Globally, increased costs are challenging meetings sourcing processes, event budgets and goals. Photo Credit: Adobe/Nuthawut
Meetings are back in a big way and host organisations must get
creative to navigate rising costs and hotel staffing issues, according
to a new report from meetings management company BCD Meetings &
Events, released Thursday.
Globally, increased costs are challenging meetings sourcing
processes, event budgets and goals, but are being met with “strategic
creativity,” among meeting organisers according to BCD M&E's "What’s
Trending 2023" report, which was sponsored by Hilton. BCD M&E is
the meetings management arm of travel management company BCD Travel.
“While Covid is no longer the driving factor, challenges such as
soaring sourcing and travel costs, inflation, supply chain issues,
staffing, increased meeting requirements, payment issues and more, are
forcing planning teams to keep a close eye on containing costs. They
must train and hone their creative muscles to deliver successful
meetings and events and high ROI for all stakeholders,” BCD M&E
stated in the report.
BCD M&E also encouraged companies to move toward more strategic
meetings management processes to support these areas of concern, and
they noted certain regions like Asia-Pacific gaining traction in this
effort. The report called out the “great disconnect in understanding the
impact of their meetings and events” on corporate strategy and success
for companies lacking cohesive meetings management.
For those companies, “an overarching, ongoing consideration for SMM
in 2023 [is finding new ways] to demonstrate the value of meetings and
events to all stakeholders,” according to the report. Understanding and
containing costs is part of that value, but the programme can’t be
expected to deliver savings against 2019 budgets.
Report authors estimated an event that cost US$20,000 in the United
States in 2019 now could run US$27,000, which will pose a challenge for
meetings procurement teams looking to prove their value with a
pre-pandemic baseline. That said, pent-up demand for seeing clients and
colleagues in person will take priority over “easing the strain on
planners’ budget.”
As demand accelerates, organisations should book events as far in
advance as possible—“the speediest to contract will be who secures
spaces first,” according to BCD—but hosts may be forced to cut corners
to keep spending in check.
This urgency planners must lock in venues and contracts links to other top global and regional concerns.
Top concerns in Asia-Pacific
The pandemic still casts a shadow over the region, with China still
following a zero-Covid policy. As such, BCD managing director of
Asia-Pacific Sanjay Seth noted the “constant need for agility and
flexibility in event format for planners in this region heading into
2023.”
While in-person meetings and face-to-face connections remain an
“effective format” in Asia-Pacific, according to the report, organisers
must consider which locations grant access to the most attendees without
quarantine and restrictions. This challenge also comes with lack of
inventory and staffing in high-demand areas and rising costs. As a
result, virtual formats remain “largely preferred,” Seth reported and
organisers are favouring simpler formats, leaning away from “complex
hybrid events” due to high costs and longer lead times to execute.
For in-person events still underway in the region, lead times are
“increasingly shorter and hotel availability is scarce, pushing planners
toward quick decision making,” according to the report. Meanwhile, many
budgets in Asia-Pacific are tight and “not increasing to match the
backdrop of global inflation, pushing planners to be more strategic and
creative in budget management.” As a result of tight timing and reduced
budget, meeting hosts are favouring packaged vendor offerings and
built-in capabilities, Seth noted.
“While it’s fine to have a global strategy, getting regional and
local buy-in is more critical than ever due to stringent consideration
for supplier partners based on their flexibility and costs,” Seth noted.
Source: Business Travel News