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by PORT on Jan 2, 2023 8:00:00 AM
As the saying goes, the only constant in life is change. This holds true when it comes to AV for events as well! Once upon a time, planning an event was simple. All it took was a hotel conference room, a pipe and drape backdrop, a podium complete with a microphone, and a guest list. Now a great deal of planning goes into almost every event, regardless of its size. That includes determining whether it should be in-person, virtual, or hybrid, and how to engage all audience members. Read on to learn more about the constantly evolving AV event trends and what’s in store for 2023.
In-person meetings are returning
COVID-19 drastically changed the way we hold and organize meetings, but almost three years after the pandemic began, businesses are ready to get back to in-person meetings. According to a recent survey, 87% of respondents expected their meetings to have an in-person component, which is 6% higher than for 2022.
But that doesn’t mean it’s business as usual when it comes to live events! In 2023, every type of business will need to find innovative ways to incorporate live audio-visual elements that satisfy attendee expectations and increase engagement. Impactful lighting, such as LED lighting up the walls, or Gobo lighting, adds visual flair interest and helps keep audiences alert and interested.
But hybrid events aren’t going anywhere
Although in-person events are resurging, hybrid events continue to be more popular than ever. In 2022, 71% of organizations with at least 5,000 employees were using hybrid events, and that trend is expected to grow in 2023.
While potential meeting attendees are more than ready to resume events and meetings away from their desks, many companies want to maintain a virtual component both to keep travel and venue costs down, to create a lighter environmental footprint, and to create a seamless event experience.
To better engage both in-person and virtual audiences, event planning professionals need much more than just a high-speed internet connection. Specialized cameras to stream high-quality video, a variety of types of lighting, digital whiteboards, graphic tablets, and more are necessary to captivate virtual and live attendees.
The availability of on-demand, online, gated content after the meeting ends allows participants to view presentations on their own time and learn at their own pace. For the virtual audience, technology allows chatbots and smart agents to interact during sessions so they can have questions answered in real-time.
Mobile event apps
Mobile event apps are an ideal way to unite a hybrid audience. In-person attendees can download the app on their phone or another mobile device for helpful notifications, and venue maps, to create user profiles, and to interact with virtual guests through messaging. Other technologies that can be accessed through mobile apps include interactive features such as real-time polls, surveys, quizzes, and Q&A. For virtual attendees, the event app provides everything at their fingertips, regardless of where they are.
Virtual reality
Although it’s certainly not new, virtual reality is becoming more useful when it comes to events. It allows attendees to interact with each other from different locations and spaces so that the virtual audience feels as though they’re right there in the room. Virtual reality can add other entertaining elements for virtual attendees such as allowing them to create avatars, which makes it feel more like they are live participants.
PORT: Creative virtual, live, and hybrid event production
PORT has more than 37 years of experience producing events. For live events, we provide event production services including Lighting Production Services, technical production management, production design, and equipment rentals. For virtual and hybrid events, our skilled team has extensive expertise in flawless video production, exciting graphics, content services, streaming, state-of-the-art production, endless virtual reality environment options, dynamic LED video walls, and more. Our complete services include the following:
Ready to learn more? Contact us for a consultation!
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