It’s reassuring to see from our research that the skills gap among event professionals created by the pandemic is gradually closing, indicating that organisations are upskilling internally and recruiting from a wider pool of talent to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving industry. Positive developments in the diversity of teams are playing an important role in ensuring growth and prosperity for the future.
Our report also highlights several challenges in our industry, mostly in areas where we are not yet fully grasping the opportunity to drive change. Sustainability is on many business agendas, but progress is slow given the urgency of the situation. The adoption of new technology to streamline processes and improve audience engagement is limited. And although data is being gathered to measure ROI and inform future event strategies, opportunities to use it to improve audience personalisation are not yet being maximised.
But despite the challenges, the three most common words our survey respondents used to describe the year ahead were excited, optimistic, and motivated. 2024 is the year the industry finally goes back to 2019 levels – with a new and improved outlook.