Events of the future – part 2
Director of Conference Focus, Max Turpin is sharing his insights on a range of topics with a regular column in BEN. Topics will include new generation events and making events effective and valuable.
Generation change cannot be ignored and its influence on future events. By 2025 it’s estimated that 75% of the world’s workforce, including many business leaders, will be Generation Y – those born between the early 1980’s to the mid 1990’s. What this generation expects from events and therefore how they are designed will be a lot different from today. This generation will be the driving force of change and these changes will most likely include – Shorter presentations – engaging, thought-provoking presentations of no more than 30 minutes will replace the hour-long presentations of today (think TedX). Unique, value-driven, crowdsourced content – content delivered from the stage will not be created by a select few who think they know best and want their message heard. Nor will it be generic content readily available from online sources. Content will be unique, crowd sourced, contextual and applicable….as valuable as it get for attendees. More participation, interactivity and immersion – Gen Y want their voices heard, want to contribute and want to be involved. For them, simply listening to ‘talking heads’ and being expected to be part of a passive audience is the height of boredom. Being an active, contributing participant at events will become the norm. And this is smart since sharing ideas, knowledge and experiences with others and problem-solving and developing new opportunities with a group of like-minded people takes learning to a whole new level. Drawing upon the Wisdom of Crowds and using “Collective Intelligence” will become the backbone of event design. More structured networking – rather than today’s often surprise and accidental event networking, networking will become more structured. Some participants are driven to attend events because they want to meet certain people. Rather than this being ad-hoc or an accidental occurrence and with the aid of people’s profiles, pre-event planning will guarantee valuable networking by design More technology – Unlike the generations before them, Gen Y have grown up with the internet and every conceivable technology device. They can’t live without their smart phones and iPads. They expect robust internet connection and are totally comfortable using the latest technologies. Ignore the use of technology at your peril…. The final part of this series of articles will concentrate on the use of new event technologies.
If you’d like to learn more about how to make your events fresh, innovative and effective, please contact Max Turpin at Conference Focus on 02 9700 7740 or visit the website at conferencefocus.com.au