Planners Signal an Uncertain 2026

The business of events faces another challenging year in 2026. Skift Meetings’ Megatrends 2026 report explored the biggest trends shaping meetings and events, and this week’s Backstage Briefing webinar featuring Editor-in-Chief Miguel Neves, Executive Editor Andrea Doyle, and Editor Barbara Scofidio explored what lies ahead with an engaged audience.

Megatrend # 1: Live Events as the Antidote to AI Slop

The silver lining in 2026 just might be the increasingly negative reaction to the overload of AI-generated content. With all this “AI slop,” people are starting to realize that F2F events are more important than ever.

Planners will start promoting their live events — conferences, incentive travel, trade shows — as antidotes to the deluge of AI slop.  

This trend goes even deeper than events removing themselves from the AI sphere. It’s about the fact that AI cannot replicate real, imperfect, human connection. Live experiences will gain importance because they are unfakeable.

“Events are human experiences, with small faults or little details that don't necessarily go to plan, or conversations that aren't perfect,” said Neves. “Those also add to the experience, and people really enjoy that authenticity.”

Megatrend # 2. The Talent and Knowledge Gap

The events industry faces the growing challenge of attracting and retaining talent, as experienced professionals retire and fewer younger workers view meeting planning as a long-term career.

The biggest issue is around work-life balance. Long hours and travel demands can deter new entrants. Unlike their parents’ generations, they draw a line at overtime, and those values do not sync with a meeting planning career.

Doyle pointed to research by Freeman that concluded that the younger generation respects events as a place to gain knowledge and network, but not a place for a career. In addition, said one attendee: “Succession planning is often overlooked and will be a serious factor. If we don’t fix this, we’re going to have a labor shortage in this industry.”

Megatrend #3: The Affordability Crisis

Rising costs paired with flat budgets are a growing source of stress for many planners. 

One corporate planner said her event costs are up roughly 20-30% compared to pre-2020, driven mostly by labor, F&B, and AV. “That said, budgets themselves are largely flat. The real shift isn’t bigger budgets, it’s tighter scopes, more intentional design, and being sharper about where the dollars actually drive value.”

Planners are finding ways to make “invisible” cuts that attendees won’t notice, like skipping a meal or adding free time to the agenda, to preserve the attendee experience. Things like increasing attendee access — allowing them to meet a speaker or entertainer in person — don’t necessarily add cost but elevate the experience.

“Higher costs are everyone’s reality, every day,” said Scofidio. “What I'm hearing from planners is that they are using the example of their own grocery bills to explain inflation to the C-suite. They’re saying, ‘Those are the same price increases I need to contend with when I'm negotiating F&B with a hotel.’”

Megatrend #4: Events in a Polarized World

Political and social polarization are increasingly influencing every aspect of events: speaker selection, exhibitor policies, and destination choices. Planners also face ethical decisions about supporting certain clients or choosing destinations with laws that are counter to their personal values.

One senior marketing manager in the audience from Washington, D.C. called the situation there “very bad. The government shutdown, the National Guard occupation and ICE raids, and federal workers losing their jobs are impacting every decision we make."

This is only expected to continue. One audience member who works for the Canadian government said she is not allowed to contract any U.S. speakers, purchase any U.S. goods, or attend events in the U.S. Another said some employees are refusing to work particular right-wing events.

Megatrend #5: The Rise of Micro Events

Smaller, tightly focused gatherings held closer to home are gaining traction as attendees seek deeper engagement and connections, and fewer are willing to travel due to the current political uncertainty.

One event director in the life sciences industry reported curated events of less than 50 attendees making a comeback. Another sees a trend her nonprofit clients “holding more smaller, local events that are authentic to the audience vs. larger gala-style events once a year.”

Larger events are also getting on board. Some trade shows are adding micro events — deeper dives into particular subjects — where attendees can feel more comfortable networking and building connections.  

However, smaller isn’t necessarily easier to plan. “Micro events aren’t less work; they’re just different work,” said Doyle.

Megatrend #6: Shorter Lead Times

Decision-making delays at the executive level, due to budget concerns and an overall environment of uncertainty, are compressing sourcing and planning timelines. The pressure for planners can be enormous, with some webinar attendees saying they are being asked to execute events within weeks — or sometimes days.

One person compared C-suite behavior to consumer expectations: People expect that when they make a decision to buy something and order it on Amazon Prime, it appears 24 to 48 hours later. Why would sourcing a hotel be any different?

“Lead times keep shrinking, but expectations haven’t,” said one audience member. “Because we’ve ‘made it happen’ before, the assumption is we can always pull off the same level of magic on even tighter timelines.”

Planners can only continue to reinforce to the C-suite that late decisions directly increase costs and complicate logistics.

“Shorter timelines plus longer decision cycles is the worst possible combination,”  said Scofidio. “This isn’t a temporary phase — it’s the new reality.”  

Watch the Backstage Briefing webinar on demand here and download the Skift Meetings Megatrends 2026 report here.