Rising Costs, Event Technology, and Updating Security; Three Key Meetings and Events Industry Trends for Meeting Champions in 2019

For many of our AMI clients, focusing on meetings and events allows for personal connections with employees, business partners, or the public at large. As leaders in the event industry, it’s important for you to stay abreast of changing trends in order to make the most of every event. Here are a few meeting and event industry trends to consider as you plan your 2019 strategy.

Account for Rising Costs as a Meeting Manager

The Meetings and Events division of global travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) recently released the 2018 Meetings and Events Future Trends report. One of the big takeaways is that meetings and events are likely to increase in cost over the coming year, much as they did in the past year. For the average meeting planner, this could mean obtaining a larger budget and more carefully managing costs.

Of course, finagling more money for event planning often means justifying the additional expenses, and this requires an understanding of value propositions. Although many businesses are learning that meetings and events offer untold growth potential, there’s just no getting around the bottom line. The concept of spending money to make money won’t fly without a forecast for return on investment around your meeting planning.

As a manager, it’s incumbent upon you to understand the value to be gained from particular events so that you can engage in meaningful goal setting and create a plan for success. Outlining clear objectives gives you a springboard from which to plan for positive and desirable outcomes.

Utilize Technology for Attendee Benefit

You probably understand the importance of incorporating technology into your event, but a convention planner that doesn’t first consider the utility of technological additions is likely to waste a lot of time and money.

Why are you adding technology and what benefit will it provide?

There are two main reasons to use technology at your next event: to add convenience and to facilitate interaction. If technological additions to your meetings and events aren’t delivering on one or, preferably, both of these goals, you’re not living up to your responsibility as an effective team member.

Update Security

Even if you host the same event at the same place annually, it’s wise to go over your security plan each time in order to make sure you’re not overlooking new or different threats and security solutions. If we’ve learned nothing else from recent security failures at large-scale events, we’ve learned that it’s essential to have a comprehensive security plan in place that accounts for potential risk scenarios.

That said, you need to be realistic about threat assessment so that you can plan and budget accordingly for proper safety and security measures. A meeting champion that implements Secret Service-level security for a small company meeting will likely raise the ire of executives.

Any event organizer responsible for planning meetings and events will face a lot of organizational challenges that may be beyond their particular expertise. Effectively managing expectations and delivering on promises can best be accomplished with the expertise and assistance offered by a reputable meeting services organization, like American Meetings, Inc. With AMI in your corner, you’ll have access to the strategic planning, technology, and logistics services needed to pull off a top-notch event that meets your many goals in 2019 and beyond.

Andy McNeill, CEO of American Meetings, Inc., a global leader in the meeting services industry says of these three trends:

“When preparing for your meeting strategy in 2019 as the meeting champion, it’s your job to provide your organization with the best possible chance of reaching the audience, delivering a message, making a connection, rising costs, and building lasting relationships. The advancement of technology, security and rising costs all need to be taken into consideration. However, each can be expensive to implement. Take a thoughtful approach to make sure the event technology and the additional costs are worth the investment for your meetings in 2019.”