Since the global COVID-19 pandemic struck, the world is now facing great difficulties in the new decades of 2020. Nevertheless, it is crucial that we need to overcome this hardship and to grow stronger than ever. For that, how should we build plans for our direction?

For marketer’s reference, listed below are the top 10 emerging event trends of 2020 in Vietnam:

1. Event personalization
2. Online event & online working
3. Sustainable development
4. Event safety and security
5. Unique venue experience
6. Improvement in online connection
7. Wearable Tech
8. Al in event organization and analysis
9. Gamification
10. Face recognization technology

 

1. Attendee personalization

Different attendees will have different interests and demands when approaching the event topics; therefore, personalization is considered to be an optimal way for attendees to have the right choice. This biggest trend in 2020 will maximize the participants and contribute to the success of the event. In that aspect, there are many ways to personalize an event:

Customize the schedule at large conferences based on self-interest: Attendee can actively choose the sessions that match their preference and demand. Create specialized schedule for personal experience.

Suggest data-driven activity: With the big data, AI is offering more personalized opportunity. AI can create unique event schedule for each attendee or provide appropriate nearby-event suggestions. For example, as a marketer, you will be lead to a workshop on building creative content

Send out personalized content: There are various way to personalize the content; simply just include the attendee in the email to give them a sense of caring

2. Online event & online working

Along with the global COVID-19 pandemic and the strong development of technology, online event starts to become a trend for its advantages and convenience when implementing in this period. Doing Livestream or organizing Video conference is the most basic form of online event. We can use technology to set an event plan in “places” where attendees have never experienced before. In order to do that, one must participate regularly in online events to learn how to organize a successful one.

In addition, the rapid advancement of technology has simplified the communication process between people regardless the distance. Meetings with team members and customers can be organized using many platforms (Skype, Facebook, Zalo and Viber) as well as working directly through Microsoft Online tools and sharing resource via Google Drive or Trello.

3. Sustainable development

The Earth is warming up in every meaning and concerns about climate change have become the main topics throughout 2020. In following years, event trend will be developed in an eco-friendly way that contributes to the improvement of the surrounding environment.

There are many methods to limit the impact of event on the environment. From saying no to one-time disposable plastic to using digital ticketing system, providing awareness of environmental protection for attendees, providing more organic food stalls and using seasonal products … After each event, donating leftover items to the local charities is also a way to maintain our green environment.

Additionally, the organizers can replace some events with online activities and increase the use of recycled materials in event design. These small steps will drive the industry toward reducing its waste and its impact on the earth.

4. Event security and safety

In the past 2019, we probably have heard about incidents relating to security and safety at some certain events. Indeed, many security and safety concerns have not been taken seriously and been properly implemented.

Keeping the attendees safe is one of most important responsibilities of an event organizer. For that reason, we need to improve the event security in the most effective way. More specifically, meetings with the onsite staff and the whole team should be held to ensure that all members can fully understand the event’s security plans. It is critical that everyone know how to communicate in an emergency and be able to handle crisis. Furthermore, the venue of your event must have emergency exit instructions and evacuation site information. Our number one priority is that all attendees are safe at the event.

It is also critical for organizers to pay more attention to “security standards” in constructing and operating an event or a music stage. There were several accidents relating to electric shock, fire… or stage incidents happened due to the lack of attention toward safety. The event organizers, therefore, focus on the security standards that have not been well-executed.

5. Unique venue experience

Apart from the familiar venues as conference rooms or stadiums, organizing event in unusual places now is one of the biggest trends in 2020. A unique place should match the brand image, the goal of the event as well as the overall mood and tone of the occasion. Another challenge when deciding the venues is the power supply and Wi-Fi sources, which also the main different between unique and traditional locations. Look carefully for the solutions to bring out the best experience for your customers.

You can get various inspirations from a wide range of different venue choices including the main lobby of an office, warehouse, industrial park, farm, museum and more. If it is impossible to have a truly special location, creating an elaborate and spectacular event space is also a way to develop a unique experience for the audience.

6. Improvement in online connection

Today, Wi-Fi and 4G become an integral part of our life. Therefore, attendees would certainly feel dissatisfied if they could not access to the Wi-Fi in an event. In this case, many organizers don’t know where to begin to fix it. The biggest problems are the implementing cost, the connection and the speed of Wi-Fi at the event.

As can be seen, using a single Wi-Fi hotspot is not enough to meet the demand of all attendees. Therefore, instead of using only one high-power transmitter at one spot, Wi-Fi can be divided into areas where we use receivers and power amplifiers to improve the connection and the speed. In addition, you can predict and calculate the attendee usage demand to make reasonable and budget-friendly arrangements but still can deliver the best experience for the guests.

In the near future, the popularity of 5G will help event organizers to dramatically increase the attendee engagement and to provide better online interactive activities.

7. Wearable Tech

Attendees nowadays are more familiar with the wearable technology as these devices improve the experience in the event. Along with many utility applications, using wearable tech is an event trend that many organizers are targeting.

In details, international event organizers are using Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to improve the user experience. It will completely replace the regular paper tickets, which has been the main payment method for all event services and many other utilities. Customers will not have to take out their wallets each time they pay while their hands are full or holding their babies. There would be no need to worry about losing the ticket during the event.

Beside the existing features, these wearable devices can fully develop further in the future. One of those innovating ideas is that you can exchange information during networking sessions to focus more on the conversation and create more relationships with people with just one step.

8. Al in event organization and analysis

In 2020, artificial intelligent (AI) will be another emerging trend expected to be commonly applied in event planning. In details, event organizers can use AI in different working stages from building strategy to implementing and analyzing for the event. Similar to websites using AI to provide data for their tools, event planning programs start to apply AI to find attendees, performers, influencers, themes, optimal time and place recommendations.

AI-powered chatbots can be used for pre-event communication and customer service in order to answer the common questions, automatically sell tickets and keep track on potential leads.

9. Gamification

Gamification is one of the most interesting ways to stimulate attendee desire. Understanding that our attendees are greatly interested in rewarding and have strong competition toward each other, we can attract participants by taking advantage of game applications in the event.

Furthermore, gamificating your event can increase the number of guests coming to the exhibition booth.  Attendees will be rewarded points after participating in the booth to collect valuable gifts or by taking the quiz after the presentation is over. Rankings and awards have proven to be specifically effective when attendees compete with each other for greater recognition.

10. Face recognization technology

Along with the voice search, face recognition is trending toward the event industry. There are some ways that we can optimize the efficiency and customer experience using face recognition event:

• Face recognition technology can fasten the checking-in. Several events have successfully applied this technology as it is safe and optimal for events with a large audience.
• Event security can be highly garuanteed using facial recognition to detect attendees on the security list.
• Applying face recognition helps to improve the social media accessibility by tagging people in the event photos.

Reference from Brands Vietnam