As if all this did not seem enough, today comes a new and spectacular technological revolution that, while overlapping with the previous one (the Internet), promises to change the way we work in a major way: artificial intelligence. AI is already here and, although it is still in an initial period, it is beginning to be relevant in many of the processes involved in the organization of events, such as creativity (both text and image), guest management, standardization of production processes, control of communication with attendees, etc.

We are living an exciting time for the sector. While it is true that live, the main tool of our industry, is an eminently analog medium, it is also true that some of the processes involved in the production of any event can be greatly simplified with the application of AI. In short, the tools are changing, but the need for face-to-face communication channels, such as events, which are as old but, at the same time, as essential as they were more than 5,000 years ago, survives, stronger than ever.

Beyond technology, the last 20 years have been the years of professionalization. At the beginning of this millennium, event training was hard to find and, in many cases, of more than dubious quality. The growth of the sector globally and the importance of the human factor as a key element in organizations (highlighted by the COVID 19 pandemic) have made events a strategic communication tool that has gone from being considered an expense to being clearly an investment. This need to obtain a return on events has imposed new evaluation tools that make it possible to measure their results and has highlighted the need for more rigorous, more specialized and broader training in new fields of knowledge (psychology, persuasive communication, finance or neuromarketing, to give just a few examples).

At the Event Management Institute, you are dedicated to training future event management professionals. What skills and knowledge do you consider essential for someone who wants to work in this field?

At the Event Management Institute we are dedicated to research in the field of what we call MICE Intelligence or, in other words, the knowledge behind any face-to-face persuasive communication process. In events we try to influence our audiences to generate favorable attitudes and behaviors to the message offered. This must involve knowing perfectly how the communication process works in an event, how to persuade, how to motivate, how to influence the level of participation of the audience, etc. All this makes it essential that behavioral sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology...), those that study how behaviors are generated, are mastered by the Event Planner. 

On the other hand, the event professional must be able to have a global vision of the event. The detail is important but so is the overall vision. Project management (much studied in the engineering field), team management and leadership (without teamwork there is no event) and a good dose of soft skills (creativity, empathy, critical thinking, leadership, stress management...) are also essential for a very demanding job that, in general, is performed under a lot of pressure (limited time, finite budget, nervous client, production circumstances...).

What are the main challenges currently facing the events industry and how would you suggest they be addressed?

Sustainability, research and performance evaluation. 

Sustainability is no longer an option. Being sustainable, minimizing the ecological footprint, being inclusive, bringing value to the community that hosts events... is a challenge for our industry as it is for any other with the difference that we, the ephemeral face-to-face communication industry, must manage single-use resources that, without a sustainability plan behind them, tend to generate a greater amount of waste. Reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible is key, and compensating for the part we have not been able to avoid through environmental projects is becoming essential.

Without research there is no innovation, and the events sector does almost no research. A very high percentage of the studies published in the sector are the result of surveys among the same industry participants, endogamic surveys that help to dimension the industry and the profile of its participants but that contribute very little in improving the communication and persuasion process that events aim to achieve. How do we motivate? How do we persuade? How does the context influence the communication process? How does cultural bias affect the behavior of an event's audience? Why are some destinations suitable for an event and not for others? What role do emotions play in face-to-face communication? We have the questions but we are missing many answers, answers that, in many cases, can be found in the world of psychology or sociology. All we need is for someone to get to work on them and disseminate them.

The third major challenge for the sector is the evaluation of results. Theoretically we all measure the results of our events (that's what we all say) but reality shows that a large part of the post-event evaluations are the result of a satisfaction survey that measures questions more related to the comfort or well-being of the public than to the objectives set for the event. 

We have always had at our disposal traditional market research techniques (qualitative or quantitative) that allow us to measure results even for those aspects that do not allow the measurement of ROI (motivation, feeling of belonging, brand image...). On the other hand, today, neuromarketing tools (eye tracking, electroencephalogram, galvanic skin response, facial recognition...) allow us to evaluate key elements of events before, during and after the event itself, with very high levels of reliability.

What trends do you anticipate for the future of event management in the next five to ten years?

Can you imagine a convention where, as a closing event, we screen an episode of Star Trek in which the main characters of the series mingle with the salespeople of our commercial team and the storyline refers to the slogans presented during the event?  Tomorrow this will be very easy to do. 

It is hard to imagine the almost infinite possibilities that AI can bring. In any case, in our industry, human presence can never be completely replaced by AI. Face-to-face communication is an entirely analogical tool in which emotions, mood, physical and geographical environment or cultural context, are key to communication and need human interpretation to be able to empathize correctly with the audience and design the right stimuli to make the event an effective and profitable act of communication.

Could you share some examples of successful events organized by you or your team that stand out for their creativity or execution?

For the merger of two sales networks that until yesterday were competing “to the death” and tomorrow would be a single team (due to the merger of the two companies) we were asked to organize a convention that would transform two “enemy” teams into a single motivated and “very friendly” team. The challenge was great because “enemies” was quite true and mistrust was the order of the day. What did we do? Choose a destination that would unite. Which one? Marrakech (Morocco). Why? Marrakech was close to Spain (origin of the attendees) and, above all, it was an exotic destination, very different culturally and unknown to almost everyone. What happens in this kind of destinations? The lack of knowledge of the local culture and the great differences with respect to the places of origin (architecture, climate, way of dressing, language...) make that, in an unconscious way, the guests (at the beginning very cautious with the destination) tend to create their own comfort zone, staying together and sharing the surprises of the trip. If we add to this tendency to be together voluntarily “exciting” activities in which we mix both teams, the shared experience generates bonds that overcome the initial reluctance. After three days of convention with little plenary room work and a lot of team activity, the public took the presence of their former competitors in a very natural way. They discovered the human side of these supposed “enemies” who, sharing emotions, became new and beloved work colleagues. The transformation was brutal, a pleasure!

Ethics is fundamental in any profession. What ethical principles do you consider most important in event management and how do you promote them within your organization?

Ethics is key and, within those ethics, honesty and transparency at work are fundamental to event management. Events are the most powerful and effective communication tool that organizations have, but even so, events are not all-powerful. The good event manager has to know how to say no. There are some things that cannot be achieved with a simple event. There are things that cannot be achieved with events and there are events that cannot meet multiple objectives at the same time. You have to be objective and know how to prioritize and for this, the event professional is key. He knows how far you can go and how far you can't go. 

On the other hand, and on the internal level of an event organization company, teamwork is fundamental and, as such, the circulation of updated information among the different members of the team is important to meet the deadlines imposed by the event and, more importantly, to be able to detect the problems that the production process brings to the surface and face them with the maximum time and tranquility that any exercise of reflection and decision making requires. In other words, honesty and transparency.

Finally, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs who want to launch their own event management company?

My first piece of advice is to start organizing events from a company that is professionally dedicated to it. Practice is key and no one hires inexperienced professionals.

The world of events is a very attractive world seen from the outside. From the inside it is another thing. Organizing events almost always involves working under pressure and managing that pressure is neither easy nor within the reach of all profiles. Working for third parties, beyond the essential learning that it implies, also involves getting to know that pressure, learning how to manage it and learning how to motivate and self-motivate oneself and discover if that “madness” of working in a sector where schedules are almost always theoretical, becomes a passion that seduces us for the rest of our professional life or makes us rethink our vocation. 

We thank Raimond Torrents for sharing his valuable experience. His passion for event management and his leadership at the Event Management Institute have professionalized a crucial sector for modern communication. His insight into the industry and emerging innovations is vital for those seeking to excel. Event management, a combination of art and science, influences brands and creates memorable experiences. We are grateful for their contribution and inspiration for the next generation of professionals.