Why Professional Meetings & Events Matters
By Ashley Abney 07/26/2023
Meetings, conventions and trade shows bring a significant economic value to California. The numbers underscore why Visit California is committed to supporting the industry’s recovery through a Professional Meetings & Events marketing program.
Pre-pandemic, meetings in California drew 25.4M participants and produced $43.6B in direct spending, $1.8B in state and local taxes, and supported 302K jobs.
Conventions and trade shows attracted 12.9M participants, produced $22.5B in direct spending, .9B in state and local taxes, and supported 155K jobs.
Combined, the two segments accounted for $66.1B in direct spending. When other indirect and ancillary spending is counted, the total pre-pandemic output was $128.2B in business sales.
In response to the pandemic's devastating effects on travel, Visit California knew that to reach a full recovery, the marketing efforts had to include domestic leisure and international segments but also that supporting California destinations in rebuilding group business would be critical. Visit California launched its first B2B platform Meet What’s Possible in FY21/22 with a three-pronged approach to drive immediate demand with domestic meeting and event professionals:
- Implement Brand Advertising.
- Participate in leading trade shows and events.
- Connect with the B2B audience through one-on-one engagement and educational opportunities.
The campaign positions California as the Birthplace of creativity, positivity, sustainability, technological innovation and inclusivity—all parts of California’s DNA. The campaign highlights California’s world-famous accomplishments as a launchpad for inspiring movers and shakers to bring that enthusiasm into their companies.
At launch, the paid advertising efforts bolstered sourced imagery for California DMO partners.
Towards the close of FY21/22, Visit California implemented the first PME Photoshoot capturing assets in our gateway destinations Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. We also partnered with Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.
Throughout this last year, Visit California has participated or activated 15 engagement opportunities, that include 11 trade shows and industry events and 4 Taste of California Roadshows. With an in-person meeting planner reach of 10,320.
While Group room night demand is improving, there is still a longer route ahead before this segment of the industry reaches full recovery. Group room night demand for California is 4% ahead of where it was in May 2022. However, that demand still trails pre-pandemic numbers for the same period by 28%. (Source: STR, Inc.) There is still work to do.
This spring, Visit California completed its second Professional Meetings & Events photoshoot, adding four hero assets to “The Birthplace” campaign’s creative pool. The assets highlight California's enticing event venues in Sacramento, perfect weather and beaches in Santa Barbara, innovation and technology in San Jose, and the relaxing desert oasis in Greater Palm Springs.
Building off the learnings of the previous year, the team designed the FY22/23 PME plan to continue delivering a "California is open for group meetings" message by driving awareness of the variety and abundance of destinations and venue options for meetings.
- The PME plan was crafted to generate awareness by targeting key publications within the Meetings and Events space to reach key decision makers.
- The program is set to deliver 36.8 million impressions< across six media publishers supported by a $2.5MM investment.
- In addition, Visit California created over 60 “collab-ortunities" that feature many California destinations.
As Visit California reviews the plan for FY23/24, the marketing objectives and parameters will remain consistent with FY22/23, and the PME team is dedicated to unifying California meetings messages under one umbrella while emphasizing California as the ideal location and driving awareness of the abundance of venue options and experiences.
- The $1.5M budget will target domestic meeting and event planners with a primary focus on corporate planners and a secondary focus on association planners.
- This program will be focused nationally, taking an always-on approach where efforts will be in market between October and June.
- Program success will be measured by a robust set of KPIs to allow us to ensure media effectiveness
To learn more about the Professional Meetings and Events program, visit Meet What’s Possible.
To learn more about the Strategic Framework, go to Visit California’s Marketing Plans.
