Convention Centers Reflect on Return of Events in 2022, Trends for 2023

2022 was an exciting year for the return of events, with next year looking even brighter. Meetings and events volume was back to pre-pandemic levels in many destinations, with many venues anticipating record volumes in 2023 following a challenging pandemic.

Convention centers around the world are still dealing with lingering challenges, including staffing, but they are gearing up for another busy year of continued recovery with an increased focus on sustainability, personalization, and DEI.

Here’s what convention center representatives from San Francisco, Tampa, and Toronto are predicting for 2023.

How did meetings and events hosted at your venue evolve throughout 2022? Was hybrid still a focus, were events smaller, etc.?

Kirstin Albert, Communications Coordinator, Tampa Convention Center

Events have been back to normal at Tampa Convention Center this year. We’ve actually seen an increase in the number of events and in attendees, so in-person events are back in a big way.

Ron Pellerine, General Manager, Metro Toronto Convention Center

Fewer and fewer of our clients are producing hybrid events. In 2022, we saw a real desire from planners and attendees to return to in-person events. As we welcomed the return of consumer and trade show events for the first time in a few years, some required a smaller footprint. In 2022, there’s no question that we saw a great deal of enthusiasm for the return of in-person events. Our facility’s enhanced health and safety protocols and guidelines for planners provided the confidence planners needed to move forward and get back to business.

Nicole Rogers, EVP & Chief Sales Officer, San Francisco Travel Association (Moscone Center)

This year we saw the return of events at Moscone Center, with very strong second and third quarters. Many of the organizers hosted hybrid events and reported an upswing in last-minute registrations for in-person attendance.  It was great to see events such as Game Developers Conference, which hosted its first in-person event since 2019, have an attendance of around 17,000, with 30% of that being international and only about 1,500 virtual-only attendees. 

Some events, such as SPIE’s Photonics West, did not have a virtual component. As SPIE CEO Kent Rochford said earlier this year, “While photonics is a major enabler of virtual connections, it is clear to us and our international community that nothing compares to getting together in person for the networking and serendipitous interactions that help move science and innovation forward.” 

In-person attendance for most events was planned to be smaller than in the past, but organizers hosting their first live events since 2019 reported good attendance.

 

How is your event calendar looking for next year? Are you experiencing close to pre-pandemic levels?

Kirstin Albert, Communications Coordinator, Tampa Convention Center

Tampa Convention Center is preparing for a record-breaking year next year. We expect 2023 to be our busiest schedule in our history. So many people are looking to bring back bigger and better in-person events. And more and more people want to come to Tampa to see how this beautiful city is booming. There’s so much excitement in this city, and people want to be a part of it. It has become a major destination, and we have so many return clients who can’t wait to come back.

Ron Pellerine, General Manager, Metro Toronto Convention Center

Our Centre is set to host 21 citywide conventions in fiscal year 2023/24, the highest yearly total in the facility’s 38-year history. Our industry, our team, and our partners have worked tirelessly to recover and regain momentum after a few challenging years.

A few examples of the citywide conventions coming to the MTCC in fiscal 2023/24 include the American Counselling Association (ACA) Annual Conference & Exhibition, the SIBOS 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition, the World Stroke Congress 2023, and the American Anthropological Association 2023 Annual Meeting.

We confirmed 8 international citywide meetings for future years in 2022, the most ever secured by our Centre in one year. These large international meetings will take place for the first time ever in Toronto within the timespan of 2025 to 2030.

Nicole Rogers, EVP & Chief Sales Officer, San Francisco Travel Association (Moscone Center)

We are excited about next year’s calendar. We’ve confirmed over 30 events for Moscone Center, including hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting and have more than doubled the number of hotel rooms blocked for Moscone Events. We’ve also secured dozens of conferences and meetings at San Francisco hotels. In 2022, 33 events were secured for Moscone Center, accounting for an estimated 317,359 hotel room nights. This was a major increase from 2021, when Moscone Center hosted five events after opening in September.

San Francisco is generally anticipated to return to pre-pandemic tourism numbers by 2025. Based on our current information, we are not on pace to achieve pre-pandemic meeting-related numbers through 2029. In 2019, a record 49 events were held at Moscone Center, accounting for 966,966 room nights. 

 

How are you dealing with ongoing staffing issues? Are you finding that this is one of your biggest challenges currently? How are you working with event planners/organizers to meet their needs?

Kirstin Albert, Communications Coordinator, Tampa Convention Center

The Tampa Convention Center has been extremely fortunate to have contracts with partners that have been able to not only retain their core teams but also grow their internal in-house teams during this time. 

Ron Pellerine, General Manager, Metro Toronto Convention Center

Staffing has been a challenge across our industry recently, and we’ve had to work hard to find solutions. By being flexible and having open communication with our customers, we’ve been able to make it work and deliver the same standard of memorable and successful events. Our team has been incredible in terms of working together to solve problems and move forward. In fact, our overall customer satisfaction rating remains high at 96%.

Overall, supply chain issues remain a challenge, from food to case goods. The lead times are extended and quantities on hand are not what they used to be. This adds pressure on our team to source products and on our customers to confirm attendee numbers in advance.  

Nicole Rogers, EVP & Chief Sales Officer, San Francisco Travel Association (Moscone Center)

As far as San Francisco Travel is concerned, during the pandemic, our staffing levels were reduced to 40%. Based on the current economy, we are in the process to increase our staff to 65%. The Convention Sales & Services was reduced to a team of 12 in the height of the pandemic. Looking forward to 2023, we will increase to a team of 22. Although we do not anticipate returning to pre-pandemic levels within the next 5 years.

We work closely as partners and representatives for event planners and organizers. In addition, they can access in-depth information on the dedicated meeting planner section of San Francisco Travel’s website. Once planners share their needs and wants with our San Francisco Travel sales team, they will receive a customized proposal that includes suggestions and information based on the group’s interests. We also can put meeting planners in touch with our members and help with permitting and other needs through our close relationship with the City of San Francisco.

 

As sustainability becomes more of a concern, are there any particular initiatives you’re working on, whether it’s F&B, waste management, energy, etc.?

Kirstin Albert, Communications Coordinator, Tampa Convention Center

Sustainability is very important to us at Tampa Convention Center, and we’re always looking for ways to improve. We work closely with the City of Tampa Sustainability and Resilience Office to figure out how we can make the biggest impact. We have some exciting projects in the works that we will be announcing in the coming year.

Most recently, we’ve improved our technology to reduce energy usage. It takes a lot of air conditioning to keep our building cool in the Florida sun, and so we’re always upgrading our technology to do that in the most sustainable way possible. We’ve been updating our HVAC systems to increase efficiency and lower our carbon footprint. We’ve also installed two Turbocar Chillers that reduce energy used for air conditioning. Also, we’re currently converting all of our lighting to lower-energy LED lighting, and have successfully converted more than 60% of our light fixtures to LED.

Ron Pellerine, General Manager, Metro Toronto Convention Center

Our team’s focus is always on making a positive impact on the region and helping local businesses as much as possible. This year, we committed to serving only local wine and craft beer. By buying local in large volume, we hope to help support local businesses as much as possible.

Our Centre also diverts 90% of event waste from landfill by using a variety of different strategies, including donating food and items to local charities. We donate regularly to local shelters and the Toronto District School Board’s student nutrition program.

Nicole Rogers, EVP & Chief Sales Officer, San Francisco Travel Association (Moscone Center)

We are seeing more meetings and event organizers enquiring about our sustainability initiatives. We’re fortunate that Moscone Center is in the heart of one of the greenest cities in the world, located by world-class hotels and attractions and connected to San Francisco’s robust public transit system. And sustainability is factored into every part of Moscone’s operations, from how the buildings are designed to the food and beverage options, to how we keep the facilities clean. Planners and attendees can feel confident they’re meeting in a space with the highest sustainability standards. 

  • The Moscone Center has a Green Guide for event planners and exhibitors that outlines environmental regulations events are required to comply with and additional recommendations for producing a more sustainable event.
  • Food sourcing and menu choices are becoming more significant concerns for meeting planners. The Moscone Center is committed to using only local food vendors and produce. We also do not use certain food products that are not environmentally friendly, such as almonds. There is a growing interest in primarily plant-based menu options, so we have developed new and creative non-meat options to fulfill these new expectations. 
  • Moscone Center has the lowest carbon footprint per delegate of any major convention center in North America. It is the highest-scoring LEED Platinum convention center in the world after our expansion in 2018. In addition to a rooftop solar panel which provides the center with approximately 19% of its power, we have a greywater treatment system that recovers 15 million gallons of water annually for reuse in landscaping, street cleaning and toilet flushing. 
  • Moscone Center has an established program to donate as much leftover food as possible to community food programs. We provide daily reports to clients so that they are aware of food donations being made on their behalf. Any food which is not suitable for donation and all other organic material from food service operations, including compostable serveware and utensils, is composted. We operate a three-bin system (recycling, compost, and landfill) throughout the buildings so attendees can be part of the solution in helping to divert as much waste as possible.

 

What do you see as some of the biggest trends in meetings and events going into next year?

Kirstin Albert, Communications Coordinator, Tampa Convention Center

We’ve seen more clients looking to customize their events even more to make them unique. There are so many ways we can personalize events, and we’ve seen clients taking advantage of that. We’ve seen custom food themes, specialized decorations and lighting on unique areas such as on our staircases and in our rotunda, and customized spaces to shrink or expand our ballrooms and exhibit halls to make them the perfect size for the event.

We’re also seeing more people take advantage of our scenic setting on the water, as they look to hold events on our outdoor Landing and in our Sail Plaza. They want to enjoy the sights and the beautiful Florida weather. We’re currently building new, waterfront rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows that can be used as flex space for everything from meetings to galas, and we expect these to be very popular when construction is finished.

Ron Pellerine, General Manager, Metro Toronto Convention Center

More than ever, planners are looking to innovate and try something new to take their event to the next level. Sustainability and giving back are important trends, with many events eliminating single-use products and taking new steps to reduce waste on the trade show floor. As well, many planners want attendees to have a local experience, with local products and local food.

Nicole Rogers, EVP & Chief Sales Officer, San Francisco Travel Association (Moscone Center)

We expect event organizers will continue to focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility when choosing event locations and in overall planning. Of course, sustainability and an event’s environmental footprint will also remain top of mind. In 2022, we saw a shift away from swag that would typically end up in a landfill to CSR or philanthropic-focused activations instead. In addition, planners and companies will continue to focus on ensuring a solid ROI for attendees to be there in person as some events will continue to have a hybrid component. Still, the value of networking and learning in person cannot be matched on video, and there will be more emphasis on this through creative breakouts, educational sessions, and personalized networking opportunities.