How do you keep pace with evolving event expectations?

It's super important to ask your audience and never guess! Collect feedback from attendees and stakeholders after each event to understand their expectations and areas for improvement is key to evolving your event year over year with strategy and on-site changes.

I agree with Jess and would add that those with event expertise are always learning and trying new concepts. If you’re producing annual events like a President’s Club or SKO, it’s important to choose venues that have hosted your type of event previously and choose destinations that test the imagination of the attendees. Makes for a once in a lifetime experience.

Don’t wait for a brief to land on your lap to then do some research in prep for it. Task the team to share what’s the latest in the industry at your next stand up, every quarter look at patterns in the industry, competitors etc What I have found effective is to subscribe to event news or reports. This has kept me upto date with what’s happening in the industry especially because I am no longer on any social media platform. And these reports are more in depth and detail than social media anyway.

I love to put my geek on for this. Its all about Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. If we miss any one dimension out of these three, it won't be sufficient to keep up with the momentum. Evolving event expectations are attached to tangibility and thus having a few operational learnings, few researched articles and stats of performance/ analytics to benchmark with other events is the ideal combination. In absence of few of these, we can always work towards finding these. There are no shortcuts here

Consumers are savvier than ever. They've developed a low tolerance for inauthentic experiences. They can tell when an event producer has no enthusiasm for an activation and is only going through the motions. Create events that you can be proud of. Surround yourself with passionate and diverse professionals. Express gratitude for all your stakeholders, including attendees, vendors, exhibitors, staff, volunteers, and venue teams. If you embrace this philosophy, your events will reflect this more authentic perspective.