Meeting Professionals International (MPI), a global meeting and event industry association, released the first edition of its new Meetings OutlookTM, a special quarterly report offering a unique perspective on the future of the meeting and event industry.
The report covers new trends as well innovations on the horizon and replaces the bi-monthly Business Barometer previously published by MPI. In comparison to the former report, Meetings Outlook surveys a larger audience to allow for more robust research. It is available for free for both MPI members and non-members, making it more accessible to the broader meeting and event community and beyond. Also, the new report’s survey questions focus on what is coming down the road, rather than presenting an assessment of the current business environment.
“MPI spent months conducting research, analyzing the results and designing the Meetings Outlook,” explained Christian Savelli, senior director of business intelligence, MPI. “This new report is more comprehensive and insightful, and we believe meeting and event professionals will find it to be a valuable resource for strategic business planning.”
The 2014 winter edition of the Meetings Outlook predicts increasing attention to meeting design, hybrid and virtual meetings, social media, tech innovations and the overall health of the meeting and event industry. Following is an excerpt from the report:
“In what appears to be a leading indicator of an economic recovery, U.S. and Canadian meeting professionals forecast a 5 percent improvement in overall business conditions in the coming year, according to the meeting professionals surveyed for this report. European meeting and event professionals expect to see a 4 percent improvement.”
MPI members will receive a printed copy of the Meetings Outlook in the mail each quarter in The Meeting ProfessionalTM magazine. The 2014 winter edition was mailed with the February issue of the magazine, and a digital copy is also available online at www.mpiweb.org/meetingsoutlook.
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