Every year blogger Julius Solaris from Event Manager Blog publishes an overview of the most significant trends affecting events. Here is his prediction for 2014.

 

You can view Julius' slides with the event trends for 2014 below. Wondering if his predictions have come true in 2013? Then review the eventplanner.tv episode in which he explains his event trends for 2013.

 

 

Event Trends for 2014 Explained

 

10. Faster Check-in

The attendees of your event likes to get into events fast. Any piece of technology that speeds up on site registration will be hot in 2014. 9. Seat Them Socially While the concept of seating guests based on their social connection is not anything new, 2014 will be the year where more event professionals will use such services for their event.

 

8. Live Slidesharing

This trend refers to sharing the slides on attendees smartphone or tablet live. Once again this is not a particularly new technology and ARS has been around forever, but 2014 will be the year of your mobile as a second screen for slides.

 

7. Collaborative Event Planning

There is a thought, specially in the Meetings industry, that events are just conferences and trade shows. Julius believes that one of the strongest drivers of this industry is the long tail of passionate amateur planners who run their own weddings, concerts or parties. This passion fuels local economies of suppliers and venues. That is why any technology that shares event planning among a group of people will be a hit on 2014.

 

6. Plan by App

Event management dashboards used to be very complex spreadsheets that cost incredible amounts. Last year we highlighted how the technology was becoming more accessible. As we move into a more mobile environment, startups are recognising the opportunity to offer complete event management tools that can be operated via apps.

 

5. Collective Media

Hiring a photographer may still be the case for most events but leveraging the media created by your attendees is another story.

 

4. Do Something Good

Julius believes we all agree that sometimes technology can be stupid. Utterly useless. Or some other times it just does not solve anyone’s problem. There is a new breed of services that is providing event professionals with a solution to their challenges while stimulating adoption via means of charity.

 

3. One Page Websites

We recently published an infographic about effective event websites. One page websites are not just a trend, they are thought to convey a better storytelling and to decrease bounce rates while impacting on conversions.

 

2. Solve The Hotel Nightmare

Only 27% of registration providers offered live accommodation options upon ticket purchase. However, hotel options are amongst the top 10 most requested features by event planners.

 

1. Incredibly Real Time Analytics

Events happen quickly and pressure is usually incredible. Safety, happiness, business success are pressing thoughts that every smart professional has. Those startups that offer live analytics such as heat maps, preferences and check-in based analytics will make an impact in 2014.