Chatbots and AI: The Key Event Tech Trends for 2018
Chatbots are a huge trend, there’s no doubt about it. Big name brands are jumping at the opportunity to meet their customers where they’re already spending time — in messaging apps. That’s why we are seeing a massive number of bots appearing in various different industries, from e-commerce and fashion to more conservative sectors like banking.
Advancements in conversational UIs and artificial intelligence (AI) in the events industry may not be as fast and impactful yet as in some other sectors, but these two technologies have the potential to redefine attendee experience and enable smarter event management for the organizers.
So, why are chatbots so popular right now and why are we certain they’ll impact the event space significantly in 2018 and beyond?
Because of the three major trends that are creating the perfect storm for the rise of chatbots:
- the ever-present app fatigue
- the explosion of messaging apps, and
- the increased commoditization of AI algorithms.
As app downloads and usage decrease, the use of messaging apps continues to surge. People all over the world use messaging apps more than any other channel and this is why brand-customer communications are increasingly moving to chat.
Companies are building their own chatbots leveraging AI for their domain of knowledge and ability to personalize conversations. These branded bots live on existing messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Kik, Viber and more.
Chatbots we interact with today may be built to do simple things, but as bot makers start to leverage advanced machine learning technologies, bots will become more intelligent and capable of interacting with users in more contextually relevant ways.
So, what does this mean for the events industry?
There’s an immense potential for smart chatbots in this space. Event participants have high expectations of their event experiences and they want the technology to add value, not complexity.
Chatbots are a natural fit for the conference environment — they are easier to access for attendees since they don’t require an app download but still offer app-like functions.
Organizers, on the other hand, can leverage chatbots to deliver mass personalization at scale, saving time and money in the process.
What are chatbot use cases for events?
An AI-enabled event chatbot can act as an assistants to answer attendees’ questions on-demand, collect feedback, drive interaction, deliver personalized notifications, and more.
Now, let’s go over the most compelling use cases:
Answering Questions. Your attendees will have questions, a lot of them. They’ll want to know things like, what’s the wifi password, how to get to the venue, when a certain talk begins, and more. Unlike traditional channels such as email and phone, chatbot is a much more scalable solution — it can provide immediate answers to hundreds of attendees at once.
Providing on-demand agenda. An event bot can deliver all the agenda info your participants need, including sessions schedule, talk abstracts, and speaker profiles directly from their favorite messaging app.
Delivering notifications. You can use a chatbot to inform attendees about sudden changes in schedule, speaker cancellations, or room switches. It’s also great for sending scheduled, personal reminders e.g. when the session an attendee favorited is starting.
Gathering attendee feedback. Smart event chatbots typically have different attendee feedback functionalities, such as Live Polls and ratings. Your chatbot can ask attendees to rate sessions and speakers, or launch polls on relevant topics.
Sentiment Analysis for Improved Attendee Experience
Sentiment analysis, as a form of machine learning, is slowly entering the events industry. And this only feels as a natural step given that it helps organizers understand how their participants feel.
The most obvious application is the analysis of chatbot conversations. It helps organizers understand the emotion that the user is expressing and use that understanding to provide a better response to them. The end goal is to provide a better attendee experience.
Conclusion
As event organizers start to innovate in this area and leverage the full potential of the available AI technologies, we’re going to see significant changes in the events world. Event experiences will become hyper-personalized for each attendee, enabling them to consume event content in a way that is uniquely tailored to their interests.
Organizers, on the other hand, will be able to gather more quality insights about their participants’ experience, helping them optimize their future events for maximum impact and ROI.
Are you ready to redefine how you manage your events and interact with participants in 2018?
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Check out Sava events platform for more info on event chatbots.
