Seminars and Conferences: What’s New For 2017?
MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions) is an extremely lucrative industry. A significant portion of it is made up of event planners, however, the hotels and conference centres which host these events play an equally important role.
In 2017, smartphone and Internet technology have surpassed being a novelty and are instead an integral and established pillar of every event. The events and conferences sector has had to make significant investments in order to move with the times. Digital ticketing, along with reliable technologies are expected at all events. While social media platforms have sharpened the need for increased attendee satisfaction.
With this infographic, The Europe Hotek presents some important statistics as well as the key MICE trends we should be looking out for in 2017. It also explores what event hosts, such as hotels, can do to get on board with these new developments.
The key facts and figures
- As these statistics show, in 2017, even more attention needs to be paid to ensuring that events and conferences are equipped with the very latest technological trends.
- They also demonstrate the need for every step of the attendee experience, from before the event begins to after it has finished, being enhanced and made increasingly interactive.
- Read on to find out the best ways for events to adapt to these needs.
Key technology trends for 2017
The guest experience needs to be enhanced
How to incorporate this into your event: Rather than just expecting attendees to listen on end, events will need to increasingly engage their attendees by asking them to pitch-in and participate.
As active participants, guests will remain more attentive for longer, therefore making them far more likely to remember the information and skills they have learnt throughout the day.
Live chat functions will make it easier than ever for event organisers to contact their attendees and update them on any last minute changes. The app will also give participants the chance to send their questions and comments directly to speakers, before, during or after talks, as well as enabling them to chat with other attendees.
Video and live streaming
How to incorporate this into your event:
Seminars and conferences can not afford to miss out on this key marketing weapon.
Selfie backdrops, dedicated hashtags or custom Snapchat filters need to be present in order to further fuel participants’ desires to share what they are experiencing with their own network.
Virtual reality
How to incorporate this into your event:
Demonstrate your bulkier products with VR headgear, create virtual games on smartphones or use 360 degree cameras to make virtual attendance a possibility and allow people from around the world to experience the event. All these options and more are now possible with Virtual Reality.
Chill zones
How to incorporate this into your event:
John Medina’s research found that given a presentation of moderately interesting content, the audience’s attention drops significantly within the first 10-minutes. Therefore, between talks and meetings, chill zones are important places to help participants reflect in peace on what they have just heard.
They also make the perfect place for more informal networking with other attendees.
Data capture
Data collection capabilities are an important tool for retrieving quantifiable data. This data becomes a driving force for marketing and decision making while increasing ticket sales and sponsorships.
How to incorporate this into your event:
Mobile event apps where every touch is trackable will allow you to see the time spent in each exhibition booth, what app content was viewed most, which event attractions were most popular, among other possibilities. This data will help event planners to further improve the guest experience and will make the planning of future events much easier.
It is important for today’s event hosts to consider a much longer life cycle of their events. From weeks before, event planners need to bring together a community around their event which they then need to proactively build on and sustain, long after the event has ended. The contact information and guest data collected through your event app is vital in order to make this a possibility.
Sources:
- (Infographic) The Europe Hotel & Resort www.theeurope.com
- Event industry trends 2017
- 6 Corporate Event Trends Revolutionizing Today's Conferences
- Nine amazing meetings technology trends to watch in 2016
- Hospitality meeting trends 2017 revealed
- Event trends 2017
- How to use virtual reality at events
- Second screen technology - Quick guide
