INSIGHT Premiere Takeaways: Predictions and Advice for 2025 Events

Yesterday’s INSIGHT Premiere marked the kickoff of our annual INSIGHT program. RainFocus CMO Ashleigh Cook led the discussion, which featured event experts Heather Schneider from Celonis and Devin Cleary from CyberArk. 

We dove into trends from our Events and Marketing Strategy Survey and shared best practices for using AI, maximizing budget, and personalizing attendee journeys. Here are a few key takeaways: 

Top Trends in the Events Industry

The conversation began with predictions for 2025. Our experts predicted the following: 

1. Event teams will move away from a one-size-fits-all event approach and focus on personalization. They must strike a balance between templatizing events and providing bespoke attendee experiences.
2. There will be a greater effort to optimize virtual events for greater accessibility.
3. Teams will begin delivering more non-traditional sessions, bringing new individuals to the forefront of the event. 
4. Data protection will remain top of mind. 
5. Companies will continue to see success from hosting pre- and post-event experiences online. 

How Do You Make the Most of Your Investment in AI? 

In 2024, the number of event professionals using AI doubled from 16% to 34%, but a significant number of companies have yet to embrace these technologies. “There needs to be organization governance and different AI personas because every employee will use AI differently,” Schneider noted. Understanding how each persona will use it can help your organization create a more comprehensive rollout strategy. 

Both panelists encouraged event professionals to seek out a wide range of AI tools that are applicable to event marketing. “Don’t let your four walls of work be your limitation,” Cleary said, pointing to tools available for presentation-building, creating graphics, and sourcing royalty-free music that can help event teams.

Recommendations for Extending Your Event Budget

While many event teams expect to see a flat budget next year, 31% expect an increase. For both groups, rising costs and the continued growth of in-person events will require strategies for making the most of all available funds. Cleary and Schneider recommended the following: 

1. Work with partner brands to supplement costs at third-party events (e.g., trading off who purchases floor space each year).
2. Consider restaurants and other venues outside of events for sponsored experiences. Or take a “tiny house” approach and look for ways to use smaller spaces more efficiently. 
3. Reuse and repurpose activations wherever possible.
4. Leverage virtual options to deliver messaging to larger audiences at a lower cost.

Maximizing Event Data

The RainFocus Events and Marketing Strategy Survey results showed that audience segmentation and personalization were the top use cases. Our panelists offered timely tips for increasing personalization. 

“We have to move away from standardized events,” Schneider said. “We have to take the data and look at who we want to reach and determine ‘why’ we want to reach out. If you do this, your message is going to stick with your audience a lot better.” 

“The biggest mistake event organizers make is sharing the wrong information,” Cleary added, explaining that sharing behavioral data is better than sharing answers to preference questions.  “Go-to-market needs information of which sessions attendees went to, not just what they said in registration,” he explained. “We need to source data that we’re actually going to use.”

Want to learn more? Watch INSIGHT Premiere on demand here. 

For more expert advice and best practices, register and attend our INSIGHT conference. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet the world’s top event thought leaders and hear about their strategies for 2025.