Key insights from the 2026 M&E Trends Report
The new FCM Meetings & Events 2026 Trends Report is out, packed with insights from over 500 professionals worldwide. We’ve read through the pages and pulled out the main takeaways to help you create better experiences for your people.
Tailoring events to the people
Like most of us, meeting and event delegates appreciate personalisation and choice — especially when they’re giving up personal time to attend. The FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report shows that tailoring content, allowing agenda flexibility, and crafting communications to match the audience are high on the priority list. Beyond formal presentations, attendees value breakout sessions, the opportunity to pick sessions that interest them, interactive discussions, and casual collaboration.
Just as important is making every guest feel welcome. Inclusion and accessibility should be standard practice to help everyone feel valued and able to engage. Venue accessibility, dietary requirements, and various forms of content delivery are expected. But in 2026, planners also need to consider language, religious observances, neuro-inclusion, and psychological safety. When the foundations are right, everyone feels like they belong, and that’s when the best ideas and connections happen.
Expect the unexpected
Event planners have spent the last year navigating sudden surprises, like tariffs, shifting airspace rules, and last-minute political changes — all impacting international event attendance and travel arrangements. So unsurprisingly, global instability emerged as a top consideration in this year’s data. According to the FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report, nearly eight in 10 respondents said safety and security are now their top priorities. No one’s keen to gamble on disruption, and planners now bake flexibility into every timeline, scrutinise contracts for contingencies, and expect that not everyone will arrive exactly as planned.
Tech as an enabler
While technology, including AI, sits at the heart of most meetings and events, planners are using it more selectively. Registration platforms, event apps, budget trackers, and reporting tools are important, but they can add friction if they’re clunky or distracting. The FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report calls out the top opportunities for digital tools in 2026 as:
- Making the attendee experience feel easy (30%)
- Helping oversee and manage budgets (28%)
- Managing overall event coordination (22%)
Artificial intelligence (AI) shines the brightest when it lightens the load. 55% of respondents told us that they use AI to reduce planning hours, 45% to reduce costs, 49% to improve delegate experience, and 22% choose not to use AI at all.
Making every cent count
There’s a shift in how organisations are allocating meeting and event spend. According to the FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report, medium-sized events are now centre stage. For many planners, these formats hit the sweet spot, balancing big impact with practical logistics. Large events do still play a part, but incentive travel is following suit, by trending shorter and closer to home.
Budgets themselves are on the rise. This year, 35% of planners expect to oversee between $1 million and $10 million in meetings spend — a 19% jump from last year. But with more dollars comes more responsibility. Meetings teams are now working much closer to financial decision-making than ever before, and every spend is under the microscope. Costs, risk, and external pressures are adding up this year, and every line item needs to deliver real value.
Planning like a strategist
More conversations are treating meetings as part of connected programmes, rather than one-and-done activities. This alignment delivers consistency, control, long-term value, and supports better decision making. Budgets can be planned with more certainty, formats and content can be reused where appropriate, and supplier negotiations gain leverage.
Of course, event management isn’t confined to one team anymore. According to FCM Meetings & Events, ownership now stretches across events teams, operations, executive assistants, and more. This broad involvement can create complexity, with different standards and approaches popping up across functions and regions. The key to keeping things streamlined is establishing shared disciplines and adopting a strategic framework that brings everyone onto the same page.
Regional trends at a glance
The full FCM Meetings & Event Trends Report explains what’s happening in each region, however, here are a few top-level highlights.
If you want to scratch a little deeper, download the full FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report for all the stats, and advice straight from people just like you.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report?
The FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report is an annual insights report based on feedback from 100’s of corporate meetings and event professionals globally. The report looks at what’s shaping programs right now, what’s changed over the past year, and what planners should focus on heading into the year.
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What topics does the FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report cover?
The latest FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report covers global and regional trends, safety and security, disruption planning, budget pressures, experience design, inclusion, sustainability, technology adoption, strategic program planning, and more.
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Who is the FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report for?
The FCM Meetings & Events Trends Report is designed for anyone involved in planning, managing, or influencing meetings and events. That includes event managers, marketing, procurement, human resources, internal communications, and senior leaders responsible for budgets, risk, and experience outcomes.