Conference Feature
Evolving change in the conference market
by Michael Maguire, regional director, Chartered institute of Marketing O
ne of the interesting features of change that occurred in and around the time of the
millennium was the significant and progressive growth in the magnitude of the conference market in the UK. It was a time when every major city was investing in purpose built
conference venues, city hotels were springing up all over the place to fill any void, and regional tourism agencies were aggressively competing with one another to bring major conferences to their patch. It was an era and opportunity that commercially transformed cities like Belfast and Londonderry.
Indeed, in 2004 the British Association of Conference Destinations declared the UK market to be valued at some £11.7 billion. Bearing in mind that this merely addresses the estimated value associated with conference provision and accommodation, it rather underscopes the wider commitment to event management by conference organisers and the residual expenditure on travel, subsistence and entertainment that ensues which could possibly double the market value. Thus, back in 2004 the market could be assumed to be worth around £20 billion. This was definitely the market to be in. Now some six years on, the dynamics of the market have not so much changed as taken a new direction, and this is only partly influenced by two plus years of the economic assault that we have sustained. Yes, the conference market has shrunk by perhaps a third but not all the economic value has been lost. Observation suggests that major international sectoral or professional conferences are no longer annual certainties on the corporate calendar, due in no small measure to a fall off in marketing and training budgets, and a softening in commercial sponsorship. Y et, there is evidence of growing demand for smaller conferences and seminars at a regional level where sponsors perceive real value. It is a market that is being heavily exploited by city hotels and smaller venues that offer a real ʻwowʼ factor that appeal to conference organisers.
Conferences that are geared to accommodate thousands may have waned but the market for events that attract say between one and three hundred delegates remain popular and seem likely to increase.
I suggested earlier that the changes that are occurring in the
market are only partly influenced by recession and its aftermath. There has also been a deep underlying transformation taking place in the attitude of larger corporations to the need and benefit of major locational conferences as a medium for galvanising management resolve and facilitating business development. In the pre millennium era, the leading US multinational corporations had significantly driven the conference market and an annual convention at a major resort venue or international destination was prominent on every corporate calendar. Today more and more companies have invested in in‑house technology to facilitate essential international communications and are less inclined to underwrite an annual ʻbash and bingeʼ for staff, customers and suppliers.
However, in my judgement, this technology driven withdrawal from people to people networking will ultimately have a damaging impact on the commercial focus of many businesses and there is some evidence to suggest that many larger companies are moving back to organising conferences at a regional level. We can see this taking place in Northern Ireland. This will be good for our economy.
Some weeks ago, I found myself pursuing a punishing three‑day programme of meetings across eight cities in Britain and Ireland. Nothing unusual about that, except that least half of those meetings had been in some way impacted by conference activity. This included an inability to secure hotel accommodation, taxis and restaurant tables due to a plethora of local conferences. Indeed, three of my meetings were scheduled to take place at conference venues that had regeared their offerings to provide smaller workshop spaces for business meetings. It is a trend that has been repeated in our own cities where fully serviced offices and meeting rooms can be secured quickly and cost effectively from a network of modern commercial providers. While it may be some time before we see resurgence in the conference market that matches the early post millennium period, developers have a natty knack of moving swiftly to interpret and satisfy evolving opportunities.
Good business positioning and marketing will invariably be rewarded and centres like Belfast, Derry and others are adjusting to the change.
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