Last week at EventTech Toronto, PheedLoop’s Head of Sales & Strategic Partnerships, Mitch Malinsky, had the privilege of leading an insightful workshop titled Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence for Events. This session aimed to demystify the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence and its relevance to event professionals.
We kicked off the workshop with a foundational understanding of artificial intelligence - specifically, generative AI - defining it in the context of today's technological landscape:
Generative Artificial Intelligence describes algorithms, such as ChatGPT and Bard, that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos.
A good analogy is to think of AI as a robot assistant that can create outputs on its own. While you can guide the robot with a specific set of rules and inputs, it can also be creative and make something new, like art, stories and videos. That's what is meant by generative AI - it generates outputs on its own.
This definition set the stage for a fascinating journey through the rapidly evolving timeline of AI advancements. From the perspective of an event technologist, it's astounding to witness the pace at which this technology is growing, both in terms of how quickly it is adopted by the general public and the rate at which it expands its features and functionality.
To illustrate how quickly this technology is moving in these aforementioned dimensions, we explored the evolution of one of the most popular AI systems on the market right now, OpenAI’s ChatGPT:
While there is significantly more that ChatGPT achieved over the last year, this timeline helps to paint a picture of how quickly this AI chatbot, and similar technologies, are evolving.
The core of the workshop was dedicated to exploring three distinct applications of generative AI, specifically tailored for event planners:
This segment explored how AI can create stunning, customized visuals, offering limitless possibilities in branding and design for event professionals. Some of the applications that we explored include:
This segment highlighted how AI can generate engaging video content, crucial for promotional material and interactive experiences. Some of the applications that we explored include:
This segment showcased AI's ability to craft written content, from marketing copy to personalized attendee communications. Some of the applications that we explored include:
The workshop concluded with a crucial message: the rapid advancement of AI technology is not slowing down. For event professionals, staying abreast of these developments is not just beneficial but necessary to avoid being left behind in an increasingly digital and AI-integrated world. The real opportunity lies not only in utilizing these solutions to automate and streamline your current tasks and workflows but also in helping you unlock new skills and areas of expertise that you previously lacked the wherewithal for.
This quote from Ginni Rometty, former President, Chairman and CEO of IBM perfectly illustrates this final point:
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of creating artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
As we continue to navigate this exciting era of technological innovation, the applications of AI in event planning are only limited by our imagination. EventTech Toronto's workshop was a step towards embracing these changes, empowering professionals to harness the transformative power of AI in their work.
To stay on top of the latest topics and trends impacting the events industry, follow along with PheedLoop's new and exciting event series, EventTech Toronto. You can learn more about EventTech Toronto in this recap post of our inaugural event!