Research Whitepaper
Samenvatting
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Foundation has partnered with Maritz Research to release results from its Future of Meetings (FOM) survey. The findings are divided into four white papers, one for each of the prominent themes of the survey.
In the 2011 study, 1,612 hospitality professionals were asked open-ended questions focused on four primary areas: technology, meetings design, social media and suppliers / venues. Most respondents were from North America (89 percent) and were female (72 percent.) Baby Boomers accounted for 47 percent of responses, Generation-Xers were at 46 percent and the remaining 6 percent were Millennials.
A majority of respondents were meeting planners (46 percent) or associated with suppliers or venues (43 percent.) The remaining respondents (11 percent) were meeting professionals that fell under other areas of the industry (e.g., meetings attendees, speakers, procurement, etc.).
The study found that there was an overlapping concentration on technology within the four primary focus areas and its emerging role from Web conferencing, to online meetings, to meetings design, to the increasing role of social media. A bulk of respondents noted a problem with a ‘generation gap’ within the industry relating to technology. Younger professionals expect more technology options while older professionals did not put as much importance on the topic. This trend, among others, will affect the way hospitality professionals relate to different audiences.
Results from the study include strengths and weaknesses of:
While the future of the shifting hospitality industry represents challenges for professionals, there are also opportunities when accessing key trends from the study.
