What changes do the events industry need to make for the better

Some radical and sophisticated ideas to reinvigorate the events industry – and why it’s been slow to develop.

When we asked planners in our recent salary survey to share their inviolable rules for the events industry, some complained about things they couldn’t control, like rising costs. Others suggested conference methodologies — which have stood the test of time but are as bland as stale beer — that event organizers have the power to reimagine or at least advocate for reimagining. In response to our inviolable questions, conference designer Adrian Segar posted on X that we should “move away from expensive keynotes, predetermined schedules of lectures, and large events that try to cover everything but don’t support tribes connecting with each other.” Let’s replace them, he added, with “small, participant-driven, participant-rich conferences and meetings designed to connect and learn.”

Similarly, Victoria Matey, a consultant who uses insights from behavioral science, psychology and neuroscience to inform events, identified more remedies that event planners can take on social media: “unstructured networking, jam-packed agendas, content delivery that is not brain-friendly” and processes — “long registration forms (and) irrelevant post-event survey questions.”

Jaimé Bennett, PCMA’s general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, wrote that she wants to make name badges (the most typical visual shorthand for conference attendees) a thing of the past. Rather than identifying others by name, title, company, country, etc., as we default to, Bennett suggests people choose colored wristbands that relate to their interests to spark conversations.

Read the digital reprint of our July-August 2024 issue here.

No matter how radical some ideas may seem – they are still viable. Why should we stand still?

I read an article by the design firm IDEO about one of its clients, Moderna, that highlighted the complacency of our industry. As you’ll recall, Moderna set a record in the pharmaceutical industry by getting a COVID-19 vaccine into clinical trials in such a short time.

The article talks about how Moderna’s culture — which includes embracing speed and accepting risk — largely enabled this feat. One example captures the employees’ shared sense of urgency: One day, “a critical piece of equipment arrived, but it was too big to fit through the door. Unpacking it would extend their timeline,” IDEO wrote. “So employees took sledgehammers to the wall.”

But Moderna’s explosive growth posed challenges to its corporate culture — according to IDEO, the company needed to “hire hundreds of employees from organizations outside the biotech industry, which often have slow, bureaucratic, regional, and cautious cultures.” Sound familiar?

To help new employees set an example, Moderna worked with IDEO to develop a series of mindset models to convey to everyone joining the company. They include: Urgency is an investment. Risk creates opportunity. Transformation is progress. Your job is more than your job description. We don’t have to grow to grow. Go beyond what’s possible.

It’s getting hot in here.

As I write this, my suburb of New York City has issued an air quality alert because the temperature has soared into the 90s for several days in a row, and today is another unseasonably hot day. Deputy Editor Barbara Palmer explores the impact of rising Earth temperatures on events in “How Extreme Weather Impacts Events.” I delve into all the factors that go into accurately calculating an event’s carbon footprint in “Measuring the Carbon Footprint of an Event—It’s All in the Details.”