Conference Matters 144

RESEARCH

Future Meeting Space: disappearing and em conference services

New services The 2024 research phase of the Future Meeting Space project also identified and empirically evaluated several new services and business models that will enrich the event ecosystem in the coming years. One of the new services is ExpertDetect, a digital platform that can quickly detect and match the right speakers and experts to events using data and AI, based on content, target audience, and current trends. Another new service is EventTwin, a tool that creates a digital twin of an event. It allows orga nisers to plan, simulate, and optimise the entire event in a virtual environment before it actually takes place. As a result, it increases efficiency, reduces risks, and enables better decision-­ making. In the top three of the researchers there is also LearnLoop, systems that automatically send personalised learning modules, summaries and ‘knowledge nuggets’ to participants, both during and after the event. As a result, it ensures better knowledge transfer and long-term engagement. New matchmaking services are also taking off, using AI to connect attendees, exhibitors, and speakers based on interests, behaviour, and goals, making networking much more effective and personalised.

ses, products, and services for setting up business meetings would remain, which would disappear, and which would emerge. Losing importance Standard, repetitive tasks and services that can be easily automated will largely disappear, the researchers claim. For example, simple regis tration processes, standard communication, and administrative tasks that can be performed by AI and automation more efficiently and for less. They also expect traditional, in-person-only for mats to lose importance. The rise of hybrid and virtual events means there is less need for purely in-person meetings without digital components. Generic services and formats will also fade into the background. The offering must respond to new and more personal client needs and expec tations. For example, more varied and personal catering, customised event design and alterna tives to the classic plenary sessions without interactive or digital elements. Lastly, the researchers argue that business models that fail to keep up with technical and social advances will be replaced by innovative, data-driven, and more personalised alternatives. Examples include traditional event marketing without digital analysis and classic sponsor ship models that do not use new technologies or data.

The 2024 research phase of the long-term Future Meeting Space (FMS) project evaluated 13 megatrends influencing the business events ecosystem. It was determined which current services and formats will lose importance and which services will emerge, based on the most significant ones. An initiative of the GCB German Convention Bureau and Fraunhofer IAO, the Future Meeting Space project has been researching the future of business meetings since 2015. Their aim is to identify trends and developments that impact the live communication sector and provide prac tical recommendations to companies and organi sations active in it. In 2024, the FMS project focused on which processes, products and services will remain, disappear, or emerge in the business meetings ecosystem. Thirteen megatrends were analysed, including automation, urbanisation, sustainability, AI, demographic changes, and new kinds of work. First, a heatmap was created, a visual overview of the impact that the various megatrends have on the different phases of the organisational pro cess. AI, sustainability, and demographic change emerged as ‘hot spots’, or major trends. Subsequently, it was determined which proces By Edwin Nunnink | Visuals GCB | Fraunhofer IAO

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