When most people think of ‘event planning’ they see milestone events such as weddings and sweet 16’s. However there is a whole world of event organizers and attendees in the global event industry. Classified sometimes as the meetings and events industry, $1.9 million US meetings and events took place in 2016, and stimulated the economy with about $325 billion of spending (Littlefield, 2018).

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According to Plug and Play, “The global events industry was valued at more than $1.1B in 2018 and was expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.3% to reach $2.3B in 2026. But, after the COVID-19, those projections have clearly changed,” (Choi, 2020). Also according to Plug and Play, in 2018, 21-40 year-olds are the largest demographic of those who attend these events, as these events created over 2 million jobs and generate enough money to stimulate a portion of the US economy due to tourism. From the ability to have face to face meetings at these events, senior level executives reported closing over 90% of business deals (Choi, 2020).

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Now due to COVID-19, people value and treat the events industry differently. In person meetings that requires a flight can now be more effectively done over Zoom, budgets for travel and events are cut in attempt to save money in a pandemic where revenue may be in a decline, and for larger events it is more acceptable to attend solely online (Choi, 2020). When looking to experts for when events can return to in person, there is zero information. When looking to other companies to make the first move for bringing anything back to in person, there is a waiting game to see who will move back to in person work, meetings, and events first.

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The future of in person events is riding on a large level of uncertainty that is based on the state of the health of the country, state of the economy, government mandated guidelines, as well as the corporations and event organizers willing to take the first leap into the new normal.

There are so many different types of events today, that it is best to be classified into two different categories: B2B events and B2C events. Business to Business (B2B) is when businesses target other businesses for selling their products and services. Business to Consumer (B2C) is when a business can target consumers for selling their products and services (McCabe, 2018; Hazelton, nd; Kramer,nd; Waida, nd). Under B2B and B2C events, they can be classified into more event types, many which overlap each other: 

• Awards/Competitions — Specific industries may have competitions to recognize the top of their industry, while other companies may honor individuals or other companies for specific recognition. These can help companies in the same line of work understand where they fall among their competitors and promote a way for them to see what their competitors are working on. 

• Ceremonies/Galas — These are at times often built around awards and competitions. However, they do not have to be. Sometimes companies want to throw a party to thank their employees for specific milestones and hard work. 

• Conferences — Conferences often are made up of other components such as multiple speaker sessions or keynote sessions, breakout groups or smaller sessions, and more. Conferences also build in time for meals, networking, and sometimes other activities to break away from listening to speakers all day. Often large conferences have sponsorships, and some conferences can be multiple days and very costly depending on who is at this event, event size, and popularity. 

• Experience Seminars/Popups/Activations — This way of marketing has become popular in the past couple of years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Having an activity disguised as a game or fun experience is a way to build brand recognition while also teaching about the product or service. These can be at shown at conferences and festivals, to stand alone as a new form of museum, to the streets of cities to spur PR through gorilla marketing. A more traditional version of this event is where professionals from a specific industry or company can give the opportunity to test new products exclusively. 

• Festivals/Launches — Sometimes these events are thrown for a more focused audience for exclusivity, and other times these events are thrown for adjacent industries for brand awareness. 

• Roadshows — A roadshow is an easy way to repurpose a smaller event many times in a limited time. Sometimes a roadshow is a copy and paste of the same format in different locations, and other times brands will tailor their roadshow for specific regions. 

• Seminar or half-day event — These are smaller than the typical conference as they can happen over the course of a few hours with a small agenda without spending a lot of money for a large scale multi day event. 

• Speaker Session — These sessions are very common, as they can be broken down into a Q&A, speaker presentation, panel discussion, and more, as a way for people in a specific field or profession can learn from a specific person. Often, networking is after these events to meet others in the same line of work or to specifically speak with the speakers. 

• Sponsorships — When creating an event for a specific field, sponsorships are a great way to cover part of the cost of an event. Title sponsorships are reserved for companies where you see their logo and branding on everything and often fund the majority of the event. Other sponsorships at events may have reserved parts of the agenda. These can be for branded experiences, special keynote speakers, main booths at expos, branded lounges, and more. The reason why a company may sponsor a conference or larger event is for recognition marketing, networking with top potential clients, or the collection of information of attendees. 

• Team-building — These events are often internal to a specific company where they hire professionals to facilitate workshops that can promote teamwork, creativity, productivity, and more. Off sight events such as company volunteer days or fundraisers is another form of team building as well. Hackathons, another form of teambuilding event, hosted by specific companies can also promote creativity and teamwork across individuals while also giving the hosting company a way to look for future talent. 

• Thought Leadership/Networking Events — Often, networking is a natural part of many events however some events are specifically made for networking only. Normally this can take place at a bar or somewhere with food and drink where people can freely move around and meet others. 

• Trade Shows/Expos — These are industry or cross industry specific, where many companies at one time can have a booth on an expo floor to showcase their product or service. 

• VIP Experiences — Not only for backstage pass holders, but VIP events can also be leveraged for casual networking while doing a fun activity such as dinners, golfing, and more. Often companies will give their sales or account managers a budget to do these experiences with their clients when they travel to their clients or when the clients travel to their office. 

• Workshops/Classes — When thinking of workshops, many think of activities such as ‘paint and sip’ or art classes, but often workshops are great for businesses training individuals on how to use their products or services. This way people from a specific business can create relationships with individuals from their client businesses.  

Over time event organizers had become creative with how they format their event to stand out to their attendees. Many of these even’s types encompass characteristics of other events or merge a bunch of these events together. In today’s climate, there merged events are normally called a conference, as these conference goers tend to attend the entire length of the conference due to their range of different offerings — from mini festivals and musical guests, to speakers, networking, branded activations, workshops, and more all under the same roof.

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Within the blur of larger scale events to encompass everything from speakers to parties, even the goals of these events started to become more fluid. For example, a B2C event can have a selection of offerings for their B2B clients, and the other way around. Here are examples of 3 large scale events that are fluid between their B2B and B2C offerings:

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Clusterfest

Clusterfest is a multi-day festival that brings together the best comedy acts from big name nighttime TV stars to new discoveries. Created by Comedy Central, their goal is to not only create buzz for their channel, but to also to gain more customers over their love for comedy, test new talent with Clusterfest as their premiere, and to collect data on everything to strengthen Comedy Central’s strategy overall. According to the Hollywood Reporter,

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“One of the strategic imperatives that we get more involved in live events and find ways to connect directly with our fans in the real world and bring our brands to live … We have increasingly become more savvy digitally. But the ability to connect directly with fans in an immersive experience that they associate with us and our talent is a great thing and helps solidify brand affinity. Importantly, feedback from last year's debut outing showed that the experience was universally applauded by fans and industry folks … We just felt this ripple of feedback from talent and reps for months, including people who weren’t there,” (Szalai, 2018).

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Even though anyone can buy a ticket to Clusterfest to engage their love of comedy, their reach went way beyond viewer numbers to create an immersive experience that also benefited the entire industry of comedy.

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Forbes

While being most known for a magazine, Forbes created the 30 Under 30 list to generate buzz. Today it has turned into a giant conference with 500+ ‘30 Under 30 listers’ being awarded for their work across 30 different industries. In this conference there are nonstop things to do. From experience at the 2019 conference, there was unlimited food and drinks, including a branded macaroon and smoothie bar from Ally Bank and a branded tequila bar from Herradura, hackathons, tours, a concert with multiple musical guests, exhibits, branded activities, games, photo ops, volunteer opportunities, test drives, and other product demos, a startup expo with a pitch competition, exclusive VIP events for those on the list, many keynote speakers and speaker sessions across 30 different industries, and even an official republican debate (Forbes Magazine, 2019).

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Aside from awarding those on the list, this event is a big-ticket item for Forbes as this attracts not only startups and entrepreneurial minded people in their 20s, but also college students, recruiters, and business professionals within specific fields to learn about new trends and ideas. (Barber, 2020). Overall Forbes 30 Under 30 is looked at as a professional party, yet among all of the attendees that look to network with each other, larger companies also look to this event as an opportunity from sponsorship to publicity. 

South by Southwest (SXSW)

SXSW started as a musical festival in Austin, Texas but grew into a four in one multi week festival. Within a given week over 30,000 people attend making March one of the busiest times yearly for Austin. Today SXSW has grown past the music festival as passes are available for the music festival, film festival, interactive conference, and education conference. Even if someone has no tickets, Austin is filled to the brim with outside events and gatherings caused by the momentum SXSW started (Dalton, nd). Between the panels, art exhibits, pitch competitions, expo showing the latest technology, and by having an all in one multi conference and festival, the type of people who come to SXSW are there for all different reasons:

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“Conference elements at festivals can set themselves apart with the diverse array of topics they cover, and the often much wider audience they are able to reach. Festivals are the sector of the events industry with the most mass appeal, and if that popularity can be channeled into constructive learning, everyone benefits… Virtually every festival that wants to grow is now providing edutainment, education and an opportunity for learning as an added benefit, to stay competitive in the festival marketplace,” (Wood, 2019).

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Being only B2B or B2C is a thing of the past and more and more conferences are showing overlap due to the breadth of offerings that cannot entertain an audience, but to also be a playground for possibilities within the industries these events are about.

The corporate world was already on track to be more accepting of digital tools through project management, video calls, and even remote work. However the COVID-19 pandemic drastically shifted the demand as companies started to be more reliant on these digital tools in order to keep operations going. As for the events and entertainment industries, it became hard to think about pivoting as many short-term upcoming events had to get cancelled. According to the New York Vulture — concerts from Shania Twain to Justin Bieber, festivals and conferences form Comic Con to Burning Man, movie theater movie premiers, tv and movie shoots, live theater shows such as all of Broadway, ballets, and late night tv, sporting events, and even music releases were all cancelled or postponed with no reschedule date since there was no knowing when things will return in 2020 (Vulture, 2021).

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As the world got more settled into the norm of staying at home and social distancing, the events industry started with a major pivot to make every event 100% online. According to Convene, “The coronavirus stopped meetings and events in their tracks. It’s an unprecedented time for the industry — but it will undoubtedly recover,” (Shelly, 2020). And during the time online, participation online has grown. It is possible to now attend an event on one screen while working from another in the quiet of their own home, or even attend an event in another continent without having to travel. While there were advancements in how events are organized and run, it is still not the same feel as going to a conference and interacting in person.

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“Humans crave physical interaction with other humans. We want to be part of a tribe of other humans. That’s baked into our neuroscience. Our brains thrive around being around people who are just like us. Getting back to normal will take some time, and events will look very different in the interim. Expect more sophisticated virtual participation options, smaller satellite events complementing larger gatherings, and people carefully examining the return on investment from attending,” (Shelly, 2020).

With COVID-19 still a huge concern in the United States of America, a lot of industries such as events and entertainment are still on hold. According to Pew Research, “Amid the coronavirus outbreak, most Americans are uncomfortable going to a party, restaurant, or polling place,” (Pew Research Center, 2020). Even though many Americans have shifted to primarily living in their home about year, many during that period developed anxiety, depression, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These feelings are towards the fear of life returning to normal prematurely while others are itching for normal while risking their chances with trips and gatherings. US adults feel that the push for returning to work is the ultimate test of shifting back to normal and getting way from their new comfort of working from home. This shift will see if they can primarily function the way they used to in an office with modifications such as mask wearing, limited person to person contact, and safely commuting especially on public transportation. As Thrive Global puts it, “The back-to-office anxiety Is natural but surmountable. Given that the risks of infection remain high across the US, it’s completely natural for workers to feel anxious about returning to work in the office,” (Klooster, 2020).

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The current guidelines from the CDC has carefully put together guidelines for those who are planning events. Attendees still need to mask up and stay 6 feet apart from each other, as well as stay stationary when eating. Those working at these events still need to be tested for COVID as well as heavily monitor the health and safety of everyone at this event to both prevent the spread and to be prepared for protocol if there is a confirmed case (CDC, nd).

Under the CDC’s “Considerations for events and gatherings,” there are more detailed guidelines for indoor events regarding foodservice, restrooms, ventilation, water systems, and even what to do in the event that multiple attendees would need to ‘share objects’ such as high touch areas, hard to clean items, tools, and more. Layouts for gatherings need to be re-visualized since communal spaces and lounges need to be cleaned regularly, as well as rethinking how guests move around the space to provide barriers for safer areas for walking and interacting (CDC, nd).

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The larger the event or gathering of people, the harder it is to control all aspects of attendees and staff to ensure a completely safe environment for everyone before and during the event. While there are no in person events happening in the B2B or corporate world, there are a few instances of companies and governments tackling the return of large gatherings and events efficiently and effectively. Here are three examples:

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The 2021 Superbowl

The 2021 Superbowl sent a shock through the internet over how many people where there. However, the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Florida can typically seat 66,890 to about 75,000 people depending on the event (Raymond James Stadium, nd). During the Superbowl only 25,000 people were in attendance, which is about 37% capacity in an outdoor setting. Also 30,000 cardboard cutouts attended to make the stadium look fuller than it really was at far distances (Prance, 2021). According to the stadium website, they took all of the needed guidelines to ensure attendee safety. As for the safety of the performers for the Superbowl, Billboard notes, “Planning. Tons and tons of planning, testing, re-testing, mind-boggling logistics and a level of organization worthy of a general headed into war.” in order to ensure safety before and during this large event (Kaufman, 2021).

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Disney World

When people think of Disney, they think of a large company home to popular properties such as Disney Princesses, Marvel, Pixar, ESPN, and National Geographic. Hidden behind their success, is transforming these popular properties into successful merchandise, toys, clothes, as well as Disney Park Experiences. However, part of Disney’s success to these park experiences contributes to their total control of the land Disney World is on, meaning that Disney World has their own government. According to Popular Mechanics,

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“In 1967, the Reedy Creek Improvement District was created. This district, including the two municipalities inside it, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, give the corporation an unprecedented level of control. Only landowners in the district can vote to on governance for the district, thus giving Disney the upper hand in decision making,” (Weiner, 2018).

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Due to the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney was then able to create infrastructure and guidelines for Disney World including and not limited to waste removal, roads, and even COVID-19 safety guidelines. Currently at Disney World the capacity is under 25%, there is strict enforcement of masks and the type of masks permitted, food and beverages are strictly enforced to be eaten when socially distanced and stationary, and sanitation for all spaces and attractions are increased. For guests they are required to keep their mask on at all times (when not eating or drinking stationary), temperatures are checked at the front entrance, and hand sanitizer is required before doing anything at the park, (Disney World, nd). In a way going to Disney World is much safer than the average supermarket.

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New York City  

With Governor Cuomo teetering between opening NYC and keeping NYC safe, the newest changes to opening events for large gatherings include sports, indoor dining, and outdoor performances. For sport areas that can seat over 10,000 people, these can be open at the end of February with limited capacity. This will be the first instance of sports being open since February 2020 (NYC Governor, 2021). After indoor dining was shut down twice through the duration of COVID-19, indoor dining opened again for a second time for Valentine’s day weekend 2021 at limited capacity as well. This is due to a backlash between indoor dining feeling risky with climbing cases while others feel that indoor dining does not contribute to climbing cases. Meanwhile restaurants are shutting down for good or temporarily as many cannot afford only takeout orders or no patrons wanting to brave the cold for outdoor dining (Locke, 2021). There is no way of knowing if indoor dining is here to stay or if it will shut down again, as indoor dining can be a huge signifier if more intimate events and gatherings are possible. While Broadway is still shutdown for the unforeseeable future, NYC has created a platform for outdoor performances to happen safely by shutting down streets and allowing permits for specific performances. With this program going from March to October 2021, big institutions such as Broadway pieces, ballets, operas, comedians, singers, and more can perform in outdoor spaces within strict COVID guidelines (Yakas, 2020). With these initiatives in place for NYC, there is hope for more attractions, events, and more to return with modifications to fit withing the guidelines of preventing the spread of COVID-19. While there is no set date for gatherings and events such as conferences to come back, these initiatives help open up possibilities for a sooner return.

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With many factors at play for The United States of America getting out of the COVID-19 pandemic, including guidelines and protocols, vaccinations, and more, there is no way of telling exactly when it will be safe to return back to life the way Americans lived prior to the pandemic. Even if almost the entire population has heard immunity, there are more strains of COVID being announced and anti-vaxers and anti-mask wearers on the loose not protecting themselves and others from the spread. According to Business Insider, “The coronavirus will likely be part of our lives forever, though the pandemic phase will eventually end. Our best hope is for it to turn into a mild, flu-like illness rather than a deadlier, long-term threat,” (Dunn, Bendix, Brueck, 2021). That said, it is only natural that part of ‘returning to normal’ has nothing to do with the science on preventing spread, vaccinations, and number of cases in a given area. People who experienced negative emotions towards the pandemic are more likely to develop long time mental health effects such as anxiety when doing something as simple as working in an office again (Klooster, 2020). As businesses and governments gear up for life during or after a pandemic with guidelines from the CDC, it may just be easier to not have large events that we are used to from a pre-COVID world for a little while longer. This calls for a change in the way we see future in person events.

According to the 2021 The Future of the Event Industry by Event MB, the future of events is a tricky situation. When changing events for the future, there needs to be a lot of output in shorter amounts of time for web-based events, and more work to be done for smaller audiences in order to adhere for social distancing. For example, the rise of on-demand events mean that lead time for getting signups will be shorter and attendees would want to know right away the full scope of the event, such as not seeing ‘to be determined’ speakers on the agenda. For in person events, there needs to be wider walkways, more people stationed for registration, more exits, little to no food or opportunities to eat, no lounges and more just to make an event safe for social distancing. These additional preconscious for these in person events means more spending per attendee. All of these pain points as well as a level of uncertainty for the future of in person events has led the overall event industry to adapt the concept of hybrid online/in person events as the newest form of event (Event MB, 2021).

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Event MB also surveyed the event industry to see the overall consensus on in person events. 24.5% of the surveyed industry was able to host an in-person event within the last 6 months. This is due to many Asian and South Asian countries such as China and India because they already opened up the country and decided that it is ok to host large events in person. In the United States, Florida is already hosting in person events and Nevada is looking to open their state to in person events by the end of 2021. For the rest of the industry unable to host in person events, 69% stated that they will still employ a digital audience strategy in conjunction with an in-person event, while 4.5% said that they will not employ a digital audience strategy, and 26.5% was not sure if they would. For the next major event, overwhelmingly, 70.5% of the surveyed industry said that their event will be hybrid between online/in person over other options such as smaller in size, local, or virtual only. (Event MB, 2021).

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With the extensive use of the word hybrid to describe the next most popular event format, there is uncertainty on what hybrid exactly means. Professionals at the 2021 The Future of the Event Industry by Event MB had a few different scenarios on how hybrid can best fit for organizers. One definition can mean that both the online and in person portions are synched completely. Another professional says that there should be a reward for being at the event in person as it is the only way to fulfill spontaneous interpersonal relationships. Due to online fatigue, the online portion should be more of an information hub with filmed presentations to be reformatted into something easier for a person browsing on the web. By diverting this experience, the online portion and the in-person portion of a hybrid event will have two completely different experiences (Event MB, 2021).

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Since the event industry is rapidly changing, it is extremely important to analyze what has been done in the short term. The ability to do so after every event will ensure not to get in the same loop. As the event industry as a whole pivots and changes the way we view events from this moment on, it is important to recognize trends and ideas to ensure all future events to reach their maximum potential regardless of event size and budget.

With the level of uncertainty for the return of in person events, there can be a level of planning done to slowly introduce levels of in person components as restrictions get lifted. The goal is to give this future events flexibility in how they are produced in a hybrid online-physical way. This can be applied to preexisting events that are struggling to find a medium between their original formatting and watered-down online versions, scalable depending on budget and sponsorships.

Since there are still heavy restrictions in many cities, there are ways to bring elements of the feel of in person events together with an online event platform.

• To bring back the concept of informal communication while at events, the gathering people on third party chat apps (outside of the online conference platform) can bring an additional level of intimacy. Some of these apps are, Clubhouse for informal talks while ‘at the conference’, Fishbowl for anonymous feedback, and a new app Plain Sight for the ease of networking.

• Include breaks and other sessions that can be done outside of the online platform to get rid of the fatigue of sitting in meetings all day. These can be done without leaving the comfort of their own home. Some ideas include but are not limited to sending practical conference items such as a curated merch box and a gift card for food delivery, as these tactical items will up the value of an online conference with items that are normally given without second thought as in person conferences.

• Another option add after hours or break activities to the agenda, designed to have attendees speak with others in an informal setting or get up and move rather than sitting all day. For speakers and other VIP attendees, there can be more expensive gifts or speaker only events after hours.

• While still in the comfort in their own home, conferences can have challenges, such as a set of activities that attendees can do outside while still digitally connecting with other attendees (like a workout with me before the first keynote speaker).

This is for when attendees may be more comfortable with interacting outside of their home within a short radius, while still being mindful of the different sets of restrictions in different cities. This works best when groups of attendees live in the same cities or regions, with the availability to engage in casual settings indoor/outdoor dining.

• To allow attendees to comfortably let them publicly list their name/city for the duration of the conference. With information gathered, informal things such as the above VIP events can be possible for in person dinners, networking, and so on. This should be encouraged as informal events, not created by the event organizers but with the attendees or speakers initiating these meets.

• With more comfort within social distanced meets, organizers can then connect with local venders to allow for after-hours/weekend in person meetups, exclusive to online conference attendees in specific cities. This can be in the form of free dinner, or spots to volunteer opportunities or other activities such as indoor skydiving.

As event attendees get comfortable with limited travel and in person activities, it is natural to introduce more in person elements and the ability to travel within a region. These ideas can scale up with the number of attendees at a singular conference while still being mindful of social distancing protocol, through a new concept called decentralized conferences.

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Decentralized Conferences

Instead on one major city where thousands of people travel to for a singular event, this event will be broken up into smaller events based on region, with ever region synched simultaneously.

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For simplicity, if there was a 100-person event, then breaking that event up into 5-8 different locations, then people can network and attend online sessions in person. The conference organizers can work with a hotel chain (such as Hyatt) to have a block of rooms available at each location at a discounted rate and work with hotel staff to have limited spaces available such as a singular conference room or a registration area. While the majority of the event is online, select speakers can be at select locations to give live panels that are streamed to the other cities. Each location can also have their own breakout group sessions and after-hours volunteer, off sight, and dinners that are exclusive to the location.

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At this idea becomes more comfortable with organizers and attendees, this can be scaled up with the number of people at each location. There can be friendly competition between each region where the conference is taking place. Maybe there are modifications where each region or location specializes in one specific aspect of the conference topic, but still gives access to different tracks in other cities.

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If it is not possible to synch each city, it can be like a roadshow or the idea of Coachella weekends where the same thing is offered over different weekends but switch out the keynote speaker or some activities.

While the future of events is undefined from the state of COVID recovery to the mental and economic health of whole regions, the event industry in its entirety has turned upside down and gone through multiple revisions on what events can currently and will look like in the future. Even if in person events are not returning to the expectations of 2019, the industry has pivoted to new ways to engage and reach new audiences in unimaginable ways.

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