Tech may be on the tip of everyone’s tongue these days, but next year, lean into the people that make your meetings special.

By Ernie Smith

We talk so much about artificial intelligence in the meetings space (and, well, seemingly everywhere else) that it can feel like we’ve forgotten who we’re actually building for.

That’s right, the humans that actually show up at your event. With all the chatter around tech, it’s essential that don’t lose sight of why we’re actually there.

With that in mind, here are five emerging trends that have nothing to do with tech:

1. The Power of Micro-Events

Yes, it’s impressive that we can gather 30,000 attendees at a gigantic convention center. But there’s something equally powerful in an event built around fewer than 200 people.

Mahoganey Jones, CMP, DES, HMCC, the founder of Event Specialists and a longtime advocate for smaller-scale events, says micro-events allow attendees to be “intentionally human.”

“The magic comes from intimacy, agility, and clarity. People actually talk to one another and ask questions,” she says. “They build relationships. They get value without feeling overwhelmed.”

Can you translate this approach to your trade show strategy? Definitely, says Jakob Dyrbye, the Denmark-based founder of the exhibit design business Faust Dyrbye and The Trade Show Academy, an exhibitor training initiative.

“There should be a combination of big trade shows,” he says. “And then an objective could be, if you go to a trade show, to invite visitors that are relevant to you to a micro event.”

But even if you keep it focused on the convention center, Jones says that intentional design approaches, such as localized “neighborhoods,” can make events feel more personal.

2. An emphasis on the experiential

It’s understandable if you’ve seen a Casper nap bar or a Stranger Things pop-up and wished you could steal some of its ideas, you’re not alone. It’s definitely possible to take notes from experiential events, Jones says.

“Experiential marketers understand something core: People don’t remember schedules, they remember feelings,” Jones says. “Traditional event planners can learn a lot from that.”

But Dyrbye cautions that just because you can go experiential doesn’t mean you should. “You need to ask one simple question before going experiential,” he says. ”Why is the visitor there? What are they expecting to gain from their time?”

That said, if you can validate an extra splash, experiential has its place.

“We fight for the visitor’s time, and then we fight for their memory,” he says. “That’s where experiential comes in.”

3. A focus on sustainability

Big events have come with big sustainability challenges. Tweaking your supply chain and picking a central location helps, but there are lots of other practical strategies, too—such as rethinking your displays.

“We make our printed graphics generic so they can be used for two years, five years,” Dyrbye says. “Then we use screens as placeholders for adjustable, exchangeable messaging. That means we don’t have to throw away, print, and then reprint.”

Big events still matter, says Jones, but given travel’s environmental impact, they should take place less often—while carrying more impact. Small events could be essential for filling the gap.

“What I see emerging is a hybrid mindset: Major annual gatherings supported by strategic micro-events throughout the year,” Jones says. “This creates consistent touchpoints, spreads travel demands, and ultimately reduces the environmental load while increasing value.”

4. Embracing the power of mentoring

Meetings bring together different generations—old timers, first-timers, and everyone in-between. But if your first-timers feel lost, odds are they might not become second-timers. That’s why mentoring matters so much—and why, according to Dyrbye, it stings so much when things are out of sync.

“You have the venue, you have the organizer, you have the exhibitor, and you have the attendee,” he says. “Those four can, in worst-case scenarios, be totally unaligned when it comes to objectives and purposes.”

That’s where event design tricks like guided networking sessions can help, says Jones: “At professional events, especially association meetings, the goal should be to create purposeful pathways for new and returning attendees to find each other.”

Dyrbye suggests training first-time attendees might even prove effective.

“It could be a webinar, it could be physical,” he says. “That should help make it even more irresistible that you invest.”

5. Making room for slower events

Is 2026 the year when you put on an event with a lot more unstructured time? The trend towards “slow meetings” has very much been on the rise in recent years—and it contrasts with the ultra-packed schedules of many annual meetings.

Your attendees might appreciate the extra time—and the exhibitors will love it, says Dyrbye.

“If you make a packed schedule with keynotes that everybody wants to see, then for at least half an hour or an hour, nobody will be visiting exhibitors who just paid a fortune to be there,” he says.

Jones says that it’s important to not treat less-structured events as “less-designed” than other types of events. After all, choosing not to heavily structure an event is a choice.

“When planners give people breathing room, they also give them the chance to form meaningful connections, which is the true ROI of most professional events,” she says.

Making better events means making more time for the people that matter.