AI in events: innovative ways to leverage ai in your next event

Considering all the work that goes into producing a live event, be it in-person, virtual, or hybrid, many event planners are now turning to artificial intelligence, or AI, to increase their efficiency. Although companies like Google, Amazon, and others have been using this type of technology for years, AI in events is a relatively recent advance.  Part of this has to do with the recent surge in interest in AI capabilities brought on by the release in late 2022 of powerful new generative AI programs such as Midjourney, capable of producing images based on written descriptions, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which accurately interprets and composes text.

 

As these programs have grown in popularity, they have been adopted by people and businesses around the world. For event organizers who have not yet explored incorporating AI into their events, it’s not too late to learn about the various options available and how they could best be utilized to maximize the outcomes of each event.

 

 

 

Understanding the role of AI in events

Despite all the theorizing that AI could potentially replace human workers, for the foreseeable future, it firmly remains a powerful tool for professionals to improve the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of their work.  It can be used to write copy, create imagery, and more, but it is not infallible.  AI-generated content frequently contains errors such as logical discrepancies, factual inaccuracies, and even basic grammatical mistakes.  AI users must still review the output carefully to correct errors and further refine it to suit their needs.   For this reason, it is often stated that although it is unlikely that people will be replaced by AI, people who don’t use AI could eventually be replaced by those who do.

 

 

The advantages of incorporating AI in events

The main advantages for event organizers who incorporate AI are: 1. faster generation of content, 2. increased creativity, and 3. higher-level analysis of data.  Programs can write any sort of text needed for an event in seconds as opposed to the hours of work that would normally need to be dedicated to the task.  To boost creativity, AI can suggest various options based on a single prompt from the user.  For example, the program could be directed to create any number of different versions of a landing page for a particular event.  Users can then select the strongest or most suitable option(s) from those presented for further development.  When it comes to data analysis, AI can be given very specific parameters to search for within a large data set provided by the user to uncover subtle patterns and valuable market insights.

 

 

 

How can you incorporate AI in events?

AI can be incorporated into every step of event production from the earliest planning stages to post-event follow-ups. Here are some of the ways in which organizations have been utilizing AI in their events:

 

AI-driven event planning and organization

When planning events, organizers can use AI tools to decide what topics to focus on based on market trends and the interests of their target attendees.  Once the topic is finalized, the software can be used to come up with an appealing name for the event. Next, by analyzing data on attendee availability, it can optimize the daily schedule by assigning speakers to the best time slots, arranging meeting rooms, and managing logistics.

 

Enhancing event experiences with AI

With the help of AI, organizers can send out highly personalized event invites and marketing materials based on recipients’ preferences.  Not only that but companies now can leverage that same data to determine what topics to cover and which speakers to book.  Attendee data could even be used to help determine what kind of catering to serve at the event to create the best experience for the audience.

 

AI in event marketing and promotion

AI can create the first draft of any written materials needed to promote the event.  This includes emails, blog posts, website copy, press releases, and social media posts.  Not just that, but different versions of each, tailored to specific segments of the market or different industries, can be created simultaneously.  AI software can design brand and key art and instantly adapt for use across all media.

 

AI for on-site event execution

AI can help event managers create checklists of everything that needs to happen before, during, and after the event so that nothing is forgotten or falls through the cracks. It can then assign the various tasks among the staff based on their schedules, skills, and existing workload.

 

It could also be used to craft various bios, intros, and questions for moderators to ask speakers, and aid in the creation of visual presentation materials.  If music is needed for any portion of the event, there are programs designed to compose music to provide just the right mood for any situation.

 

Finally, AI is great for attendee management with chatbots that can be dedicated to providing up-to-the-minute information to attendees, directing them to where they need to be, and answering common questions they may have.

 

AI in post-event analysis and insights

AI can compose surveys for attendees so organizers can obtain the most relevant feedback on the event.  This feedback and other collected data can be used to uncover trends and suggest ways to improve future events.

 

Ethical considerations and challenges

A major ethical consideration when it comes to AI in events is privacy.  AI relies on extensive access to vast data from different sources and much of it may be sensitive, personally identifiable information.  Organizations that collect or otherwise aggregate this data have an ethical and legal obligation to protect it and prevent its misuse.

 

Researchers are also discovering that AI outputs often demonstrate negative societal biases such as gender, racial, and cultural stereotypes.  This does not reflect on AI programs’ lack of impartiality, but rather on the prevalence of harmful associations contained within their data sets, presenting a major challenge for AI developers and a potential pitfall for users.

 

Finally, since generative AI relies on the creative work of others, many questions remain about the authorship and ownership of the work.  A US court recently ruled that AI work can not be copyrighted, but the issue remains far from closed with many more legal and ethical quandaries ahead.

 

 

 

How AI will transform events in the future

We are still in the early stages of using AI as a resource for event planning. As AI companies continue to innovate and advance their products, they will be able to offer increasingly targeted services that specifically address the needs of event planners and attendees.  One such innovation, according to industry experts, will be advanced virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) environments powered by AI that will one day revolutionize both virtual and in-person events alike.

 

 

Meet Kaltura — #1 virtual event platform with AI compatibility

AI can assist in creating content, managing attendees, analyzing participant data, and more, but much like it can not replace an experienced staff, it also can’t take the place of a reliable platform on which to host an event.  Kaltura’s virtual event platform is an industry leader due to the convenience with which organizers can create, manage, and track any type of virtual or hybrid event. Organizers have access to fully brandable templates that can be scaled to suit any size event from informal webinars to major industry conferences.

 

The platform supports 4K streaming and facilitates participant registration and management.  Additionally, it provides the type of real-time data that is ideal for AI analysis to spot trends and business opportunities.  Right now, only third-party AI programs selected by the users can be used to help create events on the platform, but Kaltura is diligently working on some powerful AI upgrades that will go live soon–stay tuned!

 

 

 

Summary

It is clear that the use of artificial intelligence in events will only become more prevalent as technology advances and that organizers and participants will greatly benefit from this versatile emerging technology.  However, gaining the greatest benefit from AI tools requires experience and knowledge.  When it comes to generative AI, users must know how to precisely phrase a prompt to direct the AI towards the results they need.   Prompts need to be both specific and reflect an understanding of how AI indexes information.

 

The best thing that event organizers interested in incorporating AI could do now is start experimenting with the software to become comfortable with the technology and discover its capabilities.  There will undoubtedly be a period of trial and error, but that will lead to a familiarity with AI that will prove invaluable as it continues integrating into our day-to-day lives.