This year (2025) projects to be another positive year for the meeting and events industry despite evolving domestic policies, global political shifts, and an ever-changing landscape. According to Northstar’s pulse survey, 85% of event planners are as optimistic as they were six months ago, with 92% planning to organize at least as many meetings in 2025 as in 2024 and 39% expecting attendance to grow. There will continue to be a strong focus on in-person gatherings and prioritization of attendee experience through personalization and immersive events.
The Meetings & Events 2025 Global Forecast from AMEX GBT found that 66% of respondents anticipate increased budgets for 2025. Planners say these extra dollars, along with emerging tech trends, will assist in cultivating attendee engagement and creative ways to increase productivity, all while delivering memorable events!
While the overall industry outlook is positive, many survey participants expressed concerns about how rising costs and lean budgets could impact their 2025 plans. Prices of food and beverage, hospitality, and labor continue to rise, creating cost challenges for the overall attendee experience despite inflation starting to cool. These anticipated rising costs could mean companies become more selective about holding in-person events at pricey hotel venues.
While hybrid events are a great format for reaching a wide audience, most meetings in 2025 are expected to be held in person. It's no surprise, as attendee priorities continue to reflect a preference for face-to-face interactions and networking opportunities. Event planner priorities, on the other hand, are changing. A recent survey of 500+ event professionals conducted by Bizzabo found the top expected trends for 2025 are:
Below, we’ll dive into each of these trends and the other expected trends for 2025.
Personalized Experiences
The events industry is moving towards more personalized experiences through resonant experiences and strategic investment in on-site enhancements. This shift involves understanding diverse attendee demographics, prioritizing high-quality content, and exploring innovative venues. Increasing attendee engagement through personalized experiences starts by understanding the various attendee personas. With that information, planners can curate an experience that will resonate with their audience.
Experiential learning is an interactive, immersive approach to education and engagement where participants actively engage with hands-on activities, simulations, or experiences to acquire knowledge, develop skills, and foster connections. Rather than passively consuming information, attendees learn through direct involvement, reflection, and application in a real-world or industry-specific context. This technique cultivates interaction and offers a reason for attendees to decide to attend the event in person, rather than source the content online or through other sources. Fun and memorable activities are what your attendees will be talking about during and after the event and should factor into all planning.
Networking will continue to play a crucial role in creating personalized experiences for attendees. Using immersive and experiential experiences for networking can further enhance the value delivered to attendees and the overall attendee experience.
By focusing on these areas, you can create more impactful and memorable events, ultimately driving greater attendee satisfaction and engagement. These changes aren't without their challenges, though, as planning for each type of attendee persona requires a strong understanding of your demographic and sometimes requires longer lead times to allow enough time for adequate planning.
Related Resources:
Differentiating Your Event Through Content - Creative ways to make your event content more engaging.
Differentiating Your Event Through Networking - Tips on how to personalize networking for more meaningful and long-lasting connections.
Differentiating Your Event Through Visual Communication and Branding - How graphics can play a vital role in make your event more immersive, memorable, and improve your attendee experience
Using Decals for More Immersive Events - Utilize your graphics to create an unforgettable, engaging event.
The Ultimate Guide to Event Personalization - A great list of best practices when it comes to personalizing your event content.
AI, Automation & Technology
One of the most important roles tech can play at an event is to foster human connection by implementing cutting-edge innovations. Leveraging new tools that enhance creativity, streamline on-site processes, and build meaningful connections can elevate the attendee experience. Immersive solutions like virtual reality and holograms create memorable moments, while centralized data simplifies sourcing, negotiation, and networking. Generative AI can be used to further personalize content and deepen engagement, transforming events into innovative, focused experiences.
Here's a quick look at how planners are utilizing tech at their events, and some practical uses for AI that can help you bring some additional value to your attendees and sponsors on-site and help you improve your post-event analysis for even better future events!
Related Resources:
Mastering AI for Meetings & Events - Best practices for utilizing AI to help plan meetings and events and tips for optimizing your prompts for better responses.
Essential AI Tools for Event Planners - Practical uses for AI at every stage of event planning and some of the platforms to make integrating AI into your events a breeze.
AI Tools for Event Planners - A collection of resources, templates, and software using AI to help streamline your planning process.
Data-Driven Decision Making
With the costs of hosting an event expected to remain high in 2025, companies and planners will increasingly rely on data-driven methodologies to maximize the ROI on their meeting spending and align with broader organizational objectives. Finding more efficient ways to collect and leverage your data can help optimize processes, improve your team's productivity, enhance your attendee experience, and increase visibility into certain programs' performance.
Planners who leverage data and technology to enhance the attendee experience and streamline productivity will be invaluable in 2025. They can act as strategic consultants by helping their stakeholders define their needs, overcome challenges, and measure the success of their programs. In the coming year, planners can leverage the data they've collected to not only strengthen their supplier relationships, but work with their vendors to craft solutions that both meet company objectives and dazzle attendees.
By analyzing historical event performance and attendee feedback, as well as tracking engagement on particular interactive graphics, activities, and offerings on-site, planners can identify patterns and opportunities for collaboration with their suppliers. Using your data to get a better feel for what your attendees want at an event opens the door for more targeted discussions with vendors. This ensures that any creative solutions you create together are designed to elevate your event while remaining realistic in terms of budget and logistical constraints.
Related Resources:
Differentiating Your Event: Boosting Event Sponsorship Value - Tips and tricks for leveraging data and analytics (amongst other things) to help boost your sponsor’s value.
How Event Data Can Help Build Better Event Experiences - How to use data and analytics to help improve your event planning experience.
6 Ways to Ensure Your Event Data Doesn’t Get Left Behind - Best practices for managing event data at scale to ensure you’re getting the most out of your analytics.
Sustainability, Accessibility, and Inclusivity
Making meetings and events more sustainable, accessible, and inclusive are trends expected to continue into 2025. Designing events that reflect these values and align with the core beliefs of your audience or corporate sustainability and DEI goals allows you to expand your audience reach, as well as significantly elevate brand and attendee engagement.
Making an event more green or more accessible can be a challenging task with ever-changing expectations and best practices. If you're looking for ways to start, try focusing on high-impact areas during your sourcing and planning phases for areas where you can make the most meaningful (and measurable) changes. Some top areas of typical consideration are travel emissions, sustainable and accessible venues, waste management, food and beverage, and diverse content with your graphics, engagement, and presentations.
Wellness is a newer trend that is expected to continue and increase in the coming year. The rise in wellness-focused experiences reflects a shift in attendees' priorities, highlighting a growing emphasis on physical, mental, and emotional health. Events that incorporate meaningful wellness practices foster deeper engagement, improve information retention, and leave a lasting positive impression of both the event and the brand hosting it.
Related Resources:
The Meeting Planner’s Ultimate Guide to Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Events - Our one-stop solution for all things sustainability. From green giveaways that’ll wow your attendees to simple switches you can make on-site for a smaller carbon footprint and everything in between - this blog collection has it all.
Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Your Event - Exploring the importance of DEI at events with ideas for cultivating a more accessible meeting to improve attendee satisfaction
Accessible and Inclusive Signage - A quick primer for how simple changes to your event’s graphic can enhance your event’s overall DEI
Conclusion
In 2025, the meetings and events industry is poised for significant growth, driven by a commitment to personalized, engaging attendee experiences. Technology will continue to serve as a cornerstone in achieving these goals, enabling planners to adapt and thrive in an evolving landscape.
While costs remain a top concern, event planners continue to demonstrate resilience and strategic expertise, effectively managing tight budgets while showcasing the value and ROI of meetings to stakeholders. Confidence in the industry is strong, as corporate leaders increasingly view meeting expenditures as investments rather than costs, as highlighted in the CWT GBTA forecast. So, while price increases may moderate, cost management remains a key focus for planners.
It's not just the economic shifts that are challenging planners, either. Geopolitical developments will continue to shape the industry, influencing budgets, travel patterns, and planning strategies. Event professionals can proactively address these challenges and sustain a competitive edge by leveraging data-driven insights and maintaining flexibility.
Hosting successful events in 2025 means embracing innovation, prioritizing meaningful attendee experiences, and taking the necessary steps to align your event with sustainability goals. By balancing strategic planning with adaptability, you can ensure success in 2025 and beyond. Feeling overwhelmed? We've got you covered! Our extensive library of blogs is full of resources on the most up-to-date trends and how you can implement them into your events. Feel free to contact us, and our team can help pair you with the perfect products to bring your event’s vision to life.
Further Reading:
2025 Event Signage Trend - Learn how to apply these trends and more to your 2025 event graphics. From how retro and minimalist designs can help make your event unique to creative ways you can inject some cool tech features into your signage, this blog has everything you need to make your graphics stand out at your next meeting!