New Meetings Industry Forecast Reveals a Need for Better Educated Planners
Skift Take
Corporate leaders and university faculty need to collaborate more to develop meetings industry research that supplies meeting planners with a more comprehensive understanding of event technology and business event strategy.
Young professionals entering the meeting and event planning industry need to have more familiarity with event technology and overall business strategy if they want to succeed in this rapidly evolving sector.
That's according to the new 2017 Global Meetings & Events Forecast released by American Express Meetings & Events, which organizes more than 55,000 business events of all sizes worldwide. The annual report, considered a bellwether for meeting planners and the people who employ them, highlights corporate sentiment toward the health of the industry and evolving trends, and it deciphers a number of different emerging industry trends every year.
Traditionally, much of the role of meeting planning has revolved around logistics. In the last decade, that has evolved to incorporate the ability to implement new technology and new meeting design strategies. Looking ahead, the future of planning business events emphasizes the prioritization of business outcomes, and using technology to ensure and quantify those outcomes.
“We are clearly seeing changes in expectations around what meeting professionals should be doing, and how we should be contributing to their success,” said Issa Jouaneh, senior VP/general manager of American Express Meetings & Events. “As an industry, we’re looking to really e
