You have heard a lot of buzz about artificial intelligence (AI) transforming the event industry, but very little has been said on how it actually will. Perhaps it’s because the technology is still relatively new to the industry, making it difficult to imagine future applications.
Not so difficult to imagine, though, is the technology’s value in investors’ eyes. AI received $5 billion in investments in 2016 — a figure expected to grow to $40 billion over the next ten years. And experts agree: AI offers the ability to enhance the attendee experience and reduce costs for event creators — especially in mobile event apps.
So what will that look like for your event? Here are three examples of what the future holds for AI and mobile event apps.
Scenario #1: Personal assistants
Ever used Siri or Google Now to find an answer to a question, get directions, or set a timer? Then AI is a part of your life already. In the coming years, AI will become a part of your mobile event app, too, in the form of a personalized assistant for attendees.
“One of the roles that we believe AI will play in the future is personal assistants,” says Guidebook Director of Customer Engagement Jacob Wittenberg. “Today, event apps use rigid rules in order to deliver personalized experiences, which can often leave attendees disappointed. In the future, AI-enabled event apps will understand an attendees’ goals and provide more relevant recommendations (for example, which sessions to attend).”
Imagining AI at your event
Whether it’s a chatbot or a personal assistant, an AI matchmaking engine can 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.
Scenario #2: Language translation
Thinking about scaling your event to a new country? There are many things to consider and translating your event app is probably among the least of them. Currently, you’d need to hire a translator who can help you localize your content so it speaks to your new audience.
In the future, though, AI will be doing all the grunt work. “We also think AI will make creating and managing apps easier for event organizers,” says Guidebook CEO & Co-Founder Jeff Lewis. “AI is terrific at tasks like language translation, language processing, and image recognition. Being able to accurately and instantly translate all of your content into another language is not far away,”
Imagining AI at your event
After signing the venue contract for your first event out of the country, the next logical step is to work with a translator on localizing all of your marketing materials. In the future, though, you won’t have to worry about your event app, because its AI will translate everything for you. The result is reduced costs for you and a natural experience for attendees.
Scenario #3: Finding new attendees
Today, growing your event comes down to knowing where to find new attendees who will be interested in your event — which requires a deep understanding of your current attendees and the ability to use the right tools to target the right people. But what about in the future?
At mobile event app company Attendify, Jared Bodnar believes AI-enabled event apps will help you find new attendees. “Today you can use your mobile event app to instantly measure attendee sentiment,” he says. “The next step is automatically suggesting attendee segments that may not be easy for your team to identify on their own. Ultimately this will help you make better decisions by surfacing insights and like-minded attendees automatically.”
Imagining AI at your event
Post-event, your team mines your event app’s data for insights to help you attract more attendees next year. In the future, though, thanks to AI, your app will have put together a report on different segments you can target with your marketing in the year to come. The benefit of time and cost savings will allow you to invest that budget into better experiences.
Offering a stellar mobile event app today
For your mobile event app to be successful today, your team needs to plan for it early on, fill it with valuable content, and spark the conversation with attendees. Learn how in Beyond the Features: Getting the Most ROI Out of Your Mobile Event App.
