Predictions on: Meetings and events

Growing confidence and expected boom in meetings and events

Confidence levels in the meetings and events industry are returning, according to a report from the International Association of Conference Centres¹³.

And this confidence looks set to continue. “With the growth in hybrid working, and as teams no longer necessarily all work in a single location, organisations want to get their people together; and employees still want to have that human interaction,” Stratford says. “It’s also being driven by the many companies that recruited during COVID-19, some of whom haven’t yet met their colleagues or have only done so once or twice. That’s also a good reason to bring people together and, furthermore, it links back to the employee wellbeing aspect.”

This growth is becoming particularly prevalent in the US. As Keichline explains, pre-pandemic, Reed & Mackay US didn’t have a meetings and events (M&E) team; now, its dedicated M&E team has grown from two people when it launched in July 2021 to 21 people today.

“We’re seeing a huge demand because there are a lot of companies with hybrid or remote workers saying they want to get people together, they want conferences, they want to share the company culture and get people together all in one place,” he adds. “In the US, at least, there’ll be a growth in demand for regionally based meetings.”

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