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As you know, in the event industry, it’s our job to be prepared. While you celebrate the last months of the year and appreciate all that you’ve accomplished, you are likely keeping your finger on the pulse of the event industry to make 2022 even better.
Let us make it easy for you:
Here are four event industry trends and tips that will help you to quickly get up to speed on what you need to know — including industry trends and predictions, and helpful resources from AAE.
1. What event producers need to know about digital marketing.
You work hard to ensure that on the day of your event, everything pans out exactly as you planned. But unlike booking the perfect speaker or setting up user-friendly virtual options for your hybrid event, event producers don’t always have a set playbook for getting your target audience to show up.
Remember the good old days of posting flyers to billboards or relying on word of mouth to garner a wide audience for events? Now, digital marketing leads the way. In the initial piece of our new four-part series “Digital Marketing for Today’s Event Professional,” take a look at how you can differentiate your event from the competition by simply knowing what your audience wants to see and hear.
2. Does your event measure up?
Here’s a 2022 New Year’s resolution: no more wondering whether your events were successful.
It’s time to get serious about return on investment. Measuring the ROI of your event is definitely not one of the newer event industry trends, but it’s always been a time-consuming, complicated process. We’ve developed a framework for measuring event ROI that allows you to know, not just feel or assume, that your event was a success. Download AAE’s comprehensive event ROI guide now to get answers to questions like:
- Who are my stakeholders, and what do they care about?
- What metrics are most important for me to measure success?
- How can I measure achievement in subjective areas, like sentiment?
- What kind of questions should I be asking to measure ROI?
3. Attendees still love the convenience of virtual. Here’s how to capitalize.
According to a recent survey, over 30% of attendees surveyed say they would now prefer to attend an event virtually in a post-pandemic world. This, coupled with the potential easing of COVID safety protocols over the next few months, paves the way for a rise in hybrid events in 2022.
With hybrid events, you can safely bring attendees back together physically while not giving up the benefits of a virtual component, such as ease of access and wider audience reach. But as you may know from first-hand experience, doing hybrid right takes much more than checking off the “in-person” and “virtual” boxes. Quickly catch up on hybrid with this short explainer video. Need more tips and insights on how to hybrid? Check out our Hybrid Events Guide.
4. Expectations for the virtual attendee experience are higher than ever.
Let’s face it, the pandemic revealed just how much the virtual event experience needed an overhaul. Luckily, so many event producers like yourself have stepped up to the plate and conquered these new, challenging event industry trends. That said, there is still more we can do to create engaging experiences for our virtual attendees.
Truly memorable event experiences start with the perfect speaker who is well-equipped for the virtual environment. Watch this video for our top five tips for selecting the best virtual speaker. You’ll also want to take an exclusive peek at the technology tips that AAE shares with virtual speakers to optimize their performance.
Have any questions or feedback for us? Let us know. When you’re ready to get started on your next event, AAE is here to help. With our vast experience in all event formats and unparalleled service, we’re here to help you make 2022 your best year yet.
