Today's conversation explores the use of AI in event planning and management. I'm joined by AI Event Prof, Anca Platan Trifan to discuss the benefits of using AI tools like ChatGPT to save time, improve productivity, and enhance the attendee experience. Anca emphasizes the importance of learning and embracing AI to stay competitive.
We also touch on the fear of stepping out of one's comfort zone and the need to adapt to the changing landscape of technology.
Takeaways
check out Anca's free and paid courses here: https://treefanevents.com/ai-in-events-mastery/
find Anca on Linked In here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ancatrifan/
Follow Anca on Instagram here: @treefan_events
Listen to Anca's podcast here: https://eventsdemystified.com/home
Ready to dive deeper? Download your free guide, five ways to elevate your attendee experience without breaking the bank HERE
Connect with Clare:
ello and welcome back to not the same
1:04
as last year so I promised last week
1:07
that this episode would be all about
1:09
artificial intelligence in events and
1:11
how it will help improve a attendee
1:14
experience but to be honest I don't
1:16
think we're quite there yet I have been
1:19
mcing a few events this year obviously
1:22
and in fact in every single one
1:24
regardless of the industry there has
1:26
been at least one session on AI And yet
1:29
when when I talk to the people running
1:31
the events the event organizers
1:33
themselves most of them are barely using
1:36
it whether it is because they think they
1:38
don't have time to learn about it or
1:40
they are afraid of it or there isn't
1:42
even a policy to implement AI within
1:44
their organizational structure whatever
1:47
it's not being used so today I think we
1:49
need to start a little bit earlier we
1:51
need to talk about how AI can help us
1:54
event professionals to save time and
1:57
improve our processes so my goal for
2:00
this episode is to make you excited
2:02
about Ai and how it can help you do a
2:05
better and more efficient job which will
2:07
then give you the time back to enable
2:09
you to be more creative and make your
2:12
events better for your attendees now I'm
2:15
excited by Ai and its potential but I am
2:18
still only dabbling myself and I've
2:20
still got a lot to learn and try so I've
2:23
asked someone far more knowledgeful on
2:25
the impact of AI and events to join me
2:28
Anor platon trean is the founder of the
2:31
event production company tree fan events
2:33
she has her own amazing podcast
2:36
demystifying events and if that's not
2:38
enough she's also an award-winning
2:40
bodybuilder and weight training coach
2:42
she's really committed to merging event
2:44
production with wellness and Technology
2:47
to really enhance the event experience
2:49
and indeed to sharing her knowledge with
2:51
others so we're very lucky to be able to
2:53
speak to her today and I started by
2:55
asking her why she has found AI so easy
2:59
to get into when I first started in
3:01
event Productions 20 something years ago
3:03
it's because I was very much embedded
3:05
into into technology and I it starts
3:08
from as early as like fifth grade I kid
3:11
you not when uh when I first uh went
3:14
into a comp computer uh science class in
3:17
middle school and we were the first
3:20
generation on the internet and we had
3:23
the internet to ourselves there was no
3:27
boundaries there's no rules I mean we're
3:29
kind kind of like free and wild and some
3:32
of it was good some of it not so good
3:34
right but I was always diving into
3:37
whatever the newest thing was the newest
3:39
technology and that has kind of been the
3:42
journey the story of my life so when you
3:45
know AI kind of became on the next thing
3:49
came on the scenes um
3:51
2022 is when we know of chpt coming out
3:55
and everybody was like oh my gosh what
3:57
is this thing right but actually AI
3:59
algorithms have been used by businesses
4:01
like think of Amazon if you think of
4:03
your uh patterns what you shop what you
4:06
listen to uh what you watch all of that
4:09
is dictated by AI algorithms in the
4:12
background right so it's not a New
4:13
Concept however for a lot of us on the
4:15
front end it was kind of new when CHP
4:18
came out and we started interacting with
4:21
this large language model that could
4:23
give us answers like you would be
4:25
talking to a human right so um it wasn't
4:28
anything different for for me than just
4:30
following the technology and seeing
4:33
where it leads and when I saw that this
4:35
is a big deal in the way we interact the
4:37
way it's going to change our processes
4:39
and the way it's going to change the way
4:40
we work create workflows and the way we
4:43
plan events the way we Market them I was
4:45
all in I'm like I'm going straight in
4:48
because this is going to definitely to
4:50
use the CHP most used uh word
4:55
revolutionize our future right so um
4:59
that was a no brainer for me to just
5:01
dive straight in and it's funny because
5:03
I find myself me and a lot of other
5:06
others that we use words that CH GPT
5:09
uses a lot but now we use it in our
5:11
everyday conversations and I laugh at
5:13
myself because there's words that I've
5:15
never used before right like
5:16
revolutionize dwell more over further
5:19
more dive all those things that now we
5:22
we speak like an
5:24
llm I know and I'm having to catch
5:27
myself because obviously I Ed it a lot
5:30
to help me phrase something or start me
5:32
off sometimes when I'm getting a bit of
5:34
a creative mind block and then I want to
5:36
turn it into my own thing and I think
5:39
I've done that and then I'm reading a
5:41
script and I'm oh no there's a lot of
5:43
diving and dwelling going on there I
5:45
didn't I know I kind of cringe I think
5:48
gosh there's some episodes I've probably
5:50
recorded already where I've put a bit of
5:51
diving and dwelling in um so yeah we do
5:54
have to we have to be careful I think
5:57
though I'm using it and I think oh look
5:58
at everyone's using it and there still
6:00
not people still are frightened of it
6:02
and I am not someone who is like you
6:04
doing it in Computer Sciences school I
6:05
was the one oh gosh no I'm not going to
6:07
do that I'll learn at some stage and
6:10
I've picked it up this year and I think
6:12
particularly maybe those of us who run
6:14
our own businesses we're using it
6:15
because it's such a shortcut it's such a
6:18
shortcut and it saves so much time and
6:20
so much money when you should be doing
6:22
something else and you're wasting time
6:23
trying to phrase something and the
6:25
language model will help you but within
6:27
event planning in a in a in a company
6:30
and budgets are tight things that being
6:33
a to do so much more with so much less
6:36
this is going to make their lives just
6:38
nicer isn't it so much easier absolutely
6:41
I'm using chpd and I feel like for the
6:43
most of us it's quite a common tool to
6:48
use nowadays if it's not maybe you
6:51
should get on it cuz you don't want to
6:53
be miles behind because even chpt as
6:57
they're constantly up updating and
6:58
upgrading their product they're going to
7:00
get into AI agents and other
7:03
infrastructures and other workflows that
7:05
if you don't start from point A to kind
7:08
of get an idea of how this all works you
7:11
might get so many light years behind
7:13
that it's going to be so intimidated to
7:14
want to try so that being said where I
7:18
see AI especially Beyond chpt really
7:21
help event planning event management
7:23
event sourcing is the use of AI agents
7:27
what does that mean it's not just one
7:29
tool like Chad GPT that can repurpose
7:32
your content or sped out different
7:34
versions of the same pitch that you're
7:37
going to send to multiple stakeholders
7:39
for say a talk or maybe an event that
7:42
you want to get sponsorship for or maybe
7:45
an audience engagement piece that you're
7:47
trying to make it more interactive and
7:49
you're like o act as somebody like an
7:51
Entertainer or act like a com comedian
7:54
or act like Claire Forester that knows
7:56
how to un see events like something like
7:59
that right
7:59
it's going to be more where you have one
8:02
task and then you give it the
8:04
instructions of what this one task is
8:06
and let's say it's planning an event but
8:08
it's more than just planning an event
8:10
there's multiple steps and checklists
8:12
that you have to go through as you're
8:15
planning this one event right so we're
8:17
talking from pre-event engagement to
8:20
sponsorships to Enga to agenda building
8:23
to uh maybe having some kind of
8:26
interaction or maybe some uh kyot
8:29
speakers that will really grab the
8:30
attention MC's um all the way post event
8:33
to Gathering surveys and we're not even
8:36
talking about sourcing the right space
8:38
the right venue the right vendors the
8:39
right event uh Partners all of that so
8:41
you have this list of things that you
8:43
know you have to accomplish and you're
8:45
like okay I'm one person I got to do it
8:47
all I probably need like I don't know uh
8:50
nine months 16 months to get this all
8:53
done nowadays if you're going to get uh
8:56
this AI agents to work on your behalf
8:58
because you know how to use it and you
9:00
know how to implement into your
9:01
processes and your workflows you're
9:03
going to give it the task this is my
9:05
event this is what we're trying to
9:06
accomplish this is the vision this is
9:08
the why all the things that normally you
9:10
would as you're planning an event and
9:12
then you're going to see your AI agents
9:13
literally do the work for you all the
9:16
way from sourcing uh venues sending rfps
9:19
out getting your room blocks negotiating
9:22
prices getting the right Partners to uh
9:25
be part of the event getting the right
9:26
sponsors to be part of the event all the
9:28
way to the end where you're going to CT
9:31
capture um surveys and then repurpose
9:34
the content that you capture during the
9:35
event so you have that engagement
9:37
throughout the year right so this is
9:39
like the job of all of those AI agents
9:42
they work for you now if you're someone
9:45
that has low resources or maybe doesn't
9:48
have access to a
9:51
multi-million doll budget and a large
9:54
team that can do a lot of those things
9:56
for you why would you say no to a tool
that can get you so far ahead and it's
not hard like that's why my purpose has
been to provide a lot of education and
valuable content to the event industry
through my courses through the free live
streams that I do through the podcast
there's a lot of information you just
want to be willing to take advantage of
it I think it's that what puts people
off isn't it it's the where to start
that you said that I meet a lot of
people who are who are solopreneurs and
they'll say yeah I'm going to do that
next month I've just got a lot to do
this month and then I'm going to do do
that and you're like it's it's like this
will help you do what you need to do
this month you're just going to be brave
enough I think maybe to take yourself
out of the business for a few days and
just put your heads down and like like
you did when you were studying at Uni or
school and just go have to learn this AI
it's not hard my goodness CLA can do it
anyone can do it you should make a
purpose intent to say today I'm going to
learn something new and if I have 20
minutes to assign for that learning then
do it or you know your time spent on a
couch watching Netflix How about you
assign that time to something that will
Propel your career further and your
skill set for if you are in a job or
career or something where AI can
easily replace you it's time to up level
your skills and I'm serious and it's not
a some kind of a warning it's more like
this is where the future is going so you
don't want to be left behind you don't
want to be the last person to find out
oh my goodness my position just got um
removed replaced and that's happened a
lot especially with a lot of the tech
Giants because I was too complacent to
learn what I needed to learn when it was
the right time to learn it like to the
analogy with driving the car versus
flying an airplane you know but there is
a fear and I think that's an instinctive
thing I call this podcast not the same
as last year because it's so easy in a
way to not get out of your comfort zone
to get your Google Docs out that you've
always used and your little spreadsheets
and just go through through well this is
how we've always done it why am I going
to do it differently and they that's
with every aspect of planning so you
know AI I also want to talk about that
idea that everything we want to do is to
put the attendee first and ultimately if
you're going to put the attendee first
you're going to do the best that you can
you're going to do the most modern the
most exciting the things that they're
doing there's no point just saying oh
we've got a session on AI in our event
which happens and then you've not used
you know how many times clear it's
happened where like oh we have a poll
we've covered the interaction the
engagement part of the stock know I know
I know it's oh oh we' we've got it we've
made our sessions 30 minutes we've got
it
like and then you're throwing the baby
out with a bath water aren't you because
actually your session doesn't need to be
30 minutes long if it's really
interactive really interesting session
exactly does have to be but it's yeah
and this is it I think we are battling
that I understand the going out of your
comfort zone I understand the fear but
let's just go back all the way where
like when the calculators came out like
calculators that we don't even use
anymore because they're on our phones
right but when it first came out there
was this whole fear in the basically in
the education space that Educators and
teachers and professors are go are going
to be replaced by this one calculator
that now could do the job of teaching
people how to do equation ience and
aggressive math right did that happen no
it became a tool where we were way
faster at making those calculations that
otherwise would have taken you know all
what it's not just 1 plus one equals two
right so going with that analogy to our
present to how AI is really enhancing a
lot of the processes a lot of the
workflows that we do that's just a tool
now it's still required
at least in our time and space right now
a human to dictate which direction what
output what kind of outcome are you
looking for right we're not yet yet in
the AGI space we're going to get there
but if we get there and you haven't even
tried the narrow AI opportunities that
we're experiencing right now when we
have this super
intelligent whatever
taking over a lot of those processes
you're not going to be able to keep up
to understand how this works and where
are you going to fit yourself into that
whole picture so my I guess
encouragement is start small whatever
you are if this is your first time
hearing Chad GPT be curious to find out
what it is what it could do for you
there is a lot of free education on
prompting actually I have on my own
profile on LinkedIn several videos that
I have put uh as LinkedIn live
educational um videos where you can
learn how to prompt chat GPT properly so
you can get the output that you want
because then there's also this thing
where well I go and I try it and oh this
is so to terrible because you don't know
how to prompt it because you don't know
what you're looking for as an output so
you're going to get kind of like trash
in trash out that's the reality right so
training yourself to learn a little bit
uh one step at a time because it takes a
bit of intentionality to want to move
with the technology to move with the
future but I in my opinion it's better
to do it now as we're you know advancing
at this space versus um one year later a
few months later I mean things are
changing really really fast I wanted to
ask you because you gave a really good
description at the beginning of the
possibility for an event planner you
know you're looking at the huge great
big event that could happen and how you
could make it happen on the simplest
level if you think what could I do
tomorrow that will immediately make my
life quicker as an event planner I think
the simplest way to get into all of this
is really to give it a try right right
now any browser on your computer that
you're going to install has some form of
AI uh enabler right so if this is uh
Microsoft they will have Bing if this is
Google they have Gemini so you have it
at your fingerprints you don't even have
to have per se chpt premium to go and
use it right even though chpt has been
kind of the first one to come out in a
very um intentional manner to change the
way we interact with llms um I would
start there I would go and input like
let's get let's take an example player
uh say for this podcast you were hey I
want to have this conversation with Anka
I'm Cur I'm kind of like I want to know
what I'm going to ask her but I would
actually like to um generate a few extra
questions on this particular topic that
we're going to uncover today and I need
some help so you literally would go to
chpd or whatever form of AI that you
have embedded into your browser if you
don't have chpd um as a subscription
whatever and you would ask okay um act
as a podcast Host this is my guest this
is what we're going to talk about um
generate a couple of extra more uh
questions or some ice breakers right for
this conversation we're going to have or
some interesting trivia facts about the
event industry that we're going to
sprinkle throughout the conversation
just to make it more engaging
interactive or whatever right um sure
you might have access in your head to
all of that information but let me tell
you I bad that you have a limited supply
of that so then you're using your AI
assistant to give you more input let's
say you're planning an event and you're
like I'm running out of idea because we
used to do the same team every year and
people are kind of tired of this Western
theme and they're kind of tired of this
Cowboy theme and kind of tired of this
like doing the same thing again and
again right I W to do something
different now you have some information
related to your van you want to again
prompt your llm your
AI help helpful agent in some way so you
can start with a common knowledge of
what you're trying to accomplish because
you could go with zero point prompting
which just means hey give me some ideas
for some events that I could plan and
you're going to get a very wide range
that some of it might be applicable some
of it might be like yeah there's no way
we're not going to doing a Barbie team
event or whatever right so if you have
some information based on the history of
the events that you've done you have
some analytics some data that you can
pull off now you actually can really be
tactical and strategic in your searches
in your prompting so you can get an
output an outcome that is relevant to
what you're searching right and I
promise you I mean I'm sure both me and
you have done this many times over just
in the way we you know we want to just
bring something different to our events
to our speaking engagement to our
podcast conversations and there's so
much opportunity out there beyond your
own capacity being in the AV production
business I get clients all the time
coming with literally two pieces of
information when they're asking about
can you generate a proposal for me or a
or a quote how much would it cost to do
this event and then that's it so I don't
have a date I don't have uh any
information about what kind of a are we
looking for I don't have any information
about your location uh audience size uh
agenda none of it right and then we just
go back and forth back and forth like to
find all of this now I was like you know
what I normally have a list of questions
that it's kind of like a screening form
that when I have a conversation with a
client I would ask them all of those
questions so then when I send them that
proposal like initial estimate it hits
on their specific needs right so I was
like okay here's the questions that I
normally ask now dear Chad GPD helpful
helpful um assistant can you put this in
a format that is easy to read simplify
it basically uh make it concise and
straightforward and I got a form
generated that it turned into a lant
article but again who came with all of
the knowledge yeah behind it right
that's what I think a lot of people get
sort of like turn off by oh I don't want
to use chat GPT because it's cheating is
it really because as far as I'm
concerned every piece of article every
piece of blog post it has come from my
knowledge and let me tell you as a
English as a second language speaker
because uh I grew up in Romania that's
my native language to me this has been
like the blessing of them all blessings
because sometimes even after 20
something years in us and 30 years of
speaking English I don't always get the
you know specifics of the English
grammar this is helpful to me like now I
can sound like a Sant even though I'm
like I can barely speak English well
don't worry as you get older anyway
forget all the languages you know
sometimes I don't get information
exactly like you as a supplier I get a
request for your fees for some event
with no detail around it exactly and
then you're trying to get them into a
call and a lot of people don't want to
do calls because they're busy a lot of
people want to just do it on an email
and you're wasting so much time so
absolutely that form you suggest and I'm
going to steal that idea it it's just
helps you and I think also with me one
of the biggest things I don't get a lot
of information in time you've got
another event on another subject and
you're still trying to get the BIOS from
the speakers to put together your
engines and you get this bio that's
terrible that's been written ages have a
helpful tool for that um this AI agent
that I was using and deploying into
event planning that again I'm teaching
on during my course literally would
would go to the LinkedIn profile of this
one speaker that you're trying to uh beg
them to send you their bio and it will
pull all the relevant information from
their profile and rewrite it in a
paragraph bardine is one of the tools
that I use for that so A simple uh
example there is say that you have a
really cool post on something there's a
lot of Engagement and now You' be
interested to know who those people are
and maybe interact with them uh on a you
know more personal way because they
could be leads for you right so this
automation that you can build in bardine
would literally go to that one post and
then take all of those people and all of
their comments and their LinkedIn
profile their information in you know
including email and everything they they
have posted publicly on the LinkedIn
profile and extract it into a
spreadsheet so next time you take that
spreadsheet and now the next step could
be part of the same automation to draft
a personalized email to each one of
those then have it sit in your draft in
your email uh box so that you can review
it again you should always review what
an llm does
and then send it out that's amazing not
automatically tools are
available knowledge is available but you
have to want to learn either how to use
it how to implement it or if it's even
for
you yeah I mean that what you're saying
there you know I think oh I'm so clever
I do this I save my LinkedIn posts and I
go through them and I make a story but
you know that's the next level and
that's the next level and that's using
the automation which I'm thinking I
don't know how to do that but because
I've done a little bit of AI I'm
thinking okay that's that's something
that I could learn to do if I can do
something more effectively more
productively um it is a win for me
because aside from my pro professional
Endeavors I also have personal goals
that take time right like when I'm in
the gym working out for an hour and a
half every single day six days a week
because I have a goal to compete in this
next bodybuilding show
I need to find time for that I don't
have more than 24 hours like everyone
else and I really really like my sleep
to
be recharging and uh recovering and good
so I don't I don't cut any uh steps and
any uh Corners when it comes to my sleep
so if I can gain you know extra hours in
my day from sleep then I have to gain
them somewhere else so then if I can
improve my processes and become more
productive and more effective and now I
have an hour and a half two hours at my
disposal every single day so I can go
into the gym and do the things that I
want to do personally then I don't know
what to tell you but to me that's such a
hard sell you can convince me not to do
it because I'm like it's in my advantage
you
know yeah it's the personal impact that
AI is having as well well you know
you're a total proponent for using it I
love that and I I think people will have
got got something out of this even if
they thought they knew how to use Ai and
maybe at the beginning when we were
talking and we were saying get in now
when it's early I think you proved
there's just so much that we are
literally nibbling at the possibilities
at the moment absolutely and have a lot
of resources that are free on my
LinkedIn profile my YouTube pages and
then if you want to take a little step
uh you know forward and put a little bit
of investment behind it then I have
courses that really tackle different
aspects of the event planning of the
business running of uh of events as well
because I'm a a business owner as well
so for me as much as it's important to
know how to use AI in events it's also
very much important to know how to use
AI in my everyday business operations
and processes right so there's multiple
things that you can do now I would start
with small steps pick one tool that you
feel like you're going to be most likely
to use it and then learn more about it
like learn how to prompt it correctly
learn how to use use it in your everyday
workflow right to figure out if that's
something that you can take it at on a
larger scale because again when you're
planning an event you also have a lot of
stakeholders that you got to talk to you
want to be able to give them a good
report but if you use it in a small ways
and then you're confident enough to use
it in larger ways it's just it's just
going to happen automatically you no
longer have to fear that it's going to I
don't know mess up your event somehow
somewhere yeah because you're always
going in and checking it as well as
you're going through it just as you
would be with maybe a junior member of
your team you would be double checking
before you agreed it I'm going to try
all these different things it's really
exciting thank you so much because I'm
there's so much there for people who are
just getting their toe in the water and
how they can make their event better for
them which is ultimately going to mean
they've got all the time to make it
better for the attendee which is what
it's all about which it makes it all
better for us both on the supplier
partner side or the attendee side yeah
so that was great well n it so much from
Anka there to get us started on our AI
journey in event and I will make sure
that we share all the information that
she has given us and all about how to
get hold of her and how to get on to her
courses on the show notes I'd love to
hear how you're getting on with your AI
Journey how it's helping you in events
so do drop me a line either on social
media or via my website and tell me how
you're using it and also join us next
week where we're going to be talking
about the panel is it time to retire the
event panel I look forward to seeing you
