Successful Meetings - May 2008 - (Page 12)

05.08 & ANALYSIS > Industry Trends NEWS Two Studies Reveal Meeting Budgets Holding Firm Meeting planners may feel they’re going about their jobs against a background of uncertain economic times, tenuous budgets, and jittery bosses or clients. Yet companies seem to be maintaining their composure when projecting future meetings budgets, even as they advocate financial discipline. Those are some of the findings of two new surveys released in March. One, conducted by American Express and CFO Research Services of mid-sized firms in North America, reveals a general com> DESTINATION NEWS mitment not to slash meetings and MGM Grand at Foxwoods event budgets over the next two opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 16 years. Instead, companies generally intend to weather the economLong Beach, CA, beefs up its ic maelstrom by implementing website. . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 18 savvy cost management and > SUPPLIERS increasing investment in employHilton’s e-Events targets small ee productivity tools. meetings . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 18 The other survey, by event marketing firm George P. Johnson bit in this sector, event marketing increased its share of the marketing pie to 27 percent in 2007, the highest percentage in the past six years, according to the poll. “Companies still feel pretty optimistic about their abilities to grow,” says Eduardo Vergara, senior vice president with American Express Global Commercial Card & Services. “To drive that growth, they intend to continue to spend in areas of productivity enhancement. And they’re seeing meetings as a productivityenhancing investment.” The Amex/CFO survey of companies with annual revenue of $10 million to $1 billion finds that training meetings in this tier are still considered vital and are resistant to cost-cutting. Underscoring this, 37 percent of respondents indicate they will invest more in educational training of their employees over the next 24 months. In addition, 54 percent indicate their training budget would not be cut, while just 9 percent say they plan to retrench in this area. As for event marketing, the Johnson/MPI poll, called EventView 2008 North America and including corporations of greater than $1 billion in sales (with some overlap into mid-sized territory), shows that this segment received the largest budget-increase allocation of any marketing tool in 2007, with print advertising not far behind. mimegasite.com MAY 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS Inside > ON THE RECORD Andy Dolce weighs in on taking American conference centers global . . . . . . PAGE 22 together with the MPI Foundation, and focusing largely on major enterprises, also finds optimism in looking at the year just past: While marketing budgets are shrinking a 12 http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - May 2008

Successful Meetings - May 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry Trends
Destination News
Destination News
Suppliers
Destination News
Calendar
On the Record
Websites of the Month
Management Matters
Mouth for Sale
Meetings Law
Planner's Spotlight
Pre-Event
On Site
Tools of the Trade
Pre-Event
Counting Change
Giving Them the Business
The Magnificent Seven
All-American Gift Guide
Green Lights
Places & Spaces
Anaheim & Orange County
Upstate New York
Cincinnati
Detroit
San Diego
Phoenix
Gurus

Successful Meetings - May 2008