Never Mind the Next Normal… Bring on the NEW NOW™

The world has changed. Humans have changed. And the way we design events and experiences has had to change right along with it. There’s an echo chamber on “the way things used to be” and “getting back to pre-2019,” but none of that addresses the current state of events and experiences. Rather than reflecting on a world that was, or trying to predict what the future holds, GES, a leading global provider of exhibition services, branded events and live event venue services is taking a major step toward embracing change, identifying new growth opportunities, and, ultimately, redefining what it means to “come together”, as it is NOW.

GES introduces its newest venture Spiro™, the brand experience agency for the NEW NOW™.

And, while all this NEW NOW change is at play in our human orbit, one more thing that we took for granted to be static and stable and has now irrevocably changed, is the focal point of our professional orbit- the definition of an event & experience.

As digital mediums became a required mechanism over the past two years, the very definition of event & experience has shifted to something that is not constrained by time and channels. In the NEW NOW, experiences meet audiences where they are – regardless of time, medium or geographic location.

The definition used to be: a gathering of people with shared interests in a specific location at a specific time. Events & experiences have a NEW NOW definition: a gathering of people with shared interests who meet in the mediums where they are.

In the NEW NOW, time and place have become up to the individual to decide what that means to them. Time and place are relative to the individual’s reference point. So, what does all of that really brainy stuff actually mean? Well, being at an event or having an experience can mean right here, right now, wherever I am. It can mean right here, wherever I am, but later. It can mean elsewhere and at another time - as in, somewhere and sometime out… There. All of relative ways to have experiences mean, wherever our THERE is, our experience can be.

Think about it in the frame of these truths:

Experiences now exist beyond time and channels. Experiences meet you where you are. Experiences transcend distance and spatial boundaries. Experiences are larger than physical and digital mediums.

THERE now exists across multiple dimensions. Whenever, wherever your THERE is, your experience can BE. We are together and remote, we are asynchronous and live, we can engage with experiences regardless of the time, place, space and medium we choose to participate from. This is what it means to be… THERE.

Therefore, (see what I did there?) THERE encompasses time, space, place, moments, locations, destinations, and experience- all in one relatively tiny word. And you know what else does? The definition of an event & experience: a gathering of people with shared interests who meet in the mediums where they are.

If you’re asking yourself, “What’s the point?”, consider this… two constants of our human condition during our fleeting and precious time here on earth are change and the drive for connection- connection to other humans, ideas, inspiration. There’s nothing more powerful.

So, in our NEW NOW, the purpose of event & experience is to connect, and to sustain and maintain that connection so that it becomes our community long after the event and experience is over- no matter how the mediums for delivery change or how asynchronously it’s delivered.

We, at Spiro, exist to deliver events & experiences that create connection and result in community, THERE. And we deliver that connection within the container of the NEW NOW definition of an event & experience, which is….the definition of THERE!