Adapting and embracing change in 2024

By Chair, Vanessa Green

Adapting and embracing change in 2024 - Staying ahead as meeting and events professionals

A few weeks ago, I attended the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) – the leading trade event for the meetings and event industry in the Asia Pacific region. We’re hearing a lot in the media about the global and APAC macro-economic outlook being cautiously optimistic. Well, as I spent time on the AIME show floor, the vibe was more than cautious, it was positively bullish!

I also loved the opportunity to see and hear what’s new in the events industry. Some of the big issues in 2024 are sustainability, wellness and the power of bringing people together.

But the hottest topic at AIME was undeniably the speed of change in audience and stakeholder expectations. This reflects the discussions at a recent Cliftons event we held late last year in Sydney. We had Adam Spencer, Australia’s favourite numbers nerd, enthralling the room as he spoke about the speed of change in today’s world. Did you know that even our old model smartphones are more powerful than the computer that took Apollo 11 to the moon? I was shocked to know that my old phone had more power than all of NASA’s computers combined at that time.

Change is only going to get faster

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, summed up the nature of today’s digital transformation perfectly in 2018, and his words still ring true: “The rate of change has never been this fast before and will never be this slow again.”

The past five years has seen incredible change. Deep learning systems, better renewable energy sources, stem cell advances that are revolutionising treatment of diseases, the list goes on. And of course, we can’t overlook the rise of AI. The boom in conversational and generative AI tools like ChatGPT has been remarkable over the past twelve months, and in some situations, we are at the point where AI can do some of your job faster and more accurately than we can.

If we accept the premise that the rate of change will never be so slow again, it’s hard to imagine what the next five years will look like. What new roles and industries haven’t even been thought of yet? What further changes can we expect to the nature of work and events?

What does this mean for meetings and events?

The only certainty we have is that change is a constant in life. It’s impossible to predict what the future will hold, but it’s clear that the future of meetings and events will be shaped by a range of factors. Technological advancements, changing societal norms and environmental concerns will all play a part.

What I do know is that it’s important to stay informed and be prepared to adapt to change. The risk of standing still is that you effectively end up going backwards, and that’s not a path to future success. That’s why it’s important for us as professionals to learn from our industry peers and that’s something we’re championing at MEA with our education and events programming. I believe that nothing beats getting together and networking to open your mind to new ideas and possibilities – and I look forward to connecting with many of you at Evolve 2024 in June, as we discuss the current and emerging changes impacting the meeting and events industry.