Greg Oates

Using event technology and artificial intelligence to build and customize community engagement is the biggest meetings trend heading into 2017.

In a world that seems in constant flux, luxury travelers are pivoting a bit. They're prioritizing a stronger connection among themselves and with the people they meet, which hotels are attempting to facilitate with travel experiences designed around engaging guests on a more personal level.

When convention bureaus develop their own meetings industry research, it positions them as leaders in event tech and meeting design innovation, and it differentiates them from their competitors. It takes a lot of work, resources, and experimentation to do it effectively, though.

Visit California developed an integrated research and content framework to support its travel and media partners' ability to better engage luxury consumers than it can do alone on its own brand.com website and paid marketing platforms.

Germany has one of the most innovative business strategies and fresh content models to attract more international conferences by focusing on extensive research development and sector-specific industry expertise. But managing and delivering on those effectively and consistently comes with its growing pains.

While meetings and events are cross-pollinating more sectors in their programming, the industry at large needs to expand how it defines and measures the value of that convergence.

The Meetings Mean Business Coalition has built a strong war chest of advocacy materials supporting the value of face-to-face meetings, but incoming co-chair Paul Van Deventer says industry organizations should work more closely together to drive global growth.

The executives behind the success of SXSW and Bonnaroo say they're developing more varied event programming bringing together as many creative elements as possible, so brands have more opportunities to engage attendees at different levels throughout the event experience.

Following recent terrorism attacks and acts of violence in high-profile locations popular for meetings and events, the convention industry is compelled to proactively develop a new set of security standards. This is going to be costly, but it's a different world in 2016, and that's something the industry needs to accept.