Industry Trends
What's actually changing in meetings and events.
Technology, formats and delegate expectations reshaping congresses, incentive travel and exhibitions, reported from the people building and running these events.
Event Technology
Registration, matchmaking and badge systems, tested against real congress workflows.
Formats
Hybrid, in-person and the quiet retreat from formats that don't serve delegates.
Delegate Behaviour
What different generations of attendees actually want from a conference programme.
Economic Impact
How convention bureaux and associations are measuring the value of hosting.
Recent Coverage
Issues in this track
Issue49
TRD
Hybrid Formats Reach a Quiet Plateau
Three years after the hybrid boom, attendance data from congress organisers suggests the format has settled into a smaller, more deliberate niche.
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Issue44
TRD
AI Matchmaking on the Exhibition Floor
New recommendation engines are pairing exhibitors with buyers before doors even open; we test what the accuracy looks like in practice.
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Issue39
TRD
The Return of the Long Congress
Five- and six-day scientific congresses are making a comeback among societies that had shortened programmes during leaner years.
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Issue34
TRD
Badge-less Entry and the Data Trade-off
Facial recognition and RFID wristbands are speeding up entry lines, and organisers are having frank conversations with delegates about the data involved.
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Issue29
TRD
Simultaneous Interpretation Goes Remote
Remote interpreting hubs are cutting costs for multilingual congresses, though interpreters themselves have concerns about session quality.
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Issue24
TRD
What Gen Z Delegates Actually Want From a Conference
Survey data from student and early-career delegates challenges some long-held assumptions about session length and networking formats.
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Issue19
TRD
The Quiet Consolidation of Event Technology Vendors
A wave of acquisitions among registration and abstract-management platforms is narrowing planners' options; we map who owns what now.
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Issue14
TRD
Security Planning for High-Profile Association Events
Congress organisers describe how threat assessment has changed for events featuring government ministers or controversial policy topics.
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Issue09
TRD
Measuring the Economic Impact of a Congress, Properly
Convention bureaux are under pressure to prove return on public investment; we compare three methodologies for calculating economic impact.
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