Some highlights from the Convention 2020 research study, conducted by Fast Future Research and sponsored by IMEX, ICCA, and others:

• We will see more smaller, specialized meetings.

• Quality of networking will be the single biggest factor influence meeting attendance.

• Live video streaming, social networking and mobile event content will be the most popular forms of meeting technology.

• Technology will help event organizers capture and analyze every activity, presentation and conversation at their meetings.

• Ethical and environmental factors will continue to influence meeting attendance.

• Venues at schools, universities and colleges will offer the most competition to convention centers.

I guess what surprises me most about these findings is how the meetings of 2020 look so much like the meetings of 2010. For example…

Smaller, more specialized meetings? Aren’t we seeing this already? It’s not simply that corporate downsizing and declining enrollments in member-based organizations will be with us for the foreseeable future (though they will). As meetings grew along with the rest of the economy, they overextended their reach and lost touch with their attendees. There was an increasing emphasis on sizzle at the expense of steak. Regardless, energy costs and environmental concerns will trump all. See below.

What’s driving attendance today at growth meetings and events is a greater emphasis on user-generated content, unleashing people’s passions, and a renewed focus on actually accomplishing objectives (applying what was learned back at ‘the office’). Consider SXSW (http://sxsw.com/), which has become more commercialized over the years but still exudes plenty of street cred among devotees. SXSW is more than just a music festival. It’s a film festival, an incubator for new technology and ideas, an expo for all types of products and services, and more. It’s several convergent communities rolled into a rockin’ good time.

Quality networking a key driver of attendance? Duh. I’ve always maintained that folks attend meetings for one of two reasons and they’re opposite sides of the same coin: Formal learning and informal learning. Formal leaning, as in formal education programs, is old school, though it needs fresh thinking in it’s approach. Informal learning (networking) is gaining in importance because that’s where the knowledge tansfer is greater. Simple as that. Now all you have to do is figure out how to nurture it and then harness it.

Technology plays at meetings? We’re pretty much there. What’ll most likely happen is some new disruptive technology will come along, diplacing what we currently use. And it’ll be brought to you by Google.

Environmental issues driving meeting decisions? Really? Won’t we have solved the energy crisis by then? It’s only 10 years from now. This rates another, duh.

I could go on, but you get the point. Either this future research is shortsighted or we need to be thinking longer and harder about the future of meetings.