Which AI is right for you? The ultimate event planner guide
Introduced by Tommy Moore, senior creative director at DRPG, eight eventprofs spill the tea on the AI tools they swear by, how they use them, and the game-changing ways these tech tricks transform their industry lives.
Tommy Moore, senior creative director at DRPG, introduces our ultimate eventprof guide to AI
Generative AI is transforming the events industry, but let's be crystal clear, it’s not a magic wand that eliminates creative work. It's a sophisticated tool that amplifies your existing expertise, so whatever tools you’re using, you’ll only get as good as you give.
Getting the results you want with Gen AI demands even more thoughtful engagement, not less. Effective AI interaction isn't about learning some cryptic technical language, though. It’s about applying the communication skills you've already mastered as an event professional.
Specificity is your greatest ally. Understanding the language you’re inputting means recognising how ‘big’ and ‘massive’ carry fundamentally different emotional weights and visual implications. Mastering these subtleties is key to success. Instead of generic instructions, you need to input detailed narratives that capture all the nuances of your vision. Asking for ‘an industrial stage design’ is unlikely to get you to a finished result fast, but taking the time to explore and explain an avant-garde, minimalist concept with asymmetrical lighting and industrial metallic textures that evoke a particular emotional landscape just might.
Technical parameters are another crucial element in AI interaction. Understanding aspect ratios, resolution specifications, and visual styles allows you to shape output with precision. And referencing specific aesthetics, like ‘vintage Kodak film grain’ or ‘sleek Apple product photography’, can dramatically transform generative results. But these are tools, not substitutes for your expertise. AI generates options, and the more aligned you are with what the tools are ‘looking for’, the better that output will be.
AI accelerates ideation, provides rapid prototyping, and offers unexpected perspectives. The strategic vision, the emotional intelligence, and the understanding of human experience, though, that comes entirely from you. It’s up to you to take your time, think your ideas through, and communicate them clearly to get the best results.
Finding the AI for you
Do you know a conversational AI from a generative one? How about an agentic model from a large language model? If you do, you're one of the few. However, these words – and understanding them – really do matter.
Agentics are all about productivity, streamlining admin, sharpening storage, and making the behind-the-scenes stuff run smoother. Conversational AI takes things up a level with next-gen chatbots that use words, videos, even sketches to guide you to the right answer through natural dialogue.
Then there’s generative AI, your creative sidekick, helping you craft images, copy, film and any medium you need. And powering it all is a large language model, which is an ultra-intelligent AI that gets what you're asking for and crafts a tailored, high-quality output based on that. While it’s not magic, it's seriously smart.
So there you have it - your mini launch pad into the world of AI. But this is just the start. Now, it’s time to go deeper and really get to grips with the tools shaping our future.
Tommy Moore
Tommy Moore
"A process that took days now only takes a few hours, often less"
Now discover what AI eventprofs are actually using, and how it's transforming their working lives...
Gema Rodriguez, TFI Lodestar
What AI are you using: Wonderchat
How long have you been using it? Six months
What is it, and how has it changed the way you work? Wonderchat is an AI chatbot builder that has transformed how we manage customer support. Most delegate queries are straightforward, which Wonderchat is good at taking care of, leaving our executives free to focus on more complex interactions.
How would you suggest getting the most out of it? Feed it as much information as possible, and make sure you have a route for delegates to contact a real person if they don’t get the answer they need.
What improvements would you like to see on the platform? Wonderchat doesn’t always answer questions in the right way, so make sure you’re keeping an eye on its responses. A useful aspect of Wonderchat is the user's ability to monitor its responses and feed it more information to make those responses better or more accurate. The system is quick to learn and continuously improves.
Malcolm Che, head of strategy & innovation at Identity
Name of AI: Perplexity
How long have you been using it? 12 months
How has it changed your work? It helps with the heavy lifting of desk research that helps inform strategy, and is particularly helpful since it returns citations. It is both a Language Learning Model (LLM) and an advanced search engine in real-time, and also helps to craft and refine pre-written copy for pitch responses.
I also use it to validate concepts and approaches through the reasoning aspects of the additional models available on Pro. We have also used it during live events to generate summaries of plenary sessions taken from real-time transcriptions, which we then display on screen for the audience to quickly photograph and easily share to social media for amplification.
Any tips on how to get the most out of it? Use the incognito mode and adjust your settings so that none of your inputs or outputs are fed back into training data. This ensures data sovereignty and privacy. Using the Pro subscription, you can also choose to use other models such as Claude and even DeepSeek R1 for reasoning, which all run on Perplexity’s servers, ensuring data security.
Any negatives – things it doesn’t do very well? As with all models, it is still prone to hallucination, and sometimes cited pages either no longer exist or are not available. As with any AI model, human-in-the-loop verification of all outputs is essential. It speeds up the workflow, but it's not the workflow.
"From a planning perspective, Spark is great for cutting out the donkey work."
Sasha Frieze, director of The Business Narrative, author of 'The Chief Event Officer’s Playbook – how to create transformational events'
Name of AI: Hemingway Editor
How long have you been using it? Around 3 years
How has it changed how you work? Part of the training I offer clients is around event marketing, and copy is a core part of that. Hemingway is a speedy, visual way to assess copy readability, sentence by sentence, and get an overall US High School readability Grade level.
It’s changed the way I write for clients and train event professionals to write. Simpler, more accessible copy gets better results. I typically recommend aiming for Grade 7 or 8. Hemingway has trained me to write shorter sentences.
What are your tips for optimal use? Once you’ve pasted your copy into it a few times, you’ll get a good sense of your writing quirks (mine is overlong sentences – Hemingway says this sentence is hard to read). This helps you fine-tune your copy for better results.
Any negatives – things it doesn’t do so well? Nothing I can see – but you need to decide what readability grade you’re aiming for.
Lisa Astorga, director of meetings, ISTH
Name of AI: Spark
When did you first start using SPARK? About a year ago.
How does it benefit the way you work? From a planning perspective, Spark is great for cutting out the donkey work. It can create programme outlines, speaker briefs and other documents in a way that saves me a lot of time. It’s also good for comparing data and analysing information that helps me make more informed decisions.
Any tips on how to get the most out of it? For really enhanced information, you’ve got to have great prompts and be prepared to drill down into the information and repeat the process more than once.
What doesn’t it do so well? You really have to do quality control on the information and data it produces. Don’t just accept it. It might not be what you’re looking for, or correct.
Grace Louisy, managing director, HeadBox for Business
Name of AI: Recommendations (our in-house machine-learning tool). Our Recommendations tool is reserved for our HeadBox for Business customers. We use a different algorithm for anyone who visits headbox.com, which helps to match venues with enquiries, allowing the venues that most closely fit the brief to message first.
How long have you been using it?
Since its release in early 2023.
How has it changed how your work?
It pulls countless data points from a client’s enquiry and instantly gives us a ranked list of venues that meet their criteria, allowing us to invite them to proposals in seconds.
So, a process that took days now only takes a few hours, often less. The tool's instant recommendations have led to some clients receiving a full proposal (with five venue options) within an hour of enquiring.
Any tips on how to get the most out of it? There still needs to be a layer of human interaction. We know our clients best, and some of their preferences and opinions can require a layer of personal expertise and knowledge from our Meetings and Events team. Using it as a guide, rather than an answer, is the best way to use it productively.
Any negatives – things it doesn’t do very well? Like the above, it does not always pick up on nuance when it comes to the vibe and feel of a space. A venue that's "unique" or "cool" to one person may not be to another, and so on. It's much better at things like capacities, locations, and amenities.
"AI is not 100 per cent accurate, and having a human eye on the content will always be critical."
Gavin Farley, CEO asembl
Name of AI: Can I have two? Chatgpt4 and Notion.
How have they changed the way you work? I use Chatgpt4 to produce documents, check copy, as an idea generator, to streamline content and produce content, social media post ideas, marketing strategies, and job specs. I produced a proposal for an overseas incentive in Athens using Chatgpt4 – the original prompt was along the lines of ‘no more than 5hrs from London, 200 people, beach location and warm in September’ and within two minutes I was building out a schedule – very cool!
I use Notion as a task manager, planner and organiser. Basically, it keeps my brain in order and all in one place. I use it for notes, to-dos, project planning, interactive task lists, etc
Any tips on how to get the most out of them? Good prompts, and just use them! The platforms learn fast, so use them fast and fail fast. You'll just get better at using them. Don’t shy away from it. Try stuff, it’s fun.
Have you found any negatives? You have to remember that these platforms are not quite human (yet!), but if you think about the time savings, they're worth using for sure.
I’m definitely ‘team AI’, especially for streamlining repetitive processes such as proposals and project plans, even budgets and visuals for exhibition stands. It’s a game changer. Not to replace humans but to enhance output.
Natalia Ramirez Cabrera, BCD M&E sales enablement manager
Name of AI: EMPOWER Assist, BCD M&E’s proprietary Generative AI tool, which we launched just last year.
How has it changed your work? EMPOWER Assist has been an invaluable asset in streamlining repetitive and mundane tasks. One of the essential components of Assist is the security of using a specifically designed proprietary Generative AI, rather than one of the many public ones floating around. Although my current position isn't focused on planning, here are some practical ways the platform would be used in my previous role as a programme manager:
- Client communications: Drafting a post-planning call recap used to take me about an hour, but with Assist, it takes minutes to create a solid outline to work from. Of course, the quality of the results depends on the information that is input and the prompts used. At the end of the day, it takes human knowledge and interaction to provide prompts that are relevant to the end users.
- High-level cost comparison: When considering multiple destinations for a programme, Assist provides a quick way to gauge the overall costs of each option, making it easier to compare them.
- Content creation: Whether it’s meeting agendas, an invitation draft, or “Know Before You Go” copy, Assist significantly reduces the time spent on these tasks.
- Venue/Vendor Proposal Snapshots: Occasionally, time doesn’t allow for a thorough review of lengthy hotel proposals. In those instances, inserting the proposal content into Assist to extract specific information can save significant time. It’s also incredibly useful for obtaining a quick overview of a proposal or Banquet Event Order (BEO) by asking for the key points, which gives a solid understanding of the document. All of this, of course, with the highest regard to information security in mind.
Any tips on how to get the most out of it? The key is in the prompt! The quality of the results you receive will directly correlate with how well you craft your prompts. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when developing your prompt:
Specificity is essential: Be as detailed as possible. Keep prompts clear and concise: Simplicity helps. Provide context for better results: The more background you give, the better the output. Be specific: This helps avoid vague or off-target responses.
Any negatives—things it doesn’t do very well? In my experience, when Assist doesn’t quite deliver the output I’m looking for, it often stems from the wording of my prompts or lack of human nuance. This highlights the importance of providing context; vague prompts can lead to Generative AI filling in gaps inaccurately. Overall, it’s crucial to thoroughly review any AI-generated output—AI is not 100 per cent accurate, and having a human eye on the content will always be critical.
Jemma Peers, managing director of Top Banana
Name of AI : Primarily Adobe Firefly (particularly within Photoshop), alongside ChatGPT and Midjourney, depending on the task.
How long have you been using it? Around a year. Some tools had been used in small ways before, but they’ve become a much more integrated part of the creative process over the past 12 months.
How has it changed how you work? It has sped up the time-intensive tasks: editing imagery, mocking up visuals, or generating quick concepts that would have previously taken days. That shift has allowed for more creative freedom elsewhere, removing some of the pressure from repetitive jobs and giving space to think bigger. On the copy side, tools like Chatgpt have proven useful for idea generation, structuring content, and proofreading. It’s rarely the final answer, but it’s often a good starting point.
Any tips on how to get the most out of it? Be clear and concise. Short, focused prompts work best, especially when building towards a larger piece. Don’t expect perfect results straight away, sometimes it’s quicker to start over or strip things back than to keep adjusting a flawed output. Think of AI as a collaborative tool: it’s great for speeding things up, but you still need a clear creative direction.
What do you wish these AI platforms did better? There are still limits. Image generation can be inconsistent - hands, for example, remain a challenge, and it can struggle with more niche requests like specific furniture or realistic scamps. There’s usually some trial and error involved. For text, the tone can feel flat or generic if taken at face value. And while it saves time, it’s not a shortcut... Over-reliance can be obvious, especially in professional communications. Ultimately, human input is still key to making the work feel credible and on-brand.
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