Creating Events That Feel Personal and Relevant with the Help of AI

Victoria Akinsowon [00:00:00]:

Really put in the work to understand who are the people you're trying to interact with. What are their interests? What are their pain points? What are their day-to-day struggles? And really try to get into their minds. Because that will help you be able to then cater for them when it comes to planning your events.

Alyssa Peltier [00:00:20]: 

Great events create great brands. But pulling off an event that engages, excites, and connects audiences? Well, that takes a village. And we're that village. My name is Alyssa. 

Rachel Andrews [00:00:33]:

I'm Rachel. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:00:34]:

And I'm Felicia. 

Alyssa Peltier [00:00:35]:

And you're listening to Great Events. The podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

Felicia Asiedu [00:00:46]:

Hi everyone. What has been going on in this wide, wide world of events? My name is Felicia and I'm your host for today's episode. In the last two episodes, we covered the big event trends and what to watch out for in 2025. But today we are zooming in on one trend that's really dominating the meetings and events industry.

Felicia Asiedu [00:01:06]:

And of course that is AI. But not just AI. We're going to talk about AI and personalization in particular. And I'm super thrilled to have a special guest, someone who works on my team. So I'm so happy to welcome Victoria, who is an expert in many areas, but she is really, really good at content strategy and now content for event strategy as well.

So Victoria, welcome. Or should I say welcome back? 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:01:31]:

Thanks, Felicia. That's such a lovely welcome. Hi, everyone. My name is Victoria. I am Content Marketing Manager here at Cvent. As Felicia mentioned, I work a lot on our content strategy alongside various teams.

And that means thinking about what content should we be producing? How do we repurpose that? How does that work with all of our distribution channels? But I also work alongside Felicia and the rest of the team on Cvent CONNECT Europe, our annual conference. And a lot of my time there is spent around what content should we be putting on at the event. So really happy to be here for my second time.

Felicia Asiedu [00:02:06]:

Awesome. And I'm so glad we're together. I'm going to be self-promoting right now. I feel like we're a bit of a dream team because I love content. And that's how I started. I was Content Marketing Manager and that's what you are now. And so when we sit together in a room and we're like, "How should we think about this," or "What should we do?" A lot of it is we're so akin to like, “What does the audience want?” Whereas I think, you do get other marketers that are like, "What do we want to say? What do we want to say?" And we're more like, "But what do people need?" It's a really good starting place for personalization. Don't you think? 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:02:37]:

I think you hit the nail on the head because I was just going to, I've been thinking a lot about what does personalization actually mean? Because it's a word that we use a lot. It's not a new concept. But I think it boils down to really understanding your audience and the people you're trying to interact with and what they want, what they need, what their pain points are. And that's why content and events, I always say such a good synergy because those are two channels where you can really use those to cater to those needs and those pain points.

Felicia Asiedu [00:03:08]:

Yeah, I agree. And here's one of my challenges. We've made a lot of content in our time. I've certainly made a lot of content in my time. And I've been talking about personalization for years and years and years. And so sometimes when we come up to do a podcast like this or something on stage, I'm like, "But people know. Don't they know? We've already done this and aren't people bored of AI, like this conversation?" But I've taken a view on that. I was like, "What do I think about that now? Do people know? What do you think to this?" I would say maybe marketers knew that we should be doing it.

Felicia Asiedu [00:03:37]:

Six, seven, eight, ten years ago, marketers knew we should be personalizing. How is a whole thing. But I think what's changed is now, people, the audience, want the personalization. So I think the difference is they are more willing to be like, "Why are you not personalizing this for me? Why do you feel that you have the right to send me generic nonsense?" And they are ready to walk. What do you think of that? 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:04:03]:

I so agree. And I think of it like there are so many events that you could be attending. There's so much content that you could be consuming and there's only so many hours in the day. And so I can't go to all the events and I can't read all the e-books or see all the videos. So I want to see things and experience things that are really tailored to me. And I agree with you. That's where I think the demand comes in because of this wave of noise across events and content. And that is what makes it so much more important to be like, "I want to spend my time in a way that is valuable. And I need to be more picky about how I do that."

Felicia Asiedu [00:04:41]:

Absolutely. We don't have a lot of time to give these days. It's such a precious commodity. But speaking of time, okay. So let's kick up that challenge. People know that they are time-poor. The ante is up. But how are we doing this? What does that mean in events, then? How are we going to start personalizing? I know when we sat down to look at Cvent CONNECT Europe last year, we started looking at data and whatnot. But let's challenge ourselves. What's the first thing we should be thinking with personalization, do you think? 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:05:08]: 

That's a great question. I'm pausing because it's like, "Where do you start?" And I think you hit the nail on the head about the data. I always like bringing real life examples to things. So thinking about Cvent CONNECT Europe. And from a content lens, it was very much of like, "What are people saying in their feedback about the topics that they're interested in and want to see?" And balancing that with, "I know there was some feedback about networking and more opportunities for that." And really understanding, "Okay, this is what people are saying in the surveys." And making sure you're going through that with a fine-tooth comb. And AI can help with that in many ways.

Victoria Akinsowon [00:05:46]:

But also, I always think about personalization of it's not just the on-site experience. It's like the information you're gathering before then to then inform that experience. And I would love to know what you think because it's like that registration form, it's like the gold dust. The questions you ask to then be able to capture the information you need to tailor that experience. 

 Felicia Asiedu [00:06:08]:

So the registration form has traditionally been a great place to capture that. But with these days, the trend is late registrations. So people aren't registering for your events sometimes until a week out. No one wants to be in that boat. But if that's the case, even gathering data around accessibility needs and all the needs of someone on-site is becoming more challenging. So to your point, I think it's the before the before. So it's like, "How much can I gather even before you got to registration from you? So does that mean I know you?" And that's going to depend on the kind of event you're running. Is it a user conference like ours where we're inviting people from our own database? 

Felicia Asiedu [00:06:45]:

Or are we going out through a partner and saying, "I want to get to know a brand new audience?" Because then personalization gets harder and harder the further and further away we get. So we have to be intentional and smarter about why did we partner with that partner in the first place? Could we work with that partner to understand that audience better and therefore offer what we think those people are more interested in? Then once you've got them in the database, you can start to do more of that internal. I've sent them a survey. Follow-up. I've done all the stuff you just mentioned. It comes with its challenges. I don't want to ever sit on a podcast and be like, "Hey, just do this, this and this." There's real life to consider. 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:07:25]: 

I agree. I think you touched on that point around the first-party data. Do you have that? Because that's a really good way to segment your audience based on various attributes. And I think as well, if you have that data internally and you have that historical data being able to look back at previous years, if it's not the first time you've run this event, to be able to at least get as close to what personalization can be. Find trends and patterns in that data. I think that's a really key piece as well.

Felicia Asiedu [00:07:57]:

Yeah. And that's exactly what we're here to discuss. The AI that can help you with that personalization because what we've outlaid just now, here's what we're trying to do. Here are some of the challenges. But I know people are getting to that point of like, " You keep saying this word AI. I don't know what you're talking about." They don't genuinely know what we mean.

Felicia Asiedu [00:08:14]:

Let's try and distill that down a little bit. I know that within Cvent, our tech team are completely heads down in building AI tools for our users so that they don't have to overthink about, "Am I going to go off and find some crazy AI tool?" I guess not everyone's with Cvent. I guess people are using their own technology. So I always say start there. But what are we expecting from AI? Trend analysis? What are we hoping to get out from AI? I have some thoughts. What do you think?

Victoria Akinsowon [00:08:42]:

I always think AI, it's one of those things where it really depends on what you are trying to make more efficient. What you're really focused on, what your goals are. It could be trend analysis, if that's an area in which you've got a lot of data. And going back to being time-poor, it's like there's only so much time in the day and doing it manually, it takes a lot of work.

Victoria Akinsowon [00:09:04]:

Going back to my example of surveys. We had a lot of feedback from our conference. And it could be a case of using something very simple, like a generative AI tool like ChatGPT to get all of that obviously anonymized data and then putting it in there and asking it. Like prompting it to show you the patterns and the trends. And then with something like ChatGPT, it's like the back and forth. Based on what it's given you, you prompt it again to be like, "Okay, based on these trends, what is your recommendations on how to optimize the event?" 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:09:35]:

It's not that you then take that verbatim and that's your strategy. But it's that acceleration of what would have taken you a long time to just go through each line item of feedback. I wanted to start there because I think a lot of people are using generative AI already. So that's an easy way to start before you get into the more advanced tools.

Felicia Asiedu [00:09:53]: 

I agree. And I know there's so much, but isn't that out in the public forum? And now that I've done my trend analysis, wouldn't someone else have it? And I think the most basic answer to that is not really. Even I used to think that. I thought that once you put something out there. But I would give someone this tip: go to ChatGPT and ask it, "Do you do that? Do you give my information out to the wide audience?" And you wait and see what ChatGPT tells you because it says, "No I don't." It's almost like, "Why would you accuse me of that?" And it tells you how it formulates its answers and how it deals with people's data and whatnot. And also you can have your own private instance of ChatGPT. That probably is the best way if your organization wants to just invest. Make sure it's your own private instance. And then you're even less concerned. ButI know that's something that people think about when they think about AI and generative AI. 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:10:40]:

No, that's a really important point to raise. And I would also add, it's also about, "Okay, you've now got this information. What are you then going to do differently at your event?" Because that's the whole point of doing the analysis. It's like, "Okay, you've got this now. What does that mean for the next step?" Are you going to change the topics or the networking opportunities or the activities that you have or even the location of the event? I think it's data analysis plus action that's really key.

Felicia Asiedu [00:11:10]: 

A hundred percent. And you've just mentioned a few things. Are you going to change the location and all of that. There is this argument between customization and personalization. To do personalization, some would say it is about the individual. It isn't about the groups. I could say because of the groups, I want to target financial services. I'm going to make sure that my event is in their hub, where financial services people can come to. Now, that's the first part of personalization. But is it customization for that group of people? I think true personalization does come down to the individual and that's where it becomes tricky.

Felicia Asiedu [00:11:44]: 

And one of the things I saw that Cvent's doing that I love, and definitely not Cvent pitching. Lots of people are doing this now. It's like, "How was your day? What was the wrap up of your day? What's the takeaway for you specifically? What did you engage with? And therefore, what shall I give you next?" Because I genuinely believe that true personalization, one-to-one personalization, is only going to take place through technology and therefore potentially, subsequently AI. I think what we've been doing might be more customization. And I hate that everything sounds like a question at the moment. 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:12:19]: 

I did want to jump in there because I agree with you about the importance of technology. And I think it's something like Spotify. I use Spotify all the time. And Spotify will recommend me songs that I had no idea existed, but based on what it knows I've been listening to. It's actually quite scary how accurate it can be. Or it will recommend me concerts to go to based on artists that I listened to. And I wouldn't have known that they were doing concerts. And when I go to an event, I want to feel as though it's tailored for me personally. And that's like recommending me sessions. And I know apps that can do that.And I know Cvent is working on that. But it's like recommending sessions based on my own interests and things that can help me in my day-to-day, things like that. I think there's a lot that we can learn from other technology and algorithms and things like that.

Felicia Asiedu [00:13:05]: 

I could not agree more, and that is it. I think that's the nail on the head moment of, "You give me what I didn't even know I was looking for but you know me so well that your recommendation is spot-on or what you're serving me is so right for me." That is it. If we're trying to, if the whole point of this podcast was at least to define what are we even talking about, I think that is exactly it. I've heard the Spotify example or the Netflix example before, and I don't know if it's ever really resonated with me because there's a limitation as a marketer of like, "I can't do that." But we can, if we embrace that future-thinking technology. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:13:39]: 

Let's call it, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 years ago. You want to open a bank account. You'd shake hands with your bank manager and he would understand, "Oh, Mrs. Morgan, nice to see you. How's the children?" All of that. Or the butcher knows your cut because you buy your cut every week. That's a really personalized experience that we, as a society, used to have. And that was without technology. I think the message I'm giving myself is, “Fine, there's a lot of noise and all of that.” But how do we get back to saying, "I can be human. I can use this technology to be your butcher, your bank manager. I can do that. I'm going to give it the time and the investment." What do we do? Choose smaller groups of people to do that with?

Victoria Akinsowon [00:14:21]: 

It's a really interesting point around the localized feel of that example that you gave. It's because everybody knows each other. I think that's what I was saying earlier about personalization being about understanding your audience so well. I think it's going back to the basics and the fundamentals of marketing.

Victoria Akinsowon [00:14:39]:

It's that audience research. It's actually talking to people. It's going back to that face-to-face human interaction because that's what we want the event experience to be. And I kind of feel as though personalization isn't one thing. It's like a series of moments that culminate in that entire experience. Of each touch point, feeling as though you are invested in my journey as an attendee, as a member of your audience. That's something I've been ruminating about a lot.

Felicia Asiedu [00:15:09]: 

I love that and I preach it. That pretty much is it. Because I do know that when people talk about personalization, they do talk about it being an experience. When you speak about the concert that you've recommended or the song that you've recommended, it's because that has enhanced your experience into a genre that you love or something. It wasn't a purchase moment, necessarily. It's a relationship built and an understanding of each other.

Victoria Akinsowon [00:15:35]: 

It's going back to people wanting authenticity. And it's funny, we're talking about AI and authenticity. And sometimes it can seem a contradiction in terms. But I actually think what we were saying about AI being able to accelerate your analysis and your understanding of various data points can then lend itself to that authenticity.

Victoria Akinsowon [00:15:55]: 

Because you're then able to write that email in a way that's customized to that specific individual. Tailor that invite to that person or their web experience or the networking experience that you have on-site, all the way to the post-event follow up. It's that marrying, I think, of technology and then using that to enhance that human aspect. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:16:17]: 

Yeah, definitely. Let's leave our audience with some really good tips and wrap ups and things that they can actively do. Because like AI, personalization is a bit of a minefield at times. I'm going to start. We might go back and forth a few times. See what we can give out. But I'm going to start with this. I'm not going to start with a tech piece of advice. I'm going to start with a human to human piece of advice. At Cvent, we're thinking very audience first this year. Like who are we talking to, why are we saying what we're saying. I'm going to say less. There's a phrase in youth culture that says, "Say less." 

Felicia Asiedu [00:16:49]: 

I say less. I think if we don't overproduce content and we don't overproduce emails and copy, we'll probably have more respect with our audiences because when you do say something, you give more. So I'm going to say less, but give more of your deep depth of understanding of that audience group, of the data, whatever it is you can give them as a report or something. When you give it to them, it's going to be so rich and so for them, that they're like, "I don't mind that we haven't spoken in the last two, three weeks. That email wasn't missed. But this email, I'm glad you sent to me." So I would say you need to really balance. Say less, give more. 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:17:36]: 

I love that because then it makes it more meaningful. I am going to repeat this because it does bear repeating. It's the audience research. Really put in the work to understand who are the people you're trying to interact with. What are their interests? What are their pain points? What are their day-to-day struggles? And really try to get into their minds because that will help you be able to then cater for them when it comes to planning your events.

Felicia Asiedu [00:18:04]: 

Perfect. Love that. My next one will be interrogate your technology. I always say this to people. Don't necessarily run out there and find new tech, but interrogate how could the existing tech and MarTech and event tech that we use, give me that sense of personalization that I need. How do I get to know people through this technology? And really interrogate it. If you've got anyone in your organization, even if you're in the marketing team, somehow your structure is, "I'm an event planner in the marketing team, but we don't have MarTech specialists." 

Felicia Asiedu [00:18:34]: 

Then get your IT guy and say, "This is what I want to do with this piece of technology. Can you interrogate it for me to see if this tech can do what I want it to do so I can personalize?" Because we don't have all the skills in our wheelhouse. So sometimes you need to pull in other parts of the business. But if you do have a MarTech team, you always fight about what MarTech you want and you want to add another piece of technology. You partner with them, get a better relationship. And yeah, just give them your needs and hopefully they can help you. 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:19:01]: 

I think just one thing to link onto that is starting small. I think it can seem really overwhelming when we're talking about these big things like AI and personalization. And it feels like you have to do all the things. And I think, no, maybe just start with a pilot of, "Okay, I want to understand how to better personalize our agenda programming. What steps should I be taking to get that data to understand that?" And then, the tool. I need to make sure that I can do this more efficiently. And then I feel like if you start small, you can then build up to bigger things. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:19:35]: 

Oh, I love that. And I'll jump on the back of that a little bit. Give my final kind of one and a half. If you're starting small, you could do bits of your programming. You could also do an audience subset. If you've got 100,000 people in your database, but you're like, "I'm going to focus on these 30 people and see how I can personalize things for these 30." And then build a best practice plan that you could potentially grow and roll out to a wider audience and see if that could work for you. I'm loving that piece of advice, gave a part two to it. 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:20:05]: 

No, I love it! You gave a part two and enhanced it, so it's great. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:20:09]: 

And then my final one, and I said this during my session at CONNECT, which you reminded me about recently. Where I was like, "Maybe don't listen to necessarily what people always say, but listen to what they do." That's a tricky one because when we say listen to your audience, you'll be like, "But you just told me for this whole last 20 minutes to listen to my audience."

Felicia Asiedu [00:20:26]: 

You should do that. But you should also take into account that data. Like what did they actually do when they got on-site? Or even if you haven't got the data, you should get some. You should be using technology to help you get the data. But if you haven't got the data, at least look at consumption on-site or something.

Felicia Asiedu [00:20:43]: 

Did people eat the meal? Ask the hotel, "What's the waste looking like from my event or something?" Because then it might help you to say, "Clearly that didn't go down very well. What I served wasn't the right thing." Again, we're back into a bit of customization. But if you can start to get true data, you can start to see the data for each one of your people and follow their journey individually so you can understand what you should be giving them.

Victoria Akinsowon [00:21:06]:

 I think that's a good final point in terms of data is the thing, the foundation that underpins all of this. You can't personalize if you don't know what you're personalizing for. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:21:14]: 

Oh, look at that killer punch to take us out. 

Felicia Asiedu [00:21:18]: 

Victoria, thank you so much for joining. Where can our listeners find you if they want to find you for more great tips? 

Victoria Akinsowon [00:21:25]: 

I am on LinkedIn. I'm trying to be more active this year. Always love when people connect and always up for a chat. You can find me there.

Felicia Asiedu [00:21:33]: 

Oh, love it. And I can find you in the desk next to me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oh, thank you so much. And thank you for tuning in. 

 

Alyssa Peltier [00:21:44]: 

Thanks for hanging out with us on Great Events, a podcast by Cvent. If you've been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. 

Rachel Andrews [00:21:54]: 

And you can help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you discover Great Events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

Felicia Asiedu [00:22:03]:

Stay connected with us on social media for behind-the-scenes content, updates, and some extra doses of inspiration. 

Rachel Andrews [00:22:11]: 

Got a great story or an event to share? We want to hear from you. Find us on LinkedIn, send us a DM, or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com. Big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember, every great event begins with great people. 

Alyssa Peltier [00:22:31]: 

And that's a wrap! Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.