah Hatter, the Sacramento,
Calif.-based founder of ElevateCX, a community forcustomer-experience leaders, and community manager for Rebuy Haven, a personalization engine for
Shopify stores, which hosts many smaller events.
“There seems to be a trend toward smaller
events—20-person leadership dinners versus largescale events they do once a year,” Hatter says. “I thinkpeople are seeking out smaller events for more of therelationship building that helps sales a lot more.”

ATTENDANCE FORECASTS
Data shows positive movement for in-person event attendance projections
with 76% citing "favorable" projections­—on par with Q1 results. Meanwhile,
virtual event attendance projects are generally stable.
Projected Live Attendance
Positive
Flat
NegativeQ4 ‘2370%
15%
15%

Q1 ‘2476%11%13%

Q2 ‘2471%
19%
11%

Q3 ‘2476%
13%
11%

Q1 ‘2418%
33%
49%

Q2 ‘2423%
31%
46%

Q3 ‘2422%
34%
44%

Projected Virtual Attendance
Positive
Flat
Negative

MPI MEETINGS OUTLOOK: Q3 2024

Q4 ‘2317%33%50%

OLYMPICS BUMP?
Adding a sliver to the ongoing debate as to if and how the Olympic Games
affect a destination’s appeal for meetings and events, a subset of survey
respondents shared their views. (Note: Due to the limited size of the
respondent pool for these questions, this data should not be considereddefinitive, rather simply as a collection of event professional opinions.)

Are you more or less likely to book an eventin an Olympics host city during the Olympic
Games?
Neither more
nor less likely

32%

Less likely

68%

More likely

0%

Are you more or less likely to book an eventin a destination that has previously hosted
the Olympic Games?

Neither more
nor less likely

85%

More likely

7%Less likely

7%

Meetings Outlook is supported in partnership with IMEX Group.
© 2024 Meeting Professionals International

MPI MEETINGS OUTLOOK: Q3 2024