The 2019 event technology trends forecast - Incorporate the latest trends into your event

As 2018 draws to a close, it’s safe to say that this year was full of innovation and ingenuity in the event industry. Are you excited to discover what the best event technology trends are going to be in 2019? Read on for a forecast of the latest event tech trends and what we can expect to see gain momentum in 2019.

Unique Social Activations

The social media market is heavily saturated, with the push for user-generated content at events often resulting in forced posts that are quickly deleted after. Event technology companies have caught onto this. We can expect to see unique and engaging social activation tech becoming commonplace in the events industry in 2019.

An innovative example is Hypno’s selfie ‘Eye’, a ball-shaped camera device that can be passed through the crowd at events, capturing authentic attendee moments. The unique design and the fact that it can be easily integrated into events without disrupting attendees means that content generation is encouraged in a fun, pressure-free way.  

Virtual reality (VR)

One of the more well known-technology trends in event management, that we are likely to see a huge upsurge of in 2019, is VR. With VR becoming mobile optimised, it is now more and more accessible to smaller events.

In terms of corporate event trends, there is the potential for ‘phygital’ meetings and conferences. These are a cross between physical and digital conferences where attendees use VR to engage with speakers at a group location (CWT). This means that popular speakers who are unable to travel could use virtual meeting technologies to present speeches remotely, streamed via VR to attendees (which is almost as good as the real thing!).

With costs coming down and cheaper technology becoming available in the form of 360 videos, we can expect VR to be a significant trend in 2019. There are limitless possibilities to use this technology for events, with even concerts now available to stream in VR (NME).

Artificial intelligence (AI)

The increased use of bots in the event technology industry may have you feeling concerned. Don’t panic- these are not like the evil robots seen in films!

Artificial intelligence and bots are tipped to enter the event industry to help provide assistance through the use of virtual check-in and the ability to help answer simple questions. This may sound like one of the more bizarre new technology ideas for events, but AI offers numerous possibilities.

Some more advanced bots could be harnessed to lead informative sessions and provide product recommendations to customers. This technology could even be used to access pre-event data held on attendees, creating a personal experience or create fun interactivity to help engage guests.