DALLAS (Nov 18, 2022) - Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest meeting and event industry association, has published its Fall Meetings Outlook a future-focused quarterly report that identifies new trends and innovations. The publication allows planners to budget and plan accordingly and ensures a strong foundation for building sound strategies that keep businesses on paths to success.

As a consequence of a strongly recovering industry combined with significant hiring challenges, many meeting professionals are struggling with insufficient resources—both staff and budgets relative to rising costs. The good news: The meeting/event industry knows how to proceed in a successful manner. The bad news: Outside factors, such as global economic challenges, could delay the industry’s full recovery.

• 86% of respondents anticipate “favorable” business conditions over the next years—the second-most positive response seen in the survey’s history.

• Meeting professionals are preparing for inflation and/or recession, most notably, 78% say they’re seeking new venue opportunities. In the previous quarter, only 34% of respondents said they were seeking new revenue avenues.

• 65% of respondents say it’s difficult filling job vacancies, down slightly from the previous quarter (69%), but still the second highest this data point has been.

• A clear majority (64%) of respondents describe the current meeting/event business landscape as a “seller’s market;” only 19% identify it as a “buyer’s market.”

“More than a third of meeting professionals say their organizations are back to pre-pandemic business conditions, with another third saying that will come sometime next year. But there is no such relief when it comes to difficulty filling jobs. Nearly two-thirds of meeting professionals still say they are finding it hard to fill open positions, down only slightly from 69% in August. And it’s not just the open jobs—41% of organizations say their full-time employment is increasing and a third say they are hiring part-time and contract workers. Challenges on the registration side persist, as well, with 65% of professionals reporting more last-minute registration, making predictive analysis with few post-pandemic benchmarks increasingly difficult. Paired with increasing costs, budgeting has become more challenging. It’s good to be back, but that has come with a price.”

Meetings Outlook presents future industry trends and predictions from MPI members. Research is conducted in-house using the Qualtrics survey platform. The research is conducted quarterly and provides current business conditions and future outlooks.

Meetings Outlook is developed in partnership with IMEX Group. The full report can be found here: https://www.mpi.org/docs/default-source/meetings-outlook/meetings-outlook-fall-2022.pdf

About MPI: Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is the largest meeting and event industry association worldwide. The organization provides innovative and relevant education, networking opportunities and business exchanges, and acts as a prominent voice for the promotion and growth of the industry. MPI has a global community of 60,000 meeting and event professionals including nearly 14,000 engaged members. It has nearly 70 chapters, clubs and members in more than 75 countries worldwide. "When we meet, we change the world."  

Media Contact:  Peggy Foley, communications@mpi.org; 972-365-7984