A new year is here and event planners everywhere are looking ahead to the future of the event industry. Here are the top trends that I’m predicting will shape the future of 2023 event experiences. From virtual events to sustainability and beyond, these 7 trend predictions will help prepare event professionals for what’s in store in an industry that is constantly evolving.
1) Experience-First Events
As the event industry continues to regain momentum, one thing remains clear—experience-first events matter more than ever. After months of social distancing and virtual events, people are seeking experiences that make them feel connected to others.
That’s why event professionals need to focus on creating truly unforgettable experiences that attendees can’t get from a computer screen. This requires out-of-the-box thinking and intentional experience mapping to utilize every inch of an event space to create immersive activations and engaging activities. In 2023, you can expect to see:
- A focus on providing guests with multi-sensory experiences. It’s not enough to just sit and watch—events now must excite, immerse, engage and surprise.
- Dead spaces in venues will be reimagined to interactive areas, such as photo booths, art galleries, networking hubs, or virtual reality gaming zones.
- The tried-and-true menus are gone; food and drinks will be elevated to create unique sensory experiences with memorable flavors, smells, and presentations.
- More usage of unusual venues like rustic warehouses or historic buildings to deliver more unique and memorable events.
Turn Events Into Engaging Experiences
Event Farm experiential (EFx) tools elevate attendee engagement by creating fun and personalized experiences while capturing invaluable data to measure engagement and ROI.
2) Renewed Focus on Sustainability
With an increasing focus on the universal health of both the planet and its people, sustainability continues to be a hot topic—and one that event professionals cannot ignore. From reducing waste to using eco-friendly materials, we’ll continue to see the event industry playing a big role in sustainability.
Fortunately, while the idea of a 100% sustainable and zero-waste event may seem impossible or out of budget, there are many ways to increase sustainability efforts at any event.
Where possible, pick sustainable products
One of the most effective ways to reduce waste in event planning is by emphasizing the use of reusable and recyclable materials. By providing reusable bottles and utensils, as well as recyclable materials such as cups and plates, event organizers can drastically reduce their environmental impact. Additionally, event organizers should ensure that any materials used during their event can be recycled or repurposed, instead of being thrown away.
Focus on digital marketing
It’s easy to reduce waste in the event industry by simply leveraging digital marketing and content delivery. By relying more on digital channels like emails, social media campaigns, or onsite electronic content delivery, event organizers can reduce the amount of paper needed for posters, brochures, etc.
Rethink your SWAG
Rethink your event SWAG and giveaway offerings and opt for more environmentally friendly options that are reusable or recycled. Another idea is to have a charitable focus and challenge your event community to give back in neat ways. Get creative on this and see how you can weave your cause into the overall event programming and outcomes for a bigger impact.
Don’t forget the transportation
Where possible, prioritize sustainable transportation options for your events. Share how to get to the event using public transportation, offer discount codes for ride sharing options, or encourage carpooling and gamify it by offering a prize for the best rendition of “Carpool Karaoke.” All are great ways to reduce emissions associated with attending events.
Use your event as an opportunity to educate
At the end of the day, event professionals can make a massive impact by teaching attendees more about sustainability and sustainable practices. Incorporate this topic into the programming, think tanks, networking conversations, etc. Remember you are bringing people together so leverage the opportunity to create a larger community of overall environmentally-conscious consumers!
3) Elevating In-Person Events with Tech
In-person events may be making a big comeback, but from here on out, they’ll be supplemented by event technology that has become even more important over the past few years. Event organizers and companies need to combine the two seamlessly in order to keep up with event trends, hybrid expectations, and attendee behaviors.
Here are some easy ideas you might “a la carte” your tech stack at your next big event.
Video, Video, Video
From live streams, virtual event platforms and attendee apps with video conferencing capabilities, using video is a great way to engage those who can’t be there (and to connect them with the people that made it!)
Create a digital memory bank
Let attendees capture and relive their favorite event moments whenever they’d like via a digital memory bank. Digital memory banks are a unique and personalized way to remind attendees of all the positive emotions and interactions they were experiencing at your event. Leverage it as a tool to reminisce, build hype for future events and to create a real event community.
Streamline ticketing, registration, and health protocols
The best thing about tech is its capacity to make hard jobs easier and nowhere is that better seen than in the world of ticketing, registration, and event protocols. Event-focused platforms (like the one Event Farm produces), can not only handle the registration and access points, but can also verify health status for COVID and encourage engagement with online surveys and tools, and even provide engaging opportunities for your attendees to engage and connect.
Incorporate AR and VR options
The worlds of augmented and virtual reality are closer than we may think, and providing opportunities in these arenas is still a futuristic path —although a path that can have big returns. By incorporating these new technologies, you can be ahead of the curve, and create an experience that your attendees will remember for a lifetime.
4) Event Staff with a Marketing Mindset
As the event industry grows, event professionals must have a content-creation mindset to stay relevant and engage their attendees and greater audience. Find staff and volunteers that can act as content creators and marketers who can share various perspectives of the same event. This can help draw more attention to the event plus generate buzz and new audiences.
Empower your staff and volunteers
By empowering staff and volunteers to take ownership of the event and create content that they are passionate about—like photographs, videos, or even written content—event professionals can create an arsenal of content that speaks to unique experiences at the same event. Additionally, this creates an atmosphere of collaboration and camaraderie among staff and attendees.
Create a central hub for content
Create a central hub for all the types of content that may come in, and repurpose it under your own brand guidelines.
Boost your social media channels
Social media is great for sharing multiple perspectives of the same event. Whether it’s sharing photos on Instagram, posts on LinkedIn, videos on TikTok, or tweets on Twitter, having staff and volunteers actively engaging on these platforms can help spread awareness about the event and its exciting atmosphere.
5) Innovative Strategies and Creativity
With tight budgets, an emphasis on experiences, and an increasing need to stand out from the competition, event organizers are having to get creative with their event strategies. In order to make sure events have maximum impact in 2023, event profs need to look into innovative ideas and event trends now.
As a first step, event profs need to use their imagination and look for ways to make events more immersive, meaningful, and unforgettable. This includes creating themed events, incorporating interactive activities, games, and technologies, and providing exclusive experiences.
6) Increased Focus on Diversity and Inclusivity
We can expect to see a continued and more keen focus on diversity and inclusion in 2023 events. This means extra steps to ensure that all attendees feel welcome and included, and can participate fully in every experience that is offered.
Create enhanced offerings that cater to all members of an audience, no matter their language background. Use tech to help as there are solutions available that can be used for those attendees who may be hard of hearing or seeing. Ensure you have a registration question to capture if an attendee needs additional assistance and have a plan for how to accommodate the request.
Remember to ensure your event programming also reflects the values of diversity and inclusivity. Ensure you feature a wide range of speakers from different backgrounds and cultures, and even include discussion topics that explore different perspectives.
7) More New Players in the Event Universe
As an industry that is constantly evolving there’s no doubt that there will be more growth and new players entering the space. From event tech solutions to event services to event production companies. Your team may now include staff, volunteers, planners, and speakers—plus the tech team, your engagement groups, and others. Keep an open mindset and find the right people, products, and services that can help you obtain ROI and best meet your event goals.
Engagement is everything and having the right tools in place in 2023 can help you create unforgettable events that achieve results. For more information on how Event Farm’s suite of tools can help you create purposeful, engaging, and personalized event experiences request a demo now.