The UIA Survey on International Association Meeting Issues for 2024 has been launched, and is now available here for completion. There are 12 questions, of which the majority are multiple choice, and they should take only about 10 minutes of your time. So if you are in an international association which organizes meetings, please do take part.

These UIA Surveys are a valuable record of developments in association meetings. The first was held as long ago as 1985, and in 2024 our Survey will reflect those meetings organized in 2023. It is no surprise that changes in recent years have been rapid, so although at first Surveys were carried out every two or three years, since 2020 the Survey has been conducted every year.

More than 25,000 international associations are invited to take part, with emails sent about once a month until October 2024, directed to recipients of this newsletter and to visitors to UIA’s website. Sponsors are announced on the form as well as the report and thus receive worldwide publicity: if you would like to take advantage of this, please go to Survey sponsorship 2024

We are happy to welcome Palais de Congrès de Montréal, as a sponsor of the 2024 Survey.

The Report on the Survey will feature text, graphics and tables to illustrate the results, and, like the form, will be in three languages – English, French and Spanish. It will be presented to the UIA Associate Members at their meeting in Florence on 14 November 2024, and also it will be sent to all participants in the Survey who request it. Subsequently the Report will be available free of charge for download from the UIA website. No personal or associations’ details will be published.

Technology plays an increasingly important role in the life of associations and their meetings. We have introduced a question this time relating to Artificial Intelligence in meeting planning to see whether this has already become a feature.

The use of online conference facilities became more widespread as technology developed to be easier and more reliable, so there have recently been two competing trends in meeting organization, as we will all recognise. Online meetings save travelling time and reduce expenses, whereas face-to-face meetings are valuable in generating ideas, building communities and creating new networks – in general we want both! In the Report of 2021 relating to 2020, 73% of respondents expected to continue with hybrid or online events whereas in 2023, concerning 2022, 57% of those replying said they expected to continue with hybrid or online activities in large events. We look forward to seeing how this aspect has developed in 2023.

Reported problems with technology decreased a little between 2020 and 2022, as did problems with internet speed: for the latter, 19% had difficulties in 2022 compared with 28% in 2020.

At least one-third of respondents for both 2020 and 2022 said they did not use the services of Convention and Visitors Bureaus in preparing their meeting plans: this could create an interesting opportunity to benefit Bureaus and associations alike.

We are looking forward to discovering how associations are approaching the arrangements for their meetings and their experience in the past year when we receive the results of our Survey. Please participate, and you can receive the Report!