Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest meeting and event industry association, published its Fall 2020 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.

Industry professionals express growing optimism for 2021, along with acceptance of virtual/hybrid technology and its permanent place in the meeting landscape.

Key findings from the report include:

• 58% of respondents predict favorable business conditions—a huge flip-flop versus last quarter’s weakest-ever prediction. 

• 74% of meeting professionals expect business to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 or later.

• Live attendance projections are creeping back up from an all-time low: 27 percent of respondents now envision favorable in-person numbers over the next year (last quarter, only 11 percent said the same). At the same time, projected virtual attendance remains incredibly strong.

• The pandemic is giving rise to concerns we saw during the initial rise of virtual event technology as 63% of respondents are currently worried that the proliferation of virtual/hybrid will permanently affect the desire or support for face-to-face gatherings in the future.

“It’s encouraging to see that more of our industry’s senior professionals are beginning to project improving business conditions for 2021. Now, these may be more mid-term predictions within that window, but a partial rebound in positive market forecasts is a good first sign,” said Jessie States, CMP, CMM, Director, MPI Academy for Meeting Professionals International. “We’ll see this index likely serve as a precursor to positive news from other sectors as it has in the past.”

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 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 at https://www.mpi.org/docs/default-source/meetings-outlook/meetings-outlook-fall-2020.pdf

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