What 2021 beholds for independent meeting planners?

 

It’ll be very wise for independent meeting planners to conclude that 2020 was a year unlike any other in the meetings and event management diaspora. After COVID 19 fiercely spread and bestowed wrath, the independent meeting planner was widely affected with most of the meetings, hospitality, and events being either canceled or postponed since March. With this saddening scenario, the independent meeting planner are looking towards 2021 with a strong ray of hope. Experts also believe that hopefully, 2021 will bring back the businesses of event management and the independent meeting planner to normalcy.

For this change to be long-lasting and accelerated, the independent meeting planner must lay emphasis on factors that can help them adapt to the changes post-COVID.

Below we bring you some insights which can help independent meeting planner understand how they channelize and cash on the newer aspirations that 2021 has in store for them.

1. Various tech- meeting planning firms have sighted nearly $2 billion through meeting requests for proposals in the second quarter of 2020.

The experts from these companies also added that although the RFP figures have been significantly low as compared to previous years but the factor of conversion is at the same rate as was in 2019.

2. Clients are now showing interest in organizing smaller meetings and events.

Reports show that since July 2020, 40% of all RFPs that they got showed interest in hosting smaller events, with 90% of these RFPs clearly mentioning the crowd strength be less than 50. 

These RFPs which were received in summer months also had astonishing results with independent meeting planners being asked to just arrange space for the event significantly promoting that no sleeping rooms or restrooms being needed. These figures signal that organizers want the event to wrap up by the day, with no attendees staying back and using the breakout room or the ballroom, etc.

3. The desired hotels have slashed down rates.

Surveys and reports say that the sought after and awarded hotel have slashed down the rates to 11% below average as compared to the previous years. Figures show that for the month from September 2020 to December 2020, the rates are down by 23%. Predicting these rates will be down by 10% for Q1 of 2021, with the overall figures for 2021 being 3%. We suggest that independent meeting planners must capitalize on these exceptionally lower rates by sending RFPs, dedicatedly for events taking place in the latter months of 2020.

4. Many eminent organizations have sighted that the source pacing and demand for the first quarter of 2021 are near the 70%-75% of pace.

The places like Orlando, Las Vegas, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. which have always been the sweet spot for independent event planners have seen a dip in demands. Experts believe that these figures will continue to drop lower than the present state till the first quarter of 2021, as the demand in the coming months is not expected to grow better up till 2021.

5. The mid-sized metropolitan areas are being believed to perform better on a relative basis in the year 2021 than the prominent metros.

Studies show that the mid-sized metros saw the astonishingly same level of bookings as other prominent metros, while the major metros saw a dip in demands for the same month of July. This can be attributed to factors such as the differences in pricing, the appreciated ease of driving, and the added car access. Along with these factors, the deciding quote is the number of COVID 19 cases and its prevalence in the prescribed region.

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