Better Future Events Build on Past Experience
Event planners are used to working in advance. Far in advance. We’re already in the midst of planning for 2025, 2026 and beyond. Even though we’re focused on the future, it’s important to reflect on what we learned in 2024 to make our next events even better. As the education reformer John Dewey put it: “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”
How to Use 2024 Trends for a Better 2025
Trend #1: Sourcing Challenges
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the compression in the market will end any time soon. That means finding dates, venues and vendors will continue to take more time and the options will be limited.
- How to take advantage of the trend
Think outside the box: Look into nontraditional venues and new locations while encouraging leaders and clients to be flexible with dates. Other types of flexibility are the agenda and frequency. Do breakouts have to be on the second day? Does a certain meeting have to happen annually?
For example, one of our clients removed all training from the face-to-face meeting to specifically concentrate on connections (training instead took place virtually). This client used its face-to-face time to break the large meeting into four smaller regional meetings with similar content to cultivate even deeper in-person connections.
The more you can think “what else,” “why,” and “why not,” the more you’ll find new ways to work with challenging sourcing.
Trend #2: Cycle Shifts
The old annual meeting standby is no longer set in stone. Some companies have adjusted from 12 months to 18, for example. Even without a definite shift, leaders now are more likely to propose new timing.
- How to take advantage of the trend
Focus on goals: When asked to schedule an annual meeting for the next five years, ask about the objectives. Any good meeting is a means to an end–higher employee engagement, stronger sales, smoother product launches. Work through a discovery process with the decision-makers to better understand their “why” and then share with them the role that events can play.
The key is to focus on the goals, not the industry limitations. That said, availability and cost are key parts of an event’s success, so decision-makers need to understand the resources you’re working with.
Trend #3: No More One-Size-Fits-All Formats
In 2024, we saw a continuing shift toward less content-heavy meetings and more focus on human connections. Now that we’re all so used to virtual meetings (which are great for objectives like training), we’re getting better at tailoring the format to the goals.
- How to take advantage of the trend
Be a strategic partner: The good news about many of these trends is that they give you the opportunity to position event planning as a strategic asset versus an order-taking vendor. Why do stakeholders want an in-person meeting? What are the goals? What does success look like?
Focus to connect: Once you know the purpose, you can better recommend a format, location, timing cycle, and so on. For example, at Bishop-McCann, we typically hold an all-company gathering to hear from leaders, clients and partners, as well as completing some training. In 2024, due to the need to reinforce culture with a fully remote workforce, the goal was connection. We built in more time to be with each other in interactive ways versus just sitting next to each other, and we moved training to a virtual setting.
Trend #4: Thoughtful Gifting
2024 saw a decrease in generic gift items like pens or notepads to more meaningful and memorable items. Gifting is becoming more intentional.
Read More: Event Gifting: The Best of Smart Meetings’ 2024 Obsessions
- How to take advantage of the trend
Go local: Since thoughtful, less “generic” gifts tend to cost more, look for gifts sourced from the meeting location. This reduces the cost and time needed for shipping. It also simplifies logistics, fits into sustainability initiatives and supports the local economy.
Customize and personalize: In terms of the gifts themselves, look for customization to “wow” your audiences. For one client, we designed a name-brand shoe station where people could personalize their design. Another fun example is offering a tote bag where guests can digitally draw their names (or their kids’ names).
Trend #5: Technology
Since artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve at a lightning pace, we’re counting it as a trend—something new that requires adjustment and won’t be the same next year.
Read More: Why AI Might Mean Salvation for the Meeting Industry
AI opens up endless possibilities from idea generation, marketing communications and customer service to event management platforms, measurement and beyond. It also can open up endless risk–from copyright infringement to bad grammar and being seen as inauthentic. The challenge is to capitalize on AI while not being capsized by it.
- How to take advantage of the trend
Hold AI accountable: As with any other tool, make technology work for you. Focus on the goal of the event and specifically what you need/want to accomplish. How can AI help you do your job better versus adding time or cost?
If you aren’t already, get familiar with how tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can play an integral role in doing research as a baseline. Once you’re comfortable, explore more tools to widen the field of possibilities. AI is being integrated into nearly everything we do as event planners, whether you realize it or not. These tools aren’t going away, and they keep getting better, so the time to master them is right now.
The pace of event planning is always hectic. But see if you can carve out some reflection time—once a week, once a month, or after each event—to make a note of what worked well and what didn’t. There’s never enough time for perfect planning, but the more we can build on our past experience, the more successful our future events.
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With nearly 25 years in the industry, Amber Heintz, CMP-HC, HMCC, brings a wealth of diverse experience in managing client programs and operations teams across a wide spectrum of industries. From corporate to third-party, non-profit to pharmaceutical, her expertise spans a broad range of sectors, making her a valuable asset as Bishop-McCann’s VP, Program Operations.
With a background in broadcast production and pioneering roots in the web, Todd Moritz, Bishop-McCann VP of Event Technology, brings over three decades of unique experience to help deliver some of the most complex events for the world’s greatest clients.
This article appears as “5 Trends Planners Can Act On” in the November 2024 and November/December 2024 issues. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
