6 Trends for Corporate Event Planning
Posted on October 15th, 2015
Our On the Scene event planning experts break down 6 trends for corporate event planning they see emerging in today’s event planning landscape.
Social Networking. Participants invest in attending face-to-face events as a chance to network and learn from peers and industry experts. Today, new technologies within mobile apps can help enable networking and even make recommendations that facilitate one-on-one meetings. The latest event apps allow attendees to share content and discussions, before and beyond the venue, through social channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook
Local Food. A deeper attention to sustainable food keeps evolving and is now fully incorporated at most venues. Food that is locally sourced, (think farm-to-table) has become a mainstay and is not going anywhere soon. Event décor has become more sustainable, too. Consumable foods and beverage are cleverly incorporated as décor into the event. Same is true for food trucks. Many events feature food trucks for catering. The trucks not only serve delicious food, they become instant décor for the event.
Wi-Fi Everywhere. It is now expected that events and venues offer Wi-Fi throughout the event, in all meeting rooms, to maximize engagement with participants. It will no longer be acceptable to not have Wi-Fi accessible at events. Hotels and venues are slowly catching up in providing Wi-Fi that can handle the needed bandwidth.
Mobile. Use of mobile apps before, onsite, and after events will continue to become the norm. These tools enhance both the participant experience and help planners engage with more relevant content. It also allows companies to stay connected with participants throughout the year. We continue to see improvements in personalization and enhanced networking, like one-on-one meetings, that will extend long before and after the actual meetings and events.
Engaging. Clients are very educated about their options. They want an event that resonates with the attendee by touching them on an emotional level using all senses. It’s important to keep attendees engaged, guessing and excited. As millennials and Gen Y are becoming more involved in events, it’s important to come up with innovative event formats that use technology as a complete tool. Analytics, apps, social media and interactivity are forcing program content to be relevant, cool, and memorable.
Plan Ahead. Hotels are full and space is more limited than in past years, making it necessary for planners look further into the future to plan in order to accommodate budgets, space and DMC needs.
Do you have any trends to add to the list? Leave them in the comments below or share them with us on Facebook or Twitter!
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