The 1999 Meetings Outlook Survey, conducted by Meeting Professionals International and the American Society of Association Executives, reveals that 22 percent of corporate meeting planner respondents expect to hold more meetings in 1999 than they did this year. However, the same number of corporate planners reported that they expect to hold fewer meetings next year than they held this year.
(The study polled 300 meeting planners, 150 of whom identified themselves as corporate meeting planners.) Other findings:
* Half of the corporate planner respondents expect to hold meetings outside of the U.S. in 1999. The top three destinations for those meetings: England, Canada, and Mexico.
* From a list of possible responses--technology, sponsorships, pricing structures, duration of meetings, and educational topics/format--about two thirds of the corporate planner respondents said technology would bring the most significant changes to the meeting industry over the next two years. Half the corporate planners judged "sponsorships" to be the least significant change agent.
* Half the corporate planners said that measuring a meeting's return on investment was "very important."
Look for the biennial ICP Salary and Practices Survey in the January/February 1999 issue for detailed information about the jobs and meetings of your insurance conference planning peers.