Ideas and 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. 

Scroll down for a link to the complete survey results.

#1: Hotels and Food & Beverage - To be at their best, attendees want to be connected and healthy.

#2: Agenda Development  - Turn attendees into participants.

#3: General Sessions -  Provide context about what has just happened so the audience can take that information and move forward.

#4: Breakouts - Where the information and direction presented in the general session now turns into ideas, which turns into action plans, which months or years later turns into results.

#5: AV & Production - You want your audience to walk in and say "Wow". It builds excitement and anticipation.

#6: Technology Tools - Should enhance the meeting experience and not take over the event.

#7: Evening Events - Where connections take place and memories are created.

#8: Multi-generational Audiences - Imperative to consider your audience when planning an event

#9: Content is King - Actionable content is the heart of meeting ROI.

#10: Miscellaneous - For the Greater Good.

Read more »

Audience Engagement 

With the recent surge of technology tools to engage audiences now available in the meetings space it’s often difficult to navigate through the sea of choices to find the most effective tool for your needs.

I was first introduced to ConferencesI.O. mobile app when I produced an event for the Chicago chapter of MPI back in July 2013 (and have since referred it to some of my clients).  What makes this technology tool so interesting to me is that, not only is it an easy-to-use app for polling and
Q & A, it goes a step further than most traditional apps. Read More »

The motion and emotion of meetings

I usually take away an idea or two from each event that I produce. I had the pleasure of planning and producing three multi-day events for Siemens over the past month and my experience at each show made a unique impression on me.

Listening – At the recent Industry Leadership Conference, Siemens had a customer panel who, with very senior Siemens management in the audience, were frank about some key issues they had with Siemens. Read More »

 

Typically in this section of our newsletter we focus on the cities, hotels, restaurants and off-site venues that we visit throughout the year. As we looked over our clients and suppliers responses to our survey I thought about all of the special people that make up the meeting and event industry.

We are like war buddies who have been in the trenches together and once the meeting is over there is forever a bond. We are a band of brothers and sisters who have this appreciation for what it takes to put on a great meeting, trade show or event. Teams of hardworking, open and creative people from the hotel, production companies, decorators, entertainers and speakers working with our clients’ with all of the challenges facing them and their organizations. Most importantly is the can do attitude that comes from these teams, always looking for a way to solve the myriad challenges that come our way.

We are lucky to be in our business. It is fun (most of the time), exciting and rewarding to actually see your ideas come to fruition live on stage.

As our survey results show, yes the technologies have changed, yes the audiences have changed and yes the challenges facing our clients have changed. However, the one thing that has remained the same is that the meeting and events industry is a people business…and I am proud to be part of it!

Best wishes to you and your family for a happy and healthy new year.

Sincerely,

Ron Springer