DALLAS (May 10, 2019) -  Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest meeting and event industry association, published its Spring 2019 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.

The report reveals that the business landscape remains stable, and slightly favoring sellers, including hotels and other meeting venues, with strong indications of growth in hiring and attendance for both live and virtual events. These findings give meeting professionals a prime opportunity to focus on crafting unique attendee experiences.

Other key findings from the report include:

• The demand for creating unique attendee experiences is growing, according to 78% of respondents. The majority (66%) of respondents said this demand affects their venue-selection decisions.

• Both live and virtual event attendance is expected to grow 2.7% over the next year. This represents the strongest live event attendance projections since 2016.

• Sixty-two percent of industry professionals have witnessed or been on the receiving end of unconscious bias. The most common manifestation of this bias was gender-based (52%), followed by racial (34%).

• Sixty percent of respondents predict favorable business conditions, with a 2.5% growth expected over the next year.

“Meetings Outlook is a ‘must-have’ for event planners to remain abreast of current business conditions and industry trends and understand how those conditions and trends impact their meetings, their organization and their budgets.” said Jessie States, CMP, CMM, director, MPI Academy for Meeting Professionals International. “This report is another example of the value that MPI brings members and the industry as a whole.”

Meetings Outlook presents future industry trends and predictions from MPI members, including meeting professionals on MPI’s Business Research Panel. Research is conducted in house using the survey platform, Qualtrics, and MPI receives expert analytics from their team. The research is conducted quarterly and provides current business conditions and future outlooks.

Meetings Outlook is developed in partnership with MGM Resorts and supported in partnership with IMEX Group. The full report can be found at https://www.mpiweb.org/docs/default-source/meetings-outlook/meetings-outlook-spring-2019.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 more than 17,000 engaged members and its Plan Your Meetings audience. It has more than 75 chapters and clubs in 70 countries. "When we meet, we change the world." www.mpi.org

Media Contact:  Mary Lester, communications@mpi.org; 214-490-3480