According to members of Meeting Professionals International (
According to members of Meeting Professionals International (
This and other industry insights were captured in an MPI Cyber Cafe poll of 820 attendees during MPI’s 2002 World Education Congress (WEC). The largest annual gathering of meeting professionals in the world, WEC brought nearly 3,000 attendees from more than 30 countries to Toronto, 21-23 July.
The poll confirmed that 90 percent of the 820 respondents believe that meeting industry business is moving forward. Seventy-eight percent said the industry will continue to grow at a slow pace back to normal (pre-9/11 levels), while another 12 percent took an even more positive outlook, saying the growth will be faster than what is currently predicted.
While MPI members believe in the growth of the meeting industry, the majority (72 percent) felt that the financial reporting scandals rocking some major U.S. corporations have impacted their confidence levels in executive-level leadership, investing in the stock market and the overall economy. However, only three percent said they are less confident in their own company or job.
Twenty-five percent said they now are less confident in executive-level leadership than they were a year ago, with an equal amount citing lower confidence levels in the recovery of the economy. Another 22 percent are less confident in investing in the stock market, while 25 percent said the incidents have not negatively impacted their confidence levels.
Ensuring Future Growth
MPI also polled its supplier and planner members separately in an effort to generate educational content to meet the business and professional needs of its membership, and to ensure industry forward momentum.
When asked the most effective way to generate new business opportunities, an overwhelming 71 percent of 500 suppliers cited networking events and tradeshows, an affirmation of the value of face-to-face meetings.
Showcasing the power of the MPI network, 94 percent of MPI members said they prefer to do business with other MPI members … business often conducted at MPI events such as WEC and Professional Education Conferences in North American and Europe. In fact, the tradeshow portion of WEC, MeetingPlace 2002, oversold with 570 exhibitors from all over the world, who reported an overwhelming 12,262 sales leads over a four-hour period, a testament to the aggregate buying power of MPI tradeshow attendees.
For supplier members selling technology, the 2002 WEC’s tradeshow was the place to be as 27 percent of 386 planner members polled were looking for more information on industry technology tools. Alternatively, planner members indicated they are seeking knowledge on marketing their skill set to their organization’s leadership (25 percent) and measuring ROI for events (25 percent) in order to succeed in today’s business climate.
MPI’s Cyber Cafe polls and our weekly MPIWeb polls not only provide a real-time snapshot of the industry issues and trends, but they allow us to customize our programming, events and content to help our members succeed in today’s rapidly evolving global business environment, said Edwin L. Griffin Jr., CAE, president and CEO of MPI. Additional Cyber Cafe poll results reveal that 44 percent of our members attend MPI annual conferences seeking the latest in education, trends and technologies, while the other half (53 percent) utilize the time to network and exchange best practices, as well as to conduct business with colleagues from around the world.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
