Wendy Harms, manager of global accounts at HelmsBriscoe, admits she used to be leery of artificial intelligence (AI). The more her teammates discussed their experiences with AI, the more Harms felt she might be missing out.
“I started to dabble with ChatGPT,” says Harms. “I would throw something in there and see what it spits out. That’s how I started building confidence with it.”
Technology experts across the events industry would agree Harms was right to take a chance with using AI. For planners accustomed to systems they know and trust, taking that first step can be a huge leap.
AI can feel like a different world to novices, who are unsure of what it is and its applications. Harms, who is based in Topeka, encourages others to take baby steps. While far from perfect, AI has the potential to shave minutes, if not hours, off mundane tasks so planners can focus on what they love: organizing meetings.
In the past decade alone, event technology has shifted dynamically. Event applications were the big, scary advancement before the entire industry was forced to shift from in-person to virtual and hybrid gatherings to start the decade. Now, in the post-pandemic world, the events industry appears to be divided among those ready to take the plunge into AI and those who don’t trust the emerging technology.
“I feel like AI is being very invasive and aggressive,” says Sherrise Stephens, a senior director of global accounts at HelmsBriscoe.
The gap in AI adoption
Pedro Góes founded InEvent in 2018 to facilitate the meeting process. Since launching InEvent, it has won several awards and secured big-name clients like Coca-Cola, Sony, and Bayer in the process. Despite InEvent’s success, Góes has seen his fair share of resistance from organizations that struggle to change with the times.
“We have this gap where we know the technology and what we could potentially do with it, but we don’t adopt it,” says Góes. “Maybe it’s pricing; maybe it’s hard to use; or maybe there is no need because of traditional processes like in Japan, where everything is on paper.”
As ChatGPT has gained widespread attention, it has become the “bogeyman” blamed for the spread of misinformation and manipulated images or content. According to a 2024 Global Wireless Solutions (GWS) research report, Generation Z—which grew up with portable devices—is showing greater distrust of AI than Millennials and older generations. The report suggests Gen Z remains dubious that AI will enhance their digital experience.
Gen Z’s skepticism of AI could negatively impact events, particularly among associations struggling to maintain relevancy. Younger attendees might tune out their AI-generated content and choose not to attend future conferences and meetings as a result.
As many individuals now rely on an app to write social media posts, reports, and other materials, Stephens believes it has taken away the human touch that’s entwined in the hospitality industry.
“AI is going to further hinder face-to-face communication,” she says. “The relationship I have with the hotel and with my client, you can’t make a computer do that. If somebody’s going to get an email from me, it’s going to be from Sherrie Stephens.”
Louis Layton, senior vice president of event technology at Freeman, understands Stephens’ concerns, but emphasizes technology like AI doesn’t threaten the need to meet in person. “People attend live events for the face-to-face experience, and AI cannot replace that,” says Layton.
Perception challenges aside, privacy and security concerns are top of mind among many organizations. For instance, as ChatGPT scrapes the Internet from existing content, copyright laws could come into play. Because AI tools are adapting so quickly, the federal government has yet to settle on how the field will be regulated.
EventPower, a conference management services company employing cloud-based collaborative software tools, has emerged as a leader in data protection. It achieved SOC 2 certification, an important differentiator for guarded organizations like the Department of Defense and other government agencies that eventPower serves.
“Working with the government has made us very aware of keeping security first,” says Sharla Warren, eventPower’s chief operations officer. “For government events, there’s a hesitation to use AI.”
The power of AI
It’s virtually impossible not to use AI in some form. Internet searches now list AI summaries above links. Most content companies (Microsoft, Adobe, etc.) have programmed it to flag potential errors (spelling, grammar).
When it comes to more complex operations, organizations that adopt sooner will naturally be more accustomed to the technology as it gains further prevalence, says Góes. “Whenever you implement something newer, you’ll have better technology.”
Leslie Walker, tourism consultant and owner of Leslie Walker Consulting, says inauthentic content (or even the perception of falsehood) generated by AI is a product of the user rather than of the technology.
“It’s garbage in, garbage out,” Walker says. “The more detailed and better information that you give AI, the more likely it is to hit the right note for what you need it for.”
Harms has seen firsthand how quick the learning curve can be with ChatGPT. “It’s starting to really sound like me now,” Harms says.
Walker, who curates content at TBEX—a global travel content creator conference—says AI has more potential than creating efficiencies within your organization. She says the technology can help increase attendance and improve engagement. Walker recommends planners use AI for a variety of tasks, including smarter site selection: AI can offer suggestions for comparable venues as you’ve previously used to anticipate results for future conferences; attendee searches: By analyzing behaviors and interests, AI identifies new audiences who mirror your best participants, making outreach sharper and more cost-effective; and predictive giveaways: AI can forecast which branded items attendees will actually use instead of toss, adding value to sponsors.
“From finding the right destination to predicting the swag people will actually keep, AI helps planners cut through the guesswork,” Walker says.
According to Warren, attendees can benefit from AI’s matchmaking abilities. Similar to how Amazon or Netflix uses a consumer’s history and data to recommend goods or movies and series, AI-powered event apps can suggest which attendees are most apt to do business together, she notes.
While for years attendees have been able to filter exhibitor lists, AI technology makes the process far faster and precise because the technology pulls from registration data rather than relying on human intuition.
“Based on attendees’ own registration information, AI can create a list of exhibitors for each attendee to visit,” Warren says. “This could be a great time-saver for attendees at a trade show with 300 exhibitors.”
InEvent is leaning into the travel experience with the launch of its facial-recognition solution, which could simplify the check-in process. A camera scans the attendee, and AI finds the registration information and prints an entry badge.
A new behind-the-scenes feature from InEvent simplifies registration, which can be tedious for attendees. The AI registration assistant can take copy-and-pasted content from a Word document and enter it in the appropriate fields with more accuracy than autofill. “You can have the form done in five seconds,” Góes says.
Beyond AI
There is more to event technology than AI, and attendees are accepting some of those other tools after an initial hesitation.
At a recent National Guard event, for example, Warren says 800 of the 1,000 attendees downloaded the mobile app and actually used it to get the agenda and interact with other attendees. A download rate of 80 percent would have been unheard of prior to the pandemic, says Warren, who theorizes the mass influx of technology forced attendees to adapt to digital tools.
In the five years since COVID, virtual-event capabilities have come a long way, notes Warren. Connectivity issues with digital meetings at the height of the pandemic are few and far between now, she says. OWL 360 cameras are also better able to capture the environment of an education session or keynote speech, providing a better experience for virtual attendees.
Warren predicts uncertain economic forecasts and growing travel restrictions could force planners to lean into virtual events. “That’s already happening,” she says. “It’s going to be a mix. You’ll see hybrid events come back and more virtual events.”
Better virtual experiences could come down to programming, Warren adds. Short sessions and frequent breaks help limit attendees’ distractions associated with virtual and hybrid events.
Conversely, Góes doesn’t hold much hope for digital business conferences. “I don’t see a lot of value in virtual,” he says, noting education is the only event mainstay to retain its effectiveness online.
Accessibility & inclusion
Despite disagreements about certain tools, Walker says technology is a powerful force for inclusion with both hybrid and in-person events. Portable listening devices, live captioning, and screen reader-friendly materials, for example, allow all participants to engage with the content and with other attendees.
“Accessibility doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive,” Walker says. “A few thoughtful choices can completely change the experience for attendees who otherwise might feel excluded.”
Translation, in particular, has advanced so far that there is rarely a need to hire humans for the task. Digital translation programs are cheaper than their human counterparts, generally faster, and present more options.
Wordly, an AI-powered translation and transcription company, recently reached 5 million users. It can translate speech into 60 different languages in real time, allowing attendees to understand information and providing speakers greater comfort to use their natural language.
Event apps
The conference app connects many pieces of event technology. It allows attendees to interact with one another, find a digital copy of the agenda, and participate in virtual scavenger hunts and other gamification activities. Association planners, in particular, have been waiting for a true all-in-one solution. In the meantime, event professionals will have to piece together many different platforms, as Layton explains.
“A truly seamless, all-in-one, and affordable solution has yet to emerge,” Layton says. “Data is spread across too many systems, and connecting them still requires a lot of manual work. Onsite processes like check-in, printing name badges, and making last-minute edits still need a human touch because they can make or break the first impression.”
That said, event apps are powerful tools for collecting information. Planners and organizations can mine the data for trends, attendee experiences, and how participants interacted with one another during their events.
Layton sees vast potential for that data. “Lead quality is an area where the industry still has room to improve,” he says. “Badge scans and booth visits are often treated as primary success metrics, but they do not reflect true conversion. More intentional approaches, such as pre-scheduled, concierge-style buyer programs, are key. Planners should collaborate closely with exhibitors to define targets, vet attendees, and design events around meaningful connections rather than focusing solely on traffic numbers.”
Staying ahead
Harms says she keeps experimenting with technology because she doesn’t like to fall behind the curve. As a result, she has accumulated experience that she feels has put her in a good position to continue to learn new tools.
At HelmsBriscoe team meetings, Harms is now a champion for planners to dig deeper into AI and other tools to make their jobs easier.
“Planners are really starting to embrace AI, and I think it’s because of our positive feedback about AI,” says Harms. “Ultimately, it is a resource that will make event planning, and so much of our work and routines, much easier.”
