DEVELOPED IN
PARTNERSHIP WITH
MEETINGS
Safety and security concerns emerge—the strongest yet in
the history of MPI’s Meetings Outlook survey—as cautious
optimism and growth continues in the industry.
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COMBATING
% TERRORISM
44
of industry professionals anticipate changes
to the meeting and event industry due to the increasing
prevalence and threat of terrorism. Following are the ways
in which these organizations are focusing their efforts.
15
%
MORE DESTINATION RESEARCH
AND COMMUNICATIONS
REGARDING RISK
MEETINGS
5
%
MORE ATTENDEE
SCREENING
By Elaine Pofeldt
I
n the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San
Bernardino, Calif.—both of which involved meeting
and event venues—Lori Hedrick, CMP, CMM, MHA,
CSEP, is introducing brand new educational programming to the MPI Carolinas Chapter. It’s about security.
Risk management is not a new topic for most meeting
professionals, but this time Hedrick plans to bring in local
law enforcement and the Red Cross to address questions
about what to do if the worst happens. For instance, she’d
like them to answer: What do you do in that minute before
help arrives, with the people with you in the room?
“Who would have thought two years ago you’d be worried about doing triage in the middle of a meeting,” says
Hedrick, vice president of education for the MPI Carolinas
Chapter, as well as a meeting professional with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Hedrick is not alone in her concern. In the latest Meetings Outlook survey, 28 percent of meeting professionals
said they are making changes in how they run meetings in
response to the recent terrorist incidents.
“The vast majority of people are taking a very sober
and thoughtful approach to ways to improve security without alarming the attendee,” says Bill Voegeli (MPI Georgia
Chapter), president of Association Insights, the Atlanta-area research irm that conducts the survey.
“I just planned a ilm festival in Arkansas, and it was
very much part of the discussion—working with police,
having an evacuation plan,” says Bethney Ruggiero, CMP,
founder and principal of Strategic Event Design, based in
the New York City area.
In addition, 48 percent of respondents said they expected the costs of meetings to rise, because of the need
for greater security. Supplier costs are already ticking up,
the research found. Some meeting professionals reported
meetings were being cancelled, at a cost to both planners
and suppliers.
19
%
PROVIDING MORE
EMPLOYEE TRAINING
TREND FORECAST
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respondents expect the costs of meetings to rise
48% ofbecause
of the need for greater security.
1/22/16 10:56 AM
“Who would have thought two years
ago you’d be worried about doing triage
in the middle of a meeting.”
SECURING
EVENTS
LORI HEDRICK,
CMP, CMM, MHA, CSEP
MPI Carolinas Chapter
Meeting professional with Burroughs
Wellcome Fund
UPDATING PROCEDURES
AND CONTINGENCY PLANS
15%
9
%
ADDING MORE
SECURITY STAFF
W
WORKING
WITH
LOCAL AND FEDERAL
LAW ENFORCEMENT
5
%
14
%
DEVELOPING NEW
SECURITY PLANS
27
%
PREDICT NO CHANGES
DUE TO INCREASING
THREAT OF TERRORISM
Respondents agreeing to this statement most
often explained that they believe their current
actions are sufficient to keep them safe, that
they are statistically unlikely to be victims or
that their locations and events are of little or
no value to terrorists.
With big global events on his
agenda, Bruce Johnson, manager
of business development and
events for manufacturer Emerson
Electric in Round Rock, Texas,
has given careful thought to
how to keep attendees safe
from terrorism.
The company’s Global Users
Exchange conference—held in
October 2015 in Denver—took
place before the recent wave of
terrorism. But the next iteration
of that conference is slated from
Oct. 12-14, 2016, in Brussels,
Belgium, at the Square Brussels
Meeting Centre, where many in
Europe are especially on edge
about the Paris attacks.
“Right now, we are being extremely cautious there,” Johnson
says. “We’re monitoring all registrations on our visa screening.
We are doing double and triple
checking to make sure people are
who they say they are.”
Emerson Electric is a multinational that makes products ranging from food-waste disposals
for sinks to technology solutions
related to heating, cooling and
refrigeration.
With seven hotels booked in
Brussels, Emerson Electric’s team
is putting very tight security in
place that will identify everyone
on its team and all attendees, collaborating closely with the hotels.
“They’ll look through their
housing list to make sure those
people have room,” Johnson says.
“We’ve asked if they could provide additional security to screen
the other tenants in the hotel.”
Even prior to the terrorist
attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., Emerson Electric had a
key-employees policy that does
not allow more than five senior
managers to be on the same
flight at any given time.
“We loosely enforce that
normally,” he says. “We’re closely
watching that now.”
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Meeting professionals’ concerns about terrorism are contributing to an overall mood of caution in the industry—
one that also extends to projections about budgets and
business conditions.
SECURITY 2.0
BUYING
POWER
PINCH
A stress between rising budgets
and faster rising costs was inferred
last quarter. It is expressed this
quarter as an observation that increasing budgets are even tighter
than before. The latest statistics
bear this out: Spend is projected
to increase by 1.6% (down, statistically, over last quarter), but
prices are projected to increase
by 4.1% overall. On average, this
is a 2.5% decline in buying power.
Although security is on the minds of many meeting professionals, how their organizations react to the recent terrorist attacks is all over the map.
“We see very little indication people are saying this is
someone else’s problem,” Voegeli says. “They temper that
awareness with a variety of factors that are applicable to
them.”
The irst step for many organizations, especially large
ones, has been to more rigorously evaluate the threat level
at their destinations. Both large companies and the meeting and event professionals who serve them are turning to
security agencies, Voegeli says, though some such respondents were reluctant to share the names of their providers.
Some organizations are also re-evaluating corporate
travel plans. That is the
case at telecommunica“It’s not just having people at the registration desk
tions irm CommScope
Inc. of North Carolina,
but having a bit of heightened security on site. You
where Paula A. Klinger
have a larger security detail that is checking badges and
(MPI Carolinas Chapter)
works as a corporate
making sure the people that are in various areas of a hotel
meeting and event planor convention hall have the credentials to be there.”
ner. Though the company has large facilities in
China, Klinger says she
would be cautious about taking a large team on a global
BOB WALKER
trip.
MPI Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter
“We’ll really think that through seriously now, with the
SVP of client solutions at Freeman
situations that are happening,” she says. “Not that it can’t
happen here at home—we know it can.”
Klinger also anticipates it will be more dif icult to get
visas processed for her team than in the past and that air- pursue opportunities to host events,” she says.
Some organizations are amping up already tight seport security will become more of a factor.
“We’ll need more planning for our international team to curity, particularly at events where controversial topics
might be discussed. Freeman, a Dallas-based integrator of
come in to us,” she says.
Other organizations have become cautious—in the solutions for live events, took that approach at an autumn
wake of the attacks—about trying new destinations. When conference in Houston that attracted a number of enerVanessa Whitehead, CEO of Global Organization and Plan- gy-related speakers. While there has always been a need
ning Services LLC in Newark, N.J., attended a presentation for diligence, the carefulness is even more important now,
in December about pursuing business in Africa and the according to Bob Walker (MPI Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter),
Caribbean, attendees at her table discussed their leeriness SVP of client solutions at Freeman.
“It’s not just having people at the registration desk but
about traveling overseas at the moment.
“If folks are leery, they are pretty much not going to having a bit of heightened security on site,” he says. “You
TREND FORECAST
35%
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of respondents believe room rates
will increase by 6% or more over
the next year.
1/22/16 10:57 AM
Projected Price Change
Over the Next Year
F&B/Catering
4.6%
Audiovisual
3.6%
Air Travel
4.2%
Room Rates
4.5%
Meeting Space
3.3%
Business Conditions
for 2016
OVERALL, RESPONDENTS PROJECT
A POSITIVE 3% CHANGE IN BUSINESS
CONDITIONS—DOWN FROM 3.8%
LAST QUARTER.
68
%
of respondents predict
FAVORABLE
business conditions
24
%
of respondents predict
NEUTRAL
business conditions
8%
of respondents predict
have a larger security detail that is checking badges and
making sure the people that are in various areas of a hotel
or convention hall have the credentials to be there.”
Freeman has also encouraged attendees to keep an eye
on the environment at events, something Walker has seen
happening throughout the industry.
“I see more and more events suggesting to attendees
that if something seems to be wrong, let us know,” he says.
The concern goes beyond terrorism.
“Some deranged person could walk in with an automatic weapon and just start iring,” he says. “It’s up to us, as
those who plan these events, to put some procedures in
place.”
Although these procedures exist now, he has found, that
recent events highlight how much more important they’re
becoming.
But other organizations are sticking with their existing
security plans.
“Some companies have always done threat assessments,” Voegeli says. “Those companies say nothing has
changed for them.”
That’s been the experience of Timothy Neill (MPI Oregon Chapter), whose employer is not changing its security
plans as it evaluates what the recent terrorist attacks mean
for itself, its clients and attendees of events in which it is
involved.
“We have a risk assessment we do with virtually any
event we’re involved in,” says Neill, rental sales manager
for AV Rental Services, a division of Henry V Events in Portland, Ore., as well as ship and store manager for Henry V.
NEGATIVE
business conditions
Projected Budget/
Spend Over the
Next Year
55
%
of respondents predict
FAVORABLE
budget/spend
29
%
of respondents predict
NEUTRAL
budget/spend
16%
of respondents predict
NEGATIVE
budget/spend
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TREND FORECAST
31%
of respondents say their organizations’ numbers
of full-time employees are increasing.
DEMOGRAPHICALLY
BALANCED STAFF
A significant need brought out is that of identifying, training and retaining the right
demographic of employees who can embrace the “new” meeting and event industry—helping to support some of the experienced professionals who are unfamiliar
with emerging expectations. That is, the more seasoned professionals may not have
the socio-technological anticipation of newer professionals; newer professionals may
not have the experience needed to develop broad new business strategies. Each
side is discovering they need each other.
GLIMPSE AT CURRENT
EMPLOYMENT TRENDS
54
62
32%
FULL-TIME
31%
14%
7%
%
INCREASE
FLAT
DECREASE
FULL-TIME
FULL-TIME
CAUTIOUS GROWTH
Despite the pall that terrorism has caused, the fundamentals of the meetings and events market remain strong,
Meetings Outlook found. That is true in areas such as employment growth, in lation, declining inventories and more
competition.
Still, there has been a slow cooling of growth projections. Budgets are rising, but expenses are skyrocketing
so fast that budgets can’t keep up, the research showed.
Overall spending on meetings will increase by 1.6 percent,
but prices are projected to increase by 4.1 percent overall,
Meetings Outlook found. This has led to a 2.5 percent decline in buying power, on average.
%
PART-TIME
PART-TIME
PART-TIME
46%
CONTRACT
49
%
CONTRACT
6%
CONTRACT
Some meeting professionals are responding by trying to
lock in good deals now.
“Because it’s more of a seller’s market, with groups booking further out, they’re booking multiple years at the same
time to leverage rates as well as concessions,” says Doug
Tewnion (MPI British Columbia Chapter), senior sales manager at Atli ic Hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, who solicits
partnerships for the Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour.
Other meeting professionals are now taking a very careful
approach to spending on meetings. Klinger at CommScope has
found that with the prices of both hotel accommodations and
airfare rising, there is more cost-consciousness. If costs contin-
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TREND FORECAST
33%
of respondents say online collaborative,
interactive learning is very important.
“We would definitely review our list of who really needs to
attend more closely, now that expenses are rising—and looking at
the executive team going back and telling their team members about their
experiences, as opposed to adding more attendees. I think particularly as
costs continue to rise, we will look at it and perhaps cut back on attendance.”
ue to rise, the irm might reduce the list of attendees for
whom it is mandatory to attend the irm’s global operations meeting, she says. Typically, 75 to 100 executives
attend.
“We would de initely review our list of who really needs to attend more closely, now that expenses
are rising—and looking at the executive team going
back and telling their team members about their experiences, as opposed to adding more attendees,” she
says. “I think particularly as costs continue to rise, we
will look at it and perhaps cut back on attendance.”
The active mergers and acquisitions market in
many industries has also been raising questions in
meeting professionals’ minds about what the future may hold for existing accounts. That’s the case
at Freeman, which is actively planning for potential
changes.
“Maybe we have companies we have traditionally worked with merging with other companies we
are also working with,” Walker says. “Of course that
brings about new questions about who is going to be
in charge, who is going to be running their meetings
and what meetings they are going to have us produce.” To prepare, Freeman has been working on putting continuity plans in place, he says.
In the nonpro it sector, some meeting planners
have found that their clients, feeling pinched in the
current environment, are spending cautiously. That’s
the case for Lisa Lipowski, CMP (MPI Ottawa Chapter),
president of Curly Dog Communications, a healthcare
conference management services irm. Lipowski has
found that inancial support for meetings in the nonpro it sector has waned.
“The healthcare system is really, really suffering,”
she says.
As a result, inding sponsorships for medical
meetings has gotten tougher.
“You’ve got to jump through more hoops from a
sponsorship point of view,” she says. “Sponsors are
very selective about what they choose to sponsor.”
Some of her clients have, as a result, asked to hold
events at universities, rather than hotels.
“My experience has not been great,” Lipowksi
says. “When you get into the nitty gritty of it, you can
PAULA A. KLINGER
ind it’s not as inexpenMPI Carolinas Chapter
sive or ef icient as you
Corporate meeting planner
at CommScope Inc.
thought. The level of
service makes all of the
difference.”
Sometimes, the caution has prevented meeting organizers from making needed investments in a meeting. Whitehead at Global Organization and Planning Services recently
worked with a nonpro it client that made a series of compromises that she felt hurt the inal quality of the event.
For instance, the client said no to a backdrop that would
have made the stage background look much better.
“It was frustrating,” she says. “It would have cost a little
under US$1,000. We knew that without it, the stage area
would not look good. Most of the attention would be in that
area.”
The organizer expected the event to attract 150 attendees but it ultimately only pulled in 100, she says. With nonpro its, she notes, “the event helps sell your organization.
The level of the event can make or break whether people
want to participate.”
For many meeting professionals, the challenge in coming months will be to balance concerns about lower spending power with the need to take advantage of current opportunities. It’s not an easy one to tackle, but clearly, it’s an
increasingly important one to master. ■
Explore and compare the latest and all archived editions of
Meetings Outlook at www.mpiweb.org/MeetingsOutlook.
Meetings Outlook is developed in partnership
with VISIT DENVER.
Meetings Outlook is supported in partnership
with IMEX Group.
Research conducted by Association Insights.
© 2016 Meeting Professionals International
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