Mergers and acquisitions of meeting industry suppliers was big news in 2016, and there may be more to come. “I don’t think we have seen the end of this,” says David Peckinpaugh, president, Maritz Global Events. “As consolidation continues, we will have to watch carefully and continue to focus on what is best for our clients. My biggest concern is the loss or significant reduction of choice and the possible emergence of a few dominant players. As an industry, we are far better off with many strong competitors vying for market share. We will have to assume consolidation will reduce competition and choice, as well as impact pricing—all not in favor of the customer.”

President-elect Donald Trump promises to bring sweeping changes to everything from the economy to the tax structure and healthcare to infrastructure and immigration. While we wait to see how his policies play out, industry experts weigh in on what the Trump Administration could mean for the meetings business.

Watch for movement in controversial state laws in 2017, including:

Gun laws: Whether you welcome firearms at your meetings or not, pay attention to the open-carry and concealed-carry state laws of your meeting destinations and prepare accordingly.

Discriminatory laws: When states pass divisive legislation like North Carolina’s HB2, which prevents transgender people from using government-run bathrooms corresponding to the gender with which they identify, expect boycotts, protests, and attrition/cancellation issues.

Stock epinephrine laws:  More than 25 states now allow venues to stock epinephrine auto-injectors for use when someone has a life-threatening allergic reaction. However, these laws don’t require that venues stock the medicine; they just provide a legal framework to allow it.  If your destination permits it, ask if your hotel stocks epinephrine.

Source: Tyra Hilliard, PhD, JD, CMP, a speaker, multipreneur, and assistant professor, business and hospitality, College of Coastal Georgia

“Content is not king today—it’s all about context. I don’t need the meeting to learn what I need to find out. I need the meeting today to tell me what it means to me and how I’m going to implement it. Attendees need more white space so people can have conversations about what they’re learning.”—Michael Dominguez, Chief Sales Officer, MGM Resorts International

The meetings industry is moving into uncharted territory in 2017, with stress levels at an all-time high, says Holly Duckworth, CEO of Leadership Solutions International. Meeting planners, she says, must now “consciously plan environments and time to make participants feel safe to learn and grow.”  Her advice: Shift away from meetings being a deluge of information, to a two-way idea exchange, and offer time to process the experience. She says, “Meetings must create certainty in these uncertain times.”

For large events in the year ahead, attendees arriving onsite may feel like they’re back in the airport security line: bag checks, metal detectors, canine security units. But what you need above all is a crisis plan. More from the experts.​

No one thinks it will happen to them, but your chances of being hacked are growing every year. Have you ever considered the dangers of allowing your presenters to plug their flashdrives into your system? Read about this and four other things you need to stop doing now to keep your meetings safer.

As of January 1 it will be legal in nine states for adults to purchase marijuana for recreational use, and several more states have decriminalized possession of the drug. If you’re meeting in one of these pot-friendly states, 2017 may be the year your attendees want a whiff. The simple measures in our common sense cannabis checklist can help you avoid a “bad trip.”

In the coming year, “social media will continue to take a larger communication role in meetings and events, but we have to get more creative about how we integrate it,” says Kelsey Dixon, a cofounder, with Makenzie Davies, of branding and experiential marketing firm davies + dixon. “We’re past the ‘been there, done that, tweeted about it,’ stage.” With live-streaming continuing to gain popularity, Dixon and Davies point to Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Live as the more creative and effective social media options for 2017.

Read more, including our Snapchat to-do list with tips for creating relevant, engaging meeting posts.

Putting on virtual reality goggles today feels about as natural as driving the first automobiles in the late 1800s. But the trend is going strong for 2017, says Kurt Paben, president, Channel and Employee Loyalty, Aimia Proprietary Loyalty U.S. “We are just starting to see how it can impact the pre and onsite experience. For instance, destinations and hoteliers may be able to significantly reduce the amount of site visits by providing planners with a full 3D experience without having to step foot on the property. Virtual mock-ups and designs for event space will also make long-distance planning easier and may significantly reduce travel costs.” Case in point: the VR portal for meeting site inspections launched last fall by the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Bureau.

Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX Group, also sees VR as a key trend for 2017, pointing to a company called WorldViz, which had been focused on large-scale VR solutions for the industrial sector, but recently launched a new platform for business communication. The project, codenamed “Skofield,” is described as “a GoToMeeting for VR.”

“As more emerging technologies become mainstream, attendees seem to be reluctant to take the extra steps required for full engagement—put on a virtual reality headset or download an app to view augmented reality, for example. As technology matures, we can no longer rely on simply providing access to the technology alone to pique the interest of our attendees,” says Gavin Houston, CEO Americas, Ashfield Meetings and Events, who says planners need to consider the attention span of the audience and make the tech integral to the experience. “The key to staying ahead in the digital game,” he says, “is to build experiential assets and interactions into the meeting design.” 

Do you really know your attendees’ priorities and preferences? Do you know how to make use of the data that you do have? This may finally be the year to pull that data together.  

“Leveraging technology to improve attendee engagement and drive strategy through data capture will be key for 2017,” says Cate Banfield, director of event solution design, BCD Meetings & Events. Read more. 

Attorney Barbara Dunn O’Neal says, “I have been getting more requests from clients on developing codes of conduct in connection with meetings and events; whether it is any type of harassment based on someone’s gender, race, national origin, etc., or alcohol related behaviors. The goal of the policy is to set a standard and show others they are being proactive about protecting attendees and laying out expectations.” Read more and check out this sample code of conduct for meeting attendees.

All signs point to a hotel buyers' market in 2017. But there's one caveat, not everyone will benefit, especially those with larger meetings. Here's why.

By 2020 Generation Z will make up 20 percent of the workforce, and preparing for these attendees is a job for 2017, says Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group. “The meetings and events industry, as part of the communications industry and as employers, should be getting ready.” Here’s what she says to expect:
Z Meeting Attendees
PROS: Tech-intuitive, good at multitasking and online collaboration
CONS: Weak face-to-face social skills, easily distracted, short attention spans
Z Employees
PROS: Entrepreneurial, aspire to their dream job, and appreciate feedback and mentoring
CONS: Require a flexible work-life balance and may job-hop frequently

2017 is the United Nations Year of Sustainable Tourism, which, says Fiona Pelham, outgoing president of Meeting Professionals International and founder of Sustainable Events Ltd., is “a unique opportunity for the event industry to communicate how events create positive economic and social impacts and how the industry is managing its negative environmental impacts.” One way to get involved: #CRSshareday, a 24-hour twitter campaign on April 21 to share best practices for corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Every year, it seems, hotels figure out a new profit center—at planners’ expense. One place to watch in 2017: In-house rigging. “These days venues are practically renting the air, not just the floor space used for an event,” says Gene Lundgren, president, Aquarian, a Shepard Company. “That means clients are paying the cost of high in-house rigging charges.” Many hotels also are using exclusive rigging vendors, which can be more expensive, rather than working with production company equipment and putting the charges for exclusive rigging vendors in a supplementary document. “Make sure you’re aware of this and perhaps you can negotiate it out before signing the master contract,” says Lundgren.

Updating your sponsorship packages is critical to keep your supporters happy and your attendees engaged.

Terri Toennies, CMP, founding board member, Association for Women in Events, and executive vice president and general manager of Los Angeles Auto Show, suggests three sponsorship ideas that will be strong for the coming year.

1. Uber or Lyft rides. Both ride-sharing companies now allow event sponsors to create customizable ride passes.

2. Fitness classes/fun runs/yoga breaks. Anything healthy is hot!

3. Social media lounges with celebrity blogger appearances—or anything that helps get attendees to use the sponsors’ hashtags and generate buzz

Watch for online influencers to take a bigger role in meetings and events in the coming year, say Kelsey Dixon and Makenzie Davies, cofounders of davies + dixon, a branding and experiential marketing firm. Blogger endorsements, they say, have become more important for consumer brands than celebrity endorsements. How these influencers get integrated into events, in terms of promotions, onsite marketing, and special perks, they say, is similar to how we would have treated celebrities or entertainers in the past.

Organizations, they say, are making event attendance part of bloggers’ sponsorship plans in order to support brand-marketing efforts. The trend is strong in the fashion industry but at any event with high-profile product launches, planners should make rooms for these influential attendees in the year ahead.