THE EVENT PLANNING INDUSTRY- ALWAYS

CHANGING-CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

Hannah Davis

2/16/2016

REVIEW OF “4 CHANGES TO WATCH FOR IN EVENT PLANNING”

• “The event planning industry is incredibly organic- always changing to stay ahead of the curve”. (2, June 2015)

•The article explains that there are 4 ways the event planning industry is evolving.

•“According to BizBash, in recent years, major changes to event planning involved integrating more social media, eco-friendly initiatives, and changing demand for event sponsors.” (2, June 2015)

REVIEW OF “4 CHANGES TO WATCH FOR IN EVENT PLANNING”

•The 4 ways are: Social media is here to stay; Engage your audience…in new ways; The changing face of event sponsorship; It’s still all about the Benjamins (2, June 2015)

• With social media, the article explains that, “With people more plugged in than ever, social media is arguably the most important tool available for event planners and marketers.” (2, June 2015)

•This is an affordable way of giving information to the target audience and it also gets people engaged and interacting with each other before and after the event

REVIEW OF “4 CHANGES TO WATCH FOR IN EVENT PLANNING”

•Engaging your audience is the “ultimate goal”. “According to The Second Machine Age author Andrew McAfee, content has always been the meat of any event – the information shared, products launched, and vows made. However, content now also includes photos, videos, tweets, and blog posts your event fuels after the fact.” (2, June 2015)

•The article explains that when a company wants to sponsor an event they used to be able to “paint their logos all over the walls, handouts, and swag” (2, June 2015).

•but now, there are newer ways that are more savvy. “To that end, event planners often have to come up with new

REVIEW OF “4 CHANGES TO WATCH FOR IN EVENT PLANNING”

•Now, there are newer ways that are more savvy. “To that end, event planners often have to come up with new and unique ways to create symbiotic relationships between event sponsors and attendees on a case-by-case basis.” (2, June 2015)

•Now that the recession is behind us, the article explains that marketers and planners are not as strict on the money that they can spend.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

•The definition of demographics is, “Studies of a population based on factors such as age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment, among others.” (investopedia.com)

•The 2015 age pyramid, explains that boomer generation is ages 51-69 and the Millennials is 19-37.

•The Boomer generation is 74 million people and Millennials account for 83 million.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

• According to our class PowerPoints, there are many questions that changing demographics looks at.

•“What are communication patterns of age groups?”

•“How to use technology for virtual workplaces?”

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

•“How to support an aging America?”

•“What role does communication play in creating a level playing field for those with disabilities?”

•As technology increases and changes, some ages have an easier time adapting to the technology.

EVENT PLANNING MIXING WITH THE CHANGING OF DEMOGRAPHICS• With the event planning industry, everything is always changing.

• From the time you start working at an event planning company to the time you retire, you will find that mostly everything in the event world is constantly changing.

•Trends are always changing in the event planning industry. The way that this certain industry is, means that event planners have to search for the trends and be the first ones to go with this trend.

•This is where ages come in.

AGES IN EVENT PLANNING• Looking at the statistics, there are 83 million Millennials and this age group is bigger than the group of Baby Boomers with 74 million.

•In event planning, there is more likely to be more Millennials than there is Baby Boomers just based on statistics.

•This is to be even more true looking at the way event planning evolves.

•In the article, it explains four different ways that event planning is evolving now.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND AGES IN EVENT PLANNING

•Seeing that social media is here to stay and is constantly changing the art of event planning may scare the Baby Boomers away that are event planners currently.

•Event planners that have had a lot of experience and are older, may not want to change as much.

•A lot of the baby boomer generation, have a hard time evolving with social media. Some are completely objected to it, Some are trying and some are exceeding.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND AGES IN EVENT PLANNING

• With the different apps and sites that can help and change the way event planning is, if companies and/ or event planners do not use these new innovative ways, they will end up losing their customers.

•This will cause businesses to fail and those who are very knowledgeable and creative with social media will take over.

HOW EVENT PLANNING USED TO BE…

•With the recession, companies have really had to cut down on the costs which gave event planners a smaller budget.

•“Now, marketers and planners hold a much shorter leash on the money they spend, making their return on investment that much more important” (2, June, 2015)

•Now that there is more freedom on this, event planners just coming into the field may have an easier time, whereas the event planners such as the baby boomers have a lot more experience and they may have been conditioned to not spend a lot of money so they may have a harder time with the shorter leash

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE WITH DIFFERENT AGED EVENT PLANNERS•With engaging your audience, the age of your event planner may help influence the way you entertain your guests.

•There are so many different ways to entertain guests now a days. A lot of the ideas come from an app/ website called Pinterest. This brings back the issue of technology.

•Bringing back the fact that event planning is always changing, the way we engage our audience will also be always changing.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE WITH DIFFERENT AGED EVENT PLANNERS•For example, at a wedding, the dancing at the reception is a big way to engage your audience and if you do not have the most current music for a couple that is in their mid twenties, then their guests may not be on the dance floor often.

•If there are not guests on the dance floor, this shows that the planner did not listen to their customer and did not create an excitement in the reception.

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THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE WITH DIFFERENT AGED EVENT PLANNERS•Social media is used very frequently at any event.

•With hashtags, Instagram, wedding apps, company apps; setting the expectation of using social media intrigues the guests of your customers event and shows that the event planner is in tune with everything.

•If event planners do not show that they can do this, no matter what age they are, they will not go much farther in the business.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

•With changes that will keep evolving in the world of event planning, it is worrisome that older generations may not transition easy or at all.

•Some things may come a little harder, but with training and practice, these event planners will figure out and use these tools because they are very helpful and it will help keep their job.

QUESTIONS?!

• How can event planners that have a lot of experience help transition the new event planners and show them older ways, but also show that they are willing to learn?

•Are older event planners willing to download apps and look at different articles through social media that will help enhance the way the younger generation wants and looks at events?

•Are older event planners willing to try out knew and intriguing ideas?

QUESTIONS?!

•Seeing that there are so many changes in the world of technology, specifically, what is the one thing that is crucial in being ahead of the game?

•What is something that Baby Boomers have to change to “fit in” with the event planning life?

WORKS CITED!

•Demographics. Investopedia. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demographics.asp

•(June 2, 2015). 4 Changes to Watch for in Event Planning. Fourth Wall Events. Retrieved from https://www.fourthwallevents.com/2015/06/4-changes-to-watch-for-in-event-planning/.