The German Convention Bureau (GCB), the agency that markets Germany as a destination for conventions, meetings and events, recently issued its 2013 predictions for the global meetings industry. These predictions cover a wide range of topics and include sustainability, an increase in smaller meetings and event personalization.
Know-how will be king
As many of the world’s economies continue to transition to service and knowledge-based markets, expertise and know-how will become more of a commodity and evolve into a “product.” In 2013, the GCB expects meeting and event destinations to more strongly leverage local expertise, people power and information excellence to attract and retain clients. Meeting planners are increasingly looking to link meetings and events with their organization or client’s sphere of interest through access to highly respected companies, research institutes, initiatives and globally known opinion-leaders.
Smaller meetings get more respect
While the number of large meetings continues to decrease, small meetings are on the rise, as evidenced in multiple studies on the meetings industry. Suppliers in particular will learn to better appreciate smaller meetings as a great reputation builder and a draw for future meetings business. The GCB believes smaller meetings can lead to more small, medium and large business in the future.
Personalization makes a come back
Even as lead times shrink and the number of RFPs grow (as seen in MPI’s Business Barometer 2012), now is not the time to lean on cookie cutter, impersonal responses to try and get business done. Although standard response templates are expected to build consistency and quality, in 2013, the industry should be careful to take a breath and personalize its responses more by discovering the client’s true needs and core business goals. This is all the more important as unique and unexpected elements in the response to an RFP can win a meeting for a destination. The GCB also expects some providers to try and build a little more flexibility into their offer response deadlines.
Green IT becomes part of the conversation
Sustainability in meetings had another strong showing this year in terms of awareness and effort as seen in the 2012 German Meeting and Event Barometer and at events such as IMEX in Frankfurt and IMEX America. Recycling, reduced paper and greener catering were all great steps toward more sustainable meetings, but look for the topic of Green IT to get more airplay in 2013. Computers, smart phones, tablets and servers, all in high demand before, during and after meetings and events, use energy as well, which is usually generated from coal or nuclear power that emits carbon and creates environmental concerns. Enter Green IT, a relatively new concept that refers to environmentally sustainable computing. It is expect to become more of a conversation starter in the meetings industry this coming year.
Value remains paramount
Innovation and sustainability are important themes within the economy as a whole and the meetings industry in particular, but at the end of the day, cost will again remain a key decision factor when choosing an event location in 2013. Even as globalization is evening out prices across cities, regions and countries, destinations with friendly tax environments, stellar know-how sharing, strong quality and highly accessible transportation infrastructures will have a competitive advantage as they deliver on overall experience return-on-investment.
