Industry News - Chauffeur Driven Magazine

Details: Category: Industry News; Published: 2024, April 08

meetings and events

Things are looking good for meetings and events as the latest Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, co-produced and sponsored by Cvent, reveals that business is booming worldwide and industry indicators are trending upwards. Data for the study was collected in March 2024.

For the first time ever, the survey polled planners across North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC).

Per the results, nearly two-thirds of North American planners say their events are considered more valuable to stakeholders than before the pandemic. While optimism levels are high around the world, planners in APAC are the most hopeful compared to the start of the year.

Confidence levels have bounced back up from a more guarded perspective at the end of last year and the beginning of 2024. There are considerably more optimists now than there were two months ago (57 percent), and a lot fewer pessimists (14 percent). Although most planners say networking and education are the two most important factors driving demand for their face-to-face meetings, budget constraints and higher costs remain the top challenges worldwide.

The study does report that the challenges with hotels and venues vary by region. The most notable sticking point for North America is that food & beverage costs are reported as being higher than expected. For EMEA and APAC, however, the cost of nightly accommodations is the biggest issue. Although planners’ comments focused somewhat negatively on hotels (rates and service levels), planners rank hotels, convention centers, and venues higher than they did last fall.

Sustainability differences vary starkly by region, with North American planners lagging far behind their counterparts and EMEA leading the way. One area where North America surpasses EMEA is in aligning operations with the UN’s sustainable development goals (14 vs. 11 percent).

Don’t delete the Zoom app off your phone yet, though. More than a half of EMEA and APAC respondents (54 percent and 56 percent, respectively) are planning to produce events that are either fully virtual or hybrid this year, more so than their North American peers.

Click here to see the full results.

[04.08.24]

Details: Category: Industry News; Published: 2024, April 08

cyberthreats

The US Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with MetLife, has released its latest Small Business Index (SBI) for Q1 2024. The SBI is a survey of small businesses nationwide on numerous topics that have been impacting them during the past few months, including fiscal issues and other challenges.

According to the quarterly survey, small businesses continue to feel that the economy is stable, slightly more optimistic than last quarter (62.3 for Q1 vs. 61.3 for Q4 2023). For reference, the highest SBI in the past four years was Q3 2023 at 69.2, while the lowest occurred in Q2 2020—the height of the pandemic—at 39.5. The score has remained in the range of the low 50s to the low 60s most of that time.

With no surprise, most small businesses (52 percent) continue to report—for the seventh straight quarter—that inflation is their top concern. However, they were also more likely to say that the overall US economy was in good health—32 percent versus 25 percent from last quarter—and that their local economic outlook was good (38 percent versus 30 percent in Q4 2023).

Some additional points of data:

71 percent of companies said that they are adequately prepared for future threats, although 27 percent said that they are one threat away from shutting down their business.
80 percent said that they have a plan on how to change their business if a struggle arises.
62 percent reported having a rainy-day fund, with 61 percent claiming it’s adequate.
A new threat emerges: 60 percent of companies claim that cybersecurity is among their chief issues, although 73 percent said they felt prepared should an attack happen to their business.

The full report is available here.

Visit uschamber.com for more information.

[04.09.24]

Details: Category: Industry News; Published: 2024, April 02

UPDATED 4/26

Have a 2024 event that you’d like to share? Let us know! Send an email to susan@chauffeurdriven.com or rob@chauffeurdriven.com and we’ll add your meeting/conference to our list of events in the monthly magazine, in our weekly newsletter, and on our website.

APRIL
4/2
NELA Quarterly Meeting (Framingham, Mass.)
nelivery.org

4/8-4/9
GNJMA Meeting & Sponsor Appreciation Dinner (Lahaska, Pa.)
gnjma.com/Events-Programs/Spring-Meeting-Sponsor-Appreciation-Dinner

4/16
CLA Membership Meeting (Denver)
cololimo.org

4/16
ILLBA Coffee With ILLBA (online)
illba.org

4/16
MLA General Meeting (Baltimore)
mdlimoassoc.org

4/17
PRLA Member Meeting (King of Prussia)
prlainc.org

4/22-4/24
GBTA Canada Conference (Toronto)
canadaconference.gbta.org

4/29
VLA Member Meeting (Ruckersville)
virginialimousineassociation.org

MAY
5/3-5/7
U.S. Travel’s IPW (Los Angeles)
ustravel.org/events/ipw

5/14-5/15
GBTA APAC Conference (Singapore)
apacconference.gbta.org

5/14-5/15
NLA Day on the Hill (Washington, D.C.)
limo.org

5/16
CLA Top Golf Networking Event (Thornton)
cololimo.org/events