Industry Pulse: What’s Top-of-Mind in 2019?

As we dive into the New Year, we follow-up with BCD M&E industry leaders to discover what topics from our 2019 trends report maintain top of mind.

In our 2019 trend report, we discussed three major focus areas that will be top-of-mind for meeting planners this year. The first was digitization. As we’re utilizing more technology at events and tracking attendee behaviors, data is becoming a key component of measuring ROI. The second focus area was the maximizing the attendee journey, or intentionally aligning every element of your event with the participants in mind. Finally, we examined how diversification will be key in securing future funding for strategic meetings management (SMM) programs. With January upon us, we spoke with three global leaders to learn what’s on their radar now.

What trends are top-of-mind in 2019?

Americas

“Data security and risk mitigation continues to grow as a significant focus within organizations and is a larger focus now than cost savings,” says Rhonda Brewer, vice president, North American sales. “That said, leveraging spend volume for the best negotiations is still top of mind.”

Europe, Middle East and Africa

“Technology delivering things like facial recognition, added security and smoother registration will become the norm in the next few years,” says John Kelly, director of marketing, EMEA. “We’re also excited about non-tech aspects that we can add to the client journey, such as the use of non-traditional spaces, CSR and sustainability on local levels.”

Learn how to incorporate sustainability into your event planning

Asia Pacific

“Our region is very receptive to digitizing meetings,” says Sanjay Seth, managing director, Asia Pacific. “Teams are discovering the opportunity that data offers to transform their products, services and strategies, and are implementing tools to automate processes, boost productivity, reduce costs, and roll out new products and services.”