Event organizers often face competing needs: Suppliers rely on booth traffic while attendees want to pack in as many sessions as possible. Velvet Chainsaw’s Dave Lutz outlines strategies to please them both.

Organizers spend a lot of time putting together their conference’s education sessions. Models vary, but most include a 15- to 20-person conference committee (slotters) and an army of reviewers (graders). It’s time to rethink the traditional model for creating your conference’s education program.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how Freeman developed its award-winning AI-powered event chatbot service with smart tools including — of course — Alexa.

David Ryan Polgar, who started the initiative to help create a more thoughtful future towards technology, talks about how to approach event tech from an ethical standpoint.

Research shows Southeast Asians spend more time online than any other region, meaning social media influencers may be a key way to reach your audience.

For large conventions, logistics will hugely benefit from AI. Anything from people flow, food distribution, layout and power, security, and hospitality can all be supported with AI, says TEDxMelbourne’s Jon Yeo.

At Convening Leaders, a large screen shared real-time data points with all attendees — thanks to machine learning and a few humans.

When it comes to event-tech decisions, your rule of thumb should be that customer experience trumps staff efficiencies. This means that instead of organizing around your organization’s products or silos, organize around your customers.

Rory Brett, VP and senior creative director for Jack Morton Worldwide, explores what artificial intelligence means for events.

What should strategists expect this year and next?