Meetings Market Report 2008 -- Association

The 2008 Meetings Market Report revealed a convention sector that was growing and healthy, and an association sector that hosted more total meetings but spent less money to do so and was playing to slightly fewer attendees. The number of conventions rose to 13,700, 8 percent over 2005; the number of convention attendees increased 4 percent to 19.7 million, and expenditures on these events rose 3 percent to $34.6 billion.

As for association meetings other than conventions, the total number of events rose 8 percent to 227,000, while the number of attendees fell by just 1 percent to 37.5 million, and the dollars spent declined 9 percent to $38.1 billion.

Annual meetings

Supporting the growth in conventions, associations spent $30.4 billion on their major gatherings, while their attendees contributed more than $4 billion. Those delegates spent an average of $1,590 per convention, up 9 percent from the $1,460 they laid out in 2005. The associations themselves spent an average of $306,200 in 2007 on conventions.

Most of the associations that employed the planners surveyed held a major convention (90 percent). The bulk of these were held annually (75 percent). A much smaller number (13 percent) said their organizations held major conventions twice a year or even every other year (5 percent). The largest piece of the convention expenditure pie (35 percent) went to food and beverage, while hotels accounted for 18 percent.

October, once again, was the most popular month to hold a convention, as 18 percent of the association planners said their organizations scheduled their major events then. November came in second (12 percent), followed by April and September (10 percent each).

As with 2003 and 2005, about a quarter (24 percent) of respondents said their most recent conventions were held in the South Atlantic region of the United States (Florida; Georgia, Maryland; North Carolina; South Carolina; Virginia; and Washington, D.C.). The Pacific states (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington) were next, with 15 percent of planners placing their most recent convention in the region, followed by the Mountain states (Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah) and the East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin), with 14 percent each.

Hotels were the preferred site for conventions, cited by 56 percent of the sample, while 32 percent used convention centers and 12 percent chose “other.” Trade shows were part of the plan for 65 percent of the gatherings, taking up an average of 56,000 square feet, the same amount as was reported in the 2006 study.

Convention attendees most often slept at downtown hotels, as reported by 62 percent of association planners, followed by nongolf resorts (24 percent), suburban hotels (15 percent), suite hotels (12 percent), airport hotels (8 percent), golf resorts (7 percent), gaming facilities (5 percent), residential conference centers (3 percent), other facilities (2 percent) and cruise ships (1 percent). Two percent of the sample said some of their events did not use overnight accommodations. Not surprisingly, convention attendees paid more for their rooms in 2007, their bills averaging $172 per night, an increase of 19 percent over the $145 delegates were paying two years earlier.

Association planners reported taking a bit longer to put together conventions in 2007. They took an average of 20.9 months from the beginning of the planning process to the selection of the facility, and 39.1 months, overall, from the start of the planning process until the event was held. Those surveyed two years ago reported that planning a convention took 33.5 months.

Board meetings and more

For all other association meetings, organizations paid an average of $166,100 in 2007, while delegates spent an average of $900 to attend.

Breaking down where the money went, the bulk (37 percent) was allocated to food and beverage, followed by hotels (27 percent). Speakers, entertainment and A/V equipment accounted for 12 percent of the spending, then came miscellaneous costs (10 percent), air transportation (8 percent), and ground transportation and third-party fees (3 percent each).

Planners reported working on an average of 15.5 association meetings in 2007, 8.5 of which involved overnight accommodations. The average attendance was 146 people, and the events lasted an average of two days. The average daily room rate was $155, up 13 percent from the $137 daily rate reported in 2005.

Most of the association planners surveyed worked on board meetings (78 percent) and training/educational seminars (67 percent). Many also planned professional technical meetings (49 percent) and regional chapter meetings (34 percent). Another 37 percent worked on other off-premises events.

Downtown hotels were the top choice for other association events, as 68 percent of respondents held meetings there in 2007. Resort hotels (excluding golf resorts) and suburban hotels were cited by 36 percent each, followed by other facilities (27 percent) and airport hotels (22 percent).

Finishing the list were convention centers (19 percent), golf resorts (14 percent), suite hotels (13 percent), residential conference centers (9 percent), nonresidential conference centers (6 percent), gaming facilities (5 percent) and cruise ships (3 percent).

This year’s survey shows association planners took about the same amount of lead time as in 2005 -- 19.2 months -- to put together nonconvention meetings.

Be our guest

For conventions, 18 percent of delegates were accompanied by a guest in 2007, compared with 23 percent two years earlier. Just 3 percent were accompanied by a child, compared with 6 percent in 2005. Just 36 percent of the association planners reported they put together itineraries for guests at conventions.

Looking at other association meetings, 18 percent of those events included companion attendees, down from 20 percent in 2005, while 5 percent of the events included attendees’ children, about the same as two years earlier.

On the road

Compared with their corporate counterparts, who had an average of 4.4 cities on their selection lists, association planners’ lists carried an average of 3.9 cities, and 30 percent looked at just one destination for their most recent meeting.

The most popular city for association meetings was Washington, D.C., where 23 percent of the planners surveyed held events in 2007. Chicago, which was the top city in 2005, came in second with 19 percent. Rounding out the top five were Orlando (14 percent), and Los Angeles and Atlanta (13 percent each). As for states, California (59 percent) and Florida (42 percent) held onto their positions at the top from two years earlier, followed by Illinois at 31 percent, Texas at 24 percent and New York at 18 percent.

Factors considered very important when choosing a convention destination were the availability of hotels or other facilities suitable for meetings (78 percent) and the affordability of the destination (77 percent). For other association meetings, those factors were reversed: 72 percent looked at affordability first, followed by 65 percent who cited the availability of suitable hotels.

Convention planners also found the following factors important for their events, in descending order: the safety and security of the destination (63 percent); ease of transporting attendees to the location (55 percent); transportation costs (53 percent); and sightseeing, cultural and other extracurricular attractions (52 percent). For other association meetings, planners weighed the distance traveled by attendees (62 percent), the safety and security of the destination (54 percent), transportation costs (48 percent) and the ease of transporting attendees to the location (45 percent).

When selecting the facility or hotel, 90 percent of convention planners chose the number, size and quality of meeting rooms as the most important factor. This was followed by negotiable food, beverage and room rates (84 percent); the cost of the hotel or meeting facility (83 percent); the number, size and quality of sleeping rooms (78 percent), and the quality of the food service (70 percent).

For other association meetings, number one was the cost of the hotel or meeting facility (76 percent), then came negotiable food, beverage and room rates (70 percent); the number, size and quality of meeting rooms (67 percent); the quality of the food service (61 percent); and the number, size and quality of sleeping rooms (59 percent).

High tech

The number of association planners using meetings-specific software rose this year, from 17 percent in the 2006 report to 28 percent.

In-house or customized software packages were used most often, by 16 percent of those surveyed, followed by the Meeting Matrix room-design application and the nonprofit business software called iMIS (10 percent each). Regonline and Cvent, two online registration programs, each were cited by 6 percent of the sample.

Fully 99 percent of respondents used the web to plan meetings. Convention and visitor bureau websites were the top source for information, chosen by 76 percent. Individual hotel or chain sites (66 percent) came next, then Google (53 percent), local city sites (31 percent) and Expedia (12 percent).

Which elements were association planners using on those websites? More than half (59 percent) found floor plans extremely useful, and half looked for meeting space specifications. One-third (33 percent) said maps, directions and distances were helpful, followed by destination information (31 percent) and photographs (26 percent). The number of association planners who generated an online request for proposal in 2007 grew to 36 percent, over 33 percent in 2005.

The number of association meetings with websites continued to grow, as 59 percent of the respondents said their events had an online presence, compared with 50 percent two years earlier.

This year, 22 percent of respondents said their organizations held videoconferences or webcasts, up from 20 percent two years ago. Yet only 9 percent of the sample said their virtual events had replaced any face-to-face meetings.

Association Planners

As with the corporate planners who responded to M&C’s 2008 Meetings Market Report survey, the association sample showed a slight graying of the population compared with our last survey, conducted two years ago.

To begin with, the average age of respondents increased by one year, to 49.7. Sixty-four percent of the sample was between 40 and 59 years old, and 56 percent was 50 or older.

Association planning still was women’s work, as the study shows a gender ratio of 75 percent women and 25 percent men, about the same split as was noted in 2006.

Not surprisingly, as the average age of respondents went up, so did the level of experience. Association planners reported spending an average of 13.1 years planning meetings, up from 11.3 years recorded in our 2006 survey and 10 years noted in 2004. More than half of the sample (55 percent) said they had been employed in the business for 10 or more years, compared with 43 percent in 2006.

The respondents held a variety of job titles, including those of planner, coordinator, manager or director of events, conventions, meetings or conferences (cited by 30 percent of respondents). Twenty percent were presidents, executive directors or executive vice presidents; another 20 percent chose “other” titles; 14 percent were program or project directors, coordinators or managers; and 8 percent were executive assistants. Positions also included director of education (3 percent), marketing director (3 percent) and member services manager (2 percent).

The same percentage of planners (26 percent) held an industry certification in 2008 as was noted in the 2006 survey. In addition, 16 percent said they were certified meeting professionals, 5 percent were certified association executives, 2 percent were certified meeting managers and 6 percent noted they had “other” credentials.

Also as in 2006, almost two-thirds of the association meeting professionals were members of an industry association. The following is a rundown of the groups they belonged to:

* 30 percent reported they were members of the American Society of Association Executives;

* 20 percent belonged to Meeting Professionals International;

* 18 percent were members of the Professional Convention Management Association;

* 18 percent reported they belonged to “other” organizations, and

* 4 percent said they belonged to the International Association of Exhibitions and Events.

Also unchanged was the amount of time the association respondents reported spending on meetings during the course of their workday. Our survey found that 60 percent of their time was focused on event tasks, compared with 61 percent in 2006. Their responsibilities included selecting the meeting hotel or other facility (a task listed in the job description for 87 percent of those surveyed); selecting the location for the meeting (cited by 78 percent of respondents); establishing the meeting’s budget (78 percent); and planning entertainment, social functions and sports tournaments (76 percent).

Two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents said they were in charge of trade show planning, and 58 percent handled the meeting’s agenda.