To stay ahead of industry trends, we conduct our Meetings & Events Pulse Survey twice a year, gathering insights from event planners, meeting professionals, and MICE industry experts worldwide. The Q4 2024 report reveals the latest challenges and opportunities in event planning, from tightening budgets and rising costs to the increasing role of sustainability, DEI, and AI-driven tools in shaping the future of meetings and incentives.
Key insights from the 2024 Q4 report:
- Gen X dominates the MICE workforce (50%), followed by Baby Boomers (25%) and Millennials (23%), balancing experience with fresh perspectives.
- Budgets remain tight, with nearly 50% of planners seeing no change for 2025 and only 25% reporting increases—down from almost 40% last quarter.
- Rising costs remain a top challenge, especially in hotels, F&B, airfare, and A/V, putting more pressure on budgets.
- Sustainability & DEI are a greater focus internationally, with 32% of global planners integrating sustainability into most programs vs. 18% in the U.S./Canada. DEI shows an even wider gap (41% vs. 23%).
- AI adoption continues to grow, with 57% of planners using AI (up from 48% last quarter), led by chatbots (87%), grammar checkers (51%), and translation tools.