Mid-Year Conference Manager Check In -How Elections, AI & Attendance are Altering Event Plans

In January, Scarlino Speaker Strategies published our first State of Conference Speaking survey. We asked conference organizers from around the world to share their event plans and help shed light on which trends are affecting agenda planning processes in 2024, to help inform our clients and readers about what to expect over the next twelve months.  As we moved into the second quarter of this year, we wondered: How are big global trends like AI and the many elections happening around the world altering conference managers’ plans? – And are those predictions made at the end of 2023 still on target? And so, this spring we checked in with many of our trusted conference organizer partners to uncover how conference plans continue to adapt in these rapidly changing industries.   Some of our findings included:

Avoiding the drama – While only 13% of the conference managers who responded to our survey said that they were avoiding sessions that focused on the U.S. Presidential election, a quarter of all respondents said that they were moving the location of their flagship event to avoid the election.

Moving around & Hopping the pond – 43% of respondents said that they were changing the dates and location of their flagship events this year. We also had several respondents who expanded their conference brands by adding a second or third event on another continent. A few examples:

• Fortune Brainstorm AI is hosting conferences in Asia and Europe this year
• MIT Technology Review’s EmTech Digital held an event in London in the spring
• HLTH had a European conference in Amsterdam
• SXSW recently announced it would hold an event in London in 2025

Events continue to offer a lucrative revenue stream for media companies, and that is apparent in our experience and in our survey results.

AI case studies wanted – 69% of conference managers responded that, so far in 2024, demand for AI content is greater than last year based on what they are hearing from their attendees. While not surprising to anyone who has consumed any business or tech-focused media over the past six months, there was a caveat to the responses. They commented that conference attendees have expressed preference for AI case studies instead of sessions discussing the general impact of AI or how it might affect the future of their industry.

So what does this mean for you?

1) If you or your company tend to participate in the same events year to year, be sure to confirm the dates and locations of those events instead of assuming that they will be same as previous years.

2) Wondering what topics to suggest when you propose executive speakers or subject matter experts from your organization? Be sure to check the conference website or call for presenters (CFP) in advance. It will be helpful to determine whether you should mention or avoid the ramifications of an election.

3) And if you have a speaker who is eager to address AI – sharing a unique case study is the best way to increase their chances of making in onto the stage.

Are there additional conference trends you are seeing this year? We’d love to hear from you!