The demand for face-to-face meetings and events is continuing to grow, pushing the industry beyond the darkest days of the pandemic and revealing the strong, enduring need and desire for in-person gatherings, according to Meeting Professionals International’s (MPI) recently published Winter Meetings Outlook (winter 2022/2023) report.

This is just the latest of MPI’s future-focused quarterly Meetings Outlook reports that identify new trends and innovations in order to enable meeting and event planners to budget and plan accordingly and ensure a strong foundation for building sound and successful business strategies.

The report’s key findings include:

• Overall business projections remain incredibly positive, with 85% of respondents indicating a favorable landscape for the year ahead, and 37% of all respondents projecting business conditions will be more than 10% better.
• Live-event attendance expectations remain near all-time highs, with 82% of respondents expecting favorable attendance changes. Those indicating favorable virtual attendance expectations are the weakest seen by the survey (13%), and respondents citing “negative” virtual attendance projections remain near all-time highs.
• Full-time hiring has increased for each of the past six quarters. Perhaps most significantly, the latest result — 49% of respondents indicating an increase in hiring — is the highest this metric has been in the survey’s history.
• DEI is important but a work in progress, with 65% of respondents believing the meeting and event industry is inclusive and welcomes diversity, 71% of respondents agreeing that “diversity and inclusion are priorities for my organization,” and 68% of respondents saying the industry needs better DEI training and tools.

“Overall projections for business conditions continue to be overwhelmingly positive, for now immune to supply chain disruptions, increasing costs, global inflation and an imminent (or not) recession,” said Jessie States, vice president of MPI Academy. “The return to in-person events continues with expectations for attendance near all-time highs, while digital and virtual events see projections drop.”

She continued, “The boom in business (and perhaps the remnants of a pandemic employment exodus) means the industry’s job market is strong and has been now for six quarters — posting its highest-ever 49% of respondents hiring full-time employees. Regardless of outside influences, the business of meetings is bullish.”

Developed in partnership with IMEX Group, MPI Meetings Outlook reports present future industry trends and predictions from MPI members via research conducted in-house using the Qualtrics survey platform. The research is conducted quarterly and provides current business conditions and future outlooks. View the full report here.

As the world’s largest meeting and event industry association, MPI provides innovative and relevant education, networking opportunities and business exchanges, and acts as a prominent voice for the promotion and growth of the industry. The association boasts a global community of 60,000 meeting and event professionals across nearly 70 chapters, clubs and members in more than 75 countries.

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