Meetings of the Future
I received a very interesting email from IACC Meeting Room of the Future recently. The International Association of Conference Centres’ new initiative published their first research in a bid to improve meeting dynamics through a global collaboration of leaders in conference room design, audiovisual technology, hospitality, academia and conference management. The global survey results were unveiled at IACC America’s Connect in New York City mid-April.
“While the overall objectives and goals of meetings have generally remained constant, there are clear indicators that the adoption and use of technology, the physical design of meeting space and the emphasis on experience creation will be increasingly important,” says Mark Cooper, IACC CEO. Here are some of the research highlights.
1. Rapid Change is Afoot
The report underlines that the meetings industry is transitioning at a rapid pace. As this industry landscape continues to evolve and expand, planners will need to continually evaluate all elements of the meeting experience. This will ensure they provide the most relevant environments to foster collaboration, ideas exchange and relationship building.
2. Creating Experiences
75% of responding meeting planners report that their current role involves more ‘experience creation’ compared with two to five years ago. This is a bit of a no-brainer. We as consumers continually look towards meaningful experiences across the board these days, so why should our meetings be any difference? When implementing this practically, it should be dealt with from a holistic perspective.
3. Interactivity Galore
Over 77% of respondents report access to interactive technologies like audience participation, collaborative communication platforms are more important now that in the last several years. As more and more Millennials take to the MICE industry, I predict this trend will continue to grow. It’s already seen through social walls, smartphone tech like Beacon, and eventing apps to improve interaction between attendees as well as staff. In fact, much the same way as crowdfunding has become a platform for interaction prior to a film or project being released, more and more delegates of the future will want to have a say in how the events they enjoy are produced.
4. Flexibility is King
47% report the importance of flexible meeting space. this is actually the most important element for choosing a venue, followed by access to interactive technology and networking spaces adjacent to the meeting or event space. Although meeting planners predict an increased emphasis on select venue elements, access to interactive technology is projected to surpass flexible space in coming years.
5. Communication and Connections
Technology is slowly but surely becoming of critical importance when selecting a venue. Planners have reported an increasing percentage of budgets being devoted to securing and implementing new technologies. Now and well into the future, IACC predicts venues to have enough bandwidth to accommodate all their delegates’ technological communication needs. The top three technologies implemented at meetings in the past five years are conference apps, social media campaigns and audience participation apps. According to the report, Generation X’ers were the most likely to implement new technologies with 82% of this demographic reporting the introduction of these technologies into their events. Jeff Loether, MD of Electro-Media Design notes, “The best investment for venues is in infrastructure to handle any flavour of interactive technologies requested by event planners.”
To download and read the full report, visit www.iacconline.org. This article first appeared in The Event Issue 5, 2016.
