UK conference and meeting venues are being urged to take part in the 2020 UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS) to help determine the value of the industry.
Though designed to be answered by venues, the survey will help event planners determine levels of investment made by venues in their product, give an indication of what percentage of event management is outsourced to a PCO or event management agencies and collect data on average rates achieved by venues and average durations of meetings and conferences.
Scheduled for publication in June, the UKCAMS 2020 report is hoping to achieve a minimum of 300 survey responses from UK venues.
“We work on there being a universe of circa 3,500 primary conference and meeting venues across the UK. In 2019 we achieved 340 responses, approx. 10 per cent,” survey co-organiser, Tony Rogers of Tony Rogers Conference & Event Services told M&IT.
This year’s survey will focus on venues’ conference and meeting business during 2019 with questions including how many events were hosted, rates achieved, event duration and size, client type, levels of residential and non-residential business, origins of the business, and capital investment undertaken.
Tony Rogers“We are also asking some new questions this year, alongside our traditional questions,” Rogers added.
“These cover factors that may impact levels of business, such as labour shortages, Brexit, competition, climate change, the economy, and also factors that are important to buyers in selecting venues, such as non-traditional seating and modular spaces, facilities for hybrid meetings, security and privacy.”
The results aim to provide a definitive insight into the conference and meetings sector and are widely used to inform investment, advocacy and marketing activities.
Last year’s research found that the conference and meetings sector was worth an estimated £18.3 billion to the UK economy, with some 1.48 million meetings taking place in 2018.
UKCAMS 2020 also includes a section on the targeting and securing of international events by UK venues, as well as a question on factors likely to affect venues’ level of business over the next couple of years.
Venues that participate in the survey will receive a complimentary, personalised summer report, enabling them to benchmark their performance in 2019 against other comparable venues.
The survey is accessible here.
A desire to travel led Holly Patrick to the business meetings and events world and she’s never looked back. Holly takes a particular interest in event sustainability and creating a diverse and inclusive industry. When she’s not working, she can be found rolling skating along Brighton seafront listening to an eclectic playlist, featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sean Paul, and Arooj Aftab.
