Two Sides to the Event Attendance Story

The media has been packed with stories about the reduction in travel budgets and event spending. Last week some statistics came out that tell different stories about event attendance.

First, the upside. FOSE, a nearly 40 year-old conference aimed at providing access to the latest technology tools and best practices in government, reported that registrations for their 2014 conference were up 40% with nearly 5,000 professionals registered. They also noted a 25% increase in C-level registrants.  In addition to the exhibition of 150+ vendors, the FOSE speaker line-up included some unique speakers and topics including National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon; leaders of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies involved in catching the Boston Marathon bombing suspects; experts on change and agility in federal projects and programs; and women leaders in technology.

On the flip side, Market Connections released their annual Federal Media and Marketing study that showed an overall decrease in event spending an attendance. When the 3,700+ respondents were asked about the impact of shrinking budgets, the top two responses were less out of town travel (68%) and less attendance of industry conferences and seminars (58%).

In a related response, 33% of defense employees and 57% of civilian employees reported attending more webinars. This is consistent with the rise we're seeing in webinars listed on our site. The disparity between defense and civilian is notable in terms of webinar attendance - it may be a great option for a civilian audience, but not as compelling for defense topics.

Both defense and civilian sectors reported streaming audio and video more frequently. For event managers, this shows there is an appetite for streamed content. Recording speakers, sessions, and trainings may be worth the investment to get some extra mileage out of that content long after the event.

While a single (yet very large) event saw an uptick, overall it seems government event attendance is, in fact, down - what are you seeing at the events you plan and attend?