Navigating Venue and Event Management in the AI Era

The venue and event management industry continues to face growing demands both internally and externally. Internally, many venues are still struggling to attract and retain event management professionals. Externally, guests are expecting more, ranging from personalized experiences to better flexibility in event options.  

As a result, industry players must accelerate their technological advancement to stay current and maximize revenue opportunities in the long run.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force in venue and event management in recent years. According to AI Business, 95% of all customer interactions will be powered by AI by 2025. This technology has the potential to revolutionize how events are planned, executed and managed to meet guests’ ever-evolving demands.

But how exactly will AI benefit the event and venue management landscape and what are its implementation challenges? Here, we explore the rising trend of AI, its effects on the industry and what this means for the future of venue and event management.

The Rise of AI in Venue and Event Management 
 The biggest key factor driving AI adoption in venue and event management is finding innovative ways to meet growing challenges, from satisfying attendee demands and combatting operational inefficiencies to better security and risk solutions.

According to the 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, 42% of respondents plan on using AI in 2024 to automate their events and tackle these challenges. Already, event planners are utilizing AI platforms like ChatGPT to streamline processes in creating event invitations, agendas and event scheduling, helping organizers save time and resources while creating more engaging events.  

4 Benefits of AI in Venue and Event Management 
 From enhancing attendee experience to elevating sustainability practices, AI has the potential to transform how events are planned and executed. Here we highlight some key benefits AI can provide:

Operational Efficiency

Traditionally, event planning has been a taxing process that relies heavily on manual work. AI can easily overcome these common challenges like logistics management, staff scheduling and attendee engagement tracking with its ability to rapidly and accurately assess large amounts of data.  

According to McKinsey, current generative AI can automate almost 70% of employee tasks, granting them freedom to prioritize higher-value work. As a result, planners can effectively leverage AI to increase operational efficiency, predict optimal venue layout and make data-driven decisions to save time and resources in the long run.

Enhancing Attendee Experience 

One of the growing demands from attendees in recent years is for personalized event experiences. To meet these expectations, AI-powered event analytics can be used to understand attendee behaviors, preferences and interactions. This allows event organizers to deliver customized events tailored to their audience's needs.  

AI chatbots and virtual assistants have become valuable tools for engaging attendees in real-time and gathering responses for post-event analysis while reducing manual work in attending to customers. Chatbots can automate 30% of tasks typically performed by customer service teams, leading to a potential savings of $23 billion in the United States. By utilizing AI technology, event professionals can increase attendee engagement, optimize resources and enhance the overall event experience.

Seamless Risk Management 

Risk management is a crucial aspect of event planning but can be daunting with many components like budget constraints, unexpected disruption and more that can often slip through even the most experienced risk managers.  

With AI, risk managers can leverage their predictive analysis and utilization of historical data to forecast potential risks and make informed decisions quickly. This leads to enhanced safety and security for attendees, gaining stakeholders' trust and seamless regulation compliance.

Elevating Sustainability Practices 

Events face unavoidable environmental impacts. While there have been concentrated efforts to reduce consumption and impact through sustainability tracking and optimization, AI technology can further enhance these best practices to overcome these challenges.

For example, building automation systems (BAS) combined with AI algorithms can track and optimize energy consumption, providing recommendations for more sustainable options.

Additionally, the use of AI-powered solutions such as classification robots can help monitor waste management and provide attendees with information on reducing waste at events. These technologies can greatly reduce the environmental impact of venues and events, making them more sustainable.

Challenges in Implementing AI 

Ethical Considerations

One of the main challenges in AI implementation is the issue of data privacy and security, especially concerning collecting and analyzing attendee data which can raise important ethical and legal issues. Event professionals can address this challenge by providing transparency to attendees and stakeholders on what data is being collected and how it will be used.

This not only creates a sense of trust but also ensures compliance with regulations and avoids potential legal repercussions. In the long run, ethical AI implementation fosters positive relationships between all parties involved, leading to long-term business sustainability.

Automation Replacing Human Interaction

The effects of the pandemic have seen an emergence of automation in every sector of the job industry — and venue and event management are no exception. With powerful platforms that can automate events and analyze data, there are valid concerns about AI rendering certain jobs obsolete. To circumvent these potential risks, industry leaders and event professionals must redefine the role of AI as a tool instead of a threat.

AI’s larger impact will serve to complement human work in the long run. According to SEO.ai, AI is poised to create opportunities for 120 million workers to undergo retraining by 2030 to meet demand. This will pave new paths to elevate rather than diminish the capabilities of event professionals and open doors to the possibilities of human-AI collaboration.

The event management landscape still relies heavily on face-to-face interactions and human experiences, and AI can serve to aid event staff in simplifying tasks so they can prioritize high-value, strategic tasks. So, with proper training to utilize AI, event planners and staff can leverage opportunities to deliver better and more memorable event results.

The Future of Venues and Events With AI

As AI technology advances, it becomes an essential venue and event management tool. In future, expect to see hyper-personalization, real-time event analytics and seamless hybrid and virtual events with AI. This underscores the importance of embracing these technologies to stay competitive, making it crucial for industry leaders to stay updated on navigating these advancements.

The future of venues and events with AI holds endless possibilities, and its role is set to grow exponentially in the future. With proper adaptation and implementation, AI has the potential to elevate the industry and provide attendees with unforgettable event experiences. The future is here, and it's time for venue and event professionals to embrace AI and shape a more efficient, personalized, and sustainable future for the industry.

Future-Proof Your Events with Momentus

In the ever-evolving venue and event management landscape, it is crucial to stay on top of emerging technologies to remain competitive. This is where Momentus comes in. With over 35 years of experience and more than 60,000 users across the globe, we understand the need to keep the lead on evolving technology and other advancements in the industry. Our all-in-one solution empowers event and venue managers to achieve extraordinary events that leave a lasting impression on attendees.  

Plus: when it comes to AI, Momentus is getting competitive. Custom AI integrations are on the horizon that aim to streamline quality testing and make it easier than ever for event and venue managers to do more, faster.

Ready to embrace the future and revolutionize your event management? Contact us today to learn more about how we can help future-proof your events. With Momentus, you’re not just navigating the future, you’re mastering it.