Top 10 small meeting trends

Arthur Backal, the CEO of Backal Hospitality Group, which manages New York event space, Apella, sets out his top small meeting trends.
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Arthur Backal, the CEO of Backal Hospitality Group, which
manages New York event space, Apella, sets out his top small meeting
trends.

1. Healthier food and beverage offerings: Apella
has reported an increase in health-conscious catering requests from
clients for both daytime meetings and social events. For example, there
are more requests for grilled chicken and fish orders for entrees and
nut and fruit requests for snacks. As if taking a
cue from Mayor Bloomberg, many clients have eliminated soda from their
beverage choices at events altogether, while some have added green tea
as a refreshing alternative.

2. Hybrid events: Hybrid events have become a cornerstone of the events industry and we are seeing many videoconferences and
live-streamed events. They offer both an in-person component and
live-streamed video content, which can save money on travel expenses and
still reach an expansive audience and maintain human connectivity.

3. Social media and event application engagement: Clients across industries are incorporating social media into their
programmes by way of Q&A through Twitter and contests through
Facebook. Event applications on smartphones are also
becoming more popular for planners, even if guests are still catching
on.

4. Inspiring meeting environments: Clients
are always looking for non-traditional space to inspire creativity
during events. For example, breakout rooms that
have dry erase walls or tackable suces are ideal for brainstorming.

5. Green meetings: Today’s
meeting professionals are recycling nametags, minimising the number of
handouts they print and requesting water in pitchers rather than
individual bottles.

6. Technology amenities for attendees: Attendees
are beginning to expect certain technologies offered at meetings, such
as computer access and phone charging stations. Many
clients have rented charging lockers and table charging stations for
their guests to power up.

7. Philanthropic spirit: As companies increase their corporate social responsibility efforts,
building a philanthropic component into meetings and events when
combined with team building exercises is gaining in popularity.

8. Mobile event planning tools: There has been an increase in electronic event planning tools to
assist with registration and floor plans and seating chart generation.

9. Unconferences: A
different approach to meeting planning is to create a conference based
on what the attendees want to discuss. This new trend
is called the unconference. Clients join casual, breakout conversations
and bring the takeaways to another conference environment within the
same event. This gives the attendees a chance to create their own agenda
and participate in relevant sessions.

10. Using in-house technology as décor: Today’s
meetings are on a tighter budget and clients are looking for unique,
creative, and inexpensive ways to customize and decorate event space.

Any comments? Email conferencenews@mashmedia.net

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