Ideas & Trends for 2014

As we head into 2014 we wanted to share what we heard from some of our valued meeting and event clients and suppliers about trends, ideas and wishes for the New Year. We received a significant number of informative responses to our survey and below is a recap of what our respondents had to say. Hopefully you can find a few valuable golden nuggets to help you with your meeting planning and event production next year and beyond.

#1: Hotels and Food & Beverage

To be at their best, attendees want to be connected and healthy.

Internet. It’s not a fad! –  People want free Wi-Fi in not only their sleeping rooms but also in public areas and meeting spaces. If Hampton Inn and other smaller hotels can offer it for free, why can’t the large major meeting hotels?

Healthy Food Options – More protein. Smaller portions. Gluten-free options. European style breakfasts with meats, cheeses and olives instead of sweet rolls. Nuts and cheese instead of ice cream and brownies for the afternoon break. Timing of carbs is also important (more at breakfast and less at dinner).

Free Workout Channel – Offer a TV channel in the sleeping rooms which has yoga, Pilates and other stretching classes so guests do not need to go to the health club and can do it in their own rooms.

#2: Agenda Development

Turn attendees into participants. 

The combination of general sessions to deliver new information and ideas, followed by breakouts to take that information and turn it into action plans, mixed in with plenty of time for networking and meeting new people is today’s formula for a successful meeting.

The new trend is toward less one-way communication and more open discussions, more hands-on training and networking. Look at ways to reduce the dreaded ‘Death by PowerPoint” and add-in ways to engage your participants and make them an active part of the event. Events are becoming shorter and more efficient, therefore more impactful overall.

#3: General Sessions

Provide context about what has just happened so the audience can take that information and move forward. 

The power of face-to-face communication where people are physically together, listening to a speaker and sharing the experience is what makes meetings such an effective communication tool.

Presentations need to be about delivering new information, new ideas and new insights. ‘Zen PowerPoint’ with more pictures, less words coupled with short video clips, seems to be the best combination of media. Great storytelling remains the best method to get your message across and ensure it’s remembered. Customer panel discussions are very impactful. Topic debates are helpful for your audience to hear about different points of view so they can decide for themselves the best path for them and their team. Use of smartphone apps for polling, Q & A and surveys (see Category #6: Technology Tools) to get your audience’s input real-time, live is very effective.

#4: Breakouts

Where the information and direction presented in the general session now turns into ideas, which turns into action plans, which months and years later turns into results.

The breakout session is where the ROI of an event takes place. Our survey respondents see much more interactive, two-way discussions where no ideas are dumb, and where everyone has a say. More effort is being made in the planning of these sessions and in many cases games or game show formats are used along with team presentations and prizes. Learning becomes fun or what we like to call entertrainment.

More hands-on training sessions are being offered using topic experts. Digital flipcharts are being used to capture ideas by topic and sub-topic for effective management post-event. Smartphone apps are being used for polling, Q&A to the moderator and surveys.

In some cases the best ideas from each session are being presented back in the general session room or via the post-event website.  More breakouts are being video recorded or webcasted to create content and expand their organizational reach.

The key to all of this is the follow-up by management to make sure that the ideas and action plans that have been created in the breakouts are being followed up on and executed.

#5: AV & Production

You want your audience to walk in and say “Wow”. It builds excitement and anticipation.

Regardless of age, audiences today expect a certain level of production value. If you are a meeting planner or stakeholder for your meeting and view AV as just a cost, and if you don’t look at it as part of your company and event branding, then you are doing a disservice to your organization. Adding new technologies and HD screens were favored.

As one of our respondents stated in our survey, “Production is a critical element that will impact the perception of the meeting. Budgetary planning for this component is necessary to ensure that objectives are met.”

Touch all 5 senses and strive for a perfect show.

#6: Technology Tools

Should enhance the meeting experience and not take over the event.

Face-to-face communication is such a human experience of being part of a group or community.  We, as planners, need to understand the effective balance between face-time with other attendees and screen-time with our smartphone apps.

As previously mentioned tools that are working well include:  Smartphone Apps for polling, surveys, Q&A, agenda and hotel map.  Digital flipcharts to capture brainstorming ideas.  Webcasting the event to help expand your reach.  Video-recorded general sessions, breakouts and interviews for post-event content creation.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are frequently used as a complement to the live experience.

#7: Evening Events

Where connections take place and memories are created.

People love parties (especially when someone else is paying!). One of the keys is not to structure every single minute but to provide Food & Beverage, music, activities and giveaways, and let the human spirit takeover.

Food and Beverage – Parties are a great place to offer a wide variety of food and drinks that attendees may not normally have. Most hotel chefs are open to creating new and different menu items as well as showcasing items that are specific to their location. When possible, offer buffets for your evening functions so that people can meet and mingle with a wide variety of people and not be stuck at a dinner table for multiple hours. Sushi, offered at most major meeting hotels, has gotten to be popular choice. Create a specialty drink for the evening.

Music – If your audience demographic is closely split between men and women, a great dance band can make an event. Yes DJ’s can play virtually any song and are less expensive but an energetic band with a horn section and back-up singers playing rock ‘n’ roll and R & B is a sure hit with almost every audience.
If your budget allows a name act, your audience will love you for it. It is one of those things that makes them feel that you have gone out of your way to make this a special event. You will also have everyone posting pictures of the event on Facebook.

Activities – Not everyone wants to dance, so offer an alternative to cutting a rug. Try “Make your own music video” where attendees join a few other team members, pick a song, costumes and lip-sync in front of a green screen. At the end of their performance each team member receives a DVD of their sure-to-be-a-hit performance.

Photo Booths are also very popular as people can grab a new friend and take photos together and bring home a special keepsake from the event.

#8: Multi-generational Audiences

Imperative to consider your audience when planning an event

Younger generation seems to be more into gamification (e.g., scavenger hunts on apps) while older attendees prefer networking.

The use of mobile interaction (polling, etc.) is sometimes confusing for the older generation.

Some older attendees like things “the way they have been”

As one respondent said, an important goal is to try to figure out how to best pair younger attendees with older ones so that one can share technology expertise and ‘the new way’ while the other can share business and worldly experience, so both benefit and work better together.

#9: Content is King

Actionable content is the heart of meeting ROI.

Some meetings are video recorded and the content is used post-event for marketing or training. Like everything else post-event, you need an internal champion to drive the content out to your employees, customers or members.

A small number of meetings are being webcast. Many meeting planners of ‘sign-up’ meetings feel nervous that if they webcast the meeting, they will lose a sizeable portion of their live audience.

Some conferences are engaging audiences before the event with things to read or look up. They are also doing a good job of posting post-event findings, videos and PowerPoint to keep the message alive and sustain their value with the audience.

#10 Miscellaneous:

For the Greater Good.
Bringing people together for a meeting is an excellent time to consider having a community service project to enhance your corporate social responsibility. Habitat for Humanity and other programs are available in most major cities and can handle groups from 25 to 500 people for half and day-long programs.