300 events professionals discuss the Event of the Future at Croke Park

Events in the future will be immersive, engaging and technologically driven. Yet face-to-face is going nowhere and the more sophisticated our tech, the more we’ll crave the tactical reassurance of real people, real places, and real time. These were the key messages about the Event of the Future heard by over 300 corporate, association and agency events professionals gathered at Croke Park, Dublin on Thursday 20 July to explore the power of live events and how they’re evolving in the future. Held two days before U2’s triumphant homecoming concert, attendees also enjoyed a privileged “behind-the- scenes” look at the band’s technical set and sampled the events team’s newly launched “Stadium Street Party”, an innovative take on the more traditional summer barbecue. Debuted in New York City in February and conceptualised by Sli.do, a cloud-based platform that facilitates audience engagement during live events, The Event of the Future (EOTF) introduces meetings and events professionals from associations, corporations and agencies to insights, ideas and inspirations from best-in- class global practice in meetings and events. The Croke Park Meetings & Events team along with agency-partner SoolNua expanded the original concept into a half day conference. Speakers included Kevin Jackson, “the most influential person in the UK events industry”, PJ Kenny, general manager at The Hoxton and Paula Reynolds, project manager – Jameson Brand Homes | Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard. The event was moderated by Pádraic Gilligan managing partner at specialist agency SoolNua while David Meade, one of Europe’s most sought after keynote speakers closed the conference with a high-octane, energetic presentation. Sinéad Heneghan, head of sales at Croke Park Meetings & Events commented “The reaction to “The Event of the Future” from attendees has been phenomenal. With attendees from the diverse corporate, association and agency sectors, our challenge was to create an event relevant to all. From the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received I think it’s safe to say we achieved our objective”. Patrick Delaney, managing partner at SoolNua commented, “We’re so proud to have played our part in creating this extraordinary event. The reaction has been truly encouraging and we’re already being asked about #EOTF18. The entire Croke Park Meetings & Events team – Sales, Catering and AV – deserve huge praise. We’re also grateful for the support of registration partner Tito, audience engagement platform Sli.do and, of course, our great friends at SEA who provided entertainment for the Stadium Street Party”.