In the past, we only thought of events as a physical gathering of like-minded fellas for a celebration or speech. As an effect of the pandemic, there has been a significant shift. We no longer need to be gathered to have a successful event. That is one of the distinctive event industry trends making waves worldwide.
We can attribute this change to developments in technology. It has rapidly increased expectations, especially in the business world. And unveiled new corporate event trends driving the meeting and event industry today.
Whether you are an event management company, a business owner or an event planner, here are some trends in the industry you want to take advantage of.
First, we had events and meetings moving from physical to various virtual spaces in 2020. About 52,000 events were happening on one platform. Gradually, the majority of businesses established hybrid events, which are combinations of in-person and virtual attendees. It allows you to attract more audiences at a lower cost.
The popularity of hybrid events has increased and will rise higher in the coming times. It gives you the flexibility and reach of virtual events plus the connection and engagement of in-person. Many startups have tapped the idea and created platforms to balance the trend. This type of event is becoming more common, and we expect more growth soon.
Since virtual events have limitless attendees, it has become a mass communication tool for PR. Virtual Events have helped corporate events to shift from being a revenue source to a marketing vehicle. Let’s take the Microsoft 2020 conference as an example. They charged $2,395 per person in 2019 and had 6,000 attendees. Meanwhile, in 2020, the event was virtual and free, leading to 197,000 attendees. That’s a massive impact on marketing.
Many marketers follow this trend and sell exquisite events for free. For these reasons, we also have platforms that have emerged to help these events secure sponsorships.
Due to the increasing noise in the virtual space, people have shorter attention spans and lesser time to stay connected. Hence, the event trend of making on-demand content available for attendees is rising. Though, uploading event videos and making them accessible for your customers to consume when they prefer is great. But, creating on-demand content from live events with a few clicks is the new trend.
It increases your reach and maintains high quality, showcasing your brand in grand style. These on-demand content are accompanied by all engagement, live clapping, polls or Q&A at the same time they occurred in the event. This helps to pass first-hand experience to your customers.
In the past, many companies held events yearly. Now, it has become easier and cheaper to organize corporate events. One of the current trends in event planning is to help conversation spark into a chain of events. This way, events are done more often and meaningfully.
Some tech innovations have also created an ongoing community feature to keep the audience engaged in the conversation. There has been a massive surge of interest in these platforms!
Here is a critical trend in the meeting and event industry that helps you plan better. The more data you use, the better you cover your loopholes for the better. This is a priority for event marketers. They experience increasing pressure to run events better than previous ones and competitors.
Hence event platforms help to measure data such as the number of registrants, attendee rate, returning participants, session popularity and engagement. This helps to create more explicit goals and measure achievements. You can also quickly point out mistakes and make amends in future.
As the above trends in event planning keep rising, technology has also changed. Many professional skills continue to emerge, forcing existing experts to upskill. Even event planning professionals strive to develop their skills in designing new experiences. Also, some event planning institutes have established new certifications to help professionals upskill for post-COVID-19 trends.
If you are an event planner, you should look these up. You can also find webinars that provide insights into these new event-planning strategies.
Indeed, this makes even seem tech-savvy. Event tech has been more intuitive and user-friendly. Setting up a backend for an event platform is difficult, but these platforms have 24/7 support available to help you. For some, they have no-code solutions that make it easier.
Technology companies are also developing Artificial intelligence (AI) to help enhance event experiences. Though this trend might grow as fast as others, it is something to look out for.
There has been a change in the purpose of events in society. Marketers now provide networking opportunities in the virtual world. Hence, the value propositions now emphasize the people you meet and what you experience. Before registering for an event in the virtual space, people now need meaning full and transformative experiences.
Although content is still on the list of priorities, it is no longer the biggest priority. This order places meaningful connection at the top of the list, entertainment follows and then, content. For your event to be impactful, you must create a transformational experience.
Wrap Up
Whether offline or online, events will remain flexible, meaningful and safe.
So, which of these event planning trends will you focus on? Well, that depends on what you need to improve your current structure. Always consider your event’s goals and objectives before deciding what to change. Then, ensure you have the right platform for your corporate events needs.
Smart Work Agency provides exclusive and top-notch experiences for corporate events. They also have upskilled experts to provide all these event industry trends with appropriate resources.
Get ready for the lifetime impact of these event trends on your business or industry.