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Join fellow FICP meetings professionals and hospitality partners to discuss budgeting best practices and 2025 expectations. Whether you're aiming to optimize event spend or benchmark against industry standards, this discussion is tailored to provide actionable insights to shape the success of your future programs. Participants will also delve into the latest data from FICP’s Summer Pulse Survey, released in August, which is focused on budgeting and 2025 projections for meetings and events.

Discussion topics include:

• Discussion and analysis of key findings from the FICP Summer Pulse Survey, focusing on trends, benchmarks and actionable insights for planning 2025 meetings and events.
• Strategies and tactics to effectively manage and optimize event budgets without compromising quality and attendee experience.
• How to benchmark your organization’s event budgets against industry norms and best practices to ensure competitiveness and efficiency.

After the pandemic of 1918 came the Roaring 20s. Similarly, we are on the brink of a revolution. Technology developments, the workforce, our collective values, health initiatives and sustainability efforts are all changing the way we plan meetings and events for the financial and insurance industry. What do meetings professionals expect from their partnerships moving forward? How has the hospitality community responded and addressed current challenges and emerging trends? Join an esteemed panel as they discuss top priorities for the next five years to prepare yourself and your teams for doing business in this new era. Discussion includes: - Industry changes: New generation of buyers and sellers – what motivates them (e.g., incentives/cash bonus, business travel/leisure travel, inclusivity), technology and automation of services - Perspective from meetings professional leadership on how their future is different (e.g., 5-year strategy, changing expectations of partners) - Perspective from the hospitality community (e.g., health, labor shortages, increasing costs, sustainability/carbon footprint) - Strategic partnerships (e.g., managing and communicating client expectations, becoming an extension of your client teams)

In this series, Jen Squeglia, CMP, FICP Board Member, brings together our meetings professionals members and hospitality partners to moderate a discussion about the future of meetings. To close out the year, we'll look forward to 2022 events and beyond. Discussion topics: - What is the status of your live events? What does Q1 2022 look like? - How has your meeting strategy been impacted by balance of return of in-person, virtual, and hybrid? - How are your company’s travel restrictions impacting your work? - What is happening with your 2022 budgets? How are you communicating budget changes with your partners? - How have COVID protocols impacted your programs? - What is the tipping point for your meeting cancellations (i.e. is it based on gonvernment restrictions, case counts, vaccination statuses, etc.)?

A lot has changed with the return to in-person events. Hotel, production, travel, technology and F&B costs have gone up but budgets are expected to stay the same. Many are finding that being transparent with your partner is key when it comes to your budget expectations. Join the FICP community as we explore: - The new norm and what to expect with costs - Solutions on how to minimize costs without losing the integrity of the event - How to share this information with your stakeholders