It seems that this will be a good year for event management and the MICE industry. Between 2017 and 2018, the number of companies organizing 20 or more corporate events annually rose by 17 percent. A majority of respondents (41 percent) say that events are the smartest marketing capital in achieving business results (source). The reason is very clear. Although we live in the digital communications era, a need for personal contact is one of the key success factors for a company or a brand development. The trend that naturally follows it is that the entire event industry business is gradually shifting from B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to clients) to H2H (human to human). We are re-adopting the fact that the power of human bond and live interaction is something that cannot be replaced by modern or future technology.

Forget power-point
There are many ways to pass your message, and power point presentations are becoming redundant in that endeavor. Everything can be said in a more appealing and impressionable fashion using smartly directed content marketing, namely content in the form of video clips, AR and VR technology, photos, interactive infographics, etc. Furthermore, if you really aim to strongly communicate your message, the best way to do it is the way it’s been done in the past 200,000 years – using verbal expression. A meaningful live word, wittiness, warmth of a voice are what creates value, rather than charts and drawings.

From bigger to smaller
Smaller-scale events may actually be more expensive from the aspect of transmitting your message to the external public. Instead of organizing a small-scale event to promote your sustainable business results, consider organizing a festival or a larger-scale conference on sustainable development, where you can send your message to a wider audience in a much more creative manner, as well as entertain peers and partners in a memorable fashion and establish closer media relations.

Take visitors to “event journey”
There is a growing demand for out-of-the-box events that provide a new experience to the public. Whether it is a topic, set, activations, a concept must be designed to take guests to an “event journey”, where they will experience something unexpected. For instance, you may divide the venue you are renting into several sections, so that each one sends a different message, in line with communication objectives of your business. Take the audience out of a conference room, use unconventional spaces and strive to exceed your limits in originality, regardless of whether your brand is traditional or not.

Be “Instagrammable”
Create events with an additional goal to see participants share their experience on social media platforms. Such live content production and meeting points which, depending on creativity, will be transferred from the physical to the digital world are something that creates value added for both the event and the brand.

Event sustainability – zero waste
According to Meet Green, each participant of a typical conference creates 1.89 kg of waste, with 1.16 kg going directly to the ground. If a number of participants reaches around 300, it leads to 348 kg of non-recyclable waste. What can we do? Minimize the entire printable material (agendas, calendars, business cards) for distribution and create a phone app with all the relevant information, use LED lights, while for the set you can use various forms of bio-degradable Styrofoam that are not necessarily expensive. The food leftovers can be donated to a charity for children and the elderly.