BCE M&E: Tight 2025 Budgets to Challenge Mtg. Buyers

Meetings and events buyers are going to have to do more with less going into 2025—provide more “engagement” and “experience” with lower or flat budgets, that is, even as strong supply-side metrics continue to hold and increase rates. 

That dynamic is playing out in most markets around the globe, according to meetings management firm BCD M&E, which continues to pursue its three-year plan to integrate meeting logistics, data management, production value and high service standards. According to an introductory statement attributed to BCE M&E global CEO Bruce Morgan, the company will focus on deepening its offerings, rather than expanding their scope and continue to roll out “consistency across all our regions.” 

To that end, the company has rebranded and deepened a number of service offerings like “The Collective,” “Films,” and 2021’s rollout of its Life Sciences Center of Excellence. The first on that list is a brand experience agency limited today to the U.K. and United States, but which will expand to other regions in the coming year. Films is an in-house production agency that digs deep into creating onsite production experiences and pushing brand messaging over the line to brand engagement through storytelling. The Life Sciences Center of Excellence, which concentrates efforts on the unique needs of a single vertical, could expand to a Finance and Professional Services specialty in 2025.

All of this points to a need in the meetings and events service industry, according to the report, to streamline efforts across geographies and utilize the burgeoning technology landscape to make meeting sourcing, planning, communications, logistics and production more efficient in a fast-paced world that is looking for cost control at the same time it needs service and production enhancements.

BCD M&E’s report indicated the company would look to additional artificial intelligence integrations to mine event data, not just for individual event performance objectives, but also dig deeper into insights that will help tailor event experiences and design for optimized engagement. Generative AI will begin, the company wrote, to replace manual data entry and analysis and, instead, generate better insights that translate into action. 

No matter what the region, it looks like clients will be needing more consolidated, efficiency-oriented services, because challenges in 2025 remain daunting in terms of budget and lead times and how those stack up against venue rates and attendee expectations.

North America – BCD M&E claimed 20 percent-plus increases in 2024 meetings activity year over year for the North America region. But going into 2025, clients will be seeking “cost savings across the board,” according to the report. That may include outsourcing or flex-sourcing more meeting planning resources from their agency, rather than hiring in-house.

In the strong supply-side environment, the sourcing process has been under pressure and will continue to be in 2025. That pressure is reflected in master services agreements that are trending toward demanding fewer concessions and focusing more on governance. Concessions will need to more frequently be negotiated on a per-event basis and tailored to individual event objectives, rather than delivered to all events similarly. 

United Kingdom – Higher costs are challenging flat to slightly increased budgets in the region. Mergers and acquisitions also are eating up some of the smaller agencies in the market, so there are opportunities for BCD to expand its business if it can deliver the right product and value mix. The leisure market, in a piece of good news, is cooling. This hasn’t taken rates down, but it has lengthened lead times as hotels aren’t as covetous of saving rooms for last-minute, high-paying leisure business. Meeting space itself, according to the report, is easier to book in general. In London, however, prices continue at very high levels and are pricing many organizations out of the market. 

Europe, Middle East, Africa – Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to cause uncertainty. That’s coupled with double- and triple-digit inflation butting up against budgets that appear to be trending flat to slightly down in the region. Short lead times in this market and going head-to-head with long internal approval processes as costs scrutiny amps up within organizations. That is, however, leading to more strategic meetings management momentum. 

Asia-Pacific – Aggressive meetings and events growth continues in the region, with 80 percent of events in 2024 happening in face-to-face formats (APAC held on to virtual and hybrid meetings longer than other regions). Budgets are flat, but buyers are demanding more creativity and production values in the region. At the same time, organizational restructuring internally in terms of which divisions own the meetings budgets has interfered with efficient execution. Continued labor pressures continue to impact some service levels in the market. 

Latin America – Unpredictable socio-economic status, including violence, is undermining some meeting and event activities. Sustainability awareness has grown as well in the region, turning attention to greener events with less footprint and lighter impact on communities. There’s a big opportunity in life sciences, according to the report, and while the service market remains more fragmented in Latin America than in other regions, buyers are pushing for more integrated support resources. Incentive travel is a major trend as companies focus on driving sales revenue.