Almost two-thirds of meeting planners in a recent survey said they expect to see their budgets increase this year to keep abreast of rising costs. Here’s the data.

Sixty-one percent of planners asked in a recent survey by event-production firm Encore said they expected to see their 2023 budgets increase this year, while 30% predicted their budget would remain flat. More than half of those expecting an increase said it would go up between 11% and 25%, while 28% were more in the 1% to 10% range. A fortunate 15% said their budgets could go up between 26% and 50%, but only 5% were optimistic they’d get a bigger bump than 50%.

Not surprisingly, food and beverage was the biggest line item, with 62% expecting they would spend at least a little — or a lot — more on everything from coffee to cupcakes this year. Hotel rooms rates were not far behind, with 61% of planners anticipating having to devote a bigger chunk of their budget on housing. The next highest budget category was air and ground transportation, with 57% saying they were having to increase their budgets to cover this area — though it was a tie with F&B when it comes to expecting to have to pay significantly more, at 18% each. AV and in-room event tech also is going to be a budget-cruncher for planners, with 34% anticipating have to spend a bit more, and 13% thinking it’s going to be a much bigger expense this year than previously.

But hopefully the budget bump-ups will be somewhat ameliorated by increases in attendance — 62% of respondents said they expected more to come to their meetings and events in 2023. And 39% say their attendance should increase by at least 10%, though just 4% are expecting to beat previous attendance by more than 50%. And most of those attendees will be in person, with more than 60% saying their events would be in person in Q2 and Q3 this year. Just 15% say they plan to hold hybrid events over the same time period, while virtual events drop to just 11% by Q3 this year.

One reason that in-person events are surging again to the top of most organization’s event programs is that networking and relationship-building, both of which are notoriously more difficult in an online format, were by far the most valuable service their events provided to attendees. Seventy-four respondents named networking a top reason for attending, followed by connecting people and employees to an organization’s mission/vision/values, and education/training/professional development opportunities, both of which were top for 61%. More than half said a feeling of belonging to the organization and its culture was a top value of attending, followed by celebrating/recognizing hard work and/or wins.

“Whether your goal is to drive professional relationships or deliver education, neither activity occurs in a vacuum,” the report said. “For example, educating attendees on an organization’s mission can help them feel more connected, give them a purpose for being there, and encourage engagement with one another that inspires action. Strategic educational programming also provides a great atmosphere for learning and personal growth, and can set the stage for more intentional networking conversations that greatly enhance the overall experience … [Therefore] it might be worthwhile to focus on these core points in your programming and weave them into the content to be delivered.”

The research was based on a survey conducted in December 2022 of 723 respondents, most of which identified as either corporate or association planners. Download a copy of the report here.

How are your 2023 event budgets shaping up? Please share your thoughts by emailing the editor at sue.pelletier@conferencedirect.com.