Digital Revolution for Smaller Meetings Is Still a Work in Progress


Skift Take

Avoiding digital tools to help manage simple meetings is a big missed opportunity. The good news is that more meeting planners and travel managers plan to experiment with new technology over the next year.

Over the last decade, a variety of companies have popped up offering shopping and booking solutions for so-called simple meetings, which are defined as those with 50 or fewer attendees. Instead of calling a venue and negotiating, these allow meeting planners to more effectively cross-shop and manage their event through an online portal. Simple meetings may represent around half of the meetings booked each year, but not enough is being done by planners and travel managers to reduce costs and track whether these events are actually fruitful for their company. New research from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and HRS shows that despite the variety of options