Conventa 主办方：人工智能是副驾驶，救不了设计糟糕的活动

At our trade show, Conventa, we haven’t been idly waiting for artificial intelligence’s grand arrival. It waltzed in through the staff door and became an everyday part of our team’s work. We’ve used b2match for twelve years; GuestCloud has streamlined our registration and application management, and Claude has become integral to project communication. Building on that, we also use additional AI tools to create content, explore the market, fine-tune our creative processes, plan space, and handle numerous tedious tasks.

We also developed eight specialised AI agents. Their task is not to emulate the project head. Instead, they take over repetitive tasks, seek information and connect data. In short, they give the team back the most valuable commodity of our age: time.

Time for ideas, conversations and guests

For me, this captures the essence of AI: it should be the copilot, not the captain. A well-versed copilot can warn of dangers, make rational suggestions and take over routine tasks. Yet it doesn’t decide where we fly or why. The best example is VERA, our tool for verifying hosted buyers. We began developing it in 2024 and now use the fourth generation. VERA combines internal data with external information to assess the business potential of a potential future hosted buyer.

It sounds straightforward. In reality, though, it gets to the heart of one of B2B events’ most sensitive aspects. Who to invite? Who to trust? Who has real business interest, and who wants a nice trip at the event organisers’ expense? VERA helps us see more, but it doesn’t decide for us. The ultimate judgment remains human. If an event organiser passes responsibility to an algorithm, they aren’t innovative; they’re irresponsible.

A packed event hall can be an empty promise

The events industry adores gargantuan numbers: attendees, meetings, countries, and posts. More is almost always presented as better. A packed event hall can be an empty promise. Likewise, a hundred meetings without real business potential is nothing more than well-organised time-wasting. So our goal at Conventa isn’t to host more and more clients, but to find the right ones. We don’t need longer schedules, but better reasons to talk.

In this light, artificial intelligence’s potential is astounding. A classic system connects a hotelier with an event organiser because they wrote this down in the application form. Yet an advanced system understands their interests, past interactions, actual needs, geographic preferences, and the likelihood of getting real business out of a meeting.

We already apply a similar philosophy to our familiarisation trips. It is not enough to spirit a client away to stunning, picture-postcard destinations. The right client must experience the right destination in a way that caters to their business. A one-size-fits-all programme might be the easiest choice for the event organiser. Yet attendees often find it mediocre.

A fascinating phenomenon will unfold when AI begins invading the informal part of events. Imagine AI suggesting someone not on your list, yet, in its eyes, someone you should meet, perhaps during a break. It might suggest a business opportunity you might’ve walked past at an evening event.

Algorithms will thus help create serendipitous meetings. A wonderful paradox, isn’t it? Yet the moment two people shake hands will still belong to them.

An algorithm can recognise a business match, but it cannot measure the chemistry, trust, or unique energy that flows between two people who, after a few sentences, know they want to work together.