The year 2020 has been unusual, to say the least, and that’s especially true for the event planning industry. Many organizers canceled their events, while other event planners have rescheduled affairs for later dates. The nature of most events has changed in 2020, but this year has proven that they’re not going away anytime soon.
As planners and organizers emerge from a difficult spring and summer, some of the trends that characterized and defined events may have come and gone, but other trends continue to be cutting edge. Here are five event planning trends to watch this fall. Get ready to incorporate these ideas into your next event.
Personalization
In an on-demand society, your attendees are looking for an experience that they can personalize. This phenomenon means more choices for people — more breakouts and more sessions with content specific to the needs of your attendees. Your event should include tracks where attendees can build the content that suits them best.
Leverage technology to add personalization to your event. Custom apps, social media pages, and groups, interactive websites, and hashtags allow attendees to make their conference experience their own and share that experience with the world. Include a selfie wall for attendees to take photos. Selfies serve as a free souvenir of the event for attendees as well as free publicity for you.
Wellness and Mindfulness
Life is stressful, and people are looking for ways to de-stress, including at events. It’s easy for you to help your attendees rest and relieve some stress. Create quiet areas that serve as places for people to relax and decompress. Event-goers can get away from the noise and crowds, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Use comfortable furniture and relaxing decor in these areas, and play soft music to help release tension. Make sure that attendees know they have these quiet spaces available to them. Another idea is to add quiet booths for people to use their phones for calls or video chats.
Smaller Sessions
These days, small is the new big. Since it’s more difficult for people to gather in large groups, you can make your events more intimate for attendees even if they’re engaging in social distancing. Plan fewer large sessions and more breakouts, which will also allow attendees to personalize their experience even more.
Even in smaller settings though, you should spread people out. Put tables with fewer chairs in a room, and communicate the need for social distancing. Your design for spaces should reflect the intimacy of the gatherings. Make each room unique with creative decor, which allows attendees to feel like every breakout is an adventure.
Health Safeguards
It’s crucial for your attendees to feel safe wherever they go, and you should be aware of health safeguards at every step of your event planning process. Prior to the event, mail packets to attendees rather than have them pick items up at a registration table, eliminating hands-on, close interaction. Consider pre-packaged meals instead of buffet lines and bottles of water instead of glasses or water fountains.
You should place sanitation stations throughout your event space. People feel safer if they have opportunities to use hand sanitizer or wash their hands when they can. You can also have a place to pick up masks if your attendees left them at home. Small efforts like these can help your attendees feel safer while you genuinely promote health.
Sustainability
With all the changes in the world this year, green isn’t going out of style. You should find ways to lower the environmental impact of your conference. Attendees will appreciate your commitment to sustainability, and your efforts will be good for the planet as well.
Placing recycling bins throughout the event space can help minimize the tension between prepackaged foods and water bottles and environmental concerns. Eliminating paper and relying on apps and web interfaces for notetaking and information gathering will help cut down on your event’s environmental impact.
One of the best ways you can be sustainable is to rent your furniture from CORT Events. Furniture rental is the ultimate in sustainability because you’re not buying furniture that you’ll have to throw away. You can use the best looking, most modern furniture and decor for your event, and the furniture won’t make its way to a landfill on your watch. You won’t have to sacrifice style for sustainability either.
In addition to being green, you can save money when you plan your event. Renting from CORT Events allows flexibility as your guest list changes, all while staying within budget. CORT also provides you with creative ideas and inspiration for making your event look the best it can.
You don’t have to worry about delivery and assembly because CORT takes care of all of it for you. When you’re ready to plan your next event, give CORT a call to help make your event a tremendous success.
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