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The 2020 pandemic forced the event industry to rely on new event technologies to survive. Virtual platforms, hybrid formats, virtual reality worlds, and even blockchain-based ticketing were presented as miracle solutions at a critical time. While some of these tools served their purpose temporarily, many failed to deliver on their promises once the urgency subsided. Now, event organisers are left wondering: What went wrong with the event technology that was supposed to revolutionise everything?
Below, we examine technological innovations in the events industry that generated significant hype but ultimately fell short of expectations. The goal is to learn from past mistakes to avoid repeating them in the future.
Virtual and Hybrid Platforms: From Boom to Bust
In 2020 and 2021, virtual event platforms experienced a massive boom. It is estimated that 88% of event professionals organised at least one virtual event during this period, and startups in the sector received millions in investments.These platforms promised to replicate the in-person event experience online, offering virtual auditoriums, video calls, and digital booths. Initially, they helped keep events alive, but over time, significant limitations emerged. Screen fatigue hindered networking, attendee interest declined, and maintaining engagement during long online conferences became a challenge. In fact, research shows that 58% of event organisers acknowledged the difficulty of providing remote audiences with an experience comparable to in-person events.
Additionally, 39% of event organisers struggled to generate value for sponsors in virtual environments, reducing the commercial appeal of these events. At the same time, monetising online attendance proved challenging—approximately 34% of organisers were unable to successfully sell virtual tickets or premium packages. Many opted for free access to attract audiences but ultimately sacrificed revenue.
Another unexpected challenge was that hybrid events—which combine in-person and virtual experiences—proved to be more complex than anticipated. Coordinating both audiences simultaneously doubled logistics and costs, and many organisers underestimated the effort required.In the end, the grand promise that “virtual would revolutionize the industry” was not fully realised. In-person events regained their prominence, while virtual platforms settled into a complementary role rather than the game-changing force they were expected to be.
Events in the Metaverse: High Expectations, Low Adoption
Another highly publicised trend was bringing events into the metaverse. The idea of attending conferences with 3D avatars, exploring trade fairs in virtual environments, or enjoying concerts with VR glasses sounded like the future of the industry. In reality, mass adoption never happened. Even the most popular metaverse platforms—valued at billions of dollars—only attract a few hundred daily active users.
An illustrative example is Metaverse Fashion Week 2023—a virtual event featuring major fashion brands—which attracted only around 26,000 attendees in total, a 76% drop from the previous edition (which had 108,000). The peak number of simultaneous users barely exceeded 1,000 logged-in avatars, despite the participation of well-known brands. The majority of the public simply did not attend the event in the metaverse, either due to lack of interest, lack of awareness, or not having the necessary equipment.
It became clear that the user experience in these immersive environments did not live up to expectations. For many, navigating a virtual world with an avatar turned out to be less engaging than a simple video conference. In fact, some attendees described their experience as “a mediocre video game with a sci-fi aesthetic,” citing simple graphics, unintuitive controls, and even technical glitches. Organising an event in the metaverse also comes with high costs—including 3D world design, training, and specialised technical support—which few organisations can justify given the limited benefits. After the initial hype, these immersive events remained niche experiments rather than a mainstream industry tool.
NFT Tickets: The Event Technology That Didn’t Take Off
Blockchain technology also made its way into the events industry with NFT tickets—digital tickets issued as unique tokens. On paper, it sounded revolutionary: counterfeit-proof tickets, resale royalties, and even collectible value for attendees. Several high-profile pilot events embraced the concept. For example, at the 2022 Super Bowl, Ticketmaster distributed over 5 million commemorative NFTs to attendees, while festivals like Coachella auctioned lifetime passes in NFT format.
However, widespread adoption of this technology never materialised. Most organizers continued using traditional electronic tickets—such as QR codes and PDFs—as they were simpler and more familiar to the public.
The main obstacle was user friction. In practice, few attendees were willing to install a crypto wallet and navigate the complexities of blockchain technology just to access an event. In most cases where NFT tickets were offered, they remained optional add-ons, while actual access control continued to rely on conventional methods. Additionally, trust issues emerged. For example, several purchasers of Coachella NFTs were affected when the FTX cryptocurrency platform collapsed in 2022, temporarily rendering their tokens inaccessible.
Situations like this highlighted the additional risks associated with these solutions. Ultimately, without demonstrating clear benefits—for either organisers or the average attendee—blockchain-based tickets failed to gain traction beyond initial curiosity.
“AI Networking Apps”: Smart Technology, Weak Networking
With the return of face-to-face events, ‘smart networking’ mobile applications, supposedly powered by artificial intelligence algorithms, began to proliferate. The promise sounded great in theory: to automatically connect attendees with the most relevant people based on their interests and goals. Surveys confirm that networking is one of the main reasons people attend events, making these apps seem like the perfect solution—especially after virtual meetings made spontaneous connections more challenging.
However, the reality was different. While many organisations integrated these tools, attendee participation remained low. A 2022 PCMA report revealed that although 84% of events offered some form of virtual networking tool, fewer than 20% of attendees actively used it. The main reasons? A lack of genuine interest and the perceived complexity of use.
Additionally, early versions of these applications fell short in terms of performance. Integration failures with registration platforms, mismatched profiles, and glitches in basic functions led to a frustrating user experience. Unsurprisingly, many users abandoned the apps after just one or two unsuccessful attempts. From the organiser’s perspective, the return on investment was also unclear. Only 26% reported gaining tangible value from these apps, considering the additional cost and effort required to implement them. In short, the idea of using AI to enhance networking failed to deliver meaningful results. The majority of attendees continued to prefer human interaction over algorithm-driven connections.
Fortunately, these missteps have paved the way for new AI-based applications that deliver better results, a more satisfying user experience, and a more efficient event experience for attendees.
Conclusion: Lessons for Making Smart Technology Decisions
These examples highlight the frequent gap between technological expectations and reality in the events industry. Innovations launched with great fanfare often failed to gain traction once circumstances shifted—mainly due to low audience adoption, poor user experiences, and an unclear ROI. As an event organiser, it’s natural to fear making the wrong technology choice, as a poor decision can result in financial losses and dissatisfied attendees.
The good news is that valuable lessons have emerged from these failures. Today, we understand that any new technology must be people-centered—designed to simplify, not complicate, the user experience. It should be implemented with careful planning and realism, gradually integrated while testing its actual contribution.
It is no longer about chasing the latest trend under pressure but about strategically evaluating what your event and audience truly need.If you want to dive deeper into these cases and learn how to avoid poor technology choices in your events, we invite you to download our whitepaper, “Lessons Learned: Technologies That Didn’t Deliver on Their Promises in the Events Industry.” Inside, you will find a full analysis of each failed trend along with practical recommendations—so you don’t have to learn the hard way. Download the whitepaper for free and take advantage of industry-wide insights, ensuring that the next time you invest in event technology, you can do so with confidence.
About Eventscase
The Eventscase platform helps event organisers manage corporate events, conferences, and trade shows, whether large, small, in-person, hybrid, or virtual. No technical skill is required at all. Anyone can create beautiful event websites, registrations, badges, perform check-ins, event apps, 1:1 meetings and more. Everything under the brand and domain of your company can be implemented with an Eventscase whitelabelled platform.
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