Have you noticed changes in attendee behavior? According to surveys conducted by Red 7 Media, event attendees are much more interested in the steak than the sizzle.
Education is becoming increasingly important, and those who sign up for meetings scrutinize the session content much more closely. Many planners notice that people are waiting until they see a final program to register, and fewer meeting attendees are making a vacation out of going to the event. They stay at more modest hotels.
But meetings are becoming more productive, and associations and companies are seeing the real worth of face-to-face events. The future is bright for the event industry, and it is a good sign for event planners. Will the free spending ways of the 90s return when the economy rights itself? No one knows—and would that be a good thing? Planners are enjoying a new respect for the job that they are doing because finally what we’ve known all along is becoming common knowledge: meetings mean business!