On 30th October, the Internet Governance Forum, a body set up by the United Nations, met to discuss the future of the internet. It’s interesting to consider that as we all begin to take the web for granted, it is still quietly evolving and adapting. Discussions at the forum suggest the web will permeate our lives more and more through networked devices over the next decade.
The common form of the internet that we are all familiar with is currently just over 10 years old; it’s still in its infancy. Consider other world-changing technologies when they were in their infancy and look at them now, the telephone, television, motor car and airplane are shining examples. Clearly, there’s a lot more to come from the internet, experts believe we’ve barely scratched the service. The future of the net is predicted to be the convergence of mobile technology with the internet and virtual reality.
So what does this mean for meetings? What does it mean for our industry? Should we be thinking 5, 10 or even 20 years down the line? Many of us will still be working then (but that’s another issue).
In the shorter term there are changes in the way we communicate taking place everyday. The way we receive our news, entertainment and information is changing with trends like citizen journalism, blogs and online media. What does this mean for marketing our services, running our businesses and communicating with clients; are enough of us thinking beyond the now traditional company home page?
Jane Evans
Chief Executive MIA
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2 comments:
The pathfinder survey we've just done on the future of meetings, exhibitions, conferences and events of respondents from 32 countries suggests that people expect to use electronic channels far more over the next five years. There is also a big generational split - a lot of younger respondents said they couldn't see the value of waiting for events to get information and network. They saw the web, social networks, online forums and web conferences as an instantaneous mechanism for achieving these ends.
Overall, information gathering was still the third most popular reason why people would attend events in the future. The top 2 were business networking and to see the latest developments in the field.
The five main sources of competiton to live events in the future were seen to be:
- Web based seminars
- Virtual reality events
- Company websites
- Podcasts and videocasts
- Online exhibitions
Rohit Talwar
Global Futures and Foresight
Rohit, I found on the web a PDF of your presentation to the AEO in September dealing with many of the issues you post here, but it seem to deal more with exhibition trends. It was a fascinating read, but I wonder if the full Pathfinder survey is available online?
I’m also intrigued as to whether you surveyed meeting organizers or just their customers. If so, did you reach any conclusion on the extent to which organizers and planners will develop and introduce some the technology solutions you mention, or will they merely respond?
Is the fact they none have posted anything after yours a clue to the answer?
Mike Foren
mike@worldpresenter.com
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