Meeting Mentor Magazine

March 2024

AMEX Study

Organizations Better at Mitigating
‘Meeting’ Risk, But Gaps Remain

Three years ago, only 49% of planners and 56% of meeting owners surveyed told American Express Meeting & Events that their organizations are properly mitigating risk to their meetings. A follow-up study found a substantial change to the better, with 89% of planners and 80% of meeting owners agreeing that their organizations are properly mitigating risk. But gaps are evident:
• 17% of planners and 12% of meeting owners say there is no formal meeting policy in place within their organizations.
• Almost one-third of planners and meeting owners do not have standard operating procedures in place to manage a crisis. Action plan: A crisis management plan should assess the location of attendees and prioritize troubleshooting efforts.
• 9% of planners and 6% of meeting owners don’t think a contract needs to be executed with meeting services suppliers. The good news: 86% of planners (31% more than in 2013) say their legal and procurement departments review hotel contracts. Action Plan: Work to develop standard addendum or contracts for each meeting supplier type.
• While gaining transparency into meetings and events data is a top priority for meeting owners, 50% of them still report that their organizations don’t require planners to track savings/cost avoidance.
• 7.6% of planners surveyed would follow through on an unethical request, while 15.5% of meeting owners expect this is happening (compared to 3% and 2% respectively in 2013). The personal use of familiarization trips was up 15% from 2013. These trips “can potentially create a conflict of interest if the organization’s policy does not clearly define what is acceptable or not,” the study stated. — Maxine Golding

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About ConferenceDirect
ConferenceDirect is a global meetings solutions company offering site selection/contract negotiation, conference management, housing & registration services, mobile app technology and strategic meetings management solutions. It provides expertise to 4,400+ associations, corporations, and sporting authorities through our 400+ global associates. www.conferencedirect.com

About MeetingMentor
MeetingMentor, is a business journal for senior meeting planners that is distributed in print and digital editions to the clients, prospects, and associates of ConferenceDirect, which handles over 13,000 worldwide meetings, conventions, and incentives annually. www.meetingmentormag.com

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