AI tools offer significant benefits within the meetings and events planning process, acting as powerful time savers, content suggesters and relationship builders. In addition, AI tools can streamline logistics, personalize attendee experiences and enhance engagement through data-based approaches. While AI can elevate event planning efficiency, it is critical for meeting and event planners within the insurance and financial space to proactively address privacy and compliance requirements to protect data and proprietary information in an ever-changing meeting technology environment.

According to Elyse Dawson, CMP, CPCE, DES, senior events manager at Homrich Berg Wealth Management, from an financial meeting planner perspective, although AI is a household name, the adoption of AI tools with planners is at an infancy stage, with meeting planners evaluating exactly how AI tools can enhance their event planning process.

“I use AI for the event life cycle. Some of the most frequently used ways include generating language for invites and event agendas,” Dawson says. “I also use AI a lot with attendee management when comparing documents and spreadsheets. One of the biggest time savers is aggregating feedback survey information. I recently used AI to group feedback by wins and opportunities and to give an overall sentiment score based on the feedback. I was able to use the information in a formal debrief with my executive team.”

Sara Beth Raab, owner and founder of SB Events, says that AI in events management is feeling a lot like the shift many people remember when everything moved to cloud-based storage.

“We used to lug around CDs, external hard drives and binders full of print-outs. Now, we can all do our site visits with our iPad, share documents with every stakeholder working off the same cloud-based docs in real time,” Raab says. “At first, it was a huge adjustment; now, it’s just all second nature.”

“With the rise of no-code builders, automation tools and AI-assisted development, it’s easier than ever to spin up an event registration site quickly using tools like Webflow, Bubble and Zapier. The word of caution is that these ‘vibe-coded’ solutions can quietly create real exposure around security, privacy and compliance when they move from experiment to production, and event planners should be mindful of this and proactively raise concerns with their IT and security teams,” adds Raab.

She further points out that many meeting planners within the financial and insurance sectors are feeling the same tension with AI. However, it’s important to note that AI is already baked into so many of the tools currently being used within the event planning industry. These include:

•  AI Assistant – like Siri, responding to your prompts.
•  AI Agent – think Starbucks “Order My Usual” button; it knows what you want before you ask.
• Chatbots – those “Ask Me Anything” helpers on event websites or apps.
• Generative AI – tools like ChatGPT that help you brainstorm, write and even run your day like a super-powered intern.

Some of the most popular event management tools are already using AI in programming including:

• Cvent with session recommendation engines for attendees, lead scoring for exhibitors based on attendee behavior and AI-powered survey analysis for post-event feedback.
• Zoom Events and Webinar with their AI-generated meeting summaries and transcripts; real-time translation and closed captioning; and speaker coaching tools (e.g., auto volume leveling, filler word tracking).
• Prismm, formerly AllSeated, provides AI-driven layout suggestions based on guest count, event type and venue dimensions; crowd flow simulation to optimize for congestion and bottlenecks (especially relevant for financial/insurance events with tight security zones).

“If you are like me and are an external processor, using ChatGPT as a brainstorming partner is game-changing,” Raab says. “I use it to think through event strategy, build out rough drafts of content and even store details like a multi-day agenda so during an event I can just say: ‘remind me what room Chris Smith’s session is in’ and — boom — no flipping through a 40-page program guide. It’s all there, served up without the panic.”

At GlobalMeet, chief marketing officer Trent Waterhouse works closely with product and event production teams to deliver high-impact digital experiences – drawing on his expertise in brand building, go-to-market strategy and executive communications to guide event outcomes that are secure, scalable and audience-focused.

In his experience, Waterhouse is seeing AI transforming how organizations plan and drive attendance for events before they even begin. It streamlines critical pre-event workflows –like speaker scheduling, agenda planning, personalized attendee outreach and branded registration pages, all of which free up time for planners to focus on higher-level overall event strategy.

“AI taps into buyer intent data from platforms such as ZoomInfo, 6Sense and DemandBase to pinpoint high-value leads and prospects,” Waterhouse says. “AI also aids in evaluating and analyzing the data collected from an event and transforms it into actionable insights and reports. AI can generate compelling social media video clips and posts to boost post-event engagement, while efficiently indexing and tagging event recordings for easy access.”

Biggest Concerns

In a sector that is teeming with ultra-sensitive information, the use of AI within the meeting space brings about a wealth of concerns. “It’s important to remind planners not to put in personal or identifying information into AI tools. Many firms have restrictions on the use of AI tools, so educating yourself on what is available and responsible usage is key,” Dawson says. It is also important that event planners make sure that they are aware of the environment from which the AI tool is obtaining information.

“If your firm has a proprietary AI tool, you have more flexibility with what information you put into the tool. However, if you are using a system that is not a closed environment and pulls information from the internet, any information you put into system will be captured and used for other prompters,” Dawson says. “My best practice is to redact any identifying personal information when working in the AI tool.”

As a team of one, using AI tools allows Dawson to categorize her thoughts. Oftentimes, she will use the transcription of a voice note where she talks out all of her to-dos.

“I will paste that transcript into an AI tool and have it categorize my list and place it in order of priority. Using AI tools also cuts down on the manual process of data entry,” Dawson says. “If I have a simple task, such as converting an agenda to table format, I can upload it to my regular platform. A big benefit for me is getting the creative juices flowing. I am a person that has way too many ideas on a particular topic, and I need a jumping off point. I use AI tools to help me kick start the brainstorming.”

Recently, Dawson needed to create a seating chart using an Excel file. She entered in a prompt that thought would accomplish the task. However, the AI tool continued to provide seating charts that were incorrect. “Moving through the different prompts ended up taking over an hour. So, instead of saving me time, I lost time trying to get the prompt just right,” Dawson says. “Eventually, I was able to figure it out. But in that instance, it caused more rework than solutions. Another common problematic occurrence is the repetitiveness and deep fakes. Be careful and make sure to double check the information you receive. I know this can seem counterintuitive, but just like humans, AI tools can make mistakes or be redundant.”

Dawson further advises event planners to make sure they understand what their financial firm or insurance company permits when it comes to use the AI tools. Understand what AI tools are available internally and how the information is stored and where it is pulled from.

“I would then find tasks that are either tedious or simple and play around with prompts that could help solve the task,” Dawson says. “Don’t be overwhelmed with trying to incorporate AI into every element of your event planning process or trying to produce a super innovative way to change your events programs. Start small and build from there.”

Dawson also cautions that planners do not put numbers into the AI tool that you wouldn’t want to world to know. “This isn’t referring to head count on an event or generic items such as that,” Dawson says. “Be very careful about the financials, if you are not working in a closed network environment.”

Raab also stresses that with any new tech, there’s always this ‘Wild Wild West’ energy and a big gulp of fear.

“Remember the cloud storage transition and everyone was clutching their external hard drives like little life rafts? The skepticism was valid in many cases – we had to learn to trust the system. Now, we easily log in to multi-factor authentications, access secure cloud portals and barely give it all a second glance. We event folks do what we do – adapt, build guardrails and evolve. So the key isn’t whether to use AI, it’s more how we can use it wisely,” she says.

Raab recommends planners keep these things in mind:

• Does the tool have multi-factor security on the admin side? Is it SOC 2 compliant or designed with regulated industries in mind? Is it a trusted brand (like Cvent, Zoom or Vow) that already serves financial/insurance clients?
• Chances are, many of the platforms you already use have AI baked in – and you’re using it safely without realizing it.
• In generative, more conversation-based systems like ChatGPT, there are nuances to consider when entering prompts. It’s important to know which version to use. The OpenAI Enterprise version of ChatGPT was built specifically for companies in need of security, admin control and privacy. The most important piece is that none of the data will be used for training new versions. So, you basically get all the tools without any of the risk.

“AI chatbots are amazing when they’re trained well, and a brand risk when they’re not,” Raab says. “We’ve all interacted with those frustrating bots that answer everything except the question you asked. That’s not the bot’s fault – it’s a content problem. These tools can only reference what you’ve fed them. So, if you’re using an event app with chatbot support, you’re the brain. You have to load it up with FAQs, maps, schedules, policies – everything you’d want an intern to know if they were answering your guest questions on show day.”

Raab has seen AI tools, like ChatGPT, generate content that sounded polished, but butchered the industry voice and language. The kicker? It delivered this content with confidence, like it just did a TED talk on a topic it completely misunderstood.

“That’s the danger: AI doesn’t always know what it doesn’t know,” Raab says. “So yes, it can save time – but anything public-facing, strategic or compliance-related needs a human to fact-check and finesse. AI is brilliant at getting you to the first draft. Just don’t let it press send until a human with deep industry knowledge reviews it.”

Waterhouse adds that event organizers must leverage a locked-down, private instance of AI to prevent any loss of intellectual property or inadvertently training public AI models. “Regulatory compliance is another major priority, particularly at banking conferences where public companies present forward-looking information to investors,” he says. “Organizations must adhere to the strict industry regulations that are essential to maintaining confidentiality and protecting corporate reputations.”

A common issue the GlobalMeet team has seen with AI tools at events involves captioning and translation services. “While AI can speed up the creation of these assets, it often struggles to interpret industry terminology, acronyms and regulatory language accurately,” Waterhouse says. “Inaccurate translations of financial terms can lead to confusion among attendees and require manual corrections post-event. This highlights the importance of training AI models with industry-specific glossaries and acronym libraries.”

Using AI responsibly and effectively, even within highly regulated, industry-specific environments, is possible. Waterhouse advises that planners should start by carefully assessing what content and data the AI engine of their choosing will have access to. From there, you can proactively limit exposure to sensitive or proprietary information. Also, prioritize AI applications for post-event activities, such as reporting and content generation, where privacy risks are significantly reduced compared to the planning and real-time event operation stages.

Future Outlook

Even with all of the concerns emerging about the use of AI and proprietary information within the world of events and meetings, experts expect the use of AI to continue to build momentum. “AI at its baseline is machine learning. The more planners utilize it, the better it will become at helping planners with our everyday needs,” Dawson says. “Also, there are developments every day and new AI tools that are being created. Each iteration is faster, more intuitive and user-friendly than the last.”

Dawson looks forward to seeing the growth and an AI tool that can be used across operating systems. “For instance, I could take an email, have the AI tool breakdown the deliverables, starts the shell tasks, take a first pass at creating a PowerPoint,” Dawson says. “This could be a game changer for organizations that have a smaller events team but need to maintain a certain level of productivity and efficiency. It takes less effort to react to something than to generate something new. How great would it be to have an AI tool do the heavy lifting and a planner can reserve their energy for the fine tuning?”

Looking ahead, Raab stresses that AI isn’t a trend; it’s going to help make experiences hyper-personalized, automate data, provide easy access to content and enhance accessibility. “It won’t feel like a separate ‘thing’ for long,” Raab says. “AI will just become the new normal – and folks that embrace it early will have a serious edge.” I&FMM