Written by: Vickie Sullivan | December 30, 2014
More Training Meetings for 2015
As we put away the decorations and look forward to ringing in the new year, let’s take a look at the meeting trends coming up in 2015. I like the global scope of this analysis from American Express. Even if you are not speaking internationally, there’s plenty of information about your home region. Bottom line: this is the year of small changes. Findings we care most about:
- Don’t be fooled by budget increases. That’s due to more meetings; the increases will go to hotels and air, which will raise prices. For high-end meetings, that won’t matter. For the rest of the events, the motto is: we want more for less. Watch for hard negotiations for speaker fees to continue.
- The number of training and senior leadership/board meetings look pretty good. In North America, training meetings have the lead with a 0.9% increase. These events also have the biggest bump in Central/South America at 2.4%. Senior leadership and board meetings in North America are close behind training at 0.7% and take a huge lead in the Asia Pacific region at 2%.
- Regarding lead times: the worst is over but here to stay. Only 2% decline is projected in all regions except Central/South America, which is at 0.3%. Hotels get top priority, so expect the same if not more volatility in speaker selection.
- ROI (return on investment) is still critical and still a moving target. Consistency is laking but here are some popular ideas: mobile app data used to measure engagement, pre and post surveys that measure progress against objectives. For 2015, go beyond asking about objectives. Ask how those goals will be measured.
Click here for the entire study.
Other Resources You Might Like: