AI-DRIVEN EXPERIENCES
Event marketers were among some of the earliest adopters of AI but the scope was initially limited to back of house functions like developing creative concepts, streamlining operational processes and generating RFP responses. Flash forward to today and AI has come fully front of house as a consumer engagement technology that’s changing the way events are experienced.
Today’s consumers crave hyper-personalized experiences that take their unique needs, preferences and interests into account. The ability to personalize live events using AI is the killer app many event producers have been waiting for. According to BCD Meeting & Events What’s Trending 2025, event marketers can use AI to “tailor event experiences by using attendee data to create custom agendas and personalized communication.” And that’s just the beginning.
AI-driven personalization can level up attendee experiences and eliminate some of the pain points that have plagued event marketers for years. For instance, event apps like Brella or Swapcard use AI to translate attendees’ interests and preferences into matchmaking experiences that connect like-minded attendees with one another in the app and at the show—a great option for attendees on tight schedules or shy at networking functions.
AI platforms such as Certain and Grip can suggest sessions and networking activities, effectively creating a personalized event agenda for each individual—another helpful tool for those overwhelmed by the options at a multi-day event. Salesforce’s Dreamforce uses AI to generate “Trail Maps” for attendees—and then offers AI-generated “Session Summaries by Einstein.” The Summaries are short recaps the company makes available to attendees in the app every day to help them catch up on what they missed, addressing yet one more pervasive pain point often experienced by attendees.
Platforms including Photier and Premagic use AI facial recognition to snap and send photos at events without the pesky data collect experience, effectively making it easier and more fun to capture that social media image and share the brand love.
At CES this year, Intel showed how AI could be used to capture the attention of attendees and boost dwell time at a show known for its overwhelming array of experiences. The brand’s AI Living City exhibit invited participants to input a series of personal preferences and data, ranging from photos snapped by a camera, to preferences on types of businesses they’d run (like an ice cream shop), then Intel AI PCs generated a building representing the participant’s preferences that was added to the Living City display, a giant LED installation being “built” in real-time by attendees’ contributions. The installation represented each individual while ultimately reinforcing what the brand is doing in AI—without the hard sell.
Back at one of Salesforce’s recent flagship Dreamforce events, the brand used an Einstein AI tool to create a gamification experience for attendees that sent them on “quests,” ultimately driving nearly 93 percent of attendees to participate. The real power play was the game’s ability to drive results for exhibitors at the show. “Early results were showing about a 20-percent increase in engagement—in discussion, into exhibitors, into demo booths, into meetings—just by leveraging AI to help drive behaviors with the audience,” says Brian Gates, svp-industry strategy at event management platform RainFocus, a Salesforce partner.
And these are just some of the powerful ways AI is driving engagement and ROI at events.
While putting AI in the hands—or, on the faces—of attendees themselves with cutting-edge tech like Meta Ray-Bans’ smart glasses is just around the corner (here’s one journalist’s experience testing them out), event marketers will have to contend with the fact that wearable AI may drive event attendees more deeply into their own world—and out of the one you create. The more you know.
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