End of meetings (part 3): the credit crisis urges the meeting industry to innovate

(Party 3 on series about the changes taking place in the meeting industry.)

The meeting industry has been hit hard by the credit crisis. In 2009 especially meetings outside of the organisation have suffered from cancellations and "no travel / no meetings" policies introduced by organisations.

According to the he annual EIBTM Industry Trends and Market Share Report ([1]) launched on 1 December 2009 at EIBTM in Barcelona the key trends for the meeting markets in 2009 have been:

• many buyers have sought a technological solution to help them cut costs.
• greater use of alternative meeting methods, including ‘unconferences’, webinars, videoconferencing and web-based learning tools, as a way to control meeting and travel costs.
• growing use of social media for meetings; becoming an integral part of making an event successful both from a marketing and networking/learning enhancement perspective.

Also the increasing transparency due to the Web is leading to smaller and smaller margins for meeting planners and venues. When the cost of everything is available, when 2.0 reviews help the customer distinguish the good meeting venues and planners from the bad ones and when ‘comparison shopping’ is easy - margins will shrink for all meeting venues.

The MICE industry understands it needs to change. The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the IMEX Group and Fast Future Research have launched ‘Convention 2020’([2]) - a research study looking at the future of live events, venues and meeting destinations. The study explores the underlying trends and drivers that could shape the industry over the next decade and will centre on understanding the ‘meeting experience’ and the changing needs of live event attendees. So the industry is actively looking for new business models, new opportunities and new tools to re-invent meetings.