For most of my career, business events followed a pretty familiar pattern.
You booked a great venue. You lined up strong speakers. You sent the invitations. People came. Some events were exceptional, many were fine - but even the average ones usually filled the room.
That pattern is changing and not because people don't value events anymore - they absolutely do. If anything, the hunger for in-person connection feels stronger post-pandemic and in our digital world than it ever did before. But people are making more deliberate choices about where they spend their time, energy, and budget. The question has shifted from 'can we run this event' to 'is this really worth showing up for.'
I notice this in conversations every week - people need to understand the impact and the value of an event in order to commit – the outcome needs to be clear. I loved what a panellist mentioned recently at BEIA’s Te Panapana event – “we should see events as multipliers” in my world I translate this to speakers being multipliers of good – they sow one great idea with an audience member they then go home and share with their families, and in their workplace, their families go to school and share with their friends and so on – the impact and legacy is far beyond the one speech!
Earlier this year, we partnered with Thinkertank to find the data behind what so many of us have been sensing. We surveyed over 350 event professionals, spoke with 14 industry leaders, and worked through a significant body of research into how events are evolving through to 2030.
A lot of what came back confirmed what people in this industry already know - because they're living it every day. But having the research to back it up, and language for things that are often felt rather than named, felt really valuable.
I want to share six observations from that work. I want to be clear - I'm a speaker and content curation expert, not an event manager. Many of you have been doing this for decades and know this industry far better than I do. What I'm sharing is what the data surfaced, and I'm interested in whether it matches what you're seeing on the ground.
If you work in or around events - as an organiser, a sponsor, a speaker, or a client - I hope something here resonates or sparks a conversation worth having.
