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Published:
18/10/2007
CORPORATE EVENT NUMBERS ARE UP BUT BUDGETS GO DOWN, ACCORDING TO MIA SURVEY
The corporate event sector has experienced the biggest rise in event numbers since 1999 according to the Meetings Industry Association (MIA) UK Conference Market Survey, but greater procurement involvement means budgets are being stretched.
The 2007 survey reveals a positive picture of the UK conference market over
the last twelve months, with an increase of 27 per cent in the volume of corporate events. The not for profit sector (associations) has also shown a 1.4 per cent increase.
Associations’ annual average budget for events increased by 34 per cent, while corporates' annual budget reduced by 4.5 per cent. The budget stretching is due to the greater involvement of corporate purchasing or procurement departments - 24 per cent of corporates said these departments were now involved in buying decisions, compared to 13 per cent last year. 17 per cent of the not for profit sector said their procurement departments were involved in buying decisions, compared to 5 per cent last year.
For the first time this year, respondents were asked about the influence of corporate
social responsibility (CSR) on their event organisation. 64 per cent of associations and 77 per cent of corporates think CSR will be extremely or somewhat influential in their event organisation over the next ten years. All corporate respondents said that it is
already influencing some aspects of event organisation and only 34 per cent of associations said it was not influencing event organisation.
M&IT remains the most widely received and read trade publication within both sectors, received by 36.4 per cent of respondents and read by 27.2 per cent in the association sector and received by 28.7 per cent of respondents and read by 20.7 per cent of corporate respondents.