Skift Meetings Forum Isn’t for Everyone. That’s the Point.
Skift Take
As meetings face more scrutiny, the value of peer-level conversation has become significantly higher.
The people attending Skift Meetings Forum are leading large-scale event programs with real operational and commercial responsibility attached to them.
They’re managing global portfolios. Running flagship conferences that materially impact revenue. Reworking event strategies under geopolitical uncertainty, AI disruption, tighter budgets, rising venue costs, cybersecurity risks, and growing scrutiny around the business impact of events.
And the room reflects that level of responsibility:
- 77% of attendees are director level or above
- 66% have more than 15 years of experience
- 55% manage events serving more than 5,000 attendees annually
- 50% oversee annual event budgets above $5 million
Who Attends
Corporate event leaders
Teams overseeing large internal and external event portfolios across multiple markets, business units, and stakeholders.
The conversations focus on strategic decision-making at scale: navigating geopolitical uncertainty, rising scrutiny around ROI, AI disruption, shifting attendee expectations, and the evolving role of events inside organizations.
Association meeting leaders
For associations, the annual meeting is often much bigger than a single event. It’s revenue, membership engagement, industry positioning, and community-building rolled into one.
The executives responsible for those programs are navigating international attendance challenges, political uncertainty, membership expectations, and increasing pressure on annual meetings to deliver both community and business value.
Enterprise marketers using events to drive growth
More marketing teams are being asked to demonstrate how events contribute to business growth, customer engagement, revenue, and organizational strategy.
That changes the kinds of conversations worth having and the people you need in them.
A small number of partners and suppliers
Supplier participation is intentionally small.
The goal is to create informed conversations between senior event leaders and the companies helping shape where meetings, hospitality, and event technology are heading.
Why Skift Meetings Forum
The value comes from the makeup of the room. People arrive with context already in place. Discussions start from a shared level of experience and responsibility. Networking feels more relevant because attendees are often dealing with a similar scale and similar decisions.
The meetings industry is under pressure from every direction at once: budgets, pricing, staffing, attendance expectations, ROI scrutiny. Most teams are being asked to do more with tighter margins and less room for error.
That’s exactly why senior-level conversation matters more right now.
If your team is navigating complex, high-stakes event strategy in a rapidly changing environment, Skift Meetings Forum is designed for those conversations.
Join us on September 22, 2026, in New York City for the 3rd edition of Skift Meetings Forum.
Further Reading: 5 Forces Reshaping the Business of Events in 2026
