As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly present in our lives, business leaders are pushing hard for accelerated adoption rates. Events are no exception, with AI increasingly helping planners behind the scenes and often becoming part of the experience.
But the public perception of AI is also shifting. In June, investor Mark Cuban coined the Milli Vanilli effect, framing live events as the antidote to an online world filled with fake content. The dystopian prediction for online content places live events in good standing as people struggle to discern what’s real.
“You cannot fake events. So events are the only authentic communication channel that is out there. And this is why experiences outplay everything,” said Colja Dams, co-CEO of global event agency VOK DAMS.
Dams presented at Skift Meetings Forum 2025 and confirmed that his company’s clients are bullish on live events. “Marketing budgets are under pressure, but the amount of marketing money going into live events is rising.”
One thing is certain: few organizations claim to have it all figured out when it comes to AI and events.
Keeping Humans in Control
Dams stressed the importance of humans staying in control to get the most out of AI. He outlined the hamburger model with humans as the bread bun, always above and below AI as the meat. This model keeps humans as the initiators and final editors for any use of AI.
A challenge of using AI is proving the return on investment, especially in time and resources. Matt Parlier, director of event initiatives and strategic partnerships at American City Business Journals (ACBJ), joined Dams on stage. He sees most value in using AI to segment lists and unlock personalization. However, tracking the current benefits is challenging, or in his words, “muddy waters.”
For Parlier, AI excels in extracting insights from attendee feedback. “It’s leading to real takeaways that we can apply downstream to make the event better in the coming year.” He uses it to audit his teams’ events, a process he finds “humbling at times,” but equally “a necessary step to grow and improve.”
Strategic AI Meetings Management
Parlier’s role overseeing ACBJ’s more than 40 event teams across the U.S. has led him to take a strategic view on AI deployment. His approach resembles an AI-powered strategic meetings management program (SMMP). He aims to standardize processes and offload repetitive administrative tasks, while engaging local teams with AI assistance. “Our ultimate goal is to make these things scalable and achievable,” he said.
Measuring AI gains remains a challenge, but Parlier argued AI’s role could be to “take off the cognitive load of those event directors,” where he is seeing real gains.
Practical Implementation Advice
Dams and Parlier are excited about the potential of AI, but they stress the need for a thoughtful approach.
Parlier said meticulous review of any output is essential because, “we’re subject to human error just as much as it could be subject to hallucinating.” He carefully defines what are acceptable AI uses for his team and does not currently use AI to produce content.
Dams relies on AI for spell checking and taking meeting notes, but writes the meeting minutes himself. Why? Because he sees this as a “leadership move,” wanting to choose the focus and perspective of the meeting.
He’s aware AI is creating an “age of average,” so he initially keeps junior staff off the tools so they learn first and can judge outputs themselves.
VOK DAMS holds a weekly AI show-and-tell for staff to share new tools and processes. The meeting covers both successes and failures. One outcome has been to create fake data for testing AI tools before going into production.
Staying Clear of the Creepy Line
Harnessing cutting-edge AI in a way that users are comfortable with may be the biggest challenge. The recent Gamescom example where AI automatically booked meetings without user consent showcased the risks of going too far.
Dams’ perspective on user perception of AI is shaped by his experience in China, where the company has a large office. He called this the “creepy line,” with Europe and China at opposite ends. He shared an example of consumers handling a product in a store and receiving a discount voucher as they leave. In China, this is normal, but in Europe, it crosses the “creepy line.”
The Future of Personalization
Personalization is a priority for Dams and Parlier. At ACBJ, the next step is providing better value for sponsors and attendees through personalized email communications and targeted networking recommendations, which Parlier knows would benefit both parties.
Dams is thinking ahead and used his time on stage to preview Digital Doppelgängers. This new technology uses AI-based (synthetic) user profiles to predict the expectations, interests, and behaviors of target groups.
He previewed this new technology as an upgrade to relying on unreliable attendee feedback to improve events. “If 17 people put something in a questionnaire and that changes a recurring event for 15,000 people, you may be losing total focus of what you’re doing. I believe this is not going to happen to you with digital doppelgängers.”
