Technology that once seemed like a far-off mystery is here, and it’s here to stay. Artificial intelligence, in particular, is disrupting the event industry in means we once only imagined were possible. AI can completely change the event experience, attendee experience, and the process of collecting post-conference data. But before we dive into the ocean of AI, let us start from the beginning.
What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, can appear pretty ambiguous. AI is different across different industries. However, in the event industry, it usually refers to technology or machines that can understand and engage in an environment using words, syntax, and smart learning.
Most of us use artificial intelligence daily. Alexa, what’s the weather today? Siri, call mom. Do you get the picture? Chatbots are one of the most widely-used AI technology, but there’s obviously much more to it than that.
AI is Easy to Implement at Low Cost
It is easy to develop or “plug” as a ready-to-use solution and can be incorporated without spending much. Bots are suitable for any event regardless of size or type. The idea of creating a dedicated app for a small event may not make much sense. On the other hand, a chatbot could be the perfect solution for engaging with attendees with much lower cost and complexity. Chatbots can be efficiently implemented for any event format within any industry niche. There is no size or type of event that cannot be improved with a skillfully implemented chatbot solution.
AI Can Automate Recommendations For Attendees
Planning an event requires a lot of preparation, finding event venues, connecting with vendors, reaching out to people etc. This is a painstaking task that involves manually searching through a variety of sources. But AI chatbots can make this process easier. What a planner does in months, AI can eventually do it in seconds. It can help attendees have better event experiences, by using a matchmaking engine that analyzes their goals, interests, social media data, and attendee profile can receive specially curated recommendations just for them.
Chatbots Can facilitate Engagement
At events, we often engage with one another through group chat sessions. After all, we attend these events largely for the opportunity to network with people who have the same goals and interests. By using a chatbot, these experiences can be improved significantly.
24/7 Support For Attendees/Vendors/Presenters
It’s rare to find an event that supports live 24/7 support. Implementing a customer service, chatbot solution, you provide a cost-effective means to provide extended support without spending the money you would on live support staff. A well-trained chatbot can answer frequently asked questions, provide additional contact information, even escalate incidents as needed. Chatbots can sometimes even provide an improved customer service experience
Easier And Frictionless Interfaces For Attendees
It’s a fact! People are resistant to downloading yet another app, just to engage with an event. Apps take up space and seldom provide enough value to make downloading them worthwhile. Contrary, a chatbot can engage with the audience using apps they’ve already downloaded, or through websites, they use anyway. AI chatbots can engage with your audience through, for instance, Facebook Messenger and other popular apps that have interfaces that are widely used and understood.
Improved Data Collection And Analytics
In addition to creating a seamless event experience, AI can be used to gain better insights that can be used for future marketing and engagement efforts. Attendees provide a significant amount of data during registration. AI can be used in the form of chatbot interfaces, data analytics tools, and recommendation engines to make designing a much more successful endeavour. Used the right way, these tools can create better experiences.
AI can help save hours — if not days — by automating processes and sorting through complex data. No matter how much you currently do — or don’t — AI and its ability are impacting the event industry. So the sooner you stay on top of this trend and start taking advantage of all the ways it can improve the attendee experience, the better.
If you’ve already incorporated AI technology at any of your events, let us know how your experience was!