Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International’s (HSMAI) Affordable Meetings National Pre-Show Survey respondents say they feel increased pressure to show success and ROI of an event.

Sixty percent of meeting planners attending the 21st Annual Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International’s (HSMAI) Affordable Meetings National Conference & Exposition Sept. 8-9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., said they feel pressured to show metrics to management that display success.

These findings also remain consistent with findings from the pre-show surveys conducted prior to this year’s Affordable Meetings Mid-America and West. The specific outcomes requested by meeting planners expecting to attend the show fell into three categories: event satisfaction rate, attendance-repeat attendance rates and metrics related to net revenue.

Also according to the conference’s survey, respondents feel technology is most helpful in the planning industry for online registrations, social networking, eRFPs, e-mail blasts, marketing, blogs, conducting virtual meetings and utilizing e-commerce through online stores. Respondents suggested that technology saves time and enhances organization, while at the same time streamlines business processes, more accurately capturing or manipulating information and allowing a database of legacy data to be built. It also allows a wider audience to be reached, they said.