Event Trends Predictions for 2019
Looking ahead to the new year our team have made a few predictions on the trends they expect to see in the event industry! How many will you be implementing in your future events?

Sally Wallis,
Client Relationship Manager
Event ROI
In 2019, we are going to see more focus on event ROI and employee engagement. Stakeholders are looking for tangible results and are beginning to ask ‘why’ they are holding an event. Event Planners will move away from thinking “what’s it going to look like?” to setting measurable objectives and then looking at how the creative can support and deliver the message.
Smart Phones
Interactive and engagement through smart phones will have a huge influence on how events are created during the event itself and the designing of events. Delegates will have an active role influencing how the event runs through live feedback. This data will become hugely valuable to event organisers when planning and designing events.

Stephen Banks,
Senior Project Manager

Holly Waters,
Senior Event Manager
Event Sponsorship
2019 will see more creative ways for event sponsors to get more value for their buy-in. There is more and more pressure on budgets, cost savings and value for money and I think that sponsors will expect more return for their buy in. We’ve had more and more of our clients asking for ideas on how to “wow” their sponsors to ensure they get a good return and we can only see the pressure on value for money increasing. We come up with innovative ideas on how to wow our clients’ sponsors to ensure they’re ahead of the curve, we can organise those items and take the pressure of the client.
LED
From a set perspective, I believe that we will see LED continuing to replace projection more and more. We are seeing an increase in client requests for the use of LED on their sets and to enhance their breakout areas. The benefit of LED is that it’s brighter than projection and can be used in spaces where projection is difficult.

Grace Collett,
Set Designer

Dave Haslop,
Creative Director
Unusual Content
More unusual and bespoke digital canvasses will be used for live events as content creation and AV kit becomes even more powerful. Creating content at greater resolutions will continue, and filming at 4K will become more in demand to allow designers and directors to source high quality footage for creative projects. Projection mapping will continue to evolve providing engaging experiences for audiences – the technology to map onto static 3D objects will likely progress, enabling moving 3D objects to be mapped live within the event space.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality events could see a huge take up in 2019, with entire events being beamed to headsets from all over the world, or shown to delegates all over the world without anyone having to travel. I see this as an eco-friendly advancement, as delegates become more aware of the carbon footprint of events and want to see ways to reduce this, these types of emerging technologies are a way to reduce this.

Gina Bolger,
Client Engagement Manager

Lizzie Smith,
Event Manager
Sharing
Live streaming has now become a regular thing and expectation of several of our clients – this trend is set to continue. Live tweeting and audience participation will continue to be a key part of large scale conferences. Clients will look for new creative ways in which information can be shared and content distributed during their events. The immediacy of sharing content live from the event around the globe has never been more important.