Emerging Event Industry Trends
Thanks for checking out our Emerging Industry Trends page! Below you will find an updated list of important tourism trends that can impact our stakeholders and the Edmonton tourism industry. Our research team will update this page monthly here as well as the Industry Newsletter listed on our main page.
Hybrid Events Continue to Grow
Despite the drop in covid cases and lack of restrictions in place, our first trend is that Hybrid events are still a major contributing factor to the health of the corporate events industry. This model continues to retain high interest from both planners and attendees and DMO’s will likely need to anticipate this model as commonplace, rather than as a temporary measure or “phase” that will soon revert to what it was in 2019.
Events Are Becoming Important for PR and Marketing
- As hybrid events remain popular, planners have new threats and opportunities, mainly an increase in attendance, albeit virtual, but a decrease in revenue, as these events are often free, or at a lower cost.
- To regain this revenue, organizations may utilize sponsorships in more ways for the virtual setting as the increased number of views appetizing. Or using hybrid models for marketing campaigns to reach a wider audience, potentially yielding a greater ROI.
- Only 25% of planners were able to hold a profitable event in 2020 and with hybrid events continuing, revenue way be slow to recover, but this setting has created new opportunities that should be considered.
Micro Events
- Although most restrictions have been lifted, there is still a large audience keeping their events smaller in stature. The term ‘Micro-wedding’, or some variation, has seen an increase in searches by 500%.
- This trend is becoming popular for two reasons: One, because of health concerns for attendees and planners. This concern will likely drop as we continue to ease out of the pandemic. But the second concern is that larger events contain more financial risk. The industry lost about 30 billion dollars in the onset of COVID-19 and professionals are struggling to fund large events. It also lessons the loss should an event need to be cancelled or postponed due to another outbreak, or any other unforeseen circumstances.
Upskilling
- Rapid changes in structure, technology, and professional skills due to the pandemic have created a new set of skills and knowledge that people are eager to learn.
- 71% of event planners said that the wanted to learn new skills in designing experiences that have emerged in a “post-covid 19” environment.
- COVID-19 has caused some obvious disruptions in the event industry like hygiene and safety protocols but there are myriad changes in the industry around technology and event structure that shouldn’t be overlooked.
- the Event Leadership Institute, an organization dedicated to online training/development for event and meetings professionals, has released several new courses like: Pandemic meetings and event design, and Pandemic on-site protocol.
Transformational Experiences
- Nearly 70% of marketers believe it is harder to provide networking opportunities in the virtual world. And 66% said they needed to learn how to design a digital event experience for future success.
- Virtual and hybrid events have more often catered to a “content purest” concept. Afterall it’s difficult to create connections and entertain those who are online.
- The desire for transformational experiences is increasing and has been since even before the pandemic. Hybrid and virtual events seem to have only exacerbated this trend.
- Content, which used to be rated the most important part of business event, is now third, behind (1) meaningful connections, and (2) entertainment.
More Data Collection Pre and Post Event
- The amount of data available to capture thanks to a virtual setting is unprecedented in this industry. Data that would be difficult to retrieve during in person events.
- For example: Only 42% of attendees watch the entirety of a virtual session. This could be do to “zoom fatigue”
- The behavioural rules for an online event are also different than for an in-person event. In-person, the expectation is that one would sit through an entire session, even if they would prefer to leave. This is not the case in a virtual setting.
- The idea is that data we would not have otherwise been able to capture, can now be captured, and applied to both virtual and in-person event structures.
Investment In Technology
- 40% of planners claim that they are unsatisfied with the tech options available to them.
- This trend for applying additional technology in events is so large that many software applications have been developed specifically for the corporate industry.
- Professionals are trying to implement technology that helps close that hybrid gap between those who attend an event online, and those who attend in person.
- attendees often rate the hybrid event experience worse than both a completely in person event, or a completely virtual event, and this is largely because the technology, understandably, has not kept up with the demand.
Impact To Our Industry
- A hybrid event model creates many challenges like loss of revenues, and fear of a continually slow recovery.
- It also creates unique opportunities to recoup those losses through PR, sponsorship, and marketing to a larger audience.
- The structure of many events may shift to localised meeting “pods” and micro events, over large conference settings—this is not to say that either will disappear, but there are more options available to those planning, attending, or hosting events.
- Perhaps additional training is needed (and wanted) from event professionals in leveraging these opportunities, and closing new skill gaps.
- The experience and entertainment of corporate events are more important than the content.
- Investing in technologies that enhance hybrid events could be important as we expect hybrid models to stay.