The most significant new event technologies of the last 5 years lie within the emergence of event apps. Some let you control seating, some check-in guests, others help you raise money, and the comprehensive solutions, like SquadUP, let you do it all. But today we’re focusing on the fun ones. The futuristic advancements that are as much novelty entertainment as they are a practical solution to an event industry pain point.

1. Event Drones

This quadcopter can fly at up to 130 feet and provide hosts with unique aerial footage of their event. For around $500 for three hours worth of recording, Orlando-based Sonus Studios will capture pictures and videos like you’ve never seen. It’s guaranteed to be one of the rare times that your guests gather in awe to take pictures of the camera. So meta. But the recording is better suited as a supplement to traditional photography. Being able to say your event was covered by a quadcopter drone is probably more valuable than the footage itself.

2. The Catchbox

The first throwable microphone doesn’t really apply to all events but can make a big impact on the right ones. Tech panels, workshops, meetings, business conferences, and certain other events rely heavily on guest engagement. What better way to get them talking than to throw a colorful (and thankfully padded) wireless mic at them? By testing countless interations of the product at 100+ events, and getting key early adopters like Evernote on board, the inventors were able to refine the Catchbox into a discussion leader’s best friend.

3. 3-D Photo Booths

3-D printing is one of the hottest new technologies this decade. There are very practical uses like replacing parts for broken machinery, from household appliances to cars; and other potentially scary uses like guns and other weapons. The creative applications for 3-D printing are endless, infiltrating nearly every industry from medicine to fashion. Well, it’s finally entering the events space with 3-D photo booths. This is another piece of tech that’s more of a novelty and it doens’t currently threaten to replace standard photo booths. But you better believe if I saw one of these at an event- whether I was there to party, learn, or network- I would drop what I was doing and get in line.