It may be old-fashioned, but all the technology and marketing in the world can't beat a strong personal relationship between a destination and meeting planners.
Some convention and visitor bureaus have turned to technology gimmicks and other new methods to highlight their destination’s finest attributes but personal relationships and experience remain vital. Relationships really do matter.
Going global in the events sector is tough. Eventbrite has the added pressure of being a public company, and investors have soured on the company's potential despite its ambitious plans for a global event technology platform.
Is the bottom falling out for Eventbrite? Not really, but it needs to turn a corner soon to make investors more confident in its future. It takes time and money to build a global platform, and it looks like Eventbrite could be running out of time.
As conference programming becomes more complex, attendees need suggestions of how to pick the most rewarding path. Personalization through mobile apps is just one way to reduce friction going forward.
Conference-goers feel overwhelmed by making choices about which sessions to attend and who to network with. Digital tools featuring personalization can help smooth over these pain points.
It makes sense for Hilton to fix its marquee brand by appealing to event planners with upscale lodging and interesting spaces. It will take some time to see how its commitment to pleasing planners really goes.
Reading between the lines, it seems many events are making modest tweaks to ensure attendees aren't sitting in their chairs feeling miserable all day. You don't need yoga and hikes to make an event slightly healthier.
While San Francisco is in the midst of a huge boom in travel demand, it also has several knotty issues to solve in order to remain a premier U.S. destination for events.
San Francisco remains a major draw for events despite high costs and other pervasive problems. Perhaps the Bay Area can turn to the creative thinking it's known for to solve some of these issues.