AI, venues, and collective intelligence: why we need to press pause
By Thomas Mauch
There’s a lot of hype around AI right now in the events industry. From sales automation to guest experience, everyone seems to be chasing the magic bullet.
As someone working in a venue - not a tech company - I want to offer a reality check: for most of us, AI isn’t about dazzling your clients tomorrow. It’s about making our internal operations smarter, cleaner, and more efficient before we even think about guest-facing applications.
Take Bella Center, where I work, as an example. It has 50 years of client history - RFPs, contracts, even the turndowns. But much of that data is messy. Cleaning it, digitising it, and making it usable is the first real step toward applying AI meaningfully. Right now, the most sophisticated AI work in venues often happens in partnership with others - destination marketing organisations, DMCs, and exhibition organisers-not within a single venue. AI isn’t a solo play; it’s collaborative.
"Let’s slow down, align on principles, and define how AI should be used responsibly across our ecosystem"
We shouldn’t pretend that we are tech companies. Our role is to host moments that matter and to create spaces where experiences happen. The true opportunity lies in collective intelligence: in consolidating data across the ecosystem to make strategic decisions together. If destinations, venues, and event tech companies could collaborate more openly on data, we’d create a level playing field that benefits everyone-emerging cities and established destinations alike.
But here’s the catch: the industry currently lacks governance. There’s no standard for sharing data, no agreed framework for AI ethics or responsible deployment. This isn’t just an event sector issue - it mirrors the challenges the internet faced early on. We rushed ahead without frameworks, and now we’re dealing with a messy, fragmented landscape. AI in events is at a similar juncture. Without some collective governance, we risk the same kind of chaos.
So perhaps it’s time to push the brakes. Let’s slow down, align on principles, and define how AI should be used responsibly across our ecosystem. Deploy it internally - fine. Use it for pattern matching, process optimisation, and making sense of legacy data - absolutely. But don’t rush to external applications without a thoughtful, shared strategy.
If we can get this right, the payoff is enormous: smarter decisions, more efficient processes, and ultimately, better experiences for our clients. Collective intelligence - shared insights, shared data, and shared governance - could be the real AI breakthrough for venues. The question is whether we have the foresight to seize it before the hype overtakes the reality.
About the author: Thomas Mauch is International Senior Sales Manager at Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark.
