With more employees working from home and the costs for all elements of meetings increasing, 65.3 percent of planners responding to a recent survey say that they are coordinating more one-day meetings than ever. Further, 53.5 percent of responding planners say that there has been a “noticeable improvement” in business performance at their companies since face-to-face gatherings resumed after the Covid pandemic subsided.
The survey of 423 meeting planners was conducted by etc.venues, a manager of 16 non-residential event facilities located in New York City as well as in London, Manchester, and Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Among those planners coordinating more single-day events, 38 percent say the intent is to make better use of employees’ time; 32 percent say it is to reduce costs; and 30 percent say it is to maintain attendees’ work-life balance, a factor that’s become more prominent in the post-pandemic environment.
About 27 percent of respondents say they’re planning more total in-person meetings for 2023 than they did for 2019, while about 36 percent say the number is about the same as in 2019. Throughout the second half of 2022, etc.venues saw consistent growth in meetings bookings across its U.K. and U.S. facilities, a trend the firm says is continuing in 2023.
One important area where responding planners do not see industry-wide consistency is in comprehensive plans for event sustainability. When asked how committed buyers and suppliers across the meetings industry are to sustainable practices in all areas of events, 50 percent said they see most industry players “taking action but not fully committed,” while 39 percent say the industry is truly committed and 11 percent believe the industry is not committed to sustainability.
