The Events Industry Council (EIC) launched a report in early March 2025 to explore top issues shaping the global business events industry, including incentive travel.
This report, funded by a SITE Foundation industry grant, covers 12 key themes that emerged from research conducted by the EIC.
Here, 2024 SITE Foundation President Stan Hershenow digs into one of the report’s key themes, with his perspective on what makes the EIC report relevant to incentive travel professionals.
This post originally appeared in the 2025 spring/summer edition of “Incentives Today.”
The recently released Futures Landscape report found that 75 percent of respondents say “talent and workforce development” is either very important or extremely important for the future of the events industry.
I couldn’t agree more. When you consider the many factors that lead these respondents (and many others) to feel this way, it’s really no surprise.
Just a few years ago, the events industry took a major hit when the COVID pandemic halted in-person events for an extended period. The shutdown caused many companies to significantly reduce payroll through early retirement of its most experienced personnel or layoffs of many individuals who were just getting started. The latter found jobs in other industries. The entire experience created hesitancy to return to the events industry once the world reopened.
Couple this with two additional industry headwinds. First, the makeup of the workforce is shifting as Baby Boomers age out. Second, our industry faces rapid growth in technological enhancements.
Let’s take this first headwind, shifting demographics. The Baby Boomer “work long and hard” mentality was a good fit for the events industry. We (I’m a Boomer) wore it like a badge of honor. Long hours, weekends, and extensive travel were all part of the job. This “image,” however, is not attractive to younger generations, and it’s certainly not going to motivate them to pursue a career in the industry.
Study after study shows that younger generations place increased importance on work-life balance — or maybe more appropriately stated, life-work balance. They put a priority on wellbeing.
Still, I believe the incentive industry is well-positioned to thrive in the years ahead if we market the industry differently to attract the talent we so desperately need. Our industry offers many features and benefits that are important to emerging generations. For example, our industry embraces diversity, equity, and inclusivity. This aligns very well with the compassion and acceptance especially expected by younger generations.
Returning to an earlier point, technology is also playing a much bigger role in our events. Who better than a generation that grew up with these technological skills to lead us into the future?
Finally, our industry offers a healthy dose of change. Rarely do you find someone describing the events industry as boring or stale!
For incentive travel to continue thriving and evolving, it is critical that we collectively respect and embrace generational differences and leverage unique characteristics to create a dynamic workforce that is the envy of all industries.
