From smartphones to tiny homes, people are intent on getting the most purpose and utility out of everything these days—including events! From rich content to lasting connections to stimulating activities, consider how every aspect of the event, even seemingly insignificant elements, such as cool swag, can be enhanced to provide additional benefits. For example, printing an overview of the schedule on the back of name tags provides attendees an easy and convenient way to check what’s coming up next. At a time when business leaders are ultra-conscious of how and with whom they spend their time, take a step back and look at every moment of the entire experience to ensure it provides takeaways that attendees will appreciate, while leaving a lasting impact on personal learning, growth, and inspiration.

Quirky technology is always an attention grabber, but even the most exciting new tools aren't going to deliver results if you don’t first consider what you are trying to do, and how those tools are going to help you to do it.

For example, you’d have to have been living under a rock to miss hearing about Pokémon GO in 2016. The popularity of Pokémon GO inspired some in the industry to immediately try to capitalize on the trend by introducing the location-based game into their events.

To be of any practical use, however, technology must support your wider event aims, not just be a distraction. In 2017, we’d like to see less focus on tech for tech's sake, and more considered integration to help event organisers and attendees meet their objectives.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t see a big future for mobile apps and gamification. Interactive mobile devices can encourage attendees to achieve event-related goals, like focused networking, participating in live Q&A sessions, checking into a certain number of sessions, and engaging with exhibitors. And that’s very exciting!

AR and VR are being used to create multisensory, immersive experiences that have the potential to change the world of events forever.

While immersive technology has been around for some years, historically it’s only the big brands that have had the budget to deploy it. However, as with most tech, the better it gets, the more accessible it becomes, and we predict that we’ll all start to see VR creeping into mainstream events over the next 12 months.

Of course, when it comes to event tech, there are even newer developments that have gone from science fiction to science fact. For example, facial recognition software, biometrics, and sentiment analysis are being used by some of the world’s biggest players to measure attendee mood, engagement, and demographics. But we think it highly unlikely that such advanced technology will be adopted by the mainstream just yet.

However, what all event profs must be doing in 2017 is creating an experience—getting attendees to form a connection with your business while building deeper relationships. These five trends all help you to do just that—create more targeted, more strategic, more enjoyable, and more engaging events.

Today, one size fits nobody, making enhanced, customized elements more and more important for an increasingly diverse set of attendees. It’s important to note that personalizing an experience is more than just using an attendee’s name in conference communications. Consider, perhaps, offering attendees the opportunity to weigh in on some of the sessions or activities prior to the event—this will help you to ensure that you are providing what attendees want, while also helping them feel more invested in the event—a win-win. Another idea is a conference app that provides personalised suggestions for activities in real-time using pre-loaded information, with an integrated GPS tracker that guides users to local dining options and attractions outside of the conference.