MPI Q2 Report: Planner Optimism Nosedives

A majority of meeting and event professionals anticipate negative business conditions over the next year, according to MPI’s Q2 2025 Meetings Outlook survey, which will be released in its entirety in mid-May.

Only 31 percent of respondents in the Q2 report expect favorable conditions this year, the lowest seen in the survey’s 12-year history—lower even than at the same time in 2020 when businesses and society in general were reeling from the growing Covid pandemic.

Between March 31-April 11, the Q2 2025 Meetings Outlook survey received a total of 230 unique responses (53 percent from suppliers, 47 percent from planners), a period of time that saw significant volatility in financial markets and geopolitics.

On April 2, U.S. President Trump announced “reciprocal tariffs” for goods from most countries and a 10 percent tariff on all imports, expanding on the tariffs directed at Canada and Mexico announced during his first day in office (Jan. 20). China, meanwhile, responded to the new tariffs by announcing new tariffs of their own on U.S. goods.

In the days following, financial markets worldwide experienced severe volatility, with many stock exchanges seeing the greatest selloffs since the start of the pandemic. On April 9, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the “reciprocal tariffs,” reversing many market downturns from the previous days.

This roller coaster of uncertainty punctuated by such abrupt shifts has resulted in nearly instant ups and downs felt around the globe, disrupting myriad aspects of the event business.

Notably, while the overall business projection data this quarter is the least-positive seen in the history of Meetings Outlook, several other data points—such as budget and in-person attendance projections—were worse in 2020. So despite similar optimism levels between the present data and that of 2020, the variables driving these shifts are totally different and may require a different recovery strategy this time around.

‘Not a Trend’

Since the data revealed in the Q2 2025 Meetings Outlook represents a single quarter, MPI is not declaring a trend, saying in its analysis that subsequent surveys would be needed.