2025 Event Trends - The Good, the Bad, and the BS

[00:00:00] So Tess, what are we talking about on this episode? Oh my gosh. Trends. The word we hate.

[00:00:08] You're listening to the Event Tech Pull Up, the show that brings you the good, the bad, and the ugly of event technology. With your hosts, Tess Vismale of iSocialX and Keith Johnston of i3 Events.

[00:00:21] Keith, can you believe it's that time of the year where that word that we can't stand that begins with a T is going to be all over the place?

[00:00:33] Yeah, I've already seen it in a million places, including all of the data that we looked at for this episode.

[00:00:43] Honestly, I literally, to compile all the information for this episode, I went out and we went out and found, I think, 15 different sources of event tech companies, planners, industry gurus, giving us their trends and predictions for 2025.

[00:01:05] Why is that even necessary? Why is it that every year people feel as though everyone has a crystal ball and can predict the future?

[00:01:19] Well, I know the real reason why companies do posts and things that are about trends and that's for eyeballs, right? People click them.

[00:01:27] You know, we click them. You know, I see that 25 trends to pay attention to in 2025 and I click the link. It works.

[00:01:39] So even if we, let's break it down just a little bit, right? So if we define the word trend, it says it's a general direction in which something is developing or changing.

[00:01:49] Yes, or a fashion, like the latest trends in fashion.

[00:01:53] Of course. And since I came from the fashion industry, I think I do understand what a fashion is. It changes all the time. But this word that's operable, the one that's most important, I think to me is the word general direction.

[00:02:08] And I don't think that most people lean on that. They look at that word as fact or anything that comes from that as fact.

[00:02:18] Oh, that's a great point. I never really thought about it like that. But you're absolutely right. Is it people? Wow. Okay. That just skewed my whole vision of this episode.

[00:02:26] Well, this was about to go one way and it might go another.

[00:02:30] You know, wow. Because you're right. People do tend, like years ago when the big trend was going to be VR in events, right?

[00:02:41] Nobody went that general direction.

[00:02:44] VR, but not VR.

[00:02:47] Yeah. But everyone took it as, oh my God, we've got to go look at the latest VR technology, right? Because it's going to be the big thing. And we always knew it was never going to be a big thing.

[00:03:00] It's the word general direction.

[00:03:03] Yeah. Yeah. So, so breaking down what we've seen for 2025, you know, I think we, we were able to, we're actually going to, the second point on this one is AI. We won't get there yet, but we actually did use AI to go through all of those, you know, sources that we found that gave trends.

[00:03:23] And we had the AI boil it down to 10 talking points, right? About what are the coming trends for the event industry in 2025. And kind of thought we should chat about those and, and kind of see which ones we think are, are real trends.

[00:03:42] Or BS.

[00:03:43] Or BS.

[00:03:43] We can do the BS. Are we allowed to do BS?

[00:03:45] Or allowed to do, well, we can actually say bullshit because this is a podcast that is not over the airwaves.

[00:03:50] Oh, that's right. So I could, I could say the F word, F bomb too?

[00:03:53] You can say the F bomb.

[00:03:54] Fuck yeah, let's do it.

[00:03:57] All right. So, so let's jump into the first one, which is the continued rise of hybrid events.

[00:04:06] Hmm.

[00:04:08] Hmm.

[00:04:10] Is it a rise? Everyone's doing hybrid events.

[00:04:13] No.

[00:04:13] It's not a trend. It's a thing. It's a, it's something that actually needs to be done. If it needs to be done, it's not really a trend.

[00:04:20] A trend is bell bottoms.

[00:04:22] Yeah.

[00:04:23] Something you have to do isn't a trend.

[00:04:25] No, not at all. If I look back, 2013 is when I got my certification as a digital event strategist.

[00:04:34] Back then it had been talked about creating what I call blended audience experiences instead of hybrid.

[00:04:41] Right. So it's been going on for a long time. If you kind of even think about how many people have been watching their church on television, that's not a trend.

[00:04:50] No, it's just a, it's a thing. It's just here. It's, and it's been there. People just kind of woke up and, and kind of repurposed it in their minds for something in our industry.

[00:05:00] Yeah. I mean, we did, we did our first virtual event was in 08. Right. I mean, a long time. So, okay. So we're going to call BS on that one.

[00:05:08] BS.

[00:05:12] So the next trend that, that it, that the AI says everyone is talking about is the increasing importance of AI.

[00:05:20] AI. And that's what I might actually go with it. This might fall into the trend category, but again, it's more of a tool that you just need to use. I don't know. What's your thought?

[00:05:34] Absolutely.

[00:05:36] You think you're going with it?

[00:05:37] It's a, in its pure sense, a general direction. Absolutely. It's done that for the world. And most importantly, people are, people know that it's going to, it has a propensity of, as they call revolutionizing our industry because other technology solutions have not.

[00:05:59] It's not, it's added, but we've been very slow to adapt where I think that AI is going to force all the things we've been trying to say for years. Like you've got to have a freaking mobile app. You need to move away from that Excel doc. You need to have a, a paperless event binder. We've been saying all those things forever. Right.

[00:06:16] But the, but the institution of AI is forcing, I think those things to happen in that general direction that will change that has, that has, and will continue to change everyday life within the industry. And I think that's very different than something that is trendy, trendy, like a, like VR gear. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's different.

[00:06:40] Okay. All right. So we're going to say, we're going to classify that one as yes, it's a trend, but it's also not kind of a trend because it's something that's here to stay. Trends come and go.

[00:06:51] Yeah. That, you know, this one is actually here to stay. And I mean, we're using AI now. I use it 50 times a day in my job.

[00:06:58] Exactly. We use notebook LM by the way, for, uh, to aggregate this particular data from reports that are already in places, as Keith mentioned.

[00:07:09] Which it's a Google product and it is absolutely spectacular.

[00:07:12] Absolutely spectacular.

[00:07:13] Okay. Here's the next one. And this one actually, so this is something that could be a trend, but I'm going to, I'm just going to go ahead and call bullshit on it right off the bat.

[00:07:22] And, and, and, and it is the growing focus on sustainability.

[00:07:26] No one is, yes, there are people that are focused on sustainability in their events, but 99% of most planners aren't thinking about sustainability because their organizations aren't thinking about sustainability.

[00:07:43] And the hotels aren't, no, it's, it's, yes, we should all, we should all strive to be sustainable in our events, but honestly, it's not a trend because it was a trend back in fricking 2005 and 2010 and 2015.

[00:07:58] And it's, it's, uh, are you better jump in here or I'm going to go on a rant?

[00:08:02] Well, you know, as a person who sat on the board of the green meetings, industry council in Atlanta chapter for a while.

[00:08:10] And who's been on various different aspects of trying to quote unquote green our meetings.

[00:08:18] I actually totally agree that it's not a growing trend.

[00:08:23] It's not a growing trend.

[00:08:25] Is it important?

[00:08:26] I don't necessarily agree.

[00:08:27] Like you said that they're not thinking about it.

[00:08:29] I think the planners are thinking about it, but there's so much block.

[00:08:31] I think the event marketers are kind of thinking around it, uh, as well.

[00:08:36] But I, I also believe that maybe the language around what they say about this quote unquote trend should shift and change, but that's not where we are.

[00:08:48] It's either a trend or not, which is what we're saying.

[00:08:50] Right.

[00:08:50] So I, I do.

[00:08:52] I think that's an, it's been here.

[00:08:55] Yeah.

[00:08:56] Well, and I'll just, I know I don't want to belabor this point, but one little, so we looked into one client wanted to do eco-friendly badges.

[00:09:04] Great.

[00:09:05] That's an amazing thing.

[00:09:07] We went and looked at eco-friendly badges.

[00:09:09] They found out the cost and they went, Oh no.

[00:09:14] There was an industry event recently that did it and that did an eco-friendly badge and it kind of really didn't work out well at all.

[00:09:21] And I hate to say it, but when I went to the bathroom to wash my hand, it got wet.

[00:09:27] Ooh, how'd that work out?

[00:09:28] No, it didn't.

[00:09:29] But I've seen others.

[00:09:30] Yeah, sure.

[00:09:31] PC name tag.

[00:09:32] Also had some eco-friendly ones that were really great.

[00:09:34] PC name tag actually, which is one of my favorite event industry companies.

[00:09:40] They do, they've got some great products.

[00:09:42] We have clients that use their, their eco, their eco badge solutions and they're phenomenal.

[00:09:47] But yeah.

[00:09:48] All right.

[00:09:49] So we're going to call that one.

[00:09:50] What?

[00:09:50] Wait, we call on the BS on that one now.

[00:09:52] Yeah.

[00:09:52] That's what I called BS on that one.

[00:09:54] That's what I call BS on that one.

[00:09:55] All right.

[00:09:55] So we're going to move into the next one now.

[00:09:59] And I'm going to go, actually, do you want to read this one off?

[00:10:02] And what actually tell us, do you think this is a trend or not?

[00:10:06] I think it is, but.

[00:10:08] I'm going to go with that.

[00:10:09] I agree with you on that.

[00:10:10] I think it is too.

[00:10:10] I think it is.

[00:10:12] We've been talking about it for a long time, but that doesn't mean that the industry, it

[00:10:16] might not be a trend.

[00:10:17] So the need for personalized attendee experiences.

[00:10:21] Yes.

[00:10:21] And, and I think that this one, I think this one, even on our smallest clients or our clients

[00:10:29] with the smallest budgets, I want to say smallest clients, they're even able to do things with

[00:10:34] this just through technological advances in the email marketing systems, things like that,

[00:10:39] where, and also in, even in some event apps, right, that the, it is becoming more personalized.

[00:10:49] And I think that people are implementing this, even if they don't know they're implementing it,

[00:10:55] because when they're doing the emails now and it's, you know, it's calling out the first names

[00:10:59] and it's doing those types of things and sessions are recommended inside of the app,

[00:11:04] that things are becoming more personalized, even if people don't realize that they're making,

[00:11:08] they're not making a conscious choice to do it, but it's happening anyway.

[00:11:11] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:11:12] So it's been maybe almost two weeks now, week and a half.

[00:11:16] I had the pleasure of speaking at Teneo Hospitality Summit in Puerto Rico.

[00:11:21] And I-

[00:11:22] Lucky.

[00:11:23] That was so magical.

[00:11:25] And we were, I had that as a part of my presentation and I was talking about AI in the

[00:11:31] events industry, but of course I had to come not from the planner perspective.

[00:11:34] I had to come from the hoteliers because those are their partners as well.

[00:11:38] As well as planners in the audience.

[00:11:40] So I brought up the point about personalization on the hotel side about how, let's say for

[00:11:47] instance, when I went to the Four Seasons Paris last year for my mentee's wedding, the

[00:11:53] steps that they took before I got there on site, very Four Seasons-ish, but it doesn't

[00:12:01] have to be Four Seasons-ish.

[00:12:03] They were finding out the types of things I wanted so they can customize my experience

[00:12:07] when I arrived.

[00:12:09] That sort of thing is going to be and should be happening at any tier hotel.

[00:12:15] Yep.

[00:12:16] At any tier supplier.

[00:12:18] I also had revealed this technology called Mara, M-A-R-A-A-I.

[00:12:24] And what they do is they help the hoteliers manage their reviews so that each review, like

[00:12:32] if I do a review on Google for, let's say the Atlantis and Bahamas, right?

[00:12:38] Then the person who's at the Atlantis can actually manage all the reviews that they're coming in

[00:12:44] and automate some and personalize the responses back to them with this particular tool.

[00:12:49] So it's really cool.

[00:12:51] Quite, quite, quite amazing.

[00:12:53] Yeah.

[00:12:53] And so yes, I think that this is a trend, but I don't think that it's one that planners

[00:13:02] are consciously making.

[00:13:03] I think that the tools now, I think it's something everyone has always wanted to do.

[00:13:07] And I think that the tools are now catching up to what we've always wanted.

[00:13:10] Absolutely.

[00:13:10] I think the trend is the usage of it and the ease in which you can deliver.

[00:13:17] Yeah.

[00:13:18] All right.

[00:13:19] So now we're going to move on to the next thing that we think is coming or that all the industry

[00:13:26] peoples.

[00:13:28] Totally.

[00:13:30] They're like the wizard behind the curtain, right?

[00:13:33] And so on this one, I'm going to call, I actually don't think it's a trend.

[00:13:40] Oh, heck no.

[00:13:42] Oh, I can say hell.

[00:13:43] Oh, hell no.

[00:13:43] Because it's coming and now we're able to do it.

[00:13:48] And once a trend, again, trends come and go, this is something that is going to become the

[00:13:51] norm and people are just now starting to learn how to do it.

[00:13:54] And that is the importance of data-driven decision making.

[00:14:00] As planners and organizations that do events, we have sat on mountains of effing data for

[00:14:06] years and years and years and have never been able to do anything about it.

[00:14:10] But now AI is actually making it possible.

[00:14:13] Let it crunch the numbers for you and give you insights in a different way.

[00:14:18] I think, again, like we just said, yes, it is a trend from the standpoint of the ease of

[00:14:26] being able to do it is what is trending.

[00:14:30] Yes.

[00:14:30] Oh, I like that.

[00:14:32] The trend is the ease of it.

[00:14:34] Not looking at data-driven decisions.

[00:14:37] I know we talk about this in some of the workshops that we do, specifically about Spark AI.

[00:14:46] We have a client where at the end of the event, we sit down with all of the feedback and three

[00:14:51] hours we spend around a conference table and we go through all the feedback and we see

[00:14:55] what it is.

[00:14:56] And then we make decisions based on that feedback.

[00:14:59] Well, now AI allows us to do it much, much faster, but it also uncovers little hidden things.

[00:15:05] Like there was one, and we discovered it in Washington, where I uploaded client data to get feedback

[00:15:12] during the workshop and went, huh?

[00:15:15] Because there was something in there that no one who sat around that table for three hours caught,

[00:15:20] but the AI did.

[00:15:22] And so I think that that, yes, I think that's a definite one.

[00:15:28] There you go.

[00:15:29] Yeah.

[00:15:29] So the next one is the rise of non-hotel venues.

[00:15:34] Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on that one.

[00:15:36] Big bullshit on that.

[00:15:38] Oops.

[00:15:39] Big bullshit on that one.

[00:15:41] And I can even speak for myself.

[00:15:43] Like I come from, I used to manage a conference center at a technical college, if you will.

[00:15:48] So that's a non-hotel venue, right?

[00:15:50] I had 30,000 square feet of meeting space, all the like, right?

[00:15:55] And then as a result of that, I sought organizations that would help support me in my efforts, of

[00:16:03] which two of them, one is called Unique Venues.

[00:16:05] And they are, I would say a media company because they actually go out and help represent those small and non-hotel venues in the market,

[00:16:16] like at MX and the like, helping bring leads to them.

[00:16:19] And then they put on events and all of the things, right?

[00:16:23] And within that, there were things like the museum, right?

[00:16:27] All kinds of various different.

[00:16:29] There was lots and lots of venues, non-hotel like, but that could literally support programs in a different way.

[00:16:38] They say bespoke because they like that trending term, but bespoke, definitely.

[00:16:44] Yeah.

[00:16:45] The biggest problem and the reason that non-hotel venues are fine for one-day events, right?

[00:16:52] If you're going to do something at a museum or, you know, in the evening for a networking reception, whatever happens to be.

[00:16:56] We were just down for, in Birmingham and they did something at the 16th Street Baptist Church, which is amazing.

[00:17:03] But again, that's for a local, you can't, it's very difficult for a lot of organizations to do a, plan a conference or trade show in a non-traditional venue because you actually need the room block.

[00:17:17] You need, you know, if you have a big enough room block, the hotel isn't going to charge you rental on the meeting space.

[00:17:25] So it's a, it's just a cost efficient efficiency thing, you know?

[00:17:28] But is it a trend, as it says, on the rise of utilizing the non-hotel venues?

[00:17:34] I have an, I have an idea though.

[00:17:37] It kind of bleeds into the next one.

[00:17:39] So should we wait for the next one to rate this one or rate this, or do you want me to tell you my thoughts in this one?

[00:17:46] And then we go to the next one.

[00:17:48] Tell me your thoughts on this one and then we'll go into the next one.

[00:17:51] I'm sure about that.

[00:17:52] Yeah.

[00:17:53] All right.

[00:17:53] Well, no, you actually, how about this?

[00:17:54] How about you do it the way you think is fit?

[00:17:56] Cause I'll just roll with you.

[00:17:58] Okay.

[00:17:58] Yeah.

[00:17:59] Here we go.

[00:17:59] Here we go.

[00:18:00] So the next one is the shift towards local and regional events.

[00:18:04] That's been my bread and butter for a very long time.

[00:18:07] And those who've probably listened to me know I have for a long, long, long time.

[00:18:12] I've been supported blending, blending audiences, experiences, meaning that you from a local level can bike up to a venue, which can be a non-hotel venue.

[00:18:27] So the next one is that you're going to go to the next one, and that's going to be a non-hotel venue.

[00:18:55] right instead of always globally creates as they call local events regional events that actually

[00:19:03] would drive the rise in bringing more money to those unique venues because if i'm biking to it

[00:19:10] i don't need the hotel rooms true right but that doesn't mean i can't still have i can be at the

[00:19:16] museum one day i can be at the college campus another day and have this particular experience

[00:19:21] and i can be at various different venues or the same venue all week because again i'm focusing i'm

[00:19:27] still bringing global content but i'm bringing it locally so that's what i think again the ask that's

[00:19:35] the trend part of it is when you think local and regional you have the ability to to drive that

[00:19:41] non-hotel venue uh revenue up so you know but there you know i think the one thing in this is called the

[00:19:48] shift toward local and regional and i don't know if it's actually what in my case anyway uh you know

[00:19:55] a lot of our clients are adding more local events they're not having a shift they're still doing their

[00:20:01] their national and international events they're just adding a whole lot more of local yes and i

[00:20:08] would think i totally agree with you so like i said i think the shift towards local and regional

[00:20:14] events proves the fact that my where is it the rise of non-hotel venues is a trend that's my proof

[00:20:21] got it that it's a trend but then when we go back down and then we go to the next one which is the

[00:20:27] shift towards local and regional events i would say and on that one because if you think about it those

[00:20:33] are things we've been talking about when as you like to say the rona came because people were

[00:20:42] if they went outside they actually stepped outside locally and were um were only comfortable in the

[00:20:49] space that was closest to them so i thought that trend was there that you know that trim could have

[00:20:55] been at that time versus now okay is that helpful it absolutely helpful and i actually like the way you

[00:21:02] played it out and i actually agree wholeheartedly so one is a and one is a yes yes cool absolutely let's

[00:21:09] do it okay that means we skipped down to the next which is we did two in one yeah we kind of yeah

[00:21:14] was kind of a twofer there you like that didn't you i did so we're gonna go with the next one is

[00:21:19] the emergence as events as tools and and the synopsis on this one is um using events for brand

[00:21:28] awareness lead generation are you know those types of things i'm gonna call bullshit on this one

[00:21:33] because events are always tools they've always been tools they will always be tools whether it's

[00:21:40] wrote that and you know what this is interesting it's two-way street here can we talk about this for

[00:21:46] a second i i got all day so on the one hand this ai tool pulled these as top 10 trends from reports

[00:21:55] that have trends in it yes so that must mean that several yes of those sources because it's used as a

[00:22:03] source several of those sources had 25 but but i mean no no i have this one in it right but i mean

[00:22:10] some of them had 25 trends so the fact that this one is in the 10 that it gave us for talking points

[00:22:17] means that it yes and that's a problem because that is called a job description for an event marketer

[00:22:29] i kind of write a job description don't i for something yeah you do and you're really behind

[00:22:35] but i didn't say it glad you did on the air too

[00:22:41] so so dahlia if you're listening yeah i know i need to do it

[00:22:45] that's an yeah that's so now the importance of fostering community and networking

[00:22:53] okay so i'm actually not gonna call bs on this one i'm gonna call this one i'm gonna call this one

[00:23:02] yes it is a trend um but i think it's gonna start as a trend and it will stay around because again

[00:23:09] trends come and go all of our clients are really pushing the extended networking times really thinking

[00:23:19] of ways to make the networking better so what's your thought on it because i kind of see you making

[00:23:24] a face over there um i think it just makes me angry that we've been talking about this for years

[00:23:33] and now people are finally catching up yes i think that's probably why and then i have to constantly

[00:23:38] trick my brain into saying didn't i say that didn't you say that i heard that before is that really

[00:23:44] truly a trend or is it that now the precipice of our minds have opened and shift since the corona

[00:23:54] so that people think differently and they're actually on a different frequency so therefore

[00:23:59] they can actually hear us now and then now what this says with these top 10 quote-unquote trends for

[00:24:06] 2025 they actually can put action to them well can you get and here's so here's a funny thing right

[00:24:12] so so you know as a third-party planner i work with planners inside of or other organizations

[00:24:18] and even it was funny because it's like the c-suite had the light bulb moment like like like there's

[00:24:25] one planner in particular that we work with you know she's been all along been going oh this is too

[00:24:30] short this networking is too this is dumb could never get anything because they were like content

[00:24:35] content content content and to your point after the rona all of a sudden it was like

[00:24:42] the c-suite had this oh we should do more networking and like literally everyone downstream

[00:24:49] from that was like yeah no shit sherlock so is it a trend okay let's i guess we have to go look at

[00:24:57] the craft how it's crafted the importance of fostering community and networking i will do you want me to

[00:25:04] help it out or no yeah go ahead and help it out but yeah i think it's trend but i think it's a trend

[00:25:12] industry is a trend that has to stay okay we're on to the last one of the 10

[00:25:18] uh oh that means that was number nine and and i'm gonna call bullshit on this one only because

[00:25:32] well let me tell everybody what it is first it's the need for continuous innovation

[00:25:38] that's not a trend it's just something you should do you should always be innovating i had to take a

[00:25:48] breath yeah i can tell okay so i'm on this one as well and the reason why is if we no i don't even

[00:26:08] know if i should say it say it this to me is the main reason why i know for a fact our entire industry

[00:26:16] shut down with the corona with corona other industries didn't really shut down our shut

[00:26:24] down because of this do you remember all the bullshit i got for that post i wrote yeah but

[00:26:29] when the corona happened like literally like two weeks after it happened i wrote that post that said

[00:26:33] i said that the crater was coming because we were going to get hit by this asteroid because we're not

[00:26:37] innovating and i got crucified on linkedin for that and just bring that you know what you should

[00:26:44] bring that post right back up and then put this as a trend yeah because this is what i was saying

[00:26:51] and because yeah there is no continuous innovation in this industry there isn't we should we should

[00:26:59] strive for that but we are the absolute worst when it comes to adopting new technologies just look at

[00:27:07] the fight we're getting over ai like we do workshops on ai and it's amazing how many people are are

[00:27:12] literally afraid to touch their keyboard and i get it like i'm not faulting anyone who is but because

[00:27:18] you need to learn you need to be educated about it and understand how it works but we are just not an

[00:27:22] innovative industry no and that's why so many people from the outside of our industry come in and

[00:27:27] then they're looked at as god for some reason and i'm gonna keep a pause right there

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[00:28:14] you