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As an event planner, time is something you no doubt wish you had in abundance. Preparing for a meeting or conference can be stressful and time-consuming. So, you want to make sure your event is memorable for your attendees and that your ROI is worth the effort.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the buzzword sweeping the industry, and for good reason. The right AI tools can save planners a huge amount of time, money and headaches.

However, while it seems like practically every tool out there boasts AI capabilities, it can be difficult, even overwhelming, to navigate which technology is the right fit for your particular workflow.

So, what are some ways AI can help enhance live events and meetings, particularly for attendees?

• Matching Participants with Similar Interests – This is one of the primary challenges during large events. But using AI algorithms, it’s now possible to analyze attendees’ profiles and professional backgrounds to match them to the sessions and workshops that will provide them the most value
• Answering FAQs – AI-powered chatbots can provide real-time answers to attendees’ questions, so they can spend more time engaging and less time searching for information
• Personalization – AI can curate tailored event journeys by analyzing data from past events and attendee preferences
• Generate Leads and Sales – Using AI-driven analytics, exhibitors can make timely and relevant pitches to increase sales and lead conversions by focusing on attendees interested in specific products and services, helping sponsors maximize their ROI

As planners work so hard to make an event or meeting truly memorable, AI can also help them with:

• Real-time Insights and Analytics – AI-powered platforms can provide live data on attendance, session popularity and attendee engagement, enabling planners to make adjustments on the fly
• Optimized Scheduling of Speakers and Venue Logistics – AI can analyze speaker availability, venue capacity and attendee preferences to create efficient schedules and manage logistical aspects, such as room assignments and transportation
• Content Creation and Targeted Marketing – AI can generate creative content including social media posts, email copy and event descriptions, then analyze demographics and past event data to identify the target audience for your marketing campaigns and outreach
• Feedback Analysis – You can leave post-event feedback surveys to AI, which will identify trends and areas of improvement, helping planners look ahead to future events

Three Big AI Trends in 2025

Right now, experienced planners are seeing a number of trends emerging when it comes to the live event experience.

Anca Platon Trifan, CMP, WMEP, is senior manager of strategic partnerships at Meetings & Incentives Worldwide, Inc., in Caledonia, WI. She says she sees three trends in AI that planners should take advantage of now.

The first is personalization. “In 2025, hyper-personalization in events will shift from being an experimental feature to an essential component of any successful event strategy,” Trifan says. “While we’ve only scratched the surface with tools that recommend sessions or networking connections, the expectation will grow for AI to deliver personalized, real-time experiences.”

She says this means attendees won’t just have sessions suggested to them based on their pre-event preferences — they will receive tailored adjustments mid-event, such as dynamic schedule changes or personalized networking recommendations based on their live behavior and interests.

Sustainability is the second industry trend Trifan sees. “Sustainability will also take center stage, with AI stepping in to help event planners minimize their environmental impact,” she says. “From carbon footprint tracking to AI-driven insights on waste reduction and energy optimization, technology will provide measurable and actionable ways to meet sustainability goals.”

While there are lots of great AI-powered tools for planners, many of them don’t include sustainability features. Sustainability Hub for Events (SHE) was made specifically for this purpose.

Created by the events industry for planners, SHE is a collaborative platform designed to help professionals reduce carbon footprint and manage resources in the planning and delivery of sustainable events. It includes on-demand learning modules to increase your sustainability knowledge, as well as tracking and measurement capabilities to optimize resource usage.

And last but certainly not least, according to Trifan, is analytics. “AI-driven analytics will take event debriefs to the next level, offering a more comprehensive understanding of attendee engagement and preferences,” she says. “These insights will not only inform future event design, but will also allow for faster, more accurate adjustments during the event itself, solidifying AI’s role in delivering impactful experiences.”

For data analytics, Zoho CRM is a great option that features AI-driven features specifically for event planners. Not only can it automate routine communications and predict attendee engagement patterns, but it can help analyze the success of an event and offer actionable insights to help optimize future planning. Zoho CRM seamlessly integrates with a multitude of communications channels, including email, social media and SMS. The platform can also create highly personalized workflows based on AI interpretations of attendee preferences and behavioral data, allowing planners to send targeted, relevant content.

Translation in Real Time

Dave Deasy is the CMP and chief marketing officer at Wordly, an AI translation solutions company in Los Altos, CA. He insists that while there are a lot of AI solutions out there, many of them don’t necessarily add value. That’s where Wordly comes in. “Global communication is a major challenge — whether it be events, small and large companies, local governments,” Deasy says. “There’s a community that does not all speak the local language.”

Wordly offers audio-only, real-time translation, which planners can plug into their audio systems, giving attendees their choice of more than 60 languages that they can then access on their phones and laptops.

“The alternative is to try to hire interpreters, and interpreters are great, but they can be expensive, and it’s extra logistics,” Deasy says. “If you need more than one language, then the complexity starts to go up exponentially because then you have to start to hire multiple interpreters. The cost goes way up. So, we make it significantly easier, and it can all be done on the fly.”

Wordly also offers captioning services and post-event transcription services.

The Case for Implementing AI

While it’s inevitable that at some point it will be impossible to avoid using AI in the industry, many planners are still hesitant to implement it.

“I see more fear and uncertainty than adoption,” says Noah Riley, founder of AI Genius Automations in Meridian, ID. “We’re at a phase in AI where there are more concerns than people showing real, valuable use cases. This means that the intangible qualities necessary to take advantage of this movement are high risk tolerance and willingness to fail, rather than your standard pragmatism. There is a high premium right now on being willing to try and fail, and few are willing to do so.”

Riley adds that the biggest (and quickest) adopters of AI are health and financial technology because these two industries are so data-reliant and directly affect people’s well-being and finances. When companies, especially large ones, do eventually implement it into their workflows, it’s always a long and sometimes difficult process. “There aren’t a lot of people who can show actual timesaving AI implementations unless they’ve been doing the hard work instead of going for the easy win,” Riley says. “Implementing AI into your company and getting incredible results still takes work.”

Trifan digs deeper into this sentiment. “The pace of AI adoption varies widely, depending on the sector of the industry,” she says. “Independent planners or smaller agencies often have more freedom to experiment with and integrate cutting-edge AI tools into their workflows. They can adopt trendy, user-friendly platforms like ChatGPT, Sparkit.ai or tools for automating repetitive tasks without having to navigate the complexities of corporate bureaucracy.”

As far as the industry as a whole, however, she believes that it’s still playing catch-up when it comes to AI — especially compared to tech and e-commerce, where it has been integrated, along with machine learning, for years to enhance workflows and user experiences. The event planning industry is just beginning to explore its potential. “The pandemic did push us forward in terms of overall technology adoption, but AI-specific tools, especially for internal team workflows and hybrid or in-person event applications, are still in the ‘figuring it out’ stage for most of the industry,” Trifan says.

What matters most, she adds, is to not chase every shiny new AI tool or trend but find where AI genuinely fits into planners’ processes. “It’s about identifying the right tool for the job, whether that’s streamlining registration workflows, personalizing attendee experiences or analyzing post-event data,” she says. “The industry needs to embrace experimentation and take calculated risks to understand AI’s capabilities, but always with purpose and strategy at the core.”

Balancing AI With the Human Factor

As with all tools and technology, it is impractical to overly rely on AI as the only solution for each and every task. This technology can’t do it all and shouldn’t be expected to, either. There’s still something to be said for the power of the human mind — for people discussing options and making decisions based on intuition, interaction and experience, all of which is vital to this industry. After all, event planning will always be people-focused.

But that doesn’t mean AI should be discounted. More and more people are using it and that number will only increase as we see more improvements in the technology. “Are we overreliant on the internet?” Riley asks. “Yes. Should we attempt to live and do business without it? No. The low-hanging fruit will be snapped up quickly. And like with anything, only those who do the hard work of solving difficult problems will rise to the top, and I believe people who achieve those outcomes use highly effective tools — AI being one of them.”

Trifan offers some advice for learning to balance the use of AI in this profession. “If we lean too heavily on AI and prioritize speed over authenticity, we risk flooding the industry with low-quality, uninspired experiences that fail to connect,” she says. “Avoiding this trap starts with humanizing our work. AI can’t replicate the personal stories, insights and authenticity that define a brand or an event. We need to lean into what makes our perspectives unique and prioritize originality. AI should enhance our strategy, not replace it.”

When used thoughtfully, she says, AI saves time, helps planners work smarter and opens up opportunities for creativity and connection. “But, it’s up to us to make sure the results are meaningful, impactful and aligned with our values,” Trifan adds. “AI isn’t about replacing what makes us human — it’s about amplifying it.” C&IT