Convention-meeting budgets remaining stable
Meeting budgets going down? Not according to two new studies.
There’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.
“Companies still feel pretty optimistic about their abilities to grow,†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
David
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