Meetings Survey Shows Career Opportunities and Rising Costs

August 10, 2022

Results of the Q2 Meetings & Events Pulse Survey from Global DMC Partners reflect current industry trends as planners move forward.

Polling 237 meetings and event professionals, the just-released state of the industry survey from Global DMC Partners(GDP) covered what’s trending with salaries, hiring, work/life balance, sustainability and budgets as meetings resume after the pause. Results were collected from May 31 to June 30, with 63 percent of respondents from the US, 22 percent from Europe, 7 percent from Canada, and the remainder from Asia or South America. Eighty-five percent of participants are full-time employees and 97 percent have a mid-level role or higher. Forty-eight percent are third-party planners, followed by 44 percent corporate planners and eight percent association planners.

Among the takeaways:

•Higher costs and bigger budgets. Nearly 70 percent of respondents said that their meetings and event budgets are increasing, due to inflation and higher cost of living worldwide. Rising airfare is a big concern, with 60 percent of respondents saying the cost of airfare is affecting their destination choice.

•More job opportunities. Sixty-five percent of respondents said their organizations are hiring or recently hired meeting professionals. As face-to-face meetings make a comeback, 75 percent of respondents said that on-site event management is the number one desired skillset for new hires. Forty-five percent of international respondents and 30 percent of US/Canadian respondents said their organizations have had to increase compensation packages.

•Salaries are higher in the US & Canada. Nearly half of US/Canada respondents reported having salaries between $75,000-$124,000, while over half of the international respondents reported having salaries $74,000 or less.

•Working from home is a key benefit. Having the option to work from home is the #1 reported factor that contributes to a good sense of work-life balance. Work-life balance is also the #1 reported reason planners leave their organizations.

•The US lags in sustainability focus. Only 31 percent of US/Canadian meeting planners have sustainability goals in place, compared to 45 percent of international respondents. And only 25 percent of US/Canadian respondents said that sustainability goals are a driving factor in site selection, versus 60 percent of international respondents.

See more details with the full results of the GDP Meetings & Events Pulse Survey.