Delegates don’t feel encouraged to participate in meetings

More needs to be done by event organisers to encourage participation in meetings, according to research carried out by Imago Venues.

While gaining knowledge, building relationships and learning from peers and colleagues rank highly as reasons why people commit their time to attending meetings, the results show that just 51% of delegates and 37% of students feel fully encouraged to take part, highlighting that more needs to be done to make the experience worthwhile for them.

Responses from meetings attendees included:

• “We start out full of enthusiasm and the real world seems very different. We want to inspire and maintain enthusiasm. Meetings have a real role to play.”
• “If I can walk away with one new skill or one new contact I think that would be a success.”
• “The expected outcome from the meeting is that it would really help in my job or would help in my personal development.”

The research measured whether the meetings industry is doing enough to inspire the business leaders of tomorrow and was conducted in conjunction with Loughborough University and The Right Solution.

Emma Boynton, Head of Sales and Marketing at Imago Venues comments: “Great value is placed on face-to-face meetings and respondents understand the importance of attending to expand their network and nurture professional development. However, they clearly do not feel encouraged to participate. If they are not encouraged to take part, then their motivation to attend meetings in future will decrease.

“Meetings should offer an opportunity for creative and innovative thinking. Organisers need to bear this in mind and pay more attention to this during the planning of any event. In particular, it is important that millennials learn something valuable and develop relationships that benefit them, and this can only be achieved if they are encouraged to participate. As an industry, we need to react to these finding and ensure that we are doing all we can to inspire people to be involved in the learning experience so they get real value from attending.”

A copy of the research can be downloaded HERE.