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The three vanguards of immersive technology – AI, VR and augmented reality – have cast aside the image of being luxuries and are forcing their way into the business plans of multiple industries. Research into new VR tech alone is set to reach $26.89bn by 2022, according to market researchers, and this interest is already showing, with the likes of HTC set to release industry-changing VR tech, such as wifi adapters, in 2019. One industry that can take advantage like few others is events management and hosting, and through novel tech advances, change has already arrived.

Revolutionizing casino events

The events industry has a huge reliance on show-piece exhibits, such as those found in Vegas. This had led to increasingly extravagant events for casino operators looking to get ahead of the pack, hosting sophisticated, glitzy parties and winning lucrative corporate contracts. Already VR is making an impact in the sector, providing casino goers with bespoke experiences that tailor to their data and desired experience. Location based entertainment VR (LBE) is a new technology but is, according to Forbes, being pursued with great interest in the city. Few technologies will aid casino operators in providing the ultra-high quality customer service and bespoke treatment that keeps gamblers returning. Expect to see further integration as next-gen VR technology, such as Google Daydream, start to find general release.

Using AI to develop corporate events

Like party and corporate event hosting, training workshops and other office-related industry events are a huge business. AI has been a factor at these events for a while now; last year, British events guru EventBrite suggested forward-thinking companies should deploy chat bots to engage with attendees and keep things interesting. On a meta level, new innovations are helping to create even further changes. IBM, who have been developing Project Debater since 2012, have now developed their AI to the point that they feel it would be effective in day-to-day logical arguments. For team building, research and company-wide events, it’s entirely possible that cutting edge AI will form part of the experience and help seasoned professionals to continue their development. 

The bridge – augmented reality

AR gets arguably less airtime than its full-experience cousin, VR, and the technology that’s driving some high profile changes, AI. However, in the events hosting industry it is set to make big waves through, again, new innovations. Local authorities in Cleveland, US, have recently experienced innovation through a local company employing AR to deal with day-to-day work tasks. This can, and will, according to Exhibitor Online, move into the events industry. Intrinsic abilities of AR, including field of vision instructions and voice and touch activated commands, lend themselves perfectly to live corporate events. As fidelity related to user feedback improves, as does the portability , expect events to become AR first.

The events management industry is competitive and demands that those involved are actively looking for new ways in which to get ahead. The three main immersive technologies provide the perfect vehicle through which to achieve this. Signs are that, already, wide scale changes are afoot.