4 trends of 2015 in the meeting industry according to Imex

Imex Group

It will be a year of evolution and changes for meetings. Some meeting design ingredients will always be important and their function will grow by transforming the relation between/with the participants. This is the forecast of IMEX Group who highlights the 4 key-trends for the meetings of 2015.

Trend #1: play, fun, engagement
2014 has been the year of the game as an instrument to unlock the creativity and as a resource for the business. Actually this has always been true, but the advantages that the “game” is earning makes us think that it’ll be one of the main features of the XXI century. The famous quote of Einstein “Play is the highest form of research” was cited by Rhea Blanken, guest speaker of IMEX and creativity guru. It’s been already a year since Gartner Inc., a multinational corporate world leader of strategical advice, predicted that in 2015 the 40% of the global firms will use activities of gamification as the main ingredient of their business processes, like Nike, Quirky, My Fitness Pal already did. Steve Gross of IMEX emphasizes that “when people meet in meetings and events it’s important to provide game occasions to help them to discover, create connections and new challenges. And to make them happy for being there.

 

Trend #2: the apps.
The apps continue to be very attractive and the strength of their originality will become huge in 2015. This is IMEX’s forecast. But they won’t be apps for their own sake, to be collected as stickers. Instead the apps for events and meetings, will continually be connected with other platforms , especially with websites, in line with the market’s needs, they will provide live statistics, a possibility of interaction with live messages, votes, and other forms of involvement and feedback systems.

 

Trend #3: new formats.
In 2015 let’s expect to see spaces for meetings and formats go ahead a real revolution and the guidelines imposed by the meeting design will always be more binding for all the suppliers chain. Some examples: David Silverman of the Harvard Business Review suggests to limit the meetings to 50 minutes to give people the possibility to breathe and to go back on time for the daily tasks. Instead Arianna Huffington (of the famous Huffington Post) prefer “peripatetic” meetings, encouraged by the Washington University researches which sustain that the workers are much more committed, less on the defensive and more collaborative when they work on a project while standing and not by being seated.

 

Trend #4: the wellness.
Beyond drinking water, taking protein pills and having a fast rejuvenating massage, a higher level of spiritual awareness makes his way in the presentations, sessions and formats of meetings. When Times Magazine and Forbes give space to topics like these, we are sure that they’re really current news and that they deserve visibility. Moreover, when characters such as Deepack Chopra, speaker of MPI WEC (World Education Congress) 2014 and a spiritual reference for international rock stars, corporates leader like Oprah Winfrey, Russell Simmons (Def Jam), Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com),  Rick Goings (Tupperware), recognize the spiritual and material benefits of meditation, the meeting planners and the whole meeting industry have a great opportunity – and especially the authorization – to bring this new attention to the wellness out of the Spas and to take it on stage and under the spotlight.

 

Original article appeared on the website successfulmeetings