ARTICLE
AI and Event Technology: Elbow Grease Meets Innovation
By Michelle Bruno
March 6, 2024
It didn’t take long. ChatGPT barely scratched the surface of Generative AI, and already AI and event technology are close friends. And while event marketers welcome the personalization, productivity, and precision AI brings, leaning into the innovation still requires a bit of finesse. Here are some thoughts on navigating in an AI-forward world.
AI and event technology make a handsome couple for a few reasons. AI addresses the evolving needs of organizers and participants. It is increasingly accessible, undeniably efficient, and progressively user-friendly. Event management platforms are the obvious benefactors of AI because it accelerates and optimizes the hundreds of small operations required to bring an event to life.
There is something different about the AI integration of today compared with the past. While some event technology solutions previously incorporated AI for specific use cases like matchmaking, language translation, or chatbots, what’s happening now is the wholesale infusion of AI into the DNA of comprehensive (some call them all-in-one) multi-purpose platforms.
RingCentral is one example of an organization strategically using AI to give event tech a foundational facelift. The company has thoughtfully threaded AI throughout its RingCentral Events solution, supercharging copywriting, streamlining Q&A sessions, and auto-generating video clips (coming soon). It’s likely a sampling of what’s to come for other platforms and a message to event marketers and organizers that this isn’t a sit-back-and-watch-it-unfold moment. There’s work to be done.
- Humans and machines
Even when machines are meant to do the heavy lifting, humans must still pull the work product over the finish line. For example, RingCentral Events’ AI-enabled copywriting feature analyzes audience demographics, preferences, and engagement data to personalize pre-event messaging. To make content even more compelling, marketers must also make sure that the emails and social posts the platform helps to create reflect the brand voice, have a little personality, and arouse curiosity—what humans do best.
- Technology and trust
There is still a lot that event stakeholders need to learn about AI. Blending AI and event technology to collect and synthesize attendee data at events (as many AI-boosted solutions do) is still uncomfortable for some attendees. The issue is less about the technology and more about the trust between organizers and customers. Communication on how the event uses AI, the information organizers are collecting, and what they’re doing with the data must be prioritized and prominent (beyond the fine print).
- Discernment and differentiation
Very soon, AI and event technology will be wedded. It’s like the transformation of on-premises software to cloud-based platforms; it became inevitable. And, when AI becomes a baseline requirement, differentiation among competing solutions will not solely depend on having AI capabilities but rather on how providers implement, optimize, and integrate them. Thus, event technology decision-makers and influencers must stay abreast of and insert themselves in the innovation.
- Risks and roadmaps
The combination of AI and event technology is both stunning and scary. Event marketers must align with trusted partners that have the resources, roadmap, and research and development chops to harvest the benefits while mitigating the risks. With technology so powerful, impactful, and far from error-free, the relationship between the event organizer and tech provider may have to be maintained closer to the top of the org chart than the bottom, involving more high-level conversation and collaboration than before.
Kristen Koenig, RingCentral’s RVP, Video Sales & Partnerships (Meetings, Webinars, Events), sums up the current state of AI in events:
"We're at a turning point in event tech, where AI is beginning to shape the landscape. There's so much potential waiting to be unlocked! It's vital for organizations to embrace AI in ways that truly enhance the experience for event marketers and their audiences. And from what I've seen, the ideation and innovation on the roadmap are incredibly exciting."
