Think artificial intelligence, or AI, will be yet another buzzword to add to the list? Think again.
In a recent survey of over 800 conference and corporate event creators, an overwhelming majority of event professionals (88%) said they’ll rely on AI this year. That’s a 107% increase from their reported usage in 2017 (42%).
What changed? From smartphones to smart speakers, virtual assistants, like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant have become a part of our daily lives.
So it makes sense that attendees would begin to expect them to be a part of your conference or corporate event. But how? Here are just two ways this sophisticated technology can help your event and its attendees today.
Use chatbots to delight attendees
Customer service is the foundation of a quality attendee experience. Which is why progressive conferences and corporate events are starting to use AI for things like chatbots, which can answer basic attendee questions swiftly.
There are a few advantages to this approach:
- Unlike your event staff, chatbots can work 24/7/365. So when an attendee from the other side of the world has a question, your chatbot can assist them while you and your team are sleeping.
- Chatbots are also easy to scale. That way you don’t have to worry about hiring extra staff to answer common questions for potential or actual participants during peak times.
In the future, chatbots will be able to interpret data from attendees’ social media profiles and use it to make relevant recommendations, such as people to meet, conference sessions to attend, and products that would best suit their interests. The result? Happier attendees who feel like they’re truly getting the most out of your event.
Optimize your social media strategy
Almost 90% of survey respondents said that reaching new attendees is one of their greatest challenges in 2018. If you face the same challenge, consider automating your event’s social media promotions to work more efficiently.
Tools like Eventbrite Boost, for example, use machine learning (a type of AI) to help you target interested audiences on Facebook and Instagram. Their intelligent technology will build and test different segments of your most valuable attendees. Once your campaigns are live, their algorithms work night and day optimizing your ads in real time.
In addition to saving time, this approach will save you from wasting precious marketing dollars promoting your event to uninterested people.
Get ahead of the curve
AI is a potent event technology to take advantage of today. But it’s not the only trend and challenge common across the competitive landscape of conferences and corporate events.
Read The State of Conferences and Corporate Events in 2018: Trends and Challenges to learn how your event compares to others like yours.
