relevent/ marketing ideas
Our summary will give you a brief overview of burgeoning event tech, next-generation attendee engagement, and social media trends. Look for more in-depth articles on these topics this year as the trends become reality in our industry.
More than just a hot holiday gift for techies, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets are poised to become a commonplace sight at events this year. Big players like Google and Samsung are continuously innovating in this sector, making this unique experience increasingly accessible. Why is it unique? Such headsets offer a level of immersion and immediacy that has never been seen before. With 72% of millennials saying they would like to increase their spending on experiences rather than physical things, VR incorporation will be imperative. Imagine the possibilities of VR when used for sponsor interaction, training, education, and presentations. 360° video is more engaging than traditional video, but like any media, it works especially well when you’re telling a great story.
Augmented Reality (AR) is another new immersive tech trend. Via their phones, users can see content overlaid onto their surroundings, which is how Pokemon Go works. AR will be particularly useful for gamification at events, which can motivate and engage all attendees. Best of all, it’s fun, cutting-edge, and gets people moving!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is continuously making impressive strides, expanding into a wide variety of areas from networking with to chauffeuring attendees. One trend that amazes us is the emergence of chatbots that can quickly assist attendees. Check out Slack’s new Growthbot see just how intelligent chatbots have become. Incorporating these tools can supercharge attendee feedback collection, engagement, and support.
Most of the articles we looked at mentioned that 2017 will likely see event WiFi bandwidth increase. As the lifeblood of many new event tech tools, and the basis for social media interaction and sharing, the event WiFi needs to be powerful enough to ensure a smooth online experience.
When it comes to event marketing, there is a definite emphasis on providing participants with a great experience before and after the event in 2017. Content promoting your event needs to be honest: trade bragging for compelling storytelling that resonates with people. Eliciting emotional responses will become an increasingly big part of this strategy as well. Don’t forget the importance of quiet moments during your conference, as well as multi-disciplinary learning to make it less one-dimensional.
The next generation event engages attendees through live participation. Tools like ConnexMe that encourage live polling, collaborative annotation, and connection with others during a meeting are becoming essential. The QuickBooks Connect event put an emphasis on connection through meetup activations, segmented meetings, and an app that worked as a matchmaking service for more effective networking.
The increase of user-generated video is a trend that most articles reported on. Cisco predicts that 75 percent of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2020! Nearly every social media platform has bulked up their video and live streaming offerings in response to increased video sharing. Facebook Live is one of today’s go-to options because it has no viewing restrictions and a user base that’s tough to beat.
Have you had doubts about your Facebook marketing ROI? While it’s true that organic reach has been underperforming recently, virtually every marketer is still using Facebook for advertising and organic marketing. Facebook has the most users, followed by Instagram and Twitter. Instagram’s new Stories feature mimics Snapchat’s, so that eventprofs can now use both platforms for providing easily digestible, behind-the-scenes peeks at the event. With Twitter’s acquisition of Periscope in 2015, over 200 million broadcasts were made. Expect this tool to be part of more event planning toolkits this year as well.
Our most anticipated report of the year is out: check out the 10 Event Trends for 2017! https://t.co/Kc9cM1xbwt #events #eventprofs pic.twitter.com/qld6i2Je9Z
— Event Manager Blog (@EventMB) December 13, 2016
3 Trends That Will Disrupt the Meetings and Events Industry in 2017 https://t.co/6MYw1OjikI via @Skift
— PCMA Canada West (@PCMACW) January 5, 2017
8 trends heading our way in 2017: https://t.co/805h1yjfom #eventprofs #eventtech
— Boomset (@Boomset) December 24, 2016
Justin is passionate about bridging the gap between art and business, and is constantly on the lookout for great event marketing content to share with the sensov/ community.
