One surprising statistic from a report released late last month indicates that one-in-seven conference attendees have met a significant other at a business event. A more significant statistic for busy professionals may be that one-in-four U.S. attendees got a job from a connection formed at an event.
The report, “Inside the Mind of the Attendee” is based on a collaboration between Cvent and Edelman that surveyed 3,000 respondents who had all attended a professional conference during the previous six months. The respondents were drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. It turns out that Germans find being away from home at a conference particularly stressful, as do Millennials of all nationalities, so meeting planners may want to bear this in mind when considering activities for international attendees and as Millennials continue to replace Baby Boomers at events.
While all the respondents indicated that they researched the conference content ahead of time, attendees from the U.S. and U.K. said the number-one preference for personalizing the event was for the conference organizer to offer session recommendations ahead of time, with 59 percent of Americans saying they would like a complete conference schedule created for them.
For more insights, read the report here.
