Venue Management Trends for 2017

The management of venues is a complex and detailed operation which can indeed be challenging. Event programming, marketing, security, facilities, guest experience, the list goes on.

For Venue Management professionals, once a strategy has been created, detailing all aspects needed for a venue to operate safely and efficiently, they need to find the right people to implement, manage and monitor this. However, this strategy can never be ‘static’, there are constantly new innovative opportunities that can be implemented and need to be added. This will ensure venues are competing with competitors and always improving the guest experience – meeting the ever growing list of consumer expectations.

Key trends for 2017:

Live Streaming                                                   

Facebook launched ‘Facebook Live’ in April 2016, and since then, it has grown immensely. Live streaming is a new trend that allows thought leaders; celebrities; brands and venues to post a new type of content which really engages with the public.

It has been reported that Facebook video views (including live) could reach 64 billion views per day by August 2017, with Facebook live videos being watched 3 times longer than those videos that aren’t. The research also uncovered that Facebook users comment on live videos 10 times more than normal videos. The rate live streaming is growing and the reach it can have is showing confidence that it will continue to grow throughout 2017 and beyond.

Social Marketing

Social marketing has been prominent for a few years, however, as time goes on, the amount of time the average person spends on these channels is constantly increasing. The global web index has reported in the last 4 years, the average time spent on social networking by each individual has increased by over half an hour per day.

This growth would presume any efforts going into social media currently, will continue to increase and become more prominent in future months and years to come.

Drones

Drones can offer an extra degree of security than static CCTV. They can provide a 360 view of the crowd, monitor queues outside, and zoom into situations as they unfold, allowing security and management to act fast.

Drones can be excellent for marketers! They can create impressive photos of crowds to be used in future marketing collateral, create live videos, and they can also be used live at an event for competitions. This can be a great way to engage with the live crowd, truly enhancing the guest experience.

Drones also offer data opportunities; analysing where crowds gather; dwell time etc.

Gamification

Gamification is a trend which really heightens consumer engagement. Beacons are great to use for gamification, encouraging visitors to visit all areas of an event and maybe less popular stands by running a game or competition. This is also a great way to increase dwell time.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is no longer a nice offering, it is expected from consumers. Wi-Fi offers marketing opportunities for guest to share the event/venue on social media channels, reaching a much wider audience – so for brand awareness, Wi-Fi is great! However, just providing basic Wi-Fi is not enough, not only do guests want Wi-Fi, they want it to be fast, reliable and easily accessed – so we may see more partnering with internet providers to ensure a venue’s Wi-Fi can handle the volume of guests.

There are many more trends throughout the venue and event industry; virtual and augmented reality, varied tenants, healthier food options, new data capture strategies and higher expectations from staff – just to name a few. The venue sector is extremely exciting; and the opportunities being presented are foretelling an extremely innovative future!

Kat Whitehead, Senior Marketing Executive, Foundation Recruitment