How is the event business evolving in 2024, and what major challenges await event planners around the globe? The editorial team of the EventMasterBook.com magazine has examined the key event trends and analyzed numerous forecasts for the event industry. As a result, there are several significant challenges for event organizers in 2024.
Planning and organizing an event, whether for business or private purposes, is always associated with many challenges. There are countless details to consider, and depending on the degree of optimal execution, these details can significantly impact the success of the event. The most significant challenges for event managers arise from the following trends and developments: 1) an ongoing flood of events, 2) the speed at which new trends emerge, 3) increasing sustainability demands, 4) growing security risks, and 5) the unbroken need of people to constantly experience something new.
In line with this, here are the five major challenges for event planners that need to be mastered in 2024:
Challenge 1: Event Marketing
Effective event marketing can indeed be considered the Event Planning Challenge No. 1. Events thrive on their attendees. If the required number of visitors is not reached, this is not only economically suboptimal from the organizer’s point of view (loss of ticket revenue), but the atmosphere also suffers from empty halls and unoccupied seats. Effective event marketing is crucial, focusing on three main elements: own media, influencers, and "inner pictures". Through own media, including dialogue media such as newsletters and direct mailings, and influencers, the necessary reach can be built to promote the event widely in the target audience. "Inner pictures" are essential to increase the desire to attend, involving emotional images, scenes, video clips, a compelling story, and a style that draws people into the narrative.
Challenge 2: Agile Program Planning
In a few days, on January 9, 2024, the largest tech show in the world, CES in Las Vegas (USA), will begin again. Last year, the organizers scored by having a keen sense for new trending topics. They promptly included the hype topic "KI / ChatGPT" in the program and even organized a one-day conference about it. The EventMasterBook editorial team calls this "Agile Program Planning." Agile program planning requires a great event team that is able to identify current lifestyle and business topics through consistent monitoring of various sources. Major events often take a very long time to plan and prepare. The event program, the venue, and equipment often need to be fixed months before the event date. Anyone who manages to integrate a current megatrend into the program at short notice, perhaps 1 to 2 weeks before the event date, can generate a lot of enthusiasm and also attract previously undecided participants to the event.
Challenge 3: Step-by-step towards Sustainable Events
Fun factor or environmental protection? That is the frequently asked question when it comes to "Sustainable Events" or "Green Events." How much glamour, enjoyment, and fun are we willing to give up? Actually, this question is entirely misplaced because sustainable events do not necessarily have to go hand in hand with a reduced experiential factor. However, the issue of "renunciation" is not so far-fetched in this context, especially when considering suitable "giveaways." From a sustainability perspective, organizers should avoid promotional items completely or opt exclusively for digital giveaways such as vouchers, small games and other gadgets. But even these digital alternatives are not ideal in terms of sustainability. The challenge for event organizers in terms of sustainability primarily lies on an analytical level, specifically in the field of visitor analysis: How does the target group "tick"? Is it strongly oriented towards sustainability or is it not? Which sustainability factors are important to them (e.g., energy, mobility, zero waste, etc.), and which are not? What do they perceive as "desirable" or even a "must-have," such as waste reduction? What do they possibly perceive as obstructive or even patronizing? A purely vegan food selection often falls under this criticism.
The fact is, to make events more sustainable, one must deeply understand the target audience and find ways to shift the boundaries for visitors towards a "Green Event" in a viable manner. Humans are creatures of habit – they don’t like to give up beloved pleasures and experiences. If you want to make events more sustainable, you have to switch from "great, but environmentally harmful" to "great, but environmentally friendly". Simply eliminating materials, services and program items does not work.
Challenge 4: Coping with Security Risks
Every event, whether large or small, whether B2B or B2C, is always associated with certain risks. Even a single stray cable can cause a broken bone, and in a small (unsecured) pond, one can, if things go wrong, drown. Okay, the pessimism may be exaggerated, but anyone who has planned and managed events on-site knows that "shit happens" is not an empty phrase. For large events, the risks from the organizer’s perspective are almost unbearable. A clean risk analysis, a comprehensive security concept, good cooperation with local authorities, regulatory agencies, fire departments, etc., and a perfectly briefed event and security crew on-site are essential for feasibility. Artificial intelligence and innovative technologies will help to better master all security challenges in the future.
Challenge 5: Creativity and Finding Talents
"Same Procedure as Every Year…" – this formula for success from the New Year’s Eve comedy "Dinner for One" is completely out of place in the event industry. People always want to discover new things, see new places and have new multi-sensory experiences. It doesn’t always have to be superlatives that have to be constantly topped next year, but creative developments and innovative ideas are expected. Therefore, "creativity," which can be fueled with creative techniques if one is not born with this talent, undoubtedly belongs to the key qualifications of an event planner. An event planner does not just organize; he/she is the mastermind of the event. A broad interest in societal trends and issues, openness to new technologies, interest in arts and culture, in music and travel, and in connecting with other people, greatly helps when developing inspiring event concepts.
The challenge therefore lies not only in developing your own creative skills, but also in recruiting broadly interested people as talents for your own event crew. Although AI tools can increasingly support event planning, human intuition and creativity are irreplaceable. AI always works according to certain rules: What comes out is what goes in – even if the planning process often runs much faster with AI than with HI (human intelligence), genuine flashes of inspiration, that magical mixture of knowledge, intuition, situation and emotion, lead us to something completely new. And only humans have these magical flashes of inspiration.
Cover image (collage): Event Planning Challenges 2024 | eventmasterbook.com
Related topics:
Event trends, event planning, event management, event organizer, challenges, creativity, risks, sustainable events, green events, agile event planning, event marketing
(Please note: This article is based on an AI-generated translation of the original German version. Please excuse any errors caused by the translation program).
