The meetings and events market is optimistic heading into 2026. With projections reaching $43 billion globally, demand isn’t disappearing. But budgets remain tight, scrutiny is higher, and expectations have fundamentally changed.
Audiences are no longer satisfied with a good talk and many speakers are still delivering as if it’s 2015. Here’s where the gap is showing up most clearly.
Most speakers are still delivering their presentations as if eloquence alone is enough. It’s not.
Audiences are consuming world-class storytelling every day: Netflix, YouTube, podcasts, social feeds. When speakers step on stage with flat delivery, predictable pacing, and low emotional range, the comparison is immediate and unforgiving.
Too many speakers:
If you want to see what exceptional looks like, study storytellers who can move a room in under 90 seconds:
Clint Pulver sharing his Mr Jensen story and James Lawrence talking about “The Bully Lives in Your Head”
Expectation shift: Audiences expect speakers to perform, not just present.
Audiences do not want to sit back and passively consume content. They want to feel part of the experience.
This is where many speakers miss the mark:
These approaches no longer create energy or connection. Audiences expect involvement that feels meaningful and worth their attention.
Expectation shift: Engagement must feel intentional, not obligatory.
Beyond involvement, audiences are responding to interaction that surprises them and pulls them fully into the moment.
What stands out today is interaction that is:
You can see this kind of creativity in action with Ty Bennett, whose unexpected interaction instantly shifts the energy in the room, or Diana Kander, whose audience moments turn listeners into participants in a way that feels natural and powerful.
Audiences are far less patient with generic content. They want speakers to understand their world and reflect it back to them quickly.
What still happens too often:
The speakers who customize deeply stand out. Watch how Mike Walsh tailors his AI message to the organization and the moment, or how Tim Sanders’ AI conversations evolve with the audience and the year. That level of relevance is no longer a bonus. It is the baseline.
The speakers who succeed in this next era will not be the ones with the most slides or the longest track record. They will be the ones who design their talks as experiences, create meaningful involvement, build interaction with intention, and customize deeply for the audience in the room.
This is what audiences now expect. It can no longer be the exception.