Phygital Meetings, Personalization, and Sophisticated Technology — the Major Event Industry Trends 2019
The event industry sphere is rapidly reshaping that’s why being a part of the events industry nowadays, you should be flexible, dynamic and ready to meet the attendees’ needs and requirements. We have already written why you need a CRM for your event, but today we’ll look at the event organization from another angle.
So, let’s find out the main trends of 2019, which should be taken into consideration when planning, managing and arranging the event.
First of all, those who are in the industry should remember — digitizing and social media have become the key aspects, which reinforce the value of engagement, discussion, and networking. In the recent decade, the screen time during the day has increased more than twice, so digital revolution has provided us with multiple opportunities and solutions to market, arrange, plan and manage the events as well as engage the audience we need.
Live events and face-to-face meetings
For 2019 the growing demand for meetings and events is expected equal to about 10%. Brands have already realized the advantage of events as a marketing channel and eager to invest to drive extra business value to their companies. Besides, in the modern world, face-to-face time is already a more precious thing, worth investments.
Demand outperforming supply
For the present moment, the events which require accommodation outpace the hotels able to provide such facilities. That’s why proper booking and management features should be an obligatory part of event management tools you use and develop.
Personalization
Since 2016 the millennials constitute the major part of the labor force and they are consequently the largest proportion of event attendees. The characteristic feature of this generation is the anticipation of a more personalized approach and the wish to control the situation.
That’s why when creating or using event management apps or solutions, you should pay attention to the attendee data collection features making the occasion even more sophisticated than ever before and create the tools of engagement, which will really get under your guests’ skin.
The preeminent example of a personalized approach to the event arrangement is the C2 event in Montréal, 2018. 11 different options were offered to the visitors to spent every hour in the course of the 3 days it lasted. That’s the personalization in action and the high bar set, but following the main event industry trends, you should aim to reach it as well.
Give the agenda to attendees, allow them crafting the event according to their particular needs and gain the audience you need without any effort.
To provide the visitors with the experience, which resonates at the individual as well as at the collective level, you may consider the following activities.
A silent conference — the meeting in headphones, allowing multiple speakers to make presentations in the same space, while the guests can switch from one presenter to another.
Live polling — the feedback is gathered here and now and the agenda can even be crowdsourced as it reveals.
Modern venue and event management software contains perfect guest management technologies, taking advantage of it you can craft a truly personalized experience for the visitors, especially the VIPs.
Make personalization the heart of the event product from the very first step till the very last one and even during the afterglow. It will add value to your event and help to meet the event objectives. Chatbots work perfectly for the purpose, being able to resolve immediately the questions or issues of the attendees, increase their engagement and lead to a ticket purchase if implemented at the prior-event stage.
Adding performances to the agenda
More and more popularity is now gaining the trend to combine serious events with the elements of performance and entertainment, however, such events then will require more complex and better logistics on your part. So logistic features should also be implemented as one of the key features of your event management system. You should have access to multiple spaces within the venue and the make sure each ground is exclusive to a single group.
More sophisticated technology
The modern advances in event technology allow to use it to increase event engagement, capture valued data, and cut time and costs. The possibilities of virtual and augmented reality along with the internet of things broaden the possibilities for online venue booking, management tools application and hybrid events crafting to meet the challenges of participants, audience and planners.
Social media usage can help increase the event impact, personalized experience and feedback afterward.
Events applications are gaining popularity, even though the cost of a custom full-service app is high. The explanation is quite simple — used for a number of events the investments are more than paid back, while the planner has no problems with attendees registration, data capturing, venue booking, overall event management and much more.
Phygital meetings — are the future. These are the hybrid of physical and virtual meetings which allow combining face-to-face gatherings with digital networking, helping to save time and decrease travel expenses.
Conclusion
So when considering an event management software to develop, think of the tools to arrange space and time for the face-to-face interaction during the networking, as well as virtual meeting opportunities, booking functionality, and management features to let everything go smooth and hassle-free. Using the more sophisticated technology you can enhance your visitors experience to a new level and will definitely add more business value to the event arranged.
Having a wide expertize in software and app development our company is ready to provide you a helping hand in crafting a custom solution for the best event arrangement ever. What is more important — Stfalcon has been a technical partner of Fwdays — IT conferences in Ukraine since 2011, that’s why we know all the ins and outs of the event management from our personal experience and it’s our most valuable asset for the customers in the event sphere. So, welcome!
Originally published in Stfalcon.com.
