How does DOGE affect the conference industry?

The sound of alarm seems too early: Trump’s executive order to change government spending could have a significant impact on meetings in science, health care and academic departments.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Cost Efficiency Initiative Executive Order includes the “Not-essential Travel Defense” section: Meeting or other non-essential purpose Unless the travel-approved official submits a brief written justification for federally funded travel in the system. ”

Recently, the U.S. Board of Education and the Carnegie Foundation released the title of the 2025 research activity. The most important designation is Research 1 (R1) institutions and universities that have traditionally received substantial federal funding, at least $50 million in research spending. There are 187 R1 universities in 2025, up from 146 R1 institutions in 2021.

We have analyzed the audience of dozens of large conferences and attended a large number of conferences from universities and universities. For many such conferences, more than half of the attendees (including graduate students) come from R1 University.

Major Threats

While federal research funding appears to continue, one of Doge’s goals appears to include overhead costs (including utility and lab maintenance) in the grant, at 15%. This seems to make sense on the surface, as 15% of the hats are common practices for private funding institutions, such as the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. However, many R1 universities have much higher overhead negotiations – 25% or more of the granted funds. This means that the hairstyle at R1 University is very large, which will have a drip effect on meetings and even members’ travel. The fact that the number of R1 institutions has increased from four years to 187 will certainly attract any audit attention.

Associated Press A story recently published about how this might affect Duke, with Duke’s current “overhead cost” rate of 61% – high cost of cancer and neurology research institutions and laboratory equipment. Last year, Duke University received $580 million in NIH grants and contracts. With the new indirect cost cap, my later calculation estimates that Duke’s annual funding could drop by about $265 million.

Business travel and professional development – ​​considered “unnecessary spending” – are often the main targets of cutting. In the first half of this year, it may not have much impact, but its negative impact on attendance and meeting financial performance may be significant.

In other words, this can hit our industry quickly and hard and have a greater impact throughout society. recent Forbes The article best says: “It takes relatively little time to remove an academic science enterprise, a critical system that the country has led for decades in science, medicine, technology and business innovation. However, it takes longer to set up the enterprise, putting the country at risk of economic decline, weakened security, impaired health and poor quality of life.”

Early indicators

The stock market does not like uncertainty. Same as in the business activity industry. Some early indicators help monitor how the executive order has a measurable impact on meetings with high government and/or academic sector attendance:

• Last minute cancellation for registrants and speakers
• The decline of abstract commits
• Lower association members renew from academia – professionals and students
• Resign from the committee or task force

CMP Dave Lutz is Managing Director of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting

Online

Read about major universities such as Cornell and Stanford’s response to expected funding cuts.