As a meetings and events professional, you know the state of the industry. But do you know where the industry is heading?
The answer to that question has implications for business practices, skills needs and staffing requirements, which is why knowing what tomorrow holds is critical for meeting planners and venue managers today. Planners must consider scenarios not just for formulating a strategy to respond to the future, but, more importantly, for inventing it.
As part of its Thought Leadership series, MPI Foundation has released first-of-its-kind research on the trends that will impact the events industry for years and even decades to come. In the newly published data, researchers at the International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism and Hospitality at Leeds Metropolitan University in the U.K. had in-depth interviews with 26 leading thinkers in future trends, economics and in the fields of science, technology, population business, retail and tourism to find out their views on the future.
The insights from this research provide meetings and events professionals with the information they need to achieve success by considering how trends could impact on meeting design, content, communication and distribution and helping businesses to answering these and other critical questions:
- As technology evolves, what are the key drivers of change?
- What business sectors are heading to obsolescence?
- How will demographic shifts affect the workplace?
- How will virtual and online connections impact in-person events?
Meetings and events professionals thrive when they have the most current business tools and intelligence at their disposal. The Future of Meetings research is exactly that. It is the tool of choice for those who want to become more successful and better connected in understanding trends and changes in the industry. The research will lead to more effective personal development and more productive professional strategic planning.
The research is Phase II of the MPI Foundation’s three-part Future of Meetings initiative and is made possible with support from PSAV Presentation Services, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts and Omni Hotels & Resorts, early adopters of Future of Meetings-related content. The research will be introduced on Monday, Oct. 8, from 3:30 - 5 p.m./15.30 - 17.00, in Bellini 2105, and a series of 10 subsequent papers will be published following IMEX America. For a detailed listing, visit www.mpiweb.org/fom. A comprehensive Future of Meetings toolkit will be released by MPI Foundation in 2013.
—Written by Iyna Caruso