Why It’s Time to Get Serious About AI for Events

Event tech native Nick Borelli: AI will remove the drag stuff so you can produce A+ events

Nick Borelli, director of marketing for the ethical facial analytics company Zenus Inc., has good news for meeting professionals. AI is not just one more thing they have to learn to do their jobs. “It is actually a tool that will get some of that ‘drag stuff’ out of the way to focus on the things that you really want to do, the reason you got into the events industry in the first place,” he explained at Smart Meetings Innovation Experience in Irving, Texas, last week.

More good news, while AI will become a core competency for the meeting planner role, it won’t require you to have to learn a new language to use it. “You just have to talk like you normally talk and ask it to do things as you would ask an intern who doesn’t know anything, but is really good at researching,” he said.

Read More: Navigating the Thrills of Event Innovation

Borelli outlined the reality behind the technology currently experiencing a love-hate relationship with the general population and then invited attendees to use it in a real-world scenario to create an event campaign and menu while competing for fun and prizes.

“The difference between AI and most technology like social media is that it doesn’t put distance between people,” he said. The term “artificial intelligence” has been around for decades as a description of a technology that learns. Each time it “crosses a bridge and determines if that way is good, it will remember and do a similar action in the future at a speed of millions of times per second. That is why every time a user interacts with it, it gets better. AI today is the worst it will ever be. Guaranteed. Tomorrow AI will be smarter than today. And smarter than that the next day.”

Learn More: What is AI Good for Anyway Webinar

AI Risk-Benefit Analysis

Unlike tech engineers, meeting professionals tend to be a pretty risk-averse group. However, in this case, sticking with what has worked in the past (an Excel spreadsheet, for example) may be both riskier in terms of meeting event expectations and practicality because AI is being integrated into all the things we use daily. “You buy a toaster, it will have AI; it will just be part of our world,” he said. This is not a fad you can outwait. Even Outlook is going to be 50% AI in the not-too-distant future, so we better get used to using it, he added. “It won’t be an adoption curve or a choice; it’s just going to be a flick of a switch,” he said.

Never fear. That ubiquity won’t be a bad thing. It is just a layer on everything, was how Borelli explained it. That new layer could help elevate the quality of everything. Someone who just graduated from college with no experience in events could use these tools to produce an adequate event in a week’s time just by pushing some buttons. They can source a venue, create a workable agenda, create marketing materials, all the things required. “That is the threat,” he said. “The likelihood for competition that you haven’t even met before is very high because technology will allow anyone to get from zero to B-plus pretty instantaneously.”

That is why experienced meeting professionals need to use the new tools to buy them the time and resources required to go from B-plus to A-plus. “Those B-plus people that came out of nowhere don’t even know what it looks like to go higher, but you have seen A-plus in your mind. You know what’s possible with more horsepower,” he said.

Learn More: Download the State of Event AI White Paper

Allowing technology to check the boxes on the tactical work affords meeting professionals the time to design events that are inclusive, personalized, non-linear and iteratively better each time because the new treasure trove of data will allow you to learn and improve faster than ever. “Think of data as stories, as listening to what people want,” he explained.

A Better AI Question

Think of using AI not as a thing, but as a question, Borelli suggested. “Always be asking, ‘Is there an AI for that?’” he said. What are the parameters you could input to get an even more creative response? How can you refine the question to get what you really need? Ask it to make the event more sustainable, design a networking event for people who are not outgoing, incorporate a sponsor in a meaningful way or mark up a contract as if it were a lawyer. Ask for suggestions about how to work better with a partner based on their LinkedIn profile. Spell out the end goals with as much detail as possible to refine the response. “You are at the wheel. Ask specifically for what you need and how long and in what format you would like it delivered,” he suggested.

Iterate and once you have the output, don’t just copy and paste. Use it as a starting point to add your special sauce to make it A-plus. You will never again have to go into a meeting with a blank notepad. You will be starting with the obvious solutions and be able to brainstorm better. “This is what generative AI does for us, there’s no more blank pages,” he said.

Read More: Why AI Might Mean Salvation for the Meeting Industry

The Human Advantage

“There are a lot of things AI can’t do,” Borelli confided. Those are the areas where people will want to double down and make a difference. The first is domain expertise. People understand the language and nuances of their communities in ways that make sense beyond any obvious logic. The contextual information about terminology and insider knowledge is something we can use to signal we are human and a part of a tribe.

True creativity, building bridges to something that’s never been before and putting things together to innovate is a uniquely human skill. “All AI knows is what’s there. It doesn’t make creative leaps. We can do that all day long,” said Borelli. Do more of that with the time AI saves doing the expected.

The most important trait humans possess that AI lacks is empathy. “AI has zero empathy, none whatsoever. It’s just data,” he said. People will have a sixth sense when they read something about whether it was authentic. Work from the heart and you will differentiate your event.