Meeting attendees are looking to engage and build communities with peers in ways that may prompt associations to rethink how they structure their events portfolio, according to a new report.
Future-Ready Events: A Blueprint for Connection, Growth and Innovation, was produced by Fuse, JDC Events, and Bear Analytics, and released May 6. It is based on a survey of 69 event industry professionals from the association, nonprofit, and corporate arenas. According to those respondents, “cultivating attendee engagement and participation” was considered the most important element of community building, with a large majority (81 percent) saying that “networking opportunities” was their main engagement strategy.
Still, few respondents cited year-round engagement as a top priority for event attendees. Jennifer Collins, CEO of JDC Events, said that the hesitance around that may be a function of associations' historically placing much of their energy around engagement toward a single annual conference.
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