Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals

Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends

Shaping the Future of Festivals

Introduction

Personalized experiences

An appetite for multi-faceted experiences

Using technology to up-level the

customer experience

Ta p p i n g i n ﬂ u e n c e rs t o b o o s t aw a re n e s s

Growing demand for VIP experiences

Giveaways and discounts that generate buzz,

build community, and surface valuable data

Contents

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 2

Each year, millions of people ﬂock to their favorite

festivals and consumer events. Are they coming to

yours?

In a saturated market, events that don’t evolve quickly

become irrelevant. You can’t rest on a sold-out success

— to sell out your next event, you need to constantly up-

level your attendee experience, reach new audiences,

and best your competition. All of which is easier said

than done.

So how can you make your brand, your marketing, and

your event stand out? Use this guide to explore the six

event trends shaping the future — and learn how to

make them your own.

Page 3Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals

This guide is for event and festival owners who are...

• Looking for ways to innovate their experience — and sell more

tickets as a result

• Eager to repeat their previous success — without letting their

event go stale

• Facing tough competition in a saturated market — and ready to

lead the pack

Yo u ' l l l e a r n h ow t o :

• Create personalized attendee experiences

• Appeal to your attendees’ unique, wide-ranging passions

• Use technology to customize the attendee experience

• Ta p in ﬂ uen c e r s t o bo o s t a w a r e ness

• Meet growing demand for VIP experiences

• Drive buzz with social giveaways

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When it comes to choosing events to attend, consumers have no

shortage of options. But events that make them feel known — rather

than anonymous members of a crowd — are harder to ﬁnd.

“Audiences want hands-on, personalized experiences now more than

ever,” says Kimberly Moening, VP of experiential marketing agency

Moening Presentation Group. Nearly three quarters of millennials say

they attend events to express who they are.

The question is: who are your attendees? Why do they attend events

like yours? What are they willing to spend on a ticket, or on a VIP

upgrade? What makes the dierence for them between a ﬁne — but

forgettable — event, and a must-attend?

If you’re not exactly sure, ﬁnd new ways to listen to them. Tracy

Nietupski, operations manager for the Washington Midsummer

Renaissance Faire, tracks her attendee responses on social media

in order to “see the event through the patron’s eyes.”

You’re probably already using social media to promote your event, but

it’s also a powerful listening tool. At your event, try using a location-

based social analytics tool like GoBabl, which goes beyond monitoring

hashtag usage. It analyzes your attendee’s at-event activities,

monitoring their sentiments, topic patterns, and more. These insights

give you a complete, real-time picture of how to improve your event.

Personalized experiencesTre n d 0 1

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PRO

TIPS

Don’t be afraid to ask your attendees what they want.

If you’re not sure what your festival attendees want, the best way

to ﬁnd out is by asking them. And don’t just ask once — leverage a

combination of social media polls, surveys, and onsite interviews to get

a holistic picture.

Once you have a handle on who your attendees are, that information

should drive the activities you plan, the food and beverages you oer,

and the sponsorships you seek out. Here are three ways to personalize

the experience for your attendees:

Customize the attendee experience with event apps

“An event app is becoming a necessity,” says Tommy Goodwin, the

director of global ﬁeld services at Eventbrite. Let attendees mark their

favorite acts and activities to create a personal schedule. Next, you can

serve them personalized notiﬁcations when their favorite activity is

about to start or when a food vendor they were interested in is almost

sold out. You can also monitor this data to see which elements of the

festival people were most excited about.

Personalize the event experience with video

Livestreaming, virtual reality (VR), and 360° video can all be used to

personalize your event experience — either by opening it up to new

fans who aren’t present, or to add a new dimension for attendees at the

event.

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 6

For example, Coachella’s organizers sent out free Google Cardboard VR

headsets in every welcome package. A free app lets ticket-buyers view

exclusive musical content before, during, and after the festival itself.

Help attendees share their experience on social media

Nearly half of millennials say they attend live events speciﬁcally so

they have something to share on social channels. And 73% believe that

attending a live event is the best way to show other people what they’re

interested in.

Make it easy for attendees to share their experience. Rent a smart

photo booth so fans can take photos, looping videos, and GIFs to post

directly from the booth itself. Let them show o where they are in

photos by creating Snapchat geoﬁlters that reﬂect dierent elements

of the festival experience. And use a social media display like Everwall

to broadcast fan posts on the big screen so they can share their

experience with as broad an audience as possible.

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Your attendees have countless options for how to spend their time

— and just as many passions. One attendee might be a beer lover, a

comedy fan, and an anime enthusiast, meaning there’s no one event

that represents all of their interests.

To attract these multi-faceted fans, give them more than one reason —

than say, your headliner or your location — to attend.

Take a cue from Wanderlust, a mindfulness retreat featuring a 5K run,

yoga, and meditation. Tens of thousands of devotees come back each

year to unplug, celebrate, and live mindfully at Wanderlust events

across the globe. But Wanderlust also oers a diverse array of activities

that span far beyond athletics. Music lovers can rock out at concerts or

relax during intimate performances. Explorers can embark on guided

trips, hiking excursions, or take water sports lessons. And intellectuals

can broaden their perspectives with lectures from mindfulness experts.

An appetite for multi-faceted experiences Tre n d 0 2

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 8

PRO

TIPS

Music festivals like Coachella and SXSW have started oering smaller

health and wellness events; food festivals like Chicago Gourmet added

morning yoga; and Gilroy Garlic Festival hosts a “crafts alley” where

local artisans sell their wares.

To d ay , a d d i ng u n i q u e e l e m e nt s t o y o u r e v e n t wil l h e lp yo u s ta n d o ut —

but soon, it will become the status quo.

Need some inspiration?

Focus on unique combinations to make your festival stand out, like

pairing beer and ping pong or ﬁlm and cupcakes. Don’t be afraid to

think outside of the box — as long as you’re appealing to your core

audience. Get inspiration from these ﬁve examples of events that are

crushing the hybridization game.

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Using technology to up-level the

customer experience

0% 50% 100%

Tre n d 0 3

Not all event tech is worth your time and money. It’s extremely painful

to invest in a tool that sets your operations backward, rather than

forward. That said, your attendees expect increasingly sophisticated

experiences, and events that don’t keep up with the times get left

behind.

Here are two technologies rising to the event forefront this year —

ignore them at your peril.

Artiﬁcial intelligence

Artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) will soon revolutionize the events industry.

Today, it could play a pivotal role in growing your festival or event.

From customer support to event management and marketing, AI may

change how we experience live events — and give yours a competitive

advantage.

Some festivals have used AI to take their event apps to the next level.

Sound on Sound Fest, a three-day music and camping festival in Texas,

created a customer service plugin through Facebook Messenger to

answer fans queries.

“It was automated, and able to answer a lot of customer questions

with a great success rate,” says Morgan Howard, a freelance customer

experience manager for festivals who worked on the bot. “Fans got the

instant gratiﬁcation of receiving a response.”

Julius Solaris, editor and founder of Event Manager Blog, estimates

that $40 billion will be invested in AI over the next ten years. That

technology can create personalized attendee experiences with more

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 10

meaningful interactions that delight not only your attendees, vendors,

and sta.

RFID

RFID (radio-frequency identiﬁcation) wristbands aren’t just for music

festivals. RFID can enhance your beer or wine event, your food festival,

or even your ﬁlm festival.

With RFID, attendees simply wave their wristband or badge over a

sensor to get in, making the entry experience seamless. No more

digging in purses to ﬁnd tickets, or struggling to make scanners

process wet or wrinkled barcodes. The tech can seamlessly handle

re-entry for multi-day events, or provide easy personalized access to

multiple zones within an event (like a VIP area).

This can provide a superior customer experience for your attendees.

When SnowGlobe music festival switched to RFID, they were able to

scan in more than 20 people per minute at each gate.

Beyond streamlining entry, RFID enables attendees to connect your

sponsors in new ways. Attendees can register their RFID wristband

or badge to link it with their email and credit card — opening up new

possibilities for fast, seamless interactions onsite.

Why is RFID Trending

Attendees speed

through entry

Sta can regulate

access control

Seamless cashless

purchase

Organizers score with

real-time data

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 11

Tre n d 0 4 Ta p p i n g i n ﬂ u e n ce r s to b oo s t awa re n e s s

Social inﬂuencer marketing has been generating a lot of buzz this year

— nearly 85% of marketers have plans to use some type of inﬂuencer

marketing in 2017.

Chances are, it’s already on your list of event

marketing tactics to try.

There’s good reason to invest in inﬂuencers: Eventbrite research shows

that events typically see 20% of their event page trac coming from

social media, where word of mouth is king.

Inﬂuencer and peer-to-peer endorsements on social media can be just

as eective as hiring a famous spokesperson. This is especially true

for events, as potential attendees are often looking for validation from

someone they trust before committing to a purchase.

Secret Summer, the ﬁrst farm-to-bar cocktail festival in NYC, is one

event that has seen success with inﬂuencer strategies to increase

retention — resulting in a high volume of returning attendees each year.

“Inﬂuencers are not only helping from a marketing standpoint and

getting the word out, but we are bringing them into the family that is

Secret Summer,” says Tyler Hollinger, owner of High Life Productions

and producer of Secret Summer. “Then in turn they are inviting their

communities to also like, share, buy a ticket and try some amazing NYC

born and bred cocktails culture.”

How to ﬁnd the right inﬂuencers

If your event is a food festival, your most important social media

inﬂuencers will probably be on Instagram, posting dramatic pictures

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 12

of sushi and cocktails. If you’re hosting a comedy showcase, the

biggest names might be on Twitter, sharing one-liners and video clips.

Secret Summer targets inﬂuencers on Instagram using hashtags like

#NYCcocktails and #NYCfoodie to ﬁnd inﬂuencers in their sweet spot

— cocktail focused, fashion forward, foodie centric, and NYC based.

Best-in-class inﬂuencer tools

SocialRank can help you pinpoint potential inﬂuential accounts within

your existing audience of fans and followers on Twitter and Instagram.

You can ﬁlter by information like location, follower numbers, bio

keywords, and engagement. You can also cross-check them against the

followers of similar events to ﬁnd relevant accounts to target.

Scrunch can help you ﬁnd and interact with inﬂuencers in your sphere.

Drill down to the right inﬂuencers based on bio keywords, topics the

inﬂuencers have posted about on social media or their blogs, and more.

You can then connect with your target inﬂuencers and manage the full

campaign process right through the platform.

SocialLadder lets you build an event promotion team from within your

ranks of fans. Recruit and enlist brand ambassadors — and arm them

with things like custom vanity promo codes to share with their friends

and followers on social media. A tool like this helps you activate an

already engaged fan base and incentivize them to spread the word.

StreetTeam is speciﬁcally designed for events and allows you to build

your own custom ambassador program. The software makes it easy to

create, recruit, manage, and reward your network of social advocates,

and you only pay when your ambassadors produce actual ticket sales.

SocialRank

Scrunch

SocialLadder

StreetTeam

Page 13Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals

Tre n d 0 5 Growing demand for VIP experiences

If your event doesn’t oer a VIP experience, you’re leaving money on

the table. VIP packages let you oer attendees the exact experience

they’re looking for — at the exact price they’re willing to pay.

In fact, Eventbrite’s research has found that VIP experiences account

for a sizeable chunk of money — 10% of ticket sales — and generate

approximately 25% of revenue. Meanwhile, if you don’t oer a VIP

option, some attendees may choose not to attend your event at all.

In a survey of 1,000 music festival attendees, a third of VIP ticket

buyers say the lack of a VIP package inﬂuences whether they’d attend

the festival at all.

Here’s how you can craft a VIP experience attendees are willing to

invest in.

Incorporate VIP touches

Consider taking an approach like Taste of DC, a multi-day culinary and

cultural event in the heart of the nation’s capital. The organizers at

Ta s te o f D C w a nt e d to m a k e su r e t h e i r d e v o t ed a t t en d ee s fe e l t h e l o v e .

To giv e a t t e nde e s a u n i q u e e xpe r i e n ce , t he y s ell a l imi t e d nu m b e r of V I P

tickets to culinary enthusiasts. These enthusiasts get to engage with

the region’s top chefs and master mixologists in an intimate setting.

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 14

Another way incentivize VIP buyers is by including admission to

exclusive, VIP-only events (or special access to main events). For

example, Arizona Beer Week sells VIP tickets to a Brewers Reception

the night before the main festival kicks o. Attendees are treated to live

music, 10 drink tickets, and a food voucher — in addition to their VIP

status at the main event.

Find the right price

Pricing is critical for VIP tickets. Price them too high and they might not

sell. Too low, and you won’t recoup your investment on the extra perks.

Keep in mind: 44% of festival fans are willing to spend 50% more on

VIP tickets, while 28% are willing to spend double. If you want fans to

splurge, invest in the perks they look for most: free booze and VIP only

lounges.

When you’re building your VIP oerings, highlight the most universally

valued elements of your VIP package in your marketing. For example,

you might highlight the exclusive access areas and complimentary

drinks to motivate people to purchase tickets.

You may also want to consider tiering your VIP oers based on the

amount attendees are willing to pay for certain elements. For example,

a VIP package with VIP check-in, bathrooms, and lounges may cost less

than a deluxe VIP package that also includes complimentary drinks or

parking.

One of the best ways to help your event grow is by upping your VIP

oerings. By doing so, you attract big spenders who are eager to invest

in their experience — and come back year after year.

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How VIPs value perks

VIP-Only Artist Lounge:

People willing to pay

more than double the

price for GA

Free booze: 42% of

festival goers would

pay 1.5x the GA ticket

price. 29% would pay

double

VIP-Only Viewing

Areas: 29% are willing

to pay double the price

of a GA ticket

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 16

Giveaways and discounts that generate buzz, build

community, and surface valuable data

0% 50% 100%

Tre n d 0 6

Ticket giveaways and upgrades are a tried-and-true staple — frequently

used to collect event-goers’ emails or motivate social sharing. But event

organizers are just beginning to explore the full power of giveaways,

both on social media and by partnering with sponsors at the event

itself.

On social media

Giveaways via social media are a smart way to grow your following,

increase awareness and ticket sales, and build excitement for your

event. Tyler Hollinger from Secret Summer adds a personalized

element to the event’s giveaways — sending individual direct messages

to more than 1,500 of their followers with exclusive discount codes

for the festival. Next, the festival surprises and delights followers who

interact on social media with ticket giveaways or other prizes.

Interested in promoting your event through a social giveaway? Try one

of these six strategies:

Basic enter-to-win sweepstakes – Sweepstakes are a quick, easy, and

familiar way to collect entries and email addresses. Just be sure to

indicate that people are opting into communication from you if you plan

to email them.

Retweet to win – Ask followers to retweet (RT) a speciﬁc tweet to enter

to win. To help grow your Twitter account at the same time, state in your

tweet that users need to follow and RT you to enter to win.

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 17

Hashtag contest – Incentivize some great user-generated content by

having your fans post photos to Twitter and/or Instagram with a certain

branded hashtag.

Snapchat drawing – Tap into your Snap followers’ artistic sides by

asking them to send a themed Snapchat drawing to your account.

Ta g a f r ie n d – E xp an d y o u r a cc o u n t r e ac h b y a sk i ng p e o p l e t o t a g t h e

friend they’d bring with them to your event if they won tickets.

Survey – Gain some insight into your potential event attendees by

asking them to ﬁll out a short survey, and randomly select a winner

from all those who participate.

Attendees aren’t the only ones who can beneﬁt from giveaways.

Make the most of the data you collected through your contest by

adding entrants to your email list and sending them oers like a small

discount code for tickets. After your event, share photos of your

winners enjoying the event on your social accounts.

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 18

With event sponsors

To give event-goers a truly memorable experience and add value for

your sponsors, consider partnering on a branded giveaway. Attendees

get a souvenir to remember your event, and sponsors can turn the

giveaway into a contest to collect attendee information.

The most successful sponsor swag giveaways are customized to your

event. For example, at the San Diego Comic Con in 2015, Nickelodeon

announced the reboot of the 90’s game show Legend of the Hidden

Temple. To promote the show, they built an elaborate set design and

encouraged attendees to take pictures. Even better, attendees could

print the pictures on t-shirts as souvenirs.

Your giveaway doesn’t have to be extravagant to make an impact.

Simply work with sponsors to consider small touches that are unique to

your event and their brand. If you’re a beer festival, give out coasters or

bottle openers. If you’re organizing a food festival, hand out aprons or

dish towels with the event and sponsors’ logos.

Of course, you can also go big with these oers. If your sponsor

is a hotel or airline, you could rae o a free trip after the event as a

way to keep attendees engaged (or motivate them to take a post-event

survey). For both you and your sponsors, these giveaways are

a powerful strategy to collect attendee data and drive

engagement year-round.

Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals Page 19

The Takeaway

To dierentiate yourself from other events, you need to

stay at the forefront of industry trends and innovation.

That means engaging attendees through giveaways

and inﬂuencers, o ering personalized and VIP

experiences, and — most important of all — choosing

event technology that can bring their dreams to life.

To ﬁ n d o u t m o re a b o u t h ow yo u c a n u s e t e c h n o l o g y t o

stay on top of the latest trends and grow your business,

http://mediakix.com/2016/09/10-top-inﬂuencer-marketing-statistics-for-2016-infographic/#gs.MdqiT50

Eventbrite research, 9 Simple Steps to Master Social Media for Events

https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/academy/hardcore-festies-most-valuable-fan-driving-todays-growth-in-music-festivals

https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/music-vip-ticket-buyers-infographic-ds00/

Page 20Eventbrite.com/blog Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals

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