Looking Back at the 2016 Federal Events Market

It's the time of year when everyone finds themselves wondering how time went by so fast and what the new year will bring. We thought we'd jump on the bandwagon of reflection with a look back at the federal event market predictions we made at the beginning of 2016.

Here's a re-cap of the predictions and what really happened in the past 12 months:

Prediction 1: More creativity in events - We did see many events shaking up their normal routines and adding more interactive sessions and more social media to shows. Amazon Web Services used a social media center to share conference information and activity as it was happening at their annual public sector event. We're looking forward to seeing the reaction to ASAE's unconference format that will be introduced this May in Washington, DC.[Tweet "What the new year will bring for #Federal events. #GovEventsBlog"]

Prediction 2: Cybersecurity remains hot - Nearly a quarter of all events posted on GovEvents last year were cyber-related. We predicted that cyber events would be more tactical and less theoretical to support the action-oriented plans of federal IT teams.[Tweet "Nearly 1/4 of all events posted on GovEvents in 2016 were cyber-related. #GovEventsBlog"] The events held in October (Cybersecurity Awareness month) alone show that trend did in fact take hold. Hands on training and shared best practices were a big part of the events held throughout the year.

Prediction 3: Video - We predicted a growth in video use at government events. While 2016 saw an explosion of video use in general, thanks in great part to the launch of Facebook Live, we've not seen a big increase in its use in federal events...yet.[Tweet "A re-cap of #government #events predictions and what really happened in 2016. #GovEventsBlog"]

Prediction 4: Physical security - We thought that physical security concerns would take a prominent role in event planning in 2016. However, we did not see or hear about any new or extraordinary measures being taken throughout the year. While security of attendees is always a paramount concern, there were no major trends or changes in this area.

Looking back, we did fairly well in our prognosticating. We were most excited to see the willingness to refresh events, trying new technologies and techniques and look forward to continued experimentation in 2017. Stay tuned for an upcoming post with our thoughts on what we think will be the hallmarks of the 2017 government event year.