Budgets are not increasing in line with inflationary and cost increases, reducing purchasing power for event planners and leaving no additional budget for creative or experiential program elements according to new research from Global DMC Partners (GDP).

The Q3 2024 Meetings & Events Pulse Survey polled 165 meeting and event professionals, the majority of whom are based in the U.S. and Canada, with 20 percent in the U.K. and Europe throughout 27 June 27 through to 9 August.

Top challenges

Higher costs continue to be the top challenge, and this has remained in the top spot since Q4 2022. The top five challenges are consistent across both U.S./Canadian and international respondents, indicating that these issues are universally felt, with no significant variations between the groups. Those include availability issues, budget management, timely approval from decision-makers, and contract negotiations.

From 2023 to 2024, only 39 percent of respondents saw budget increases, 16 percent saw decreases, and 45 percent reported no change. Notably, 44 percent of U.S. and Canadian respondents experienced budget increases, compared to 27 percent internationally. Among those with budget increases this year, 57 percent saw a 10 to 20 percent rise in budgets, which in many cases does not even cover inflationary increases.

Rising costs

Most planners report that costs have increased by 10 to 30 percent on average across various categories compared to two years ago. When it comes to working with hotels and venues, higher accommodation, F&B and A/V costs are top challenges for planners, with nearly 80 percent struggling with accommodation rates and over 70 percent facing higher A/V costs most or all the time.

Event planners have cut back on A/V costs, reduced the number of days of the program, or consolidated/reduced the number of programs per year (42-46 percent report doing these sometimes) and used early contracting (32 percent do most of the time) to save costs.

“Many of our clients are reporting having serious conversations with their end-clients, CFOs, or Finance Departments regarding increasing budgets in order to deliver the same types of programs as in previous years,” said Global DMC Partners President and CEO Catherine Chaulet.

“There has been an increase across the industry in meeting costs (hotel, F&B, AV, decor, etc.), and all budgets have had to increase to accommodate, so we recognize that it’s an ongoing challenge we will all need to address in creative new ways.”

Lead times & tech

Lead times for client events continue to trend on the shorter side, as 43 percent of planners report four to nine months of planning, while nine percent have experienced lead times of three months or less. Twenty-six percent of respondents report event planning timelines of 10 to 12 months in advance, up from 15 percent in the last survey, suggesting lead times might be improving.

AI adoption within the MICE industry has increased substantially since the last survey at the end of 2023/early 2024. Thirty percent of planners in the last survey reported using it in their day-to-day lives, and now nearly half of planners say they use it frequently. ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot are the most widely adopted.

Sustainability & DEI

Responses on sustainability practices reveal disparities between the U.S. and international responses regarding approaches and commitment. While 15 percent of U.S. respondents incorporate sustainability in about half of their programs, twenty-one percent of the international respondents report the same.

Nearly 80 percent of planners find it can be challenging to incorporate sustainability into their programs due to costs.

When asked about the incorporation of DEI and accessibility elements, twenty-six percent of respondents report incorporating elements into most programs, while 18 percent are including them in every program. Aspects that are being incorporated include initiatives that cultivate collective belonging, accessible venues, inclusive programming, agendas, and formats for all learning styles, closed captioning and sign language.