Fast Future Publishing, a London-based publisher of research and thoughts of future thinkers from around the world, recently summarized the impact of technological advancements on meetings and conferences. For DIY planners, it’s an opportunity to see if they’re ready for what lies ahead.
1. Conferences will have an increasingly interdisciplinary focus
In many sectors, participants will tire of hearing the same industry speakers and vendors saying roughly what they said last year. In the search for inspiration to maintain attendance levels, organizers will invite inspiring people from different fields, arts, science, music, business, education, or engineering to share their ideas with participants.
2. Real-time conference agendas
Participants will be able to use meeting apps to schedule impromptu sessions held in any available space — coffee bars, lobbies, exhibition floors, even car parks. The speaker will talk into a microphone attached to their own smartphone and have the talk broadcast to those who tune in to that particular channel.
3. #metoo charters
The meetings industry will take positive action in the wake of the harassment and assault cases made public across many sectors in 2017. Codes of conduct will appear covering behavior at events, participants will be asked to sign these to confirm their adherence. Reporting of incidents will be made easier and more discreet, and offenders’ organizations will be notified immediately when such issues arise.
4. Next-generation meeting scheduling
The intelligent assistants (IA) on our phone, or on the meeting app, will book appointments and meeting locations for us based on the types of people we say we want to meet. The IA will scan the attendee list, find the people who fit the criteria we’ve defined, and then contact their IA to request and set up meetings.
5. Thinking hubs
Meeting venues will have interactive technology that will enable creative thinking and idea testing. Interactive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) will allow participants to visualize data or ideas developed in a workshop session in a more tangible way. Participants will be able to test different ideas in VR/AR software and compare their possible outcomes to make better decisions.
6. Integrated events apps
Users will not have to download individual apps for each event; integrated systems will emerge that present content for multiple events — these may even become standard features on many smartphones.
App developers will create more cohesive systems that merge the information and presentations for all the different events that sign up to use them. Users will have the opportunity to browse for the most interesting and useful information across a range of events and conferences — perhaps making micro-payments to access content for the events they didn’t attend.
7. Cryptoculture
Being prepared to accept payments by Bitcoin and other digital currency would be an important step; there may also be new risks at hand when it comes to having anonymously paid fees, which is the nature of Bitcoin but unconventional in terms of event planning.
8. Digital twins
Early adopters of technology could soon be able to send a digital stand-in to attend face-to-face conferences. The participant’s digital twin would be a software incarnation of the person embodied (or not) by a hologram or device that can see, hear and observe the event in real time.
The digital twin could engage with other participants in virtual space or on social media during the event, leading up to scheduled face-to-face meetings with interesting contacts at later points in time.
9. Robot realms
Events will make greater use of robots as mobile customer service assistants, kitchen staff, baristas, waiting staff, security guards and porters. We’ll also see more robots featuring presentations and even delivering them. Within facilities we might see drones capturing videos of the sessions, transporting goods, and even moving people between sessions.
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