AIPC’s CEO, Sven Bossu highlights three trends likely to impact the venue scene in 2024.
Every year I scroll through all the different list of “things to watch out for in 2024” and this year is no exception. And 2024 promises to be an interesting year by the looks of it. Of a total of 27 unique trends found, I would like to highlight three which will/are impacting the AIPC community.
Number One is uncertainty. It is a topic which has been discussed at the AIPC Board of directors and it is a recurring theme when our members get together: planners seem to have difficulties in planning. More and more, delegates register a couple of days before the event takes place. In some cases, this amounts to 50% of the available seats. Obviously, this puts a lot of stress on the venues who are no longer in control of their business.
One way of addressing this issue is the approach taken by Bella Center in Copenhagen. During the 2023 Operations Summit, Lars Morratz, director of yield management, explained their pricing mechanism which stimulates organisers to book services as early as possible. This is combined with a very intense communication campaign to ensure that all parties are perfectly aware of this mechanism.
The result is three-fold: the venue regained control of its margin, stress levels with the staff have been reduced, and clients – after initial pushback – show understanding for the situation and are more grateful in case of leniency.
The second one is accessibility, both digital and physical. At the same event, Darby Lee Young of Level Playing Field – one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 and a former para-alpine skier – explained that accessibility goes way beyond putting ramps in place. It is really about making sure that the same experience is offered to all delegates. This involves proper (multilingual) signage, appropriate lighting, etc.
While some of the examples she gave on things being done in the wrong way were truly hilarious (when clearing the venue entrance from snow, the parking for disabled persons seems to be the best place to put it, as it is larger and close to the entrance), it demonstrated that there is still a long way to go. Early planning and continuous engagement with the only community you can choose to join is a key success factor.
The third and final one is to use of technology to leverage resources. While stabilised, staff shortage is still a challenge for venues and technology can help to increase efficiency and take away workload from the teams. AI is likely to play an important role in making this happen in areas such as sales and finance and sometimes it is worthwhile to look at other industries to get inspired.
Laser projections solution used in the automotive industry project the target positions of parts directly on the vehicle surface, allowing fitters to place and install the component more quickly. Similar solutions could be imagined to outline the exhibition floor, linking CAD-machines directly with the projector.
This selection of three trends is of course a personal one and there are many other things to look into, such as sustainability, the future of food, and so on. And similar to the ones I selected, solutions can be found for all of them. So, lots more to discuss during the many meetings planned for 2024.
