2020 Event Trends

As we shake, rattle and roar into the 20s, it’s always good to be in the know when you’re a trend setter (which we obviously are at Cameron). . .

With that in mind, it’s time for us to grab an oat milk latte and a vegan steak bake, park our collective posteriors on a bunch of Brando armchairs and talk 2020 event trends. We’d better be quick though, there’s only 100 seconds left on the doomsday clock…..

Where we’re going we don’t need roads…

As Planet Earth fights to catch a breath, unnecessary travel (particularly flying) will be a key focus for green company policies in 2020. This will undoubtedly mean an increase in virtual attendances (no one wants to be flight-shamed at an event).

Of course, this will bring its own challenges (and opportunites) for planners, particularly with ‘experiential’ being one of the current buzz words in Eventland. 360 degree video, virtual networking rooms, enhanced interactivity and collaboration will all be required to give virtual attendees bang for buck and provide a truly interactive experience at the comfort of their own desk. Monetising the experience will be key – planners will be able to capitalise on providing content by selling access and subscription packages.

Virtual kerching.

Access Granted

Facial recognition is a rapidly developing field. Airlines are beginning to use this for boarding. iPhone users unlock their phones; hotels in China are using it for room check-in and more.

Companies, such as Zenus, are using AI-driven facial recognition to speed up onsite badge pick-up while improving security. As an attendee registers online, they include a photo (from a variety of sources including LinkedIn). Upon arrival at the event, cameras in the queue line recognises the registrant and prints out the badge automatically. This speeds the process (about 7 seconds per person) while increasing security (your face is your signature).

This AI sorcery doesn’t end at the front door. Systems have also been developed to focus on anonymous facial recognition and determine a range of demographics of an audience watching a presentation. This system can accurately count thousands of attendees (in relatively low-light conditions), their sentiment, their age, their gender, and level of attention. This provides immediate feedback of audience sentiment to a speaker or other interested observers.

Nothing like a real time steam of frowning emojis to buck up your presentation skills.

Welcome my friends, welcome to my chocolate factory….

Break with convention and go wild with your imagination – choose a venue that screams ‘this is me’ and step away from the dusty old conference hall.

How about a cinema? Or a yacht? Or a cave? Or a chocolate factory? Engagement is the primary metric for measuring event experiences, so what could be more engaging than being totally unique? An immersive space will facilitate engagement from even the most distracted attendees so get your thinking caps on and go wild with your imagination.

In short, be more Willy.

There can be only one

Eventprofs love all-in-one software – so much so that usage has grown 27% year on year.

While meeting planners traditionally selected from a range of functionally differentiated tools, the strong wave of event tech acquisitions is making all-in-one tools better – and planners are taking notice. Planners love simplicity, and all-in-one software is solving the problem of juggling multiple tech tools from different suppliers. This also means we can gather useful data from one source and make better decisions based on this data. So lets Moneyball that next event.

It’s Your Choice…

By now, I’m sure we’ve all watched Bandersnatch – the brilliant Black Mirror interactive episode. With that firmly front of mind, welcome to events in the 2020s – a surprising, unfolding organic space where attendees are sucked into the experience and have a tangible role to play in the event. Confused yet exhilarated? Yeah, us too. But that’s kind of the point. The element of surprise stimulates more parts of the brain than a classic classroom style dictation. So, if we’re asked to step out of our comfort zone and create our own story in the context of an event that would be pretty cool, right?

The role of AV effects will be paramount in delivering such high-involvement experiences, whether it’s projection mapping (always amazing) virtual reality (same) augmented reality (even better) or mobile events apps (the best) – technology gives event planners the opportunity to get creative and provide a truly immersive, unique experience for attendees.

Be excellent to each other

Less of a trend, more of a mantra. As humanity bulldozes its way through this wonderful planet’s limited resources, now, more than ever, it’s integral that we’re kind, cool and considerate to everyone and everything. At your next event, be a force for good. Be excellent to each other.