Yaron Lipshitz, CEO of Prismm, shares his insights on the year ahead, focusing on how emerging spatial design and AI technologies are transforming event planning. He highlights three key trends shaping this evolution: personalization, real-time collaboration, and immersive digital experiences.
This time last year, the Meetings Industry PULSE Survey (Jan 2024) showed a surge in event tech investment with 46% of planners intending to increase their tech spending, despite a cost-conscious environment. The latest PULSE Survey February 2025 reveals that while optimism has softened, event demand remains strong, reinforcing the critical role of technology in helping planners manage costs, streamline operations, and improve event execution. Instead of broad tech spending increases, planners are now prioritizing practical tech applications, focusing on areas like venue cost optimization, AV, and F&B management, highlighting a shift toward solutions that drive efficiency and deliver tangible ROI.
Looking ahead into 2025, the events industry will continue to embrace groundbreaking tech innovations. Yaron Lipshitz, CEO of Prismm, shares his insights on the year ahead, focusing on how emerging spatial design and AI technologies are transforming event planning. He highlights three key trends shaping this evolution: personalization, real-time collaboration, and immersive digital experiences. These trends reflect the growing demand for smarter, more adaptive technology solutions that not only enhance attendee experiences but also address the ongoing challenges in budget management, event operations, and maximizing ROI.
Spatial Design: The future is now!
Spatial design is not a buzzword; it’s already transforming industries outside hospitality, including real estate, manufacturing, healthcare, and education. It's becoming more affordable and user-friendly, making it possible for planners of all skill levels to get started and create stunning accurate designs without prior training.
Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions is that spatial design is futuristic, expensive, and only for experts. In reality, spatial design is far more accessible than industry standards like CAD and enables planners to create immersive, photorealistic designs at a fraction of the price and doesn’t require special training to operate.
Another misconception is that spatial design technology is a ‘nice-to-have.’ Spatial design has evolved to become a ‘must-have.’ The business impact it brings is undeniable. It’s not just about adding technology; it’s about improving workflows, enhancing creativity, and streamlining event planning, making it an indispensable tool for today’s industry. Spatial design is all about crafting experiences, which has become a key asset in today’s experience-driven economy.
Lights, Camera, 3D Action! The Future is Visual
3D visualization has been around for a while with the real estate industry leading the way. Today, 60% of real estate transactions begin with a virtual tour and properties sell up to 31% faster when marketed this way. People want to see a space before committing time to visit it in person. While static 3D visualization works well for real estate, events require something more dynamic to capture their consistently evolving process.
In 2025, 3D visualization for events will move beyond static designs to dynamic, flexible visuals. This means transforming spaces in multiple ways—whether for different layouts, styles, or purposes. Whether it's a wedding, corporate event, or bar mitzvah, visualizing a space as it will look for its intended purpose brings it to life in a way static designs can’t. This shift from static to dynamic visualization is revolutionizing how 3D tech is applied in events.
AI: Your New Best Friend in 2025
One of the most exciting trends for 2025 is the growing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) In the past, creating layouts and designs required significant manual effort and expertise, but AI is democratizing event planning tools, making AI advances accessible to everyone. It can assist in designing layouts, conceptualizing events, and visualizing the final designs, thus streamlining the entire event process.
AI will streamline workflows, enhance operational efficiency, and boost creativity, especially in tasks like immersive experiences and logistics. While AI’s full potential is still unfolding, its impact is already being felt. In 2025, AI will have a growing impact in the consumer sector, where users will discover and test new applications to see how they impact their daily lives. AI will continue to help businesses like venues, event planners, and other event stakeholders streamline the process from inspiration to execution. As AI continues to advance, it will optimize areas like lead generation, content creation, and customer service.
Big Experiences, Small Budget – Powered by Innovation
In 2025, event planners will continue to focus on improving operational efficiency and leveraging technology to reduce costs, while enhancing the customer experience. The hospitality and events industries are labor-intensive, with high capital expenditures on food and beverages, so streamlining operations without sacrificing quality is essential.
Investing in technology that automates manual processes provide businesses with a competitive advantage. Tools that enable remote collaboration and virtual site inspections can reduce the need for physical visits, leading to cost savings, for teams and better resource optimization. This enables companies to sell more events faster than their competitors and spend more time creating events that delight customers and drive repeat business and positive word-of-mouth marketing.
Planners and venues should focus on collaborating more effectively with stakeholders to distribute workloads. By targeting high-margin opportunities, like weekday or corporate events, rather than just weekend events, venues can increase profitability. Additionally, using visualization technologies to repurpose spaces for different events—such as corporate meetings, awards dinners, or nonprofit gatherings—can diversify revenue streams and boost margins. Ultimately, it's about using technology to work smarter, not harder
Future-Proofing Your Events
Many venues today have already invested in the foundational infrastructure like CRM systems and lead generation software. However, to stay ahead, venues need to focus on tools that enhance these capabilities with AI and other technologies. These tools can dramatically improve efficiency, enhance customer experience, and generate revenue.
Visualization plays a key role in this evolution. Event success is rooted in experiences, and the ability to visualize these experiences can help set clear expectations and close deals. When you can immerse stakeholders in a vision of an event, it becomes easier to build trust and deliver exceptional service.
Green & Clean: Sustainability in Event Planning
Sustainability is no longer just a trend—it’s a necessity. With the growing demand for eco-conscious events, professionals can leverage technology to help venues operate more sustainably. Event professionals can now embrace sustainability across all aspects of event planning using spatial technology. Virtual tours and digital collaboration through digital twins minimize travel, save time, cut costs, and reduce CO2 emissions.
At Prismm, we go beyond simply supporting these practices. Our spatial design technology allows you to optimize every aspect of your event - from booth layouts to seating arrangements and waste management systems - reducing waste and energy use while minimizing your carbon footprint. By meticulously planning every detail, you can avoid unnecessary materials, meals, and services, cutting waste, and alleviating unnecessary pressure on the planet. In today’s sustainability-conscious economy, this enables you to attract more buyers.
Becoming Smarter, Faster, and More Fun
There are two reasons for optimism in 2025. First, the stock market shows signs of optimism, with expectations that the economy will grow, and inflation and interest rates will continue to drop. Areas like tourism and in-person events continue to grow post the pandemic.
Secondly, I am optimistic about the rapid emergence of new technologies - technologies that will make businesses more efficient, enabling them to deliver faster and better services. We are already amid a new industrial revolution driven by AI. AI is now handling a significant portion of search queries, marking a huge shift in how people do things.
Historically, technological changes like this create a new ecosystem of talent. People will need to leverage these tools to provide higher value in new ways. Just as the car replaced horse-drawn carriages and created new opportunities like mechanics and gas stations, the web didn’t eliminate jobs. Instead, it enhanced work and created new opportunities. Similarly, AI and other technological advancements will create new roles and make processes more efficient.
2025 Event Challenges: How to beat them
One major challenge the events industry faces in 2025 is the rising cost of labor, driven by inflation and, in the US, changes in immigration policies. The industry is already experiencing a labor shortage, which could worsen.
To stay competitive, businesses will need to leverage technology to improve efficiency. For example, robots are already being used to assist with tasks like bussing tables, and this trend is expected to grow. It’s about using technology to make workers more efficient and reduce dependence on labor as a cost driver.
Why Prismm will be your key Partner for success in 2025
Prismm already supports around 40,000 users each month, helping them streamline tasks, save time, cut costs, and close more deals. As we move into 2025, Prismm will remain instrumental in improving the efficiency of planners and venues, further optimized by new technological innovations. Our focus is to empower venues, planners, and all event professionals to reach greater business success.
One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is the rebrand of Allseated to Prismm. Allseated was not acquired – the company remains independent and many of the team that brought Allseated to market continue the work of Prismm. The rebrand was a strategic decision to symbolize our transition from a tactical floor planning solution to a comprehensive spatial design platform. Prismm now provides value across every stage of the event lifecycle—from operational efficiencies in planning and design to creating and booking more business in marketing and sales.
I am equally proud of our focus on sustainability, using digital twins that facilitate remote collaboration and more sustainable event planning. This aligns with our broader vision of linking spatial design experiences to the entire event process, ensuring efficiency, sustainability, and a unified platform for planners and venues alike.
In 2024, the Prismm team dedicated significant time to analyzing the industry, researching user’s needs, and developing a strategic roadmap that leverages cutting-edge technological innovations to propel the industry forward. 2025 promises to be an exciting year for Prismm, with several upcoming releases aimed at revolutionizing hospitality and event planning, positioning both Prismm and its clients for substantial growth in the years ahead.
