Trends, by their very nature, tend to come and go. Think the flares of the 70s, the big hair of the 80s, and the pedal pushers of the 90s.

Often, we’re quite glad to see the back of a particular look, or music mashup – revisiting only from time to time in a fit of nostalgia. But once in a while a certain ‘trend’ makes more than just a ripple… it makes a full on tidal wave!

Trends, or society building blocks, so to speak, such as technology.

Here, Europa International’s events and marketing manager, Helen Lowe, talks to us about how they are meeting increased demand from customers for innovative furniture products that can help them stay online even during the longest of seminars and conferences.

Trends for the events industry in 2018/19? That would be tech, tech, tech, tech and… industrial style furniture with a splash of colour (but we’ll get to that a little bit later).

In our latest blog on the Europa website, we referenced a recent Telegraph.co.uk article which revealed that the average Brit now spends an entire day EVERY SINGLE WEEK online; and with the vast array of available technology growing by the minute, I can’t imagine anything is going to change any time soon.

I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t own a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop or some other super whizzy piece of kit. And increasingly we rely on said items to be able to carry out the most basic of day-to-day work tasks, like sending e-mails, scheduling meetings, booking suppliers and processing payments.

So what would happen (god forbid) if you were contentedly sat in an exhibition centre avidly listening to your fifth talk of the day during a very important annual conference only to look down briefly at your mobile to find that it had RUN OUT! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Hit a nerve?

Somehow, we’ve managed to develop all of this technology, and yet we still can’t quite manage to keep it powered up for as long as we need to; especially when we’re ‘on the road’.

Cue a little innovation and a whole lot of sleek design, and what have you got? Our very own Charging Work Stations (which we have developed ourselves, I should add) as well as our increasingly popular and impressive Power Benches… that’s what!

Our Charging Work Stations in particular are popular as they provide a sleek table top, with a discreet button that, when pushed, releases the power sockets where your delegates can sit and charge their laptops, phones or tablets.

Practical, and aesthetically pleasing, and add to the mix the fact that you can brand them, and even lock them for when they aren’t in use, and you’re onto a winner!

Similarly, the Power Benches come in black but you can mix and match the format of your seat pads to suit your theme and space. They are perfect in areas where people might just need that “away from it all” space from a conference or seminar. A place where they can re-charge themselves, or their equipment, so to speak!

The whole clean cut tech theme has also generated a real surge in interest from clients for our industrial style furniture for hire – which offers a similar sort of minimalist feel. But what’s particularly noticeable is that people are still keen to inject a little fun and personality to proceedings by adding a splash of colour to the set up.

For example, many clients are opting to buddy up industrial bar tables with industrial bar stools but keeping things interesting and fresh by adding a brightly coloured seat pad, or a vibrant carpet to draw guests into a room or space.

The beauty of minimalist industrialism is how versatile it is, and it’s another trend I think is here to stay for the foreseeable, or certainly well into the New Year.

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.