The mobile phone has become an essential tool in our daily lives and, with over 4 billion phone owners globally, it
has become the first truly omnipresent technology. At the same time, the sale of smartphones are now
outstripping those of laptops and the prospect of projection screens and keyboards for our phones proclaims the
possibility of the mobile phone replacing the laptop as our core computing device in the near future. With these
developments in mind, two scenarios were tested on the survey respondents. The first asked whether, by 2020,
the provision of information on demand anytime and anywhere would replace the role of conferences and
exhibitions in delivering such information. While 42% overall considered this a likely or very likely scenario, it was
rated higher by those outside the meetings industry (50%) than those working within it (39%). The second scenario
posed gained more widespread approval across all respondents, with 92% considering it likely or very likely that “in 2020, my ability to communicate, share data, and negotiate at any time and in any place with clients, suppliers, and
business partners will be vastly greater and more efficient than today, thanks to technology.”