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Events Consultant and Creator | Follow me for insights on events, marketing and technology.
A party is not networking. It’s not an opinion. It’s facts. I was going through the FANTASTIC Freeman research to prepare for our 2025 Event Industry Outlook and Trends (next week!). I bumped into a powerful stat. 55% of planners think that parties are the networking attendees want. But only 34% of attendees want parties. This is a disconnect many experienced in the event industry post-pandemic. Many planners interpreted this strong desire to be back in-person as an unstoppable need to party. That may have been the case for ’21 and ’22. Since ’23, things have changed. Purpose and collaboration are what attendees need. Many also confuse the need to get together in small, intimate events with meaningless drinks and dinners. Throwing people in a room and expecting the magic to happen is a waste of money and energy. What’s the plan then? • Structured networking. Especially around topics of interest. • Intimate gatherings with true peers with a theme or items of discussion. • Content that connects. Workshops, collaborative seminars, facilitated sessions. There is no room for budget waste in this environment. How do you connect attendees? P.S. Every Wednesday, 11K eventprofs open my newsletter within one hour of me sending it. If you want to know why, join us. The link is at the top of my profile.