There is nothing more energizing than watching a musician perform your favorite song live in concert. Singing and dancing with thousands to maybe even tens of thousands of people evokes a feeling of togetherness that people crave more than ever today.

The same thing can be said for attending experiences like a play, sporting event, or an art gallery. What’s even cooler is the high tech used to truly elevate these experiences. Communal experiences are an important aspect of human life, both socially and emotionally, and the increasing quality of immersive experiences—driven by projection technology—will continue to drive human connectivity in 2022.

Immersive experiences will see extreme growth and development this year with the emergence of advanced AV technologies such as projection tech, cameras, and lenses. The immersive entertainment market is estimated to grow at a rate of 7%, according to a report from AMS Analytics, and is valued at $9.7B excluding theme parks. With individuals itching to travel, both domestic and international, the desire for novel experiences has never been greater, and immersive experiences are filling this gap across the world.

Investing in the right AV technology or collaborating with experts in the AV field will allow groups to deliver more innovative and creative experiences than years prior. Here are the top three trends we expect to see drive immersive experiences this year.

Interactivity and Immersive Experiences

Sit-down experiences give individuals the chance to see visuals, whereas walk-through experiences provide individuals with an immersive multisensory experience in real-time. The goal of an immersive experience is to engage all five senses in an innovative, unique participatory space, many of which leverage technology and art to accomplish this.

Interactivity is the next step in improving guest experiences. From sound and lighting to having the proper infrastructure to showcase interactivity, it’s important to consider the role that each of these factors play in storytelling and bringing an experience to life. Designing content to be interactive means leveraging technologies like lighting, digital signage, projectors, lenses, and cameras to display content and media in a compelling way while purposefully formatting it to fit in a given space.

Scaling with Quality

Scaling includes finding new and innovative ways to bring immersive experiences to the forefront. Immersive experiences do not have to be limited to fixed spaces. In fact, there are many groups looking at how to bring quality experiences to mobile spaces. Investing in the right equipment ensures that no matter how small the space and design is, it can still be impactful in different locations and draw individuals’ attention. This could mean adopting curved projection architecture and mounting cameras to best utilize the space at hand.

Scaling also helps brand quality and attracts investment. For companies rolling out fixed location experiences, it’s important to test the waters first to determine if an experience will do well in a certain location. By setting up pop-up locations, similar to the Van Gogh Exhibitions, companies can test markets before making a large investment. This can not only help companies test markets and bring in local investors but also drive demand and awareness for the brand.

Virtual System Design and Format

Formatting content to a specific space is no easy feat. It takes many resources to design the content and fit it to the desired area. Virtual system design and formatting continues to be a challenge in immersive experiences, but the benefit is tenfold. Mobilizing a virtual system allows designers to visualize where the technology will go in the space they are designing for. For example, computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) replaces manual drafting to simplify and provide a window into what that infrastructure will look like.

Virtual systems also allow playback and signaling to deliver, process and render media. Because photo realistic and 3D imaging help create memorable experiences, these features will prove beneficial in supporting immersive environments. Engineers will continue to look for advanced solutions that help create efficiencies in the formatting and content design processes.

The Future of Immersive Experiences

Immersive experiences aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. As we look to the future of this space exacerbated by the shift from traditional movie going, we will see these communal immersion become a bigger part of new and existing live experiences both big and small. Creatives and artists will look to technology companies to provide the necessary tools to make experiences more interactive, utilizing laser projectors, PTZ cameras, digital displays, lenses, and more to help stimulate the senses for an unforgettable experience.