Tag Archives: Big Data

2017 Government Events Outlook

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Each year we look ahead and take our best (educated) guesses on what the federal market can expect from events in the coming year. With so many unknowns around the incoming administration, 2017 may be a difficult year for predictions. While the administration does not affect events directly, it does affect those who attend them.

We've dusted off our crystal ball once again. Here is our look at Government Events in 2017:[Tweet "Here is our look at Government Events in 2017. #GovEventsBlog"]

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The Possibilities for Big Data

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Big Data continues to dominate headlines across almost every industry. With a projected 40% growth in data generated each year, every industry is looking for ways to use this growing resource to make more informed decisions. The possibilities for Big Data are extensive, but we want to highlight some major trends impacting the ways people use Big Data to gain actionable insights.[Tweet "The possibilities for Big Data are extensive #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

2015 Predictions: Reality Check

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Last December, we pulled out our crystal ball and called out a couple trends we thought would make a big impact in 2015. Now it's time to take a look back and see how well our predictions fared.[Tweet "A look back at how well our 2015 event predictions fared. #GovEventsBlog"]

  • Virtual events - We predicted that virtual events would grow due to the tight budgets for travel and training. While webinars continued to be popular mediums for delivering training and some events looked into hybrid formats, there was not a huge jump in virtual events, but they held steady. In fact, we saw in-person attendance increase this year. Prediction Grade: C+
  • Smaller Events - This prediction looked at the trend of having more localized/specialized smaller events as opposed to (or in addition to) large conferences. Of all the events posted on our site last year, one quarter would be considered small. While the large, traditional conferences are seeing an uptick in attendance and interest, there is still a huge market for small, targeted events. Grade: B
  • Big Data - We thought 2015 would be the year of Big Data-focused events, but with a number of high profile data breaches in government, cybersecurity remained the top priority.[Tweet "We thought 2015 would be the year of Big Data-focused events. #GovEventsBlog"] However, within those cyber events there was a lot of discussion about how Big Data can be used to prevent and detect breaches. Big Data events were strong in terms of number of events and its #3 rank in top search terms on the GovEvents site behind "cybersecurity" and "job fair". Grade: B
  • Attracting Millennials - We have seen changes in the federal meeting space that are both keeping up with the times and meeting the needs of Millennials. From more active social media presence to photo backdrops to promote event selfie sharing to changing up traditional agendas, we see events looking for ways to differentiate themselves to draw audiences of all ages. Grade: C+

[Tweet "Our 2015 government event predictions faired pretty well. #GovEventsBlog"]Our 2015 government event predictions faired pretty well. In a future post we'll lay out our thoughts for what 2016 may look like for federal events.

Tech Trends in Event Planning

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Many of the events listed on GovEvents.com have to do with technology and how to apply it to meet government challenges. It makes sense then to apply the technology that is being discussed to the event itself. Here are a few major tech innovations and trends that can have a huge impact on the government and event market alike. [Tweet "Tech innovations and trends for the government and event market #GovEventsBlog"]

  • RFID - Radio Frequency Identification is the wireless use of electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. Government and industry use this technology for tracking contents of containers on ships, military equipment, critical infrastructure and more. For events, RFID tags can easily be embedded in wristbands, badges or plastic credit cards. This can help speed up the registration process, collect qualitative and quantitative data, and engage attendees through social platforms and email by serving them information targeted to where they are and what they have been doing at the event.[Tweet "RFID tags can speed up registration and collect data on attendees during events #GovEventsBlog"]

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Halfway There: Looking at the Reality of Event Trends

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halfwayAt the halfway point through the year, we thought it was time to look back at the predictions we made at the beginning of 2015 regarding what events would look like. Here's a quick status report on our predictions: [Tweet "A look back at the predictions we made at the beginning of 2015. #GovEventsBlog"]

  • Virtual Events - webinar and virtual events listed on our site seem to be holding steady when compared to 2014 numbers.
  • Smaller Events - we have hundreds of luncheon, breakfast and table top events listed on GovEvents. Many of these are positioned as opportunities for networking within a smaller set of attendees. Some even tout the availability of the speaker for one-on-one discussions.

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