Since we did fairly well on our predictions last year, we decided to drag the crystal ball out of storage and take a look at what we think the federal event market will look like in 2016.

• More creativity in events - with budgets loosening up for travel and training and event attendance rising, the stress level of the federal event industry is going down. Between adapting to the new normal of longer approval cycles and knowing that events are again on the "need to have" list for federal professionals, event planners can once again turn their attention to innovation. From better integration of social channels, to creative ways to present information, we expect to see some changes to business as usual for federal events.
• Cybersecurity remains hot - The OPM breach drove home how vulnerable federal systems are to today's threat landscape. With the completion of the Cyber Sprint, agencies have cleaned up their basic security hygiene and now are focused on implanting the policies that came out of the government-wide security exercise. Look for cyber events to be more tactical and less theoretical in nature to support the action-oriented plans of federal IT teams.
• Video - while MTV may not be showing videos anymore, federal events will be utilizing this medium more and more. With video becoming affordable and easier to produce and stream, even with just a smartphone, federal meeting planners will take advantage of the medium to draw more eyes to their content and expand the life of the information presented at shows. Bandwidth concerns being a thing of the past and the creation of cloud-based, user-friendly video apps makes video a viable option for training.
• Physical security - as much as we hate to think about it, in the past year we've seen lone gunmen and terrorists target large gatherings. In 2016, we expect to see event planners take a number of additional security steps including taking a closer look at attendee lists, more detailed emergency communication plans, use of metal detectors and security screenings, and more overt reminders of emergency exits, etc., for audiences in large venues.

We'd love to hear your feedback on our predictions and feel free to add yours in the comments. Here's to an exciting 2016!