Event Industry Trends

Event Industry Trends

My Top 3 Event Trends for 2018 – Trends are constantly creeping up and evolving, we need to be on it!

The event industry is constantly transforming and emerging with the times. It is becoming more and more important every day to establish yourself in this industry, by standing out and bringing something different to the table. To do this we need to make sure we are constantly on top of the current industry trends and moving along either beside them or right behind them. Writing from my experience working in an event agency I know that this sometimes can be hard as it sometimes feel as you get on top one another has evolved – this is true and why events is such a fast paced industry and we just simply have to keep up!

I found most of the 2017 event trends were focused on technology advances and changes as well as merging the realm of the real and the virtual. Technology that enhances and uses our 5 senses is growing and continuing to engage our tactile senses, making digital wonders more tangible to event goers (Endless, 2018).

2018 already is proving trends are vigorously changing and with the industry getting more and more competitive each day it is even more important to keep on top of these. These are my top 3 trends of 2018:

Safety and Security in Events

With recent world events involving terrorist attacks, event security has been tightening up. We are going back to the basics such as coordinating better with both local law enforcement and experts in the field such as meteorologists to properly gauge safety measures. We see a stronger focus on event security planning including things such as:

·         Contractors to produce documents such as insurance certificates.

·         The widespread use of technology like in-app crowd trackers

·         Other technology such as people counters, heat maps that show foot traffic, and more.

However this is not just about taking security measures for the physical event. Cyber security has also been a hit to us industry workers lately with major digital exploits. Thus causing mandatory incorporation when planning events. This is how constantly keeping up with trends can sometimes conflict each other as such thing as in-app crowd trackers that I previously mentioned above might contain personally identifiable data which hackers could then collect and exploit data.

This year, 2018, I think we will see a huge rise in the demand for more transparency around security measures and the capabilities in venues we use. This mainly because as safety is vastly becoming an important factor for when we choose our venues for events. This again has stemmed from recent terror attacks that have previously targeted events, the main example from 2017 being Ariana Grande show at the Manchester Arena.

Event branding and design will be simpler

After working at association and corporate symposiums in the last couple of years a trend that I can’t help but notice as well as it is being noted massively in the industry is the reverting back to simple event branding, design and sponsorship and exhibitor spaces. For example to branding in 2018 were expecting to see a lot more basic and accessible fonts when it comes to the event collateral and handouts with basic colours.

When it comes to events that are consumed by exhibits and sponsors, in recent year we have seen shell schemes and spaces excel like anything we have seen before, from lives shows, to more interactive and bigger spaces being used. However from this year we are starting to see the flash die down again and for it to become more about the 5 senses. Having a strong interaction there without screaming to delegates that this is the brand.

Venues are no longer just about the space they provide

From experience in an event agency I can already see that we are collaborating with venues at a much higher expectant level than before. It is no longer just about the space they can provide for us but we need to see they are integral in creating a different, personalised experience for the client. Budgets are always tightening for us so we are looking more and more to venues to help us and turn our initial ideas into reality.  

Events now are so much more focused not just on the physical experience the delegates have but also about the environment that is created for them, And for this to be achieved at the high level currently expected venues and event agencies are working so much closer.