FRANKFURT AM MAIN - Together with its partners, the GCB German Convention Bureau has announced the launch of phase III of its “Future Meeting Space” research. Scheduled to be completed in December 2020, this latest project is designed to build on the prior two research phases by looking at the following five questions:
- What is the future role and purpose of meetings and events in organisations’ communications mix?
- What are the different purposes and objectives of business events?
- Based on the above, what are the requirements and expectations of target groups and stakeholders?
- What is a successful event and what means are there to measure success?
- What are the required competencies and skills needs by organizations and employees?
The project is supported by the GCB and the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC) as well as Maritz Global Events Inc., Xing Events GmbH, KFP Five Star Conference Service GmbH, SevenCentres of Germany and Radisson Hotels. Research is carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, which is part of Fraunhofer Society, Europe’s largest application-oriented research organisation.
The goal of this third piece of “Future Meeting Space” research is to establish the ongoing value of meetings and events at a time when technology is enabling new ways to interact. The final research report will identify requirements for industry stakeholders and provide appropriate strategies as well as develop competency profiles for event planners and suppliers. With a view to measuring success, the research will also identify relevant KPIs so that in particular event planners within corporations and organisations can document the value of meetings and events.
As part of the research process, a catalogue of innovations that was produced in the first research phase in 2016 will be updated to reflect digital developments, trends and innovations (e.g., big/smart data, social profiling, 5G, AI, cyber security) and their relevance for meetings and events. “If phase I looked at the ‘how to’ aspect of future meetings, and phase II determined the ‘who’ aspect, including evaluating different participant needs, phase III will now complete the picture and explore the ‘why’ of meetings and events,” says GCB managing director Matthias Schultze.
Apart from the innovation catalogue, six so-called future meeting scenarios where developed in phase I of the Future Meeting Space research. Phase II, which ended in December 2018, focused on event success factors, concluding that to satisfy attendees, event planners should focus on knowledge transfer as well as surprising or disruptive elements that bring about a change. The survey also identified different attendee types that need to be considered when creating events.
