3 industry trends to watch out for in events management

Tue 1 Dec 2020

Making Attendees Active Participants with a Masters Degree in Events Management
Leveraging Mobile Technology with an Events Management Masters Degree
How Grads with a Masters Degree in Events Management can Stimulate Digital Engagement

With each passing year, events become bigger and more spectacular to meet attendees' increasing expectations. It's the goal of creative events managers to achieve ever more engaging social functions, harnessing international best practices and emerging industry trends to satisfy and inspire discerning audiences. For planners to successfully adapt to and anticipate changes in our rapidly evolving society they must maintain awareness of the latest trends that are shaping the industry.

Students on Falmouth University's flexible learning MA in Creative Events Management challenge existing industry norms as they develop the expertise to produce pioneering events. They learn to analyse innovative market shifts while interacting with an international network of talented peers, gaining the insights necessary to leverage the ideas that will enhance their particular events.

Here are some important industry trends that events managers will likely be seeing more of during their careers.  

Making Attendees Active Participants with a Masters Degree in Events Management

The most significant trends surrounding events involve empowering attendees through the integration of emerging technologies that enable new opportunities for interaction and participation. Online interfaces can engage attendees throughout the entire event lifecycle, creating a community where they can access further information and connect with peers and organisers.

masters in event management online

Event attendees are increasingly active as participants

Innovative event formats are letting participants engage in informal knowledge sharing, elevating the element of surprise by inviting serendipity into the process, and making use of unusual or reinvented venues. Interactive technology can provide participants with more control over their event experiences, such as contributing to music selection or planning certain aspects of the proceedings.

Leveraging Mobile Technology with an Events Management Masters Degree

Recent advances in mobile technology have made it possible for professionals with an events management Masters degree to create increasingly immersive environments that get attendees highly involved throughout the event. Beacons and apps have had powerful implications for how mobile devices are used at events in the past few years. iBeacons are low-powered transmitters that can send and receive notifications using Bluetooth or new audio wave technology in an attendee's smartphone.

masters degree in events management

Mobile apps can provide event attendees with navigation, networking and gamification services

They can provide event updates in real time or promote relevant location-based content and interaction, such as presenting exhibitor information when the attendee nears that booth. At last year's SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, iBeacons activated wearable technology to provide real-time data on audience movement, temperature and sound levels. Integrating this technology with event apps can prompt attendee check-in, assist detailed navigation and networking, or create exclusive social games like scavenger hunts, delivering a more personalised and memorable experience.

How Grads with a Masters Degree in Events Management can Stimulate Digital Engagement

Apps and other specialised online tools can accomplish comprehensive registration, engagement and community building for events, as well as improving the collection and analysis of attendee feedback. They can also facilitate payments, security, staffing, venue choice, and various collaborative activities.

Crowd-streaming with apps like Meerkat or Periscope is a great opportunity to create additional remote engagement and publicity, however, as with other event apps, it also raises potential legal and privacy concerns. Students pursuing a Masters in event management online will realise that as even traditional swag bags increasingly go digital, emerging technology can be selectively leveraged to create particularly special events.

Would you like to study flexibly towards an events management Masters degree?

Discover how Falmouth's MA Creative Events Management can accelerate your career. 

Creative Events Management

Get in touch today