Planners and professionals in the MICE space will need to give stronger consideration towards having a contingency plan in place for a range of extreme circumstances in 2025, revealed the MPI’s Q4 2024 Meetings Outlook Report.
“For meeting planners organising major events, it’s critically important to have a contingency or pivot plan in place. They need to think through possible scenarios to ensure preparedness,” highlights Michael Scott, a Colorado-based meeting facilitator and speaker.
Among some of the extremes are adverse weather and security.
Spain, a popular destination for events, recently saw its worst storm in living memory. Valencia was among the hardest-hit regions, with 213 confirmed deaths. With such significant risk to life, how can planners prepare for these situations?
Ysiad Ferreiras, whose company Fullmind works with more than 200 school districts in the US, has had to resort to moving an in-person event to a virtual format on short notice.
“When a sudden hurricane threatened our annual educators’ conference last year, we transitioned the entire event online within 48 hours. This not only ensured the safety of our attendees but also opened up the event to a wider audience who couldn’t have participated otherwise,” he explains.
Similar to the US, civil unrest can pose a threat to hosting meetings in some parts of Africa, such as Mozambique. The UK government’s official travel advice has warned that “There remains a high risk of protests and demonstrations occurring at short notice across Mozambique.”
“We live in a time in which, unfortunately, acts of violence can happen. Planners need to consider that there could be some kind of security breach or an unexpected event, and meeting professionals must think through these scenarios and have contingency plans in place. This should be a proactive part of their planning, integrated from day one, to ensure they’ve covered as many bases as possible,” says Scott.
Overall, the outlook for business in 2025 is steadily improving, with:
- More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents saying that they expect favourable conditions;
- 71% of respondents confident on budget projections;
- 75% of respondents expecting positive live attendance;
- Full-time hiring showing upward growth for three consecutive quarters.
View the full report here: https://www.mpi.org/media/meetings-outlook.
