Recently, I have been thinking that our meetings and events industry has a Fabulous Future ahead of us for a number of reasons:

My hotelier friends are indicating that business is indeed picking up. A recent STR reports support this information, as Average Daily Rate (ADR) is up an average of 4% across the country in January and February of 2012 compared to the same time frame in 2011. Additional data released for March by STR indicates an 8% year over year increase in Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), driven by a 4% rise in occupancy and 3.9% rise in ADR.

Positive news is coming in from my corporate clients that they are booking more meetings and more people are attending meetings. Many corporations are bringing back or expanding their incentive meetings programs. Additionally, we are seeing that air demand has increased across the board so far this year and association meeting attendance is growing rather than contracting.

But with the negative repercussion from the recent General Services Administration (GSA) Western Regions Conference that came to light last month, I am concerned that our future might again turn Frightful if our U.S. Congress is successful in approving two new pieces of legislation that would strictly limit the money spent by government agencies on future conferences and events. I agree with the recent comment from Meeting Professionals International (MPI) that these restrictions would have a ripple effect that would be felt by all sectors of the industry, not just those who are focused on government meetings and events. We need to take quick action to let legislators know what the impact would be on the US Economy if this legislation is signed into law! (There is information on how to take action in the tips section.)

However, I am by nature a positive person so I am betting that our Future is Fabulous! We have learned a lot over the past couple of years about new ways to manage business more effectively, increasing personal productivity, doing more with less and utilizing Return On Investment (ROI) metrics to prove the value of our meetings. One really positive dynamic I have seen demonstrated time and time again recently is a true partnership between buyers and sellers. I hope that as the market place becomes constricted with increasing demand these powerful relationships will continue to thrive.

By utilizing Strategic Meeting Management (SMM) principles that provide increased visibility and control over the meeting and event spend many organizations are managing their reduced meeting budgets more effectively by maximizing their meeting dollars. Additionally, meeting managers are presenting a successful business case to senior leadership in order to protect the critical client Face to Face (F2F) meetings while shifting less significant meeting to the virtual environment.