The future of corporate events has changed. The pandemic left attendees hungry for interactive and immersive experiences. Zero tolerance for boring events! If you want to set your event strategy on fire, check on the next corporate event trends for the summer of 2022 (that will last for the rest of the year.)
The Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Gustav Klimt immersive experiences showed the world an entirely new way of experiencing art. These 3 new trends will help you do the same for your next corporate events.
1.- Technology & Immersive Experiences
Corporate events will never be the same. The traditional ways are becoming obsolete at breakneck speed, but technology offers you a quick way to adapt. Emerging technologies, such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence (AI), will continue to expand event planning possibilities.
Projection Mapping is one of our favorites. It is like painting with light. Projections can be indoor stage effects or videos! This amazing technology will help you craft unique and immersive experiences for your attendees and make them experience space in a different way (as they did for the Van Gogh experience).
Technology will help make your attendees really experience your brand at different levels. And that might also include an event strategy that includes some metaverse technology. There’s a growing need to converge the digital and physical realms at corporate events, and you might want to have some presence that matters the most to your audience. It all depends on your target audience, of course.
“The definition of “live event” continues to evolve as well, as new kinds of cross-platform creators fuse together music, sound, images, video, live performers, props and such technologies as projection mapping and augmented reality”. Forbes
2.- Personalization
Events are planned experiences. When planning your 2022 & 2023 corporate events, you want to make sure your brand keeps coming to a personal level, in a COVID-safe and creative way. That might mean integrating interactive elements like QR codes and NFTs to round up the attendee experience.
Virtual, Hybrid or Live, when planning corporate events, you want to take the time to map out the attendee experience you are trying to deliver and make every step of the journey matter.
But more personalized experiences also mean they are more inclusive and diverse. This will continue to be a growing challenge for corporate event planners on 2022 and the next years.
Some of the areas to focus on will be:
- Speaker and committee selection
- Language and accessibility
- Gender-neutral communications,
- Among others…
The more event managers cater to the needs of attendees and provide them with ways to better engage, the more valuable and memorable the event will be. Because the success of an event isn’t measured just by how many people attend, but also the quality of their experiences and whether those people felt involved. CEO Magazine
3.- Sustainability -On the top 3 corporate event trends
As global warming continues to be a growing concern, efforts to find solutions to plan more sustainable events will be one of the top corporate events trends during the rest of the 2022 and the following years. From venues and organizers to exhibitors and suppliers, everyone is involved in reducing ecological impact.
Here are some actions you can do, to begin with:
- Find Green-certified venues.
- Consume locally grown foods (local vendors)
- Use digital invitations and QR codes on site.
- Reuse posters (when possible) and other promotional items.
- Utilize pitchers of water or water fountains instead of bottles of water.
- Digitalize agenda (you can use the backside of the attendee badge)
- Recycled pens or bottles (try to avoid plastic, but if you are using, then recycle)
- Avoid food waste. Find an organization that will help you donate extra food to Nonprofits at the end of the event.
Ironically, the pandemic could have had a positive effect. A lasting dependence on virtual events to some degree could help organizations re-prioritize their portfolios to focus on quality over quantity to reduce travel impacts. Brands are exploring holding smaller, more regional events… (EventMarketer.com)
Yes, hybrid and virtual events will continue to be part of the recent future of events, but the same need for interactive experiences applies to their audiences.
In the words of CEO Amanda Ma,
“We have always been about quality over quantity. And truly understanding what is the purpose. Less stuff, more purpose. And to continue with our standard sustainability practice.” (Bizbash)
Which event trends do you think will steal the spotlight for the remainder of the year? Let us know
Remember Zero tolerance for boring corporate events!
