Information on how artificial intelligence can help build, market, and analyze business events has been a popular offering at industry events and in the trade media this year. But while A.I. adoption has been somewhat brisk, there’s still a lot of room for growth.
A September/October survey of 591 European and U.S. meeting planners and suppliers by Ovation Global DMC finds that 51 percent of respondents are aware of A.I.’s potential for events and 12 percent have incorporated A.I. “extensively” into their planning process. Another 21 percent have used “a few tools” related to A.I. in their planning.
Possible reasons for the gap between awareness and usage: 70 percent of respondents said that A.I. will mostly affect the planning and execution of large business events or those in specific industries, and 60 percent of respondents anticipate that A.I. will “supplement and reduce” traditional job roles in the event industry, according to the report.
Further, a lack of expertise and understanding on how to use A.I. for event planning is a barrier at the moment; that was the top concern of respondents. Other notable concerns included fear of losing the human touch with events and attendee acceptance of A.I.’s usage for events.
On the other hand, even among those who are not knowledgeable of A.I.’s full possibilities, there is curiosity and some eagerness for using A.I. to assist with certain tasks:
• 15 percent of respondents use or would consider using A.I. for data analysis in order to gain deeper insight on attendees’ behaviors and preferences.
• 9 percent use or would consider using A.I.-powered chatbots and virtual assistants to improve attendee engagement and provide real-time assistance for event inquiries.
• 8 percent use or would consider using A.I. to curate presentation and event content that aligns with attendees' interests.
• 33 percent of all respondents use or would consider using A.I. to create marketing plans and outbound marketing materials.
• 21 percent of all respondents use or would consider using A.I. to streamline logistical planning.
A recent series of articles on MeetingsNet.com details the experiences of three planners who are already using A.I. heavily as they plan events, and introduces the features of an A.I tool built specifically to assist with planning meetings: Spark.
