Is ‘TED Trending’ the Creative Answer?

by | Jul 7, 2015 | news fuse | 37 comments

Is TED the answer for conferences?

Trends come and go, as the saying goes; however, within the events industry they very rarely come round full circle. Whilst one might contemplate briefly why we do not return to the past, the more important question is why we consider trends at all.

A trend is at best, a ‘general direction in which something is developing or changing’, or at worst a ‘fashion’. The desire to analyse our profession is driven by what happens in other industries and leads to ‘Top Fives’ and Top Tens’ of trends. We are told that these significant trends are shaping the industry and we are encouraged to persuade clients to adopt them.

The TED Factor is a good example. Following the success of the TED Talks, the desire to incorporate the 18-minute presentation style, has been widespread. But is this desire to incorporate trends really good for events?

Surely, as a creative industry, we should be offering unique solutions that meet a client’s objectives, rather than simply persuading them to incorporate the latest trend into their event. It is important to understand that there is a difference between the strategies that we adopt to engage our audiences and the tools that we use to do so. The use of Big Data, planning to extend the life of an event beyond the single day, and integrating an event into a marketing programme, are all lessons learnt and worthy of adoption.

But, simply introducing a TED style talk or using social media for the ‘fashion’ value must be avoided at all costs. Establish the objectives of the client and design an event to meet them with creativity and flair. So, apologies in advance, but we wont be following any trends this year!

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