In 2015, event marketers are focused on trends such as the Internet of Things, big data analytics, and hyper-personalization to enhance customer experiences. Companies are integrating attendee data into their CRM systems to improve engagement and ROI, while the rise of social media has changed the dynamics of event marketing. Additionally, there's a growing concern over the diminishing role of intermediaries in the event industry, as audiences gain more control over content and experiences.

1. Top Trends Driving
Event Marketers in 2015
Kristin Waters | EVP Global Accounts | Opus Agency | 15Q1

2. HERE’S WHAT’S COMING IN 2015
The new year embodies a sense of optimism and energy. It’s
the time to start fresh, move fast, and make no small plans. In
that spirit, we wanted to know what’s on the minds of some
of the most influential players in event marketing.
We asked them to discuss the trends, large and small, that
are driving their decision-making for 2015.

3. THE INTERNET OF THINGS, BIG DATA,
AND THE GOLDEN RULE
The internet of things and cyber security are top concerns. Consumers
unknowingly give away privacy rights for technology convenience. (I’m
being generous by saying “unknowingly.”) Big data is amazingly powerful in
terms of the potential to solve real human problems, but it’s also amazingly
intrusive when used to understand my buying traits.
As a marketer and a consumer, I know that good experiences build
incredible loyalty. We need to bring back the Golden Rule.
Generation Next inspires me—smart, talented, social minded. They will
fix the world.
Pop culture? Social media is giving everyone their 15 minutes
of fame, deserved or not! I still don’t understand the
attraction of the Kardashians. Am I the only one?
Sandra Toms LaPedis
VP, Corporate and
Experiential Marketing
RSA, the Security Division
of EMC

4. ROI AND CRM INTEGRATION
For a long time, Intel did events as brand-building and thought leadership
investments. Since the economic downturn, with attendance back on the
upswing, we’re really focused on events as a business opportunity, as well
as continuing to build the brand.
Intel is not like other companies that can have direct sales right there on
the show floor, so we have to find ways to turn that two-to-three day event
into a more extended experience—and to do that without overwhelming
people’s in-box.
To accomplish that, we’ve integrated the attendee engagement data from
our events into our CRM system, and even in the couple of months
since IDF in San Francisco last September, we’ve seen qualified
leads turn into closed business. That’s the kind of ROI all of
our events need to be demonstrating.
Mark Erwin
Mgr. Intel Developer Forum
Intel Corporation

5. EVENT CADENCE, DATA AND AIRBNB
Sitecore and our marketing events are growing very quickly, so my focus is on
establishing the structural foundation that we can build on as we grow.
In the past, our largest event, Sitecore Symposium, had North American and
European events on a yearly basis since 2010, with the exception of 2013. We are
looking to further increase the impact of the event and are re-evaluating our overall
strategy. Listening to our attendees’ needs and preferences is critical, we will use their
feedback to ensure that we are giving our stakeholders the best experience possible.
In addition, we will need an event strategy that will meet the needs of our field sales
and marketing teams. We need to provide them with the brand experience and
messaging, and the tools and infrastructure to reach their customers.
From a data perspective, we’re tying our session scanning into the Sitecore platform
—which provides us valuable real-time data and serves as a great case study for how
our platform can be used. In 2014, this was preliminary, but there’s big potential for
expansion there.
One other trend I’m watching with curiosity and caution: We’ve seen attendees using
Airbnb, which cut into our room block requirements and resulted in attrition charges.
This could have serious impact on budgets.
Wendy Yamaguma
Director, Global Strategic Events
Sitecore

6. PERSONALIZING THE EXPERIENCE
Perhaps the biggest trends that I see facing event marketers today are
in making events feel intimate and very personal. Especially with large
events, event marketers want to help attendees feel that their experience
has been tailored to their needs, that they will find the people and
information they need and that their valuable time at an event is spent in
the right places.
Event marketers doing this well are creating personalized content libraries
for attendees, creating smarter, more customized scheduling tools and
providing opportunities to connect people with one another at their
events. Having an attendee come away from an event feeling that they
were noticed and their experience was tailored to their needs
strengthens their connection to the brand and makes their
experience more valuable to them.
Joe English
Chief Creative Officer & Futurist
Event Futurist

7. HYPER-PERSONALIZATION AND HYBRID MEETINGS
For almost a century, Hilton has been guided by the underlying principle that
people need, desire, crave human interaction—and the Customer Experience
is at the heart of that sentiment. Increasingly, we see this experience driven by
individual needs, which has led to the hyper-personalization of events.
We expect that trend to intensify in 2015, with a more concentrated focus
on Hybrid meetings, utilizing new technologies and social media tools to
enhance and customize the meeting experience, like the updated Hilton
HHonors or Conrad Concierge mobile apps.
That trend extends beyond our events into our core business, with guest-
focused hotel brands and offerings, like recently-launched Canopy by Hilton
—a brand that takes the emphasis off of capital-intensive, high design to
focus on delivering exactly what the guests desire: A comfortable stay with
more included value.
Lesley Brasesco
Managing Director, Sales
Effectiveness, Americas
Hilton Worldwide

8. SPLIT TRENDS, BIG DATA, AND ROI
With Symantec splitting its Security and Information divisions, it’s no surprise that
“Split Trends” are at the top of my list. I imagine it’s having an impact on HP folks,
as well. There are rumors that several other large companies in the tech industry
are also considering splitting up into smaller, more agile organizations. I’m not sure
how this might affect the landscape for event marketing, but I’m anxious to see.
Aside from that, I think we’ll see increasing pressure to leverage and analyze
the vast data being collected in order to provide smarter and more customized
experiences for our customers, partners and prospects. This should also be
heavily utilized in audience acquisition and communications.
As part of the big data trend, the demand for delivering tangible ROI/results/sales
as a result of our event marketing investments will only increase in the coming year.
Our team has hired a contractor to help us with the analytics around the
leads we capture at events—monitoring the performance of those
leads over time, as well as better understanding our audience
demographics to build relevant content and activities to
enhance our customer experiences.
Karen F. Zunkowski
Director, Global Event
Strategy & Services
Symantec Corporation

9. DECLINE OF THE INTERMEDIARY
A number of social and technological trends are converging to bring focus on the value—
or lack of value—of intermediaries. Those trends include the digitization of everything,
the raised voice of both the “promoter” and the “detractor,” and a growing equality of
distribution via communications, sales/manufacturing and social channels.
The music industry, for example, has been transformed by the ability of any musician or
singer to create and distribute a song to the masses with no intermediation from a record
label, retail store, or radio stations. That’s equality of distribution. Intermediaries are no
longer needed to produce or curate or package or distribute.
Music is an example of a more obvious transformation. But as more and more things are
digitized (from words to media to things) and can be output or consumed in more and more
places (the billions of smart devices, 3D printers, expanded internet access globally), the
outlook is not promising for intermediators. The role of the “middle man,” once a source of
profit for many, may be on its way out.
In the events world, we have to consider our role as intermediaries between our brands
and the attendees. We have to adjust and reaffirm the value we’re serving, because it’s
now technically, economically and socially attractive for our “audience” to create their own
event. The audience that makes up the social hierarchy of a particular market now has the
control to build their own community, create their own content, and stage their own events.
That will happen when they become sufficiently motivated by economics, pride or anger
with intermediaries that don’t serve their needs.
Scott Schenker
General Manager, Worldwide Events
and Microsoft Production Studio
Microsoft
Founder JanusDialogs.com

10. ART, MUSIC, IMPROV AND CANNABIS
Charles Schwab is always looking for ways to create unique experiences
for our best customers. At our Impact 2014 event last November, we
wanted to elevate The Exchange beyond a typical exhibit hall. So, in
addition to the three Showcase Stages for educational presentations
by exhibitors, we added the X-Stage with a lineup of speakers in a fun,
informal setting—we had art and music, improv and craft beer, even
a presentation about cannabis (we were in Denver).
We also had dining embedded throughout the show floor, included two
large bistros and a private dining room. And we made the meals longer
with a “Lunch ’n’ Learn” format.
We succeeded in getting people to come and stay in the room.
Exhibitors had a chance to interact with attendees outside the
booth, and in more engaging and meaningful ways.
Ellen Bullock
Events Director
Charles Schwab

11. INSIGHTS, STORYTELLING AND
MASS-CLUSIVITY
I think our biggest opportunity is to gain insights from our data. We have
done an amazing job at measuring and collecting data for many years,
but what can we learn about the attendees based on their history of
engagement with us? Are we seeing a shift in demographics at our events?
How does that affect the way we produce and deliver content?
We will also spend more time on storytelling and experiences and trying
to provide a customer journey through our story that is right for each
customer’s business needs. How do you customize experiences for the
masses? Providing “mass-clusivity,” if you will.
Liz Lathan
Marketing Director, Events
Dell, Inc.

12. DEMAND FOR OUT-OF-THE-ORDINARY
The face-to-face meeting continues to be a fundamental component in
keeping customers engaged and winning new business. As the industry
continues to bounce back, we are seeing a demand for out-of-the-ordinary
options for groups as a factor in choosing a business location.
We love this trend because Las Vegas is not just a destination, it is an
experience. Event planners can capitalize on the excitement only Las Vegas
can deliver by incorporating entertainment, fine dining and unique venue
options into their agendas. Las Vegas is also a globally recognized brand,
and we are seeing an increase in international attendance—up to 30 percent
of total attendance for some of our largest conventions and trade shows.
Chris Meyer
Vice President of Global
Business Sales
LVCVA

13. 3D PRINTING, AUTHENTICITY AND
CUSTOMER SUCCESS
We live in a BuzzFeed world of Top 10 lists and memes that look and sound like trends,
but don’t really affect our business. I like to watch for things that have been building for a
few years and appear to be close to a tipping point where they’ll really have some impact.
Here are some observations.
3D printing is so practical, and now that prices are coming down on the printers, I think we
will see some really innovative applications this year. We recently used a 3D printer for a
client event and attendees were very engaged.
As the father of teenage daughters, I’ve been watching the growing awareness and backlash
against Photoshopped beauty in the media. It seems like part of a broader social demand
for authenticity, and I think that affects our brand and the brands we work with. There’s no
tolerance for marketing spin—you’d better be what you say you are.
In the business world, I’m noticing an evolution around customer experience. For several years
now, “customer experience journey” has been tossed around so much that it’s starting to feel
cliché. Some of the most innovative brands we work with have evolved their thinking, with
results-focused language around “customer success.” This is something I love to see, especially
since customer success has been the keystone of the Opus mission statement for years.
Monte Wood
President
Opus Agency

14. Opus Agency provides event marketing, management and production solutions to Fortune 1000
companies. Since 1993, we have been a trusted adviser to a diverse group of customers creating
unique, high quality events. We design, plan and execute brand experiences that accelerate results
and enable customer success.
Our passion for customer success drives every aspect of our business—our amazing people, the
values they share, and our best-practice methodology. We call it TeamCS—the Opus Customer
Success Platform. We would love to show you how it works!
Kristin Waters, EVP Global Accounts, is focused on bringing clients to the next level
strategically and assuring that their goals and objectives are met. She oversees the
Account Management team and customer relationships.
Kristin joined Opus Events Agency in 1999 as an event manager for a variety of
domestic and international events, including high-level, customer advisory boards,
seminars, conferences, roadshows, incentive groups and large galas.
Kristin is an avid University of Oregon football fan and graduate. She resides in
Southern California with her husband and three children.