This time of year, we\u2019re all looking back at the highlights and anticipating all that the next year will bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As AAE goes through this exercise, we\u2019re energized and eager to dive into all that 2023 has in store, and we see an abundance of milestones, awards, and experiences to be grateful for as we look back at 2022. Here are a few of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a strong year for events, especially in-person events<\/a>. The trend that we anticipated going into 2022 was that in-person events were on the upswing thanks to the easing of COVID-19 safety measures. With every passing month, in-person events increased their lead over virtual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far this year, in-person events have made up 56% of all our bookings, with virtual events coming in at 44%. For some perspective, last year in-person events were at just 19.2%, and virtual made up a whopping 80.8% of bookings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the most popular topics for events in 2022 were mental health and mindset, diversity and inclusion, and future of work, to name a few. Take a look ahead at five speaking topics<\/a> that we anticipate will be major talking points for our speakers in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most importantly to us, our clients were overwhelmingly satisfied with AAE\u2019s services. After each event, we ask clients to rate their experience with us. So far in 2022, the average score is 4.9 out of 5 stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AAE surveyed nearly 700 event professionals and keynote speakers to generate greater visibility and insight<\/a> into budgeting, speaking topics, booking timelines, and so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We heard from corporate, university, and organizational event strategists, most with 10 years of experience or more. We also heard from more than 130 speakers and talent managers<\/a> who gave feedback on their own preferences and processes when considering speaking opportunities. In case you missed it, you can download the full report here<\/a> or take a look at just the highlights in the executive summary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re already hard at work on our 2023 report. You can share your insights through our 2023 Speaking Industry Survey starting in January 2023! Follow AAE Speakers on Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a> and be notified as soon as this survey opens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May, Inc. Magazine announced that AAE would be featured on its annual Best Workplaces list<\/a>. Each company took part in an employee survey, which included topics such as management effectiveness, perks, fostering employee growth, and overall company culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August, AAE received a pair of workplace awards<\/a>. Business North Carolina Magazine named AAE its 2022 Best Employers list, which celebrates the top workplaces throughout the state. Additionally, AAE came in at #1 on the Triangle Business Journal\u2019s Best Places to Work in 2022 list for the small businesses category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And our very own Director of Event Logistics, Edie Boan, was named a 2022 recipient of the Triangle Business Journal\u2019s Women in Business Award<\/a> for her tireless work supporting our clients and for advocating for support of our local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May, we partnered with Durham Children\u2019s Initiative<\/a> (DCI<\/a>), sponsoring its Annual RISE Breakfast through a donation of speaking fees and services to present Bakari Sellers as the keynote speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On October 25, AAE and The Blood Connection<\/a> hosted a blood drive at our North Carolina office. Not only did we exceed our blood donation goals, AAE also donated $10 to the Compass Center<\/a> on behalf of each person who participated in the drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we wrap up 2022, AAE is excited to launch a new donation drive for Oak City Cares<\/a>, which is an organization that works with people who are homeless or on the brink of homelessness. We\u2019re partnering with Oak City Cares to donate crucial items like hygiene products, clothing, and more as AAE continues to find ways to lift up our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each year, we get to work with hundreds of keynote speakers, each of whom bring their own unique styles, abilities, expertise and stories to our clients\u2019 events. One of our favorite things to do is to dive deeper into those stories. In 2022, we got to do a lot of that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We turned 20! In those two decades, AAE has seen monumental growth to better serve you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve worked with incredible clients, booked extraordinary talent, and played a role in creating unforgettable event experiences with our many partners that have impacted the lives of thousands and thousands of event attendees. As we took the time to celebrate this milestone in 2022<\/a>, we also looked ahead to the next 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As our CEO and founder put it<\/a>: \u201cMy hope is that we continue to grow as a company and as individuals, that our work has a positive impact on others, that our employees<\/a> continue to feel supported and valued and achieve their personal and professional goals.\u201d We\u2019re energized and eager to dive into all that 2023 has in store, and we see an abundance of milestones, awards, and experiences to be grateful for as we look back at 2022. Here are a few of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":23188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1901],"tags":[699,1544,2101,725],"class_list":{"0":"post-23184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news-aae-speakers-bureau","8":"tag-event-planning","9":"tag-event-planning-resources","10":"tag-in-person-events","11":"tag-keynote-speakers"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-Year-In-Review.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23184"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25488,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23184\/revisions\/25488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Creating our 2022 Speaking Industry Speaking Industry Benchmark Report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
An award-winning year for AAE <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of our community\u2026 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Getting to know our speakers better and helping them tell their stories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Celebrating our 20th anniversary, and looking to the future with optimism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
With 2023 just around the corner, we\u2019re excited for another opportunity to partner with clients like you and help make your event dreams come true<\/a>. Here\u2019s to another great year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"