When the event production company Encore Global announced it was investing $100 million in innovations this year, a little context was in order. First, the ubiquity. Encore is in-house at 2,200 venues and employs 13,000 technicians who manage everything from spotlights to holograms and show running. Then, the timing. AI is changing demands and expectations and LED everything is now the norm.
We asked Chief Product and Digital Officer Darius Vaskelis and Vice President of Product Management Matt Johnsen to explain what the investment means for meeting professionals in the ballroom.
Planning Tools
Before a meeting pro sets foot onsite, new digital tools, such as the Event Solutions Explorer, can help get a 360-degree view of what is possible in the space and what specific technology will be needed to bring the vision to life. Those 3D tools can help with budgeting and setting expectations. Encore calls the different levels essential, enhanced and ultimate and the digital visualization can set the stage for realistic planning early in the process for every event type and size.
At the same time, new Display, Lighting, Scenic & Décor Solution Lookbooks can help with creativity and alignment between the planner and the tech. Pop-ups describe how each piece of technology works and explains the terms so everyone is referring to the same solution. These tools aren’t confined to the grand ballroom. LEDs and modular up-lights can scale up or down to bring a breakout room to life as well and digital tools can help show what is possible at what cost.
Johnsen described the entries as detailed “recipes” that can be adjusted to fit the financial plan for each program.
AI Powered
Of course, in 2026, AI is part of the event technology product mix. Predictive technology can now help with content creation, attendee engagement and accessibility.
Read More: Inside Encore’s New Era of Immersive Events
Talk-to-takeaways tech turns data into personalized, co-created experiences. Speaker Spotlight Bumpers can introduce a keynote and video highlight reels can tell company stories with high production quality and minimal inputs. Captioning, transcription, translation and session summaries can be distributed through in-room displays or pushed to attendee phones using a QR code in their preferred language or through their earphones.
All this artificial intelligence requires more broadband capacity. Johnsen advised informing your local partner about your plans and explaining what your expect expectations are because what worked in the past may not be enough in 2026 and beyond.
Integrated Equipment
New lighting assets can enable the use of portable LED welcome banners, modular tiles and large-format LED walls that can be used indoors and outdoors, are easy to update and create less waste.
Once in the space, upgrades could aid the audience experience while simplifying production. Embedded smart column speakers that replace traditional tripod mounted speakers provide clearer, more evenly balanced sound with improved feedback suppression. This also enhances the overall look of the room and simplifies production with faster setup.
Simplified microphone packages for breakout rooms (now in the testing phase) offer self-service lapel amplification without cables for simpler, better-sounding solutions that require less labor.
Along with new, more powerful laptops, the digital power behind events is improving exponentially. Rolling these upgrades across the country is no small feat, but this lifecycle management is essential to provide a consistent experience across the portfolio.
“There’s an incredible amount of innovation happening right now, probably more so than at any other point in history,” said Vaskelis. “Some of these content shortcuts, such as delivering event summaries in real time, could entirely change how a meeting works.”
