In 2022, Orlando and Chicago will host more of the country’s largest conventions than other U.S. cities, and there’s a good chance that those conventions will focus on health, medical, or pharmaceutical issues.
That’s a snapshot from the Meetings Information Network database, Mint+, a resource that catalogs organizations and their meetings and events. The database is a partnership between Destinations International, the association for destination marketing organizations, and Simpleview, a marketing consultancy and technology provider for meeting destinations. While the data is primarily a prospecting tool for group business, it’s also a rich source of intelligence into the meetings market.
The recently released analysis, called the 2022 Top 250 Conventions Report, looks at events that have a minimum of 3,000 rooms on peak night and that change locations. Sporting events were not included.
These large rotating conventions fall into 16 market segments (including one segment called “uncategorized”), and the study reveals that almost a third of the top 250 shows fall in the medical segment.
The top five segments for Mint+ events in 2022 are:
31 percent: Health, medical, and pharmaceutical
18 percent: Technology, science, and engineering
9 percent: Education
6 percent: Franchise, multi-level marketing, and retail
5 percent: Public administration, public affairs, and government
The vast majority (89 percent) of the Top 250 will meet in 20 different U.S. destinations in 2022, but there are certainly winning locations. Fully one-third of these large groups will convene in one of four cities: Orlando, Chicago, San Diego, and Las Vegas.
Finally, the report includes an analysis of when large conventions will take place in 2022. The busiest month will be June, when 14 percent of the Top 250 convene, but the second quarter overall is strong, with one-third of the year’s meetings. The second busiest month is October, while the least busy months are December, January, and February.
