Education dominates meeting activity as we head into the long three day holiday weekend
The number of U.S. meetings and events decreased 11.21% compared to the prior week. This is a week-over-week drop is expected as we head into the long holiday weekend.
The average number of attendees for the week was 69, while the average square footage used was 1,458 per event and square feet used per person was steady at 21.
The corporate market segment regained its dominant position with 56.3% of overall meetings business for the week. Education tops the top segments as we head back to school. The top five segments for the week were: Education, National Association, Healthcare, Technology, and Training/Education.
Markets with the highest week over week variance for number of meetings were Phoenix, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Lexington, Iowa Area, and Kansas. For this week, the Iowa market had the largest average group size (152 attendees) and square feet of meeting space used (2,436 sq ft). It also had the lowest average average square feet per person at 16 while Minneapolis-St. Paul had the highest square feet per person at only 22 this week.
| Market | Average Group Size | Average Sq Ft Used |
| Phoenix, AZ | 72 | 1,341 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI | 86 | 1,872 |
| Lexington, KY | 63 | 1,276 |
| Iowa Area | 152 | 2,436 |
| Kansas | 26 | 420 |
These numbers and markets change weekly based on market dynamics and social trends.
Knowland tracks the weekly event activity across 128 U.S. markets with more globally and is expanding coverage regularly.