Attendee demographics are shifting, and so are their preferences. Here’s how to design event experiences that appeal to the new generation of attendees—and how “The 6ix” can help.
For the first time in history, there are five generations in the workforce, and Gen Z is moving rapidly toward making up the majority. The generation’s presence is impacting everything—including how we plan business events.
“As meetings and events attract more attendees from younger generations, planners should rethink their event design to keep them engaged,” said Sabrina Cristiano, assistant director, event coordination at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC). “This is where festivalization can play a key role.”
“Festivalized events often have multiple stages, shorter, more engaging presentations (15 minutes or less), and dynamic formats like live polls and audience feedback,” says Laura Purdy, general manager at Exhibition Place. “These events emphasize interaction and movement, offering a variety of content on diverse stages, creating a more immersive experience.”
“We’ll need to keep pushing the boundaries of traditional formats, focusing on creating dynamic and immersive experiences”
- Sabrina Cristiano, Assistant Director, Event Coordination at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC)
1. Activate everything
“It’s very simple,” said Tony Gallagher, senior business development manager at GES, a global tradeshow and exhibitions that proudly services Toronto’s biggest convention centres and many other local venues. “Themes and activations attract huge crowds.”
“We’ve brought in things like claw machines, popcorn makers and ice cream carts on wheels that are pushed down the aisles on the show floor,” said Nasera Pirbhai, design manager at GES. “These are just little components that are making a huge difference in booth activations. It’s simple, but it’s getting people’s attention and getting them involved in the show, and they’re making this fun memory that makes them want to come back.”
A shining example of thematic activations? MTCC’s events centered around Taylor Swift’s six-night takeover of Toronto on The Eras Tour.
“In November, we hosted Taylgate, an event designed for Taylor Swift fans. The event featured many festival-style elements, including a repurposed subway-car-turned-silent-disco, makeup stations, karaoke, social media backdrop stations, a bracelet-making station and more.”
2. Innovate your tech
Events that leverage the most exciting developments in tech are automatically going to be appealing.
“We’ll need to keep pushing the boundaries of traditional formats, focusing on creating dynamic and immersive experiences,” says Cristiano. “Tools like virtual and augmented reality, gamification, and personalized data are allowing us to create interactive, memorable events that truly connect with today’s tech-savvy meeting and event attendees.”
Even something as simple as LED walls, lighting, video displays and virtual branding combine Gen Z’s tech-first mindset with their preferred method of consuming content.
Some examples from the MTCC include 360° photo booths, LED backdrops, holograms, VR/AR experiences and games on the show floor. These all create “highly shareable moments for social media,” Cristiano said, because to truly be future-focused, you have to keep social media in mind as well.
Make sure your event offers something truly original to create those if I don’t capture this now, I’ll never get to again moments.
3. Ensure education is energizing
Gone are the days of theater-style seating arrangements and speakers who lecture.
“Salesforce incorporates ‘sessions in the round,’ using AV to enhance audience engagement, along with app-based audience interaction,” says Purdy of the one-day event that welcomed 4,600 delegates to Exhibition Place.
Collision, “The Olympics of Tech,” hosted at Exhibition Place for four years, prioritized energetic education, which saw nearly 38,000 attendees in 2024. How do you keep that many people engaged in education?
“Collision used multiple stages and thematic content streams, with an event app directing attendees to stages, allowing them to engage with various content dynamically across the show floor,” says Purdy. The event hosted 570 speakers over three days and education sessions varied in length, some as short as 15 minutes.
Of increasing importance is the need to explore unique session styles and formats that include more entertaining and interactive elements for attendees. Live polls, video snippets, audience participation and even surprise physical moments such as dance breaks or stretching can help break up education sessions and keep attendees engaged.
4. Have fun with F&B
“We are very much a diverse culture in Toronto,” Gallagher said. “And we have the privilege of having so many different culinary experiences other cities haven’t had yet.”
Many events at MTCC choose to showcase the diverse culinary flavors of Toronto, says Cristiano, which adds a unique F&B element to events that also taps into the destination experience. They’ve hosted Street Foods of Toronto lunches or offered in-house culinary tours of Toronto.
“In the fall, we welcomed PRI in Person, the world’s leading responsible investment conference. This event featured a unique food experience, with stations across the show floor serving exclusively vegan and vegetarian dishes inspired by global cuisines, including Portugal, India, Italy and more,” Cristiano said.
Make it fun, make it interactive and make sure you can eat standing up.
Oak View Group (OVG), the official caterer of Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place, now offers convenient grab-and-go options in sustainable serveware—including premium in-house sushi rolls by local, woman-owned Roll This Way.
5. Step up your setups
“You could have a 15-by-15-foot space, but if you do something different with it, people are going to come in,” Pirbhai said. Think out-of-the-box: Cupcake walls, oxygen bars and park greenery/zen wellness areas.
Events at the MTCC often incorporate themed social spaces such as dedicated lounges with soft seating, networking hubs and social media-friendly spaces for live streaming and content creation.
“We offer flexible and versatile spaces that can easily be customized, and our partnerships with great suppliers like Encore and GES can bring creative elements to life,” Cristiano said. “We’ve also seen unique wellness-focused spaces, including quiet rooms, created to ensure attendee comfort.”
6. Organize offsite events and afterparties
Today’s attendees want unique networking opportunities and a chance to experience the destination. Organizing offsite events and afterparties gives your attendees the opportunity to get out and explore, and they often add an exciting element that feels more like play than work.
Collision, for example, organized afterparties at STACKT Market, a 100,000-square-foot shipping-container marketplace with art, retail, events and public space where attendees can enjoy good food, an onsite brewery, live music and a drone show. The conference also took advantage of all the available space on Exhibition Place’s campus, creating “offsite” events and afterparties right outside the convention center doors.
“There was such an environment at Exhibition Place [for Collision],” Gallagher said. “It wasn’t just the buildouts. There was an afterhours club with some music, outdoor activities and a food truck bonanza.”
