20 May 2008

Convention-meeting budgets remaining stable

Meeting budgets going down? Not according to two new studies.

Thereââ¬â¢s a general commitment not to slash meeting and event budgets over the next two years, says a study conducted by American Express and CFO Research Services.

While marketing budgets may be shrinking somewhat, event marketing increased its share of the marketing budget by almost a third last year, the highest percentage in six years, according to another survey by event marketing firm George P. Johnson with the MPI Foundation.

ââ¬ÅâœCompanies still feel pretty optimistic about their abilities to grow,ââ¬~ said Eduardo Vergara, senior vice president, American Express Global Commercial Card & Services. He added companies are seeing meetings as a productivity enhancing investment.

The studies found that training meetings are particularly holding up well.

Also found in the research: Almost a quarter of those polled planned to increase meeting and conferences expenses. More than 61% said they would keep budgets the same.

Report by David Wilkening

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