German Convention Bureau partners to create ‘periodic table’ for putting together meaningful events

In order for business events to fully unleash their potential for success even in challenging times they need to serve a purpose, leave a legacy, and have genuine meaning, according to the German Convention Bureau and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering research team, speaking ahead of the release of their latest key findings on the events industry at a free online event on 22 January 2024. The research results will, they say, attempt to answer the question of how meetings, conferences, and congresses can meet these requirements? And what are the event features that organisers need to focus on in the future as key success factors? This latest piece of Future Meeting Space research attempts to identify what triggers and motivates organisers to run business events. In a next step, co-creation workshops and interviews with experts from diverse fields, including community building and business ethics, provide interdisciplinary insights for the development of new event concepts. Among the emerging trends and developments that shape future events, the experts surveyed identified sustainability and digitalisation as the most impactful topics. However, they also viewed factors such as economic viability, shortage of skilled workers, cost pressure, globalisation and regionalisation, demographics, and our new flexible ways of working as playing a significant role for future business events. Based on these findings, the research team then developed and evaluated the building blocks that are essential for an integrated event concept. The goal and result of the process is a “periodic table for events” with practical recommendations for meaningful events of the future. The GCB and Fraunhofer IAO research team, together with other experts, will present selected results in a free one-hour online event on 22 January 2024, at 3:00 PM (CET). Registration is now open here.