Confidence in the future of special events is rebounding strongly, with both in-house and independent event pros predicting they will produce more events in 2011. The findings come from a survey conducted annually since 2002 by Penton Media, parent company of Special Events.

Some 41 percent of in-house special event professionals predict they will produce more events in 2011 than they did in 2010. This is a remarkable turnaround within the last three years. Two years ago, only 20 percent said they would have better year, a number that increased to 33 percent the year following.

For independent event producers, 51 percent say they will produce more events in the new year. This is up from the 48 percent who predicted a better year a year ago, and the 33 percent who said so two years ago.

Only 9 percent of in-house event pros say they expect to produce fewer events in 2011 than they did in 2010. This is a welcome drop from last year's survey, where 16 percent said they expected a worse year to come, and even sharper from two years ago, when fully 26 percent expected business to fall off more.

A scant 6 percent of independent event pros expect to stage fewer events in 2011. This compares with 16 percent who predicted a worse year last year, and 17 percent two years ago.

See the full story in the January-February 2011 issue of Special Events.

Photo by iStockphoto.com / © RTimages

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