At Xperiology we’ve mapped out our Events Roster for 2016 taking our world-class B2B meetings to Malmö, Dublin, Madrid, Belfast and Liverpool. We’ve always considered our conference “relocations” each year a major factor in keeping the events fresh. We rarely stay in the same location for more than a few years, in the same way that adventurous souls rarely go to the same holiday destination twice.
Keeping things fresh and exciting is a fundamental for conference and event organiers. Consequently we’ve been pouring over various ‘trends reports’ to come up with some new ideas to inject renewed vibrancy into things.
Engaged and Curious
Trends and innovation are also moving at breakneck speed, powered by an engaged, sophisticated, curious global consumer. The Future 100 – an insghts report into global lifestyle trends by top ad agency JW Thompson – takes a snapshot of emerging trends for 2016, spanning culture, tech and innovation, travel and hospitality, brands and marketing, food and drink, beauty, retail, health, lifestyle, and luxury.
Of course, the “venues sector” lies at the very heart of many of these trends. For example, food and drink have long been central to sports and entertainment hospitality. But now chefs are becoming thought leaders, celebrities and even brands themselves.
Major innovation, design and technology conferences are zeroing in on food and how we will feed ourselves as the Earth’s population balloons. We’ll be picking up on this trend at our Premium Seat Seminar, Fan Experience Forum and The LEVEL Summit editions in 2016.
Experiences to Enrich (and Assist)
The good news for our sector, says JWT, is that experiences from travel and music to sports and theatre remain a key focus for consumers seeking to enrich their lives. The interesting thread we’re seeing emerge in many sectors is social good being wrapped in to this—examples include visiting a developing nation and helping a charity or taking part in local volunteer work. Again, The LEVEL Summit and TheStadiumBusiness Summit will explore what this trends means for, respectively, our music and sports customers.
Technology continues to be the thread that ties emerging consumer trends together—even outside the technology sector, many trends are driven changing attitudes as people adapt to our increasingly digital culture.
Technology, Data and a Warning
We’re increasingly comfortable with technology that knows us; that is cognitive, intuitive and adaptive to our needs. Vast data pools are creating highly nuanced, granular profiles of consumer behavior. Of course, Ticketing Technology Forum and our new, expanded VTECH – The Venue Technology Meeting will lift the lid on these data-driven aspects of sports and entertainment businesses.
But alongside this data complexity, warns JWT, comes a rising thread of consumer anxiety and irritation at highly targeted advertising. It would appear that whilst ‘knowledge is power’, too much knowledge can be extremely unpleasant for the lesser informed party!
Just as well our conferences and meetings are all about sharing and generating knowledge.
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