| In a world of uncertainty, how do you plan for the future, and how do you respond to the changes that are brought about by events out of your control? It’s a challenge that world leaders have to grapple with every day and it’s one where we, the common people, look to our leaders to….well, lead. When Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman? he replied: “Events, dear boy, events”. The same is true for most leaders and organisations. Events happen. When they do a lot of things are at stake: investments, both monetary and also relating to lives, livelihoods, and reputation, to name just a few. So knowing how to respond is a key survival skill for leaders and organisations of all kinds. And it seems that events are taking their toll on the world markets, which in due course will affect your (meetings & events) business. If we look at the macro picture, we see atrocious things happening in the Middle East. If these spill out, it will have a profound effect on governments, oil prices, the world economy, inflation and possibly (probably) a recession. If not a recession, almost certainly a slowing down of growth. We have the Ukraine conflict as an example. And if we look closer to home, the general election next year (or early ’25) will almost certainly slow down decision-making (spending) and therefore stretch budgets, resources and patience. There’s no shortage of money out there but the money folk are sitting on it. Not spending it. So the flow stops and distress will breed distress, both in assets and behaviours. Now, I’m not normally a miserable b**ger but you can be forgiven that I’ve gone a bit miserable with my forecasting. But it’s not me being miserable, it’s me planning for what might unfold. Look at the chart below. My wife’s family has the military at its core and the military often uses the saying “no plan survives contact”, which broadly means that whatever plan you had or thought you had, will be useless as soon as you engage with the enemy. Mike Tyson had his version of that military phrase. His was more visceral: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”. So why am I, an M&E data guy, going all lofty with world doom and gloom? Well, I’m on a mission that’s why. I’m on a mission to help meetings and events teams around the world use data to help them make better decisions. That data until recently, never existed – but it does now: * Market and competitive benchmarking data. * Venue Performance data. With this new, rich pool of data, you can survive contact, or that punch in the face. We know it’s coming. Very Probably. So why not prepare? Let’s prepare our teams, our stakeholders and our bosses for what will probably happen and that I predict will be a choppy 2024. There’s just too much movement out there to think that we, as an industry, won’t be affected. But with data, you will be able to manage your business better. You will have more control and more exposure to what is REALLY happening, as opposed to what you hear is happening or what you THINK is happening. And guess what, the more data we have, the better decisions you will be able to make. So if you’re not already using Venue Performance’s M&E benchmarking platform, now might be the perfect time to start. And if you’d like to see what the future looks like, please join our monthly M&E Analysis virtual meet-up this Friday at 12.00 Please click to REGISTER HERE This month I’ll be joined by Michael Heyward, founder of Heyward Group. This month’s focus is on using the data for better decision-making. Oh, and 1 last thing. PLEASE take our M&E benchmarking buyers survey. You could win a fab reMarkable paper tablet. It won’t take longer than 2 mins. Thank you 🙏 – SURVEY LINK HERE |
