Events in a changing world: 4 evolutionary factors for the next few years

Events calibrated on the relational needs of people and their professional development, venues for events capable of guaranteeing safe and confidential environments, decrease of smaller meetings in favor of larger events, more flexible formats with more free time and new standards technological.

These are the main factors of evolution that are affecting the events sector as a consequence of the changes taking place in society, in the economy, in mobility and in the labor market. They are defined by a panel of event professionals nominated by the "futurologist" Ian Pearson on behalf of the QHotels hotel chain, with the aim of investigating the trends that will characterize events in the coming years. Here are the results of the report.

Events focused on people's "social" needs

A first trend in the evolution of events is linked to changes in the labor market, where there is increasing attention to solutions of flexibility, remote operations, short contracts and freelance work. Consequently, companies will focus on events designed to support the relational and interpersonal skills of the workforce: according to the panel of professionals interviewed by QHotels, training events on the topics of personal and professional development and events in particular will acquire importance. of team building to create and strengthen the sense of belonging to the company. The culture of flexibility, also supports research, will also bring greater flexibility to events, increasing the time dedicated to leisure activities.

The demand for "safe" offices and locations

Physical security of delegates, of course, but also security and confidentiality of information: the survey found that the ability of a location to offer companies safe environments for their events will soon become one of its main "selling points". The venues for events will be able to verify the identity of the participants and monitor the movements from the moment of registration and for the entire time they will remain in the structure: second will be the safety report as those of the increasingly common airports also in the convention centers. The locations in addition to secure internet connections, guarantee the security of customer data and provide spaces where to conduct confidential meetings and negotiations without fear of physical and / or technological "intrusions", especially when dealing with issues related to industrial property.

The biggest events increase because the little ones become virtual

It won't happen today, and maybe tomorrow too, but the trend is clear: smaller events will gradually be moved to the virtual "channel". Meetings, but also training courses and small number of product launches, will take place in virtual format thanks to increasingly advanced and economically accessible technologies, thus reducing travel costs and risks. Companies will then focus their budgets on the largest and most elaborate communication and training events, which will increase in number and size.

Technology, the two ambitions of greatest impact in the short term

If technology is no longer an option but a standard in events, the QHotels survey has highlighted the two ambitions in which organizers believe that its use will have the greatest impact in the short term. The first is the research and choice of location: virtual reality and augmented reality "shorten the distance" between the organizer and the venue, making virtual inspections and set-up tests possible, from a computer or smartphone, which speed up processes and reduce costs. The second are training and team building events, where technology offers new opportunities to create goals and tasks to be completed by exploiting the elements of digital gamification.

Source: eventreport.it