Plan transformational experiences, not transactional events, MICE sector urged at IBTM World
As technology and financial constraints change the rules of engagement for the MICE sector, the industry must look to create hyper-personalised and inclusive events to attract and engage audiences and to deliver on brand objectives, delegates at the November’s IBTM World 2024 heard. The show’s extensive knowledge programme addressed a wide range of industry trends, from tighter budgets and higher expectations to the impact of technology – particularly artificial intelligence (AI) in the meetings and events sector.
Overall, the industry continues to show dynamism and growth despite economic and political instability, IBTM World said in its 2025 Trends Report. Far from signs of a rescinding of industry activity, there appears to be more business than ever.
Industry influencer and commentator Julius Solaris called the events industry “an outlier in our uncertain times.” He said, “While technology and other sectors are experiencing rollercoaster rides, events have been incredibly consistent over the past three years”.
But creating memorable events requires connecting with attendees on an emotional level. People aren’t happy just attending an event, they’re looking for extraordinary experiences, said Goc O’Callaghan, Global Experience Lead, Buro Happold and Co-Founder of the UK’s ArcTanGent festival.
EXPERIENCES, NOT EVENTS
“The experience economy is seeing a shift from people wanting material goods into experiences as people are seeing the value in spending time with people creating memories, and the legacy of the memories that they have, the stories that they can tell,” she said.
Experience design should be one of the early pillars of event planning, O’Callaghan said, emphasising the importance of creating events that engage attendees on multiple sensory levels. An easy win comes from elements like ambient scents, as visit to a Disney theme park will illustrate.
The value of the experience economy – where consumers prioritise spending on events and experiences over goods – could reach $2.1 trillion by 2032, according to research from the World Experience Organisation, (World XO).
And at the very cutting edge, the experiential is giving way to the transformational – where consumers crave something authentic and meaningful that brings them closer to their life goals. These must be events designed to help attendees reach the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, focusing on personal growth and fulfilment. Such events engender both loyalty and brand advocacy.
TRANSFORMATIONAL, NOT TRANSACTIONAL
“Transformationalism is achieved if there is an inherent change within us,” O’Callaghan said. She advises events’ measuring impact through sentiment analysis tools. “If people are consistently saying they had a good time, they’ll associate that good experience with the brand providing that opportunity. While the experiential shift and the transformation is technically intangible, you will see commercial benefits by way of loyalty as people go back to that brand, and word-of-mouth advertising.”
The best experiences are personalised to individual attendees. Algorithms are constantly customising our social media feeds to give us more of what we like, so why should events be any different? Attendees now expect tailored content, personalised agendas and individualised interactions, and several applications use AI to deliver.
Event tech company Cvent, for example, lets planners now use attendee data to flesh out personae for closer communications, such as custom event journeys and summaries of sessions they attended, eliminating the need for notetaking.
“We are in an age of unprecedented innovation where a key to driving greater impact and value lies in our ability to capitalise on the transformative power of artificial intelligence,” David Quattrone, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at Cvent, said in a recent media statement. “Leveraging our team of data scientists, technology experts and years of industry experience, we’re doing the heavy lifting, so our customers don't have to.”
PERSONALISED, NOT PUBLIC
But there’s more to personalising events than simply bolting on AI solutions. Steven Pickett, Managing Director of digital event management platform Envoku, believes the industry has gone about personalising, creating and curating events wrong.
“We’re wasting money and time by connecting with everybody as just one group,” he said in a presentation titled The Broken Promise of Personalisation and How it Can Return to Boost Event Equity. “Events have been designed for the people that are actually organising the events, not the people that are attending the events. So, we need to shift to a much more audience centric approach. That means understanding the individuals attending the event and not looking at them based on their own demographic alone.
“Understanding who your audience is essential before you start to pick your content and how you deliver that content is critical. You cannot do that merely based on a job title or someone’s age,” he added.
He recommends using AI and data to understand individual preferences, such as learning styles and content consumption habits, to create more inclusive and personalised events, or considerations such as cultural nuances.
“If you have an event for 500 lawyers in Miami and take all that data, and then [use it to] run an event for 500 lawyers in Singapore, it’s a completely different event – even if they are all in tax.”
Envoku, claims to offer hyper-personalised experiences for deeper connections and engagement. It uses AudienceDNA, a psychology-based profiling tool to understand customers and then tailor touchpoints so participants receive content and experiences aligned with their preferences.
ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE
With customisation comes inclusion and awareness. “People are going to feel that you're listening to them, that you’re paying attention,” Pickett added.
Connected to personalisation is the need for inclusion and accessibility. The themes recurred at IBTM World’s different stages, with speakers discussing a growing trend of events that cater to different audiences, for example, through creches for busy parents, or at IBTM World itself, with low-stimulus wellness spaces to grab a quiet moment or meditate.
On the Workplace Revolution stage, Lizzy Eaton, Director of Oddity Events and Marketing, explained how events can spectacularly fail to connect with their audiences by ignoring disabilities. Three-fourths (75%) of disabled people in the UK avoid businesses due to poor accessibility, she said, citing data from the disability consultancy We Are Purple.
Her tips for integrating accessibility into every stage of event planning? Start early, ensure transparency with partners, and involve advocacy experts.
Similarly, inclusion cropped up repeatedly – not just in terms of building diverse MICE teams, but also ensuring that events are welcoming spaces for everyone.
When creating an event, planners must ask themselves whether attendees would feel they’re stepping into an inclusive environment, whether from a socioeconomic perspective or from a diversity of abilities, Stephanie Cheung, Director of Strategy & Insights at destination marketing firm Market ID who has worked with Dubai Tourism in North America said in a panel on the IBTM World main stage.
That may mean reskilling teams and spending more, but the payoff would be a transformational event, she said.USE OF AI IS WIDESPREAD, BUT INDUSTRY MUST TREAD CAUTIOUSLY
Two years after ChatGPT brought artificial intelligence (AI) to the mainstream, MICE professionals have embraced the technology, using it to create content, personalise event journeys and improve accessibility.
Two-thirds of event professionals (75 per cent) are using AI right now, industry influencer and commentator Julius Solaris of consulting and media company Boldpush revealed during a standing-room session on how the technology is being integrated into the events industry.
Solaris pointed to the challenges of working with the technology, calling out the concerns about over-reliance on AI-generated content without proper human oversight and editing.
There are also concerns about AI’s impact on the industry. There’s potential for AI to disrupt certain job roles, particularly in administrative and creative tasks. Event professionals are advised to use AI carefully so as to avoid negatively disrupting the event experience.
On the other hand, Solaris said, there are significant opportunities in the backend, including quicker data analysis, registration, and workflow optimisation.
Across the show, there was a strong emphasis on using AI to complement rather than replace human interaction.
As Stephen Pickett, Managing Director of digital event management platform Envoku, said AI can personalise attendee experiences, but it must be used to enhance the human connection and enable more meaningful experiences – not to create fully automated events.
That’s where the responsible use of AI comes in. “As people and technology continue to merge, it’s critical the industry looks to differentiate the two and be clear about how each is used and for the betterment of whom.”
Alistair Turner, Managing Director of EI8HT PR & Marketing, a specialist research and creative agency for the events industry, wrote in the show’s 2025 Trends Report: “If AI can save event planners time, gain closer engagement and make their events more accessible to wider audiences, the adoption of the technology should continue its meteoric rise. However, there is a move that is more profound for event planners and that is the ability to provide audiences with authentic communication. Events, because they are live, provide this authenticity. The level of distortion AI brings to this authenticity, as content leaves the event space, should be a warning point for businesses and brands.”