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Experiential marketing as a business is experiencing explosive growth. But with that growth comes added scrutiny. For brand-side marketers charged with partnering with experiential agencies to deliver breakthrough experiences for attendees, that means issuing more RFPs, more often, with more attention to the bottom line. But as the cultural landscape evolves, so does the search for the perfect agency partner. New priorities, such as inclusion and diversity, have surfaced. And the demand for standout creative has never been higher. Straight from the trenches at Salesforce, Accel, Facebook and Stripe, here’s how some of the industry’s most active event departments are reprioritizing their RFP processes.

Who wouldn’t want to come to a free event? Lots of people, it turns out. You build, they RSVP — but they don’t come. Even the most successful events have no-shows. Things come up; people can’t make it. But for free events, there’s no financial consequence to skipping the event. So free events tend to see much higher dropout rates — up to 50%, according to a survey of free event creators.

Unproductive business meetings cost companies an estimated $541 billion in lost productivity and employee time, according to the 2019 State of Meetings Report from the meeting scheduling platform Doodle. Forbes  reports that this figure does not include additional spending on things like travel expenses involved in sending employees to meetings. Such costs could be significant, since the US Travel Association estimates that American companies spend $154 billion annually on business travel.

In a world where more and more meeting attendees are addicted to their phones, used to the excitement of virtual reality, and have an ever-shrinking attention span, associations face a significant challenge as they design their in-person events: How to find learning formats that will drive learning and, as a result, ensure attendee value.

Remember that glorious 2017 music festival in the Bahamas that garnered headlines for its excellent planning, exceptional execution and gorgeous attendees? Fyre Festival was all the rage, until it was supposed to happen and attendees found themselves stranded on an island with no infrastructure, F&B easily surpassed by your average soup kitchen, leftover FEMA tents for housing and, well, no festival.

One person isn’t responsible for coming up with the look of a house, ordering the wood, laying the foundation and selling the home. That wouldn’t be practical. Experts in each of those areas play a role and then pass the job off to the next person.

When meeting organizers gather enough data to understand certain key personality traits among their attendees, they can build event sessions that deliver meaningful impact to every participant. That was the overarching conclusion from a year-long research project by German Convention Bureau, the European Association of Event Centres, and Fraunhofer Society, Europe's largest application-oriented research organization. The research results were presented earlier this month at the Professional Convention Management Association's Convening Leaders conference in Pittsburgh.

Experiential Design is not new. In fact, we have been doing it for thousands of years. Each time tribes gathered together to celebrate, or travelled to meet, converse and trade, experiences were intentionally designed and history was written. We have connected through ritual, regalia, food, storytelling, performance, pageantry and entertainment all designed to drive emotive human responses. From caves to castles, these connections built and overturned empires and changed the course of history as participants enjoyed spectacles of shared art, music and artistic extravagance.

Event planners spend ample time putting together all aspects of an event from the food to the decor, the stage experience to the entertainment and to every fine detail in between. Often times, their designs are inspired by their peers, other events and industry trends; however, this can be a challenge when audiences or event objectives are different. After all, what works for someone else may not be the best solution for your event.

Business-related events can often feel stale and predictable. But that doesn’t mean they have to be. To avoid awkward speeches, bland catering, and a conventional setting, all it takes is a bit of imagination. Check out these six common corporate event types and learn how to make yours more memorable.

On the heels of multiple studies showing that event professionals are increasingly being asked to do more with less, Smart Meetings asked a veteran planner for tips on how to create “wow” on a budget. Doug McPhee, Experient senior global account manager, recently spoke at CMP Conclave in Birmingham, Alabama, on this very topic and shared the 10 things that can trim the bottom line without sacrificing the end-product.

According to our Eventbrite Survey, Millennials will account for 75% of the UK workforce in a decade and spend over £419,556,233 each month on attending live events. But while this is good news for event creators, the demand for live experiences also means more competition.

Meetings are made for extroverts. They’ll talk to anyone about anything. They’re gregarious, and they get their energy from interacting with other people. But extroverts only make up about half your attendees, says Sharon Fisher, president of experiential communications company Play with a Purpose. The other half, she says, are the introverts whose personal style is almost the opposite, and those attendees need to be considered in your meeting design.

For the longest time, the ”breakout session“ felt like the forgotten stepchild of event marketing. Throw in a stage and a projector, invite a category expert and hope for the best. Because all the killer keynotes were on the plenary stage, a decent breakout was considered a bonus.

One of the most daring and complex high-wire acts is organizing a citywide event. Spanning multiple hotels, thousands of rooms and millions of square feet of event space, a citywide requires a planner to manage a long list of responsibilities to make it successful. According to recent Smart Meetings webinar hosts Elaine Williams and Sallee Pavlovich, however, the answers are right at planners’ fingertips.

Event Design is constantly evolving, and participants are starting to expect a lot more from the design of an event. There needs to be a synergy between all event design elements. Coming directly from MCI Germany’s finest, Dr. Christina Buttler and Thomas Wüthrich, here are some insights into what participants are expecting:

Events are a great member benefit but can become a huge expense without proper planning. Here are 30 great ways to consider saving money:

It’s been gratifying to see the evolution of the concept of Event Design over the past decade. Where once “design” was restricted to the province of aesthetics, now event planners all over the world understand that events must, yes, delight the senses, but they must also motivate, engage and move individuals and organizations to action.

With the announcement of The Ideation Studio at Park MGM, Senior Vice-President and Chief Sales Officer Mike Dominguez notably said, “We’re not just building space; we’re building the right space.” That is the mindset more than a few venues are beginning to adopt in the ever-increasing race to entice groups and redefine expectations. High tech—or “smart”—conference rooms, and the advances that go into them are giving new shape to the future of meetings and events.

At a recent event in New York City, we heard a truly inspiring presentation on design thinking. The speaker (David Solsbery, VP of Creative and Marketing at the event production company Hargrove) made the case that event professionals are actually designers, in that we always search for solutions, designing and mapping experiences. The talk got us thinking a lot about design thinking, so we broke down the principles of this innovative school of thought to show you how it can drive results at your next event.

There’s no doubt that conferences are one of the most popular event types in the business world. But just because demand is high doesn’t mean success is guaranteed. Pulling off a wildly successful conference like Dreamforce, for example, takes a lot of hard work — and a total shift in mindset.

 Tahira Endean, CMP CED, author of Intentional Event Design, and Mariela McIlwraith, CMP, CMM, MBA, director of industry advancement, Events Industry Council, recently hosted a session on welcoming events at IMEX America.  

In this day and age, any hotel worth its salt has to provide food and beverage options. In recent years, food and beverage has become an integral part of the hospitality business, thanks to growing consumer interest. Moreover, hotel restaurants and bars are broadening their appeal to attract locals and guests alike.

An event design seminar at October's IMEX America in Las Vegas began with a slide showing a photo of a group of happy couples on a beach eating seafood and drinking Champagne. The invitation to the event read, “Join us for a beachfront crab boil featuring live bands and fireworks.” It looked like a lot of fun.