2023's Hottest Event Trends

At Best Venues New York, our experienced team of event planners is constantly studying event trends. The event industry is ever changing, and we want to make sure you won't be left behind. Read on to find the Top 5 Event Trends of 2023.

1. Collaborating With Influencers

To help create buzz for your event, you might be thinking of booking a celebrity or speaker to make an appearance. Instead of that, we'd recommend collaborating with an influencer. Top tier influencers have millions of followers, and you can harness the power of those followers to increase awareness and engagement for your event. On top of that, influencers will oftentimes be less expensive than a normal celebrity, leaving you more room in your budget.

2. Non-Traditional Venues

Booking a venue for your event doesn't mean you're restricted to a banquet hall or convention center. We've seen a huge shift in events being held in non-traditional venues like raw spaces, warehouses, or historic landmarks. This trend is only going to continue and we can understand why.Before your guests start networking or grab anhors d'oeuvre, they're seeing the space and hopefully it's speaking to them.

3. Increased Security Measures

A lot goes into making sure your event is secure, the first step is knowing your venue inside and out. You'll need to consider how many entry points your venue has. Besides the front door, where most of your guests will be entering, are there any unlocked back or side doors? How will the venue staff get into the building? This will help you figure out the placement of your security team.

2023's After you've done that, you'll want to make sure all your attendees are people you've actually invited. We'd suggest using facial recognition or thumbprint scanners.

Once you've nailed down physical security, focus on digital security. Once your attendees register for your event, you'll have access to a ton of their personal information. And so will everyone else, if you happen to have a data breach. Make sure your event website is PCI compliant. The Payment Card Industry guidelines were created by all the major credit card brands to ensure any company that's processing credit card transactions is doing it safely and securely.

4. Artificial Intelligence and Voice Assistants.

If you're not planning on using AI for your next event, you're missing out. Adding a chatbot is a great way to improve guest experience. A chatbot will be able to answer questions and also provide information to your attendees in real time.

We'd also recommend adding a voice assistant to your event, people are already comfortable using Siri and Alexa, so take advantage of that. Guests will be able to ask voice assistants where certain talks or exhibits are being held, which will reduce the need for event staff and extra signage. And after the event, you'll be able to access all that data and use it to make future events better. For example, you'll be able to find out what speaker or exhibit really got your guests talking based on their questions.

Another great option would be to make use of virtual or augmented reality tools. Both are great ways to increase audience engagement and they can be a lot of fun for your guests. You use VR/AR at expo booths or in breakout rooms, or even use it for virtual site tours.

5. Adding Value

Every event has its own objectives, you might be planning an networking event or you might be having a conference. Either way you should be thinking about how you can add value for your guests. Essentially, by adding value, you'll make sure your attendees will be glad they came. (And those guests who couldn't make it will be mad they missed it.)

This can be achieved in a myriad of ways, if you're having a networking event you could have a photographer on hand to take professional LinkedIn profile pictures. Or you could surprise your guests with a whiskey tasting, it's really an opportunity for you to get creative with your planning.