Optimists in the C-suite can be hard to find these days. Multiple surveys have found that CEOs are anxious about election-year politics, lingering effects of inflation and what technologies like generative AI mean for their business.
But the main takeaway from Marketing General International’s 2024 Association Economic Outlook Report, released last week, is that associations are generally feeling positive. According to the report, based on a 2023 survey of professionals from more than 300 associations, most associations expect to see upticks in membership (61 percent), nondues revenue (56 percent) and overall revenue (53 percent) in the coming year. And a majority of associations say that inflation will have no impact on their hiring plans.
Part of that rosy outlook can likely be attributed to a substantial bounce-back in in-person meetings, and the revenue that comes along with it. The percentage of groups planning to offer only in-person events jumped from 39 percent to 61 percent this year, as more groups (42 percent) have seen an “increase in in-person meeting attendance compared to pre-pandemic levels.”
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