ABSTRACT
In common with other industries, the conference industry comprises ‘buyers’ and ‘suppliers’. The buyers in this case are conference organizers and meeting planners who buy or, more accurately, hire conference venues and related services in order to stage their events. Most people working within the conference industry refer to
two broad types of buyer: ‘corporate’ and ‘association’. There are also ‘public sector’ buyers who may be regarded as a discrete group, rather than being subsumed within the ‘association’ category. There is also a category of risk-taking, entrepreneurial conference organizer who puts together a conference and hopes to be able to attract sufficient delegates for the event to be profitable. All of the above may also employ the services of various kinds of ‘agency’ or intermediary to assist them in the staging of their events.
