September 2011| See all articles in this issue

How much is your meeting worth to the economy?

A study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Convention Industry Council concludes that the U.S. meetings industry contributes $106 billion to the GDP, making it significantly larger than the U.S. auto manufacturing industry, which contributes $76 billion. Other findings from the study: the U.S. meetings industry directly supports 1.7 million jobs, $263 billion in spending, $60 billion in labor revenue, $14.3 billion in federal tax revenue and $11.3 billion in state and local tax revenue.

Aptly titled “The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy,” the study finds that in 2009 nearly 1.8 million meetings took place, attended by an estimated 205 million participants. For the purposes of this study, meeting is defined as a gathering of 10 or more participants for a minimum of 4 hours in a contracted venue. Therefore, meetings include conventions, conferences, congresses, trade shows and exhibitions, incentive events, corporate/business meetings, and other meetings that meet the aforementioned criteria. By far, the largest number of participants (52%) attended corporate/business meetings. The next largest segment of attendees, 25%, attended conventions/conferences/congresses.

Those of us who participate in business meetings, conferences, conventions and more have long been aware of the intangible benefits of meeting attendance: face time with clients and prospects, networking with industry peers, industry-specific education, and more. The economic impact of the industry they support, makes their value that much more important.

To read more on this study, click here.

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