Of all the lessons that you learn as a child one of the more important is to always learn from your mistakes. This notion follows you for a lifetime as no one is perfect; decisions are made with good intentions and soon the unexpected comes along and stomps those intentions into submission. This is certainly the case with America's experience during this recession. As companies come out of financial gridlock they are using the recent events to forecast how they will cautiously move forward. As many owners and CEO's wish they could peer into a crystal ball and put their worries to rest, the Convention 2020 study is doing its best to give industry leaders the information they need to stay ahead of the pack for the future. The Convention 2020 study sponsored by ICCA, IMEX and Fastfuture Research was designed to help industry peers prepare for changes that could affect the fiscal outlook as well as the overall business model of their operations. Topics such as political attitudes towards meeting/events, technology innovations and environmental pressures are highlighted as important factors in preparing for the future of the industry. The project overview states that “The intention is to create a 'living and growing' online body of knowledge, case studies and ideas which will continue to expand and develop after the study is complete.”
Fast Future Research developed key questions they are looking to answer through the study that will give leaders a concise argument towards the future state of the industry that will better prepare them for tough decisions in the future. Questions such as:
- How is the thinking developing on what constitutes an effective meeting design and how could live meeting evolve by 2020?
- What will attendees and exhibitors want – learning, experience, content, style, ROI, technology and pricing?
- How will the role of technology evolve in the preparation, delivery and follow up to events?
- What are the implications for venues in terms of strategy, venue, design, services, technology, marketing, business models and financing?
- How will destinations promote themselves and influence the capabilities of local venues?
- How will industry suppliers change their business models to capture emerging opportunities in the future?
The study will be broken up into two phases released at different times thought 2010. The first phase will cover 'The Meetings Experience' and will be available for download on May 25th at 10am. Follow this link to download a version. A recent press release on the IMEX website discussed some of the most notable findings from Phase I. A total of 1125 respondents in 25 countries participated in the study. The majority of the respondents felt that today the most prominent barriers in the industry are design factors, organization and cost. The study also showed that the majority feels that the main factors to focus on in the future is content quality, interaction technology and networking. 76% of the respondents stated that networking was the single most important factor in the meeting and events industry.
The study also pointed towards an increase in smaller more specialized meetings with 79% of the population agreeing on the topic. Cost was readily discussed with many of the conclusions stating that there must be a measurable return on investment from each meeting. Leaders believe that it is not about the number of meetings, it is about the content and the organization of the event. 77% of respondents believe that in order to be successful, events must offer a strong price based incentive.
Event technology is undoubtedly expected to greatly increase; 75% expect a rise in live video streaming events, with 79% believing that this technology will increase the level of personalization of an event. Leaders believe that technology is a great tool to engage an audience both virtually as well as on site. Martin Sirk – CEO of ICCA was quoted stating “The results highlighted that demand for live events is expected to hold strong out to 2020, but to attract customers will require significant innovation in meeting formats, business models, organizational capability and the use of technology.”
The second phase of the study is titled 'Tomorrow's Convention Center'. This study will be done through extensive interviews in industry experts in all facets of the industry, including Corbin Ball (Technology), Martin Vanneste (Meetings Architecture), Jon Bradshaw (learning and meeting mindset), Elling Hamso (business models and ROI) and Paul Kennedy (meeting strategy). Results from phase I will also be discussed with the experts as well as case studies on how venues are preparing for the future on topics such as venue design, business models, services and facilities. The second phase will be included in the overall study which will be released in October 2010 at the ICCA Congress in Hyderabad, India.
