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HelpTop Conference Event Trends for 2017
Conferences are more than just about introducing a new product or disseminating information. It’s also about making a statement and showing attendees what your company offers that the competitors don’t.
As such, conferences need to impress guests. With that in mind, it’s no longer enough to just have a typical conference with an audience and speaker.
As we get into 2017, here are a few event trends that might be worth exploring to give your conference that “it” factor.
1. Unique Conference Venues
High school gyms, university lecture halls, and hotel meeting rooms are too ordinary. For your conference to have an impact, it needs to take place in a memorable setting. There are venues consisting of medieval castles, naval vessels, turn-of-the-century railroads, etc.
You can use a directory like Venueseeker to find venues ranging from typical conference rooms to an underground dungeon. Just imagine the impression it would have to conduct a seminar or briefing inside a room surrounded by an aquarium, or a bunker once occupied by British troops in WWII.
If you hold multiple events, then you should also be using a different venue every time. This is not to say you cannot ever reuse a venue. However, the same venue should preferably not be used twice in a row especially if a good number of guests have attended the previous event.
2. Sustainable Events
A good portion of your demographic are likely millennials. This age group are strongly pro-environment. Show that you get this by incorporating some type of sustainable element into the event. There are plenty of ways to make your conference eco-friendly.
Consider the following ideas:
- Providing water dispensers instead of bottled water
- Eliminating paper flyers and registration forms (and start printing name badges on-site!)
- Serving locally grown and/or non-GMO foods
- Using a venue that adheres to sustainability (i.e. a facility fitted with solar panels)
Make it known in your marketing material that you’re committed to sustainability by implementing the above practices.
3. Event Apps
As of 2016, roughly 2.1 billion people own a smartphone – that’s one-third of the world’s population. That figure is expected to increase to 2.87 billion by 2020. Capitalize on this by incorporating some form of event app.
Make the event app available several weeks before the event. The app can be customized to send updates and recommendations, such as specific tradeshow booths or workshops that attendees may be interested in.
During the event, the app can provide a map layout of the venue. It can also provide a schedule of the event with changes made to the timeline in real time if there are last minute switch-ups, cancellations, or the event is falling behind schedule. Mobile apps are also great for sending surveys and polls to gauge the attendees’ overall satisfaction of the event.
4. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is a huge trend especially with the release of Oculus Rift and Sony PlayStation VR headset. Take your guests on a VR tour of some sorts that somehow ties back to your industry.
Many companies have made good use of augmented reality to create a unique experience. United Airlines used virtual reality to promote its upcoming business class lounge. The VR tour was set up at several events around the country. Guests were taken on a VR tour that consisted of a digital layout of the lounge. Users were able to freely change the angle of the camera using a directional pad embedded on the screen.
5. More Livestream
With tools like Periscope, YouTube Live, and Facebook Live readily available, there is no excuse not to livestream your event. This also enables you to engage a wider audience that is unable to physically attend. You don’t even have to stream the whole event; just the main part like the lecture and seminar will suffice.
Aside from the event itself, you can also use livestream in other ways. This includes a livestream a few days before the event where you answer guest questions fielded through social media.
Another trend is drone streaming. Use an aerial drone equipped with a mounted camera to capture the festivity. Submit it on a social network like Snapchat to give remote attendees a bird’s eye view of what’s taking place.
While a livestream can consist of a stationary camera, consider having a staff stream the event while toting the camera around and providing a voiceover of what’s being filmed. To heighten the remote user experience, you can even stream using a 360-degree virtual camera, such as in the case with the Adobe Max 2016 event.
6. Focus More on an Experience
People are turning away from physical things and more towards experiences. In response, many ads now give more screen time to people enjoying the advertised product rather than showing the product itself.
Likewise, you can also focus more on experiences rather than just relying on physical giveaways like a promotional T-shirt or tote bag. This isn’t to say event swag are no longer important, but you should focus more on providing a memorable experience rather than physical trinkets.
It’s common practice, for example, for tradeshow booths to give away swag to guests that agree to submit their email or phone number to be included on a company contact list. However, why not instead provide an experience, such as letting guests who submit their email to use an interactive kiosk or partake in a VR tour?
However you approached your conferences in 2016 and before, 2017 is the year to start adding novel elements. Rehashing the same event over and over is not going to sit well with an audience that is increasingly seeking out new experiences.
Guest Author Bio: Dan McCarthy is an Event Manager at JD Parties, an event management company based in the UK. Dan has 5 years of event project management under his belt. He has worked on many successful events, and currently, he shares his knowledge by writing on the company blog. Follow him on Twitter @DanCarthy2.
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