How AI is Impacting Event Measurement

Artificial intelligence can bring significant value to event measurement by automating data collection, analysis, and reporting. With the help of AI-powered tools, marketers can obtain real-time insights into attendee behavior, interaction, and satisfaction levels, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and improve the overall event experience.

For instance, AI can be used to analyze social media mentions and sentiment around the event, track attendee movement and interactions through sensors, and identify patterns in data sets that may indicate areas for improvement. AI can also be used to create personalized recommendations for attendees based on their interests and preferences.

Many of us are already using AI even if we don’t think about it. Visualization software leverages AI to read data sets and turn them into easy-to-comprehend charts that allow for quicker analysis. Tableau and Power BI are some common examples of software doing this. The value gained and time saved by using AI is undeniable. 

However, while AI can provide valuable insights, the human element is still a crucial component to event measurement. AI tools are only as good as the data they receive, and humans are needed to design and interpret the results of AI algorithms. AI will fail to recognize that certain needed data doesn’t exist, but rather analyze what is available to provide insight that fails to capture a deeper answer. For example, human interaction and feedback are essential for understanding the emotions and motivations of event attendees and capturing the intangible aspects of the event experience that cannot be measured by AI. 

Removing bias and human intuition play a role in data analysis. While AI has more brain power than any single analyst or even a research department could have, it will never have that gut feeling that makes strategic insights as much an art as it is a science. When we lose the art, we miss human nature at its core, and ultimately, our strategies can only be partially maximized. 

Therefore, it is important for event marketers to strike a balance between the use of AI and the human element in event measurement, recognizing the strengths and limitations of each approach and using them in a complementary way to obtain a holistic understanding of events and experiences. The bottom line: AI is an incredibly powerful tool but humanity must stay at the center of event measurement.