Event trends 2027: how to apply them in six small steps

Attendees with a goal: measure what they come for

What’s happening? Your attendees have already read the program, looked up the speakers on LinkedIn, and had AI summarize the key points. All before they even walk through the door. According to RainFocus, the average number of sessions attended dropped from 5.3 to 4.2 per attendee, while the number of scheduled meetings tripled. So people are still coming, they’re just somewhere else. And according to Freeman, people who stay away mostly do so because the value isn’t clear enough.

Your experiment. Add one extra question to your registration form: what do you want to take home afterward? New knowledge (and if so, about what?), new connections, or a solution to a concrete problem? Come back to this in your evaluation. So not “how satisfied were you?” but: “you were looking for this value. Did you find it?”

With a smart registration form, you ask for exactly the information you need. And by setting up conditions and dependencies, you keep the form from becoming long and cluttered. Afterward, you automatically send people an evaluation, and you can segment them based on the answer they gave in the form. Then you check the feedback. Did your event deliver on its promise? That immediately becomes input for your next event.

Phone-free events: fewer screens call for better preparation and follow-up

What’s happening? During the next keynote, try looking out at the room instead of at the speaker. Chances are a good portion of the audience is checking their email or scrolling through LinkedIn. Attention is scarce. On the consumer side, phone-free events grew by a whopping 567% (although from a low base). In the Netherlands, there’s now also The Offline Club, which organizes phone-free events for teams and organizations. In B2B, it’s still an early signal, but one worth keeping a close eye on.

Your experiment. You don’t have to collect everyone’s phone right away. Try one phone-free half-day, or set up a phone-free zone: a kind of quiet car for conversations. Then measure the difference: how many conversations took place, and how do both half-days score in your evaluation?

But events without screens actually call for stronger digital follow-up. Tell attendees in your confirmation email what they can expect and why the event is worth their time. And make sure the slides, summaries, and other interesting insights land in their inbox automatically afterward. That way, everyone can truly be present during the event, with peace of mind.

Sustainability: from green gesture to measurable budget

What’s happening? Sustainability has been showing up on trend lists for years and is increasingly becoming the new normal. Transparency and measurability are becoming more and more important. A great example is the carbon budget: instead of offsetting your CO₂ emissions afterward, you set a hard limit in advance on the emissions your event is allowed to produce. You manage it just as strictly as your financial budget. Still, two things hold many organizers back: tight budgets and the fear of being accused of greenwashing.

Your experiment. How can you put sustainability into practice? Start by measuring, because without data, there’s no carbon budget. In your registration form, ask how attendees are traveling to your event: by car, public transit, bike, or plane. Check this again in the evaluation after your event. After just one event, you’ll have your first baseline measurement.

Small changes already make a difference when it comes to sustainability. One example is our own Event Check-in. By printing badges on site, you avoid incorrect or unnecessarily printed badges. Or choose Check-in Mobile and digitize the entire check-in process. That way, you save a lot of paper right away.

Organizer well-being: doing more with less stress

What’s happening? In recent years, we’ve seen more and more wellness elements showing up at events. From quiet zones to yoga or Pilates sessions. But what still often goes overlooked is the well-being of event managers themselves. For example, 86% of event managers run on six hours of sleep or less right before an event. And 81% name last-minute changes as the biggest cause of sleepless nights.

Your experiment. Look back at your previous to-do lists. Chances are they include manual tasks that come up regularly and still take more time than you think. For example, sending save-the-dates, payment reminders, or invoices. The list is probably longer than you’d expect. Next, you can look at how to automate the most common tasks.

At aanmelder.nl, the software is designed for exactly this: taking manual work and cumbersome processes off your hands, so you can focus on the event itself. From smart, automated email communication to ticketing combined with financial administration that’s almost entirely taken care of for you.

AI that does the work for you: getting started with MCPs

What’s happening? AI has been on the rise for years. But where we used to mostly have conversations with ChatGPT, we’re now moving more and more toward AI that actually carries out tasks for you. One way to do this is with MCPs (Model Context Protocols). You connect your tools to an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT, give it an instruction, and the AI takes care of the rest. Think of automatic weekly reports based on your key metrics, or automating your venue search.

At the same time, the playing field is becoming more tightly regulated. Since August 2, 2026, broader transparency requirements have applied under the EU AI Act. For example, attendees need to know when they’re communicating with AI.

Your experiment. Tools like Canva and Gmail/Google Calendar already have an MCP. For example, you can ask AI to find a specific email and add the appointment to your calendar, or to create a new design. Note-taking apps like Notion also have an MCP, so you can quickly turn rough text into structured notes.

Fun fact that we’re secretly very excited about: aanmelder.nl is currently working on its own MCP as well. Soon, you’ll be able to manage your events right from your AI assistant. Keep an eye on our website and socials for the latest news.