It's budget planning season for many meeting professionals. Many are poring over spreadsheets, as they seek out creative ways to do more with less. The burning question: What items can be trimmed without negatively impacting the attendee experience. One of the tools we like to use when we look at how to stretch a meeting budget is Convene's 22nd Annual Meetings Market Survey. If a planner is going to make cuts in some expense areas, benchmark data is critical to ground those decisions. … [Read more...]