2012 Technology Outlook

The relationship between events and technology is becoming more critical to event producers,

exhibitors and event marketers – as well as attendees and participants. This trend is being driven by the rapid pace of change in communications technology. The last three years alone have seen an explosion in the use of social media to communicate event information, drive attendance, and build year-round online communities.

In response, Active Network and the Event Marketing Institute have worked together to study and quantify these event technology trends.

This report covers event technology from the perspective of event owners and producers as well as corporate exhibitors and event marketers. The focus of the analysis is on technology usage, best practices and benchmarks. Other trends and areas covered include:
* Most important technology areas and services
* Technology purchase plans and budgets
* Social media
* Online events, including virtual shows, webinars and webcasts

The main information source is an exclusive survey of event producers, corporate exhibitors and event marketers. Various other sources have been used to develop the report including recent Event Marketing Institute and Red 7 Media studies, and reports from other organizations. In total, survey responses from over 500 leading organizations in the event and technology industries have been used to develop this analysis.

The exclusive survey was conducted in the late summer and fall of 2011. Based on the findings and forward-looking questions and research, we anticipate many of the trends covered in this report to continue in 2012.

CLICK HERE for the executive summary.