Right Balance. Meetings demand globally in 2012 appears to be on the rise, according to a recent survey and in-depth interviews of meeting experts, including planners, buyers and hotel suppliers based around the world conducted by American Express Meetings & Events. Higher travel and meeting costs are anticipated, driving the need for companies to focus on striking the right balance of cost effectiveness and experience impact when selecting venues, according to the inaugural American Express Meetings & Events 2012 Meetings Forecast. It identifies global meeting trends in 2012 as meetings goint to be “shorter and smaller, closer to home with fuller agendas. The number of attendees per meeting will likely decrease as will the number of days, according to 40% and 33% of hotel suppliers respectively. Driving this trend is a demand to do more with less as companies look to hold a higher number of meetings. Furthermore suppliers indicated planners want meetings closer to their businesses, with 53% of their clients requesting more local meetings. This is also likely tied to the effort to keep individual meeting costs down.

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http://about.americanexpress.com/news/pr/2011/meetings2012.aspx