THE NEXT DECADE OF EVENT TECHNOLOGY

New technology that is changing the world of events.

It’s incredible to reflect upon the technological advances our society has seen over the past 10 years. The last decade brought us everything from iPads to Instagram. And who can remember the days before Netflix existed? As we ready ourselves for a new decade, we can’t help but feel a sense of anticipation for the advancements we are likely to see in the events industry. While we can’t predict too far into the future, there are a few event trends we have seen already that we’re sure are here to stay through 2020 and beyond. 

• Interactive Digital Displays

Projection mapping technology gets more impressive by the day, and we’ve already seen significant developments in recent months. Our very own Wizard Studios team created an interactive projection mapping “wave room” experience, where the display reflected the movements of onlookers. In the coming months and years, we can only expect these displays to become even more interactive, immersive, and awe-inspiring. We can’t wait to be on the cutting edge of these new heights.

• Artificial Intelligence 

The lengths that we as a society will explore the potential of AI has already begun in many fields. In the events industry, we can use it to gather and interpret valuable data about our audience. For example, AI can find the shared features of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people through their social media accounts. It can discern connections between your audience members that likely would have otherwise been unknown to your brand. This data will help event professionals determine every detail of an event: from who would be the best keynote speaker, to what to serve for lunch, to which words to use on marketing materials.

• Apps 

If you’ve been paying any attention during the last 10 years, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Many of the biggest advances of the last decade were apps: Instagram, Tinder, Google Maps, Spotify, Venmo, Candy Crush, Snapchat… We could go on and on. In the next 10 years, there will certainly be more apps that become bona-fide cultural phenomena. What we’re most excited about in the events industry is the extent to which apps will become integrated. We currently have so many apps in the professional world that manage a vast number of tasks: planning, scheduling, communication, and so much more. We hope to see the integration of these apps in a way that facilitates planning, producing, and attending events! 

• Paperless-ness 

The convergence of our society becoming both hi-tech and environmentally conscious will inevitably lead to a lot less paper. We are not just talking about e-vites and event apps. We plan to see touch-screen interfaces at every stage of an event, from giant interactive displays of a venue map, to technology that allows people to exchange business “cards” by tapping their phones together. As long as we all continue to walk around with touch-screen devices in our pockets, the possibilities are truly endless! 

Will robots be moderating panel discussions in 2029? Will we be attending music festivals in outer space? We can’t make those predictions, but what we can say is that the next decade will be a fantastic one for the events industry. The entire team at Wizard Studios can’t wait for the next decade of creativity, dedication, and consistently outperforming expectations. We hope you’ll choose us for your event in 2020 and beyond. Happy New Year!