“In light of reduced marketing budgets, it’s imperative to make every dollar you spend have a direct impact on the pipeline you are driving with those dollars…”

Is the meetings business as we have known it changed forever?

Planning event budgets can be challenging. However, the more planners know about formulating, tracking and managing budgets, the more they can stretch spending.

The 2019 Global Meetings and Events Forecast gives planners and stakeholders in the meetings industry reason for optimism.

The guiding principle for any cost-saving strategy should be to preserve the quality of the experience for the attendees, because that is the basis for ROI.

A vibrant travel industry continues to drive up demand and RevPAR, which translates to room rate increases.

Savvy planners are finding that finely tuned contract processes and working their network help to keep budgets in line.

Nowadays the budgeting process is more complex. Planners are more entrenched in strategic meetings management, and therefore more concerned about return on investment and meeting business goals than they are about just event costs.

Although the meeting industry is flourishing again, budgets remain tight in most organizations — and virtually every significant expenditure is under unprecedented scrutiny due to the increasing impact of strategic meetings management programs. “Budgets are running really very tight,” says Peter Duncan, CMP, senior program manager at independent meeting planning company Meetings & Incentives Inc. […]