Michael Cerbelli has been turning meeting planners’ heads since he first took the stage 18 years ago with his annual list of the latest trends sure to inspire, engage and mesmerize attendees during events. This year, technology played a larger role than ever in the trends revealed during Michael Cerbelli’s: The Hot List^™: 2019 presentation at the San Diego Convention Center. Cerbelli picked six event tech innovations to share.

Visual Comet products turn events into experiences. I love new ways to present experiences to my clients and the LED Video Tunnel and LED Video Bar are two MC Approved ideas that were showcased at the 18th Annual: Michael Cerbelli’s: The Hot List™: 2019 debut in San Diego.

Meeting planners in the Meetings Today Market Trends Survey respond as to how to obtain free or reduced Wi-Fi.

Even the best laid plans for a meeting or event can be thrown asunder in the blink of an eye, or the pop of a circuit, if the on-site internet or power source suddenly goes bust. The December 27, 2018 report that internet and phone service from CenturyLink suddenly went out throughout much of its system undoubtedly caught many unawares. What should meeting and event planners do on-site if the internet goes out?

The issue of cybersecurity came back to the fore in November 2018 with the revelation of a massive data breach of Marriott’s Starwood-branded hotels. The information of up to 500 million guests was compromised in the data breach. And let's not forget the whole 2018 Facebook data fiasco.

Meetings Today reached out to Brian Friedman, vice president of digital innovation at event management software company Aventri to get his forecast on the top event technology trends.

When I first saw Sugar Cubes by Symmetry Labs, I saw more than a pretty light show. I saw backdrops that turned into art installations, lights that turned into dance and amazed looks. “Woah, that is cool!” was the typical exclamation I overheard from event participants.

The twisting of reality is becoming common practice in the meeting, tradeshow, event and exhibition world. By using an ever-evolving array of technology such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, users can enter worlds created from scratch to entertain, provide demonstrations and eventually sell a concept or product. But how “realistic” is the implementation of this technology? What is each good at doing and what drawbacks are endemic to which specific medium?

The expert of record for all things meetings tech for more than 20 years, Corbin Ball—owner of Corbin Ball & Co.—has ingrained himself in the meetings industry on a global level. An inveterate traveler—he spends about a third of his time on the road every year—Ball recently received the highest honor in the industry after being inducted into the Events Industry Council’s (EIC) Hall of Leaders.

About two-years ago I was introduced to AllSeated. I fell in love with it in 20 minutes after playing with its intuitive operating system. AllSeated is one of the fastest growing networks for the event industry. With designed and scaled floor plans in the system—tens of thousands are currently available—and a reach of over 500,000 users, AllSeated provides cloud-based tools to run an event.