Tag Archives: event trends

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.

Event Trends For 2015

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It's that time of year to gaze into the crystal ball and talk about what we think will happen in the coming year. We're basing our event industry predictions on some of the trends we've seen in 2014. We think these trends will continue and grow in 2015.

  • Virtual events - with travel and training budgets remaining at low or even decreasing levels, the use of online training should continue to grow through at least 2016 when the change in administration may bring new budget priorities. What we would like to see is these events being developed not only for desktop viewing but also mobile viewing and interaction as more and more people are using mobile devices for the majority of their computing.

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Ch..Ch…Ch…Changes: Changing Up Your Annual Event

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We're all comfortable with familiarity and routine, but when it comes to annual events, a measured amount of change is a good thing. In an age of decreased travel, training budgets, and time strapped attendees, freshening up your event is not just a good idea, it's necessary to build audience growth and profit.

This article from BizBash provided insight from leading event planners as to when and why to look at changing up annual events. Some comments that jumped out were: Continue reading →

What’s Trending in Government Events?

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In a recent post, we aimed to break down some of the buzz around big data and take a look at what it really means for government entities. In digging around to find how many events were discussing the topic, we decided to look at what other topics seemed to be trending on GovEvents.com.

From an agency/department perspective, Defense has the largest number of events dedicated to it. While there is a lot of talk in the media about the Defense industry cutting back on meeting and training spending, that sector still accounts for the largest percentage of events listed on our site. These events run the gamut from technology, to personnel and training topics, to specific tactical discussions. From these numbers we can conclude that the Defense community still wants and needs training. Combine that need with the reality of tight budgets (in terms of time and money) and it is important to make events geared toward the Defense audience unique in content as well as accessible (online and in-person options) to stand out in a crowded field.

Digging down into specific technologies security and cybersecurity come out on top with the most upcoming events. Again, not a huge surprise given the amount of media attention given to security breeches. The training around cybersecurity is especially critical given the reported shortfall in qualified professionals in this area. Those planning cyber events should keep in mind that attendees may be more than cyber professionals. They may be IT generalists that are tasked with cyber work, for lack of anyone else to do it, and are looking to quickly get up to speed on trends, tactics, and technologies. The audience may also include attendees with little to no security experience looking to break into the seemingly lucrative field. Content, programming, and activities should assume that all three types of attendees will be present. Events could also be tailored to meet the needs of just one of these audiences.

While not earth shattering, this data does give us insight into the real demand for buzzed about topics. It shows that the demand is in fact where we expect it to be (security) and that the market for events in the Defense community is still high. If you are looking to organize an event, think about how to combine some of these high demand topics with ones that are not currently saturating the market.  Perhaps a discussion about softer topics like management aimed at the Defense audience. Or a security event that looks at training staff to meet the new cyber risks. Being able to tie your message or product to a trend but with a different twist will make you stand out in the crowded and competitive battle for people's time and attention.

What topical trends are you seeing in the market? Let us know in the comments!

 

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

FedBizBeat’s Q&A with GovEvents President Kerry Rea

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Originally posted on FedBizBeat by Joyce Bosc

Kerry Rea, president of GovEvents, has many years of experience working in the government marketplace. She took the time to talk with FedBizBeat about government events and the trends for 2014, as well as, how to promote your event using social media.

1. Can you tell us a little about GovEvents? GovEvents is the online resource for all government- and military-related events worldwide. Government and military personnel can find events to attend, government contractors and primes can find events that they'd like to exhibit at/sponsor, and the government event organizer community has a place to post all of their government-related events for free! We have over 34,000 GovEvents members (adding over a 1,000 new members a month!), and the GovEvents community adds about 400 new events to the site each month.

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