Do More With Less Using AI (Issue 03)

THE PROBLEM: Understanding your event audience deeply enough to create personalized experiences is incredibly challenging. You're working with limited registration data, making assumptions about attendee motivations, and struggling to segment hundreds or thousands of participants in meaningful ways that actually improve your event planning decisions.

THE SOLUTION: The Event Audience Persona Generator transforms raw attendee data into actionable personas through a proven 4-phase methodology, helping you create data-driven attendee profiles that directly improve event planning and marketing decisions.

HOW TO USE IT:

1. Upload your attendee data (registration forms, survey responses, past event analytics, or demographic information)

2. Provide event context (type, size, industry focus, business objectives)

3. Work through the 4-phase process - the GPT guides you from data analysis to persona creation to implementation guidance

4. Receive 3-5 detailed personas with behavioral patterns, motivations, pain points, and specific event planning recommendations

5. Get implementation frameworks showing exactly how to use each persona for marketing, content creation, and experience design

THE TAKEAWAY: Jon Sinigaglia, who has produced everything from the world's largest light art festival to an Academy Awards-style event for the Middle East, approaches massive international special events differently than standard conferences:

1. Information flow is everything: The primary challenge isn't saving time but ensuring the right information reaches the right team members at the right moment

2. Excel remains king for flexibility: Despite sophisticated project management tools, Excel's adaptability makes it ideal for rapidly evolving projects where requirements can change overnight

3. Scale changes everything: A project that starts with 50 team members can balloon to 870 based on unexpected requirements—planning must accommodate this flexibility

4. Staffing requires constant training: When crew reset for every event, you need systems simple enough for people to hit the ground running

While current AI capabilities can help with specific tasks like creating workback schedules and managing rooming lists, the future holds even more promising possibilities. After discussing the limitations the current timeline generator would run into, I saw the future possibility for AI that Jon could use to plan his events.

AI acting as a collaborative partner that helps you navigate from initial concept to final execution of complex special events.

As context windows increase (it’s able to remember more information you give it), AI could help:

• Update spreadsheets in real-time as you discuss changes with it based on external factors

• Automatically share those updates with relevant stakeholders

• Maintain context across multiple conversations about different aspects of your event

• Connect the dots between AV needs, construction requirements, staffing, and more

The key advantage would be in improving information flow – ensuring that the right details reach the right team members at the right moment, addressing what Jon identified as the biggest challenge in complex event management.

While we're still several years away from this level of seamless AI collaboration, the building blocks are already emerging. As AI spreadsheet integrations become widely available, they'll transform how people plan and execute events.

Cutting Through the AI Overwhelm for Event Professionals

Katie McMahon, former VP at Shazam and trailblazing tech executive, was just featured at Smart Meeting's Innovation Experience in Atlantic City last week, where she delivered a compelling talk on how meeting professionals can leverage the power of coming voice agents to do more better, faster, and ethically.

In her presentation "Cutting Through the AI Overwhelm," McMahon explains what AI actually is versus the hype surrounding it:

Drawing from her experience scaling technology companies from zero to billion-dollar valuations, Katie offers event professionals practical insights on navigating AI's complexities:

1. Understanding AI's limitations prevents poor implementation decisions

2. Being intentional about data choices affects your workflow outcomes

3. Voice interfaces represent the next major shift in event technology

4. "Generation V" attendees will expect voice-first interactions

Her forecast for the world: Voice agents will revolutionize how we interact with our devices and design interfaces. Children who grew up calling "Alexa, play Baby Shark" are entering the workforce expecting hands-free digital interactions—creating exciting possibilities for both event management and attendee engagement.

Want to bring Katie's cutting-edge insights on AI, voice technology, and practical implementation to your next event?

As a sought-after speaker at leading tech conferences like CES, Voice of the Car Summit, and AlexaConference, she delivers thought-provoking keynotes that help audiences navigate the future of technology. Book her through Speak About AI or reply to this email for details.

🎯 Strategic Events Manager @ Zendesk (Austin, TX | Hybrid) – Lead global strategy and execution for 3rd-party events and major tradeshows. Manage event portfolios, contracts, and agency partnerships while aligning brand messaging across experiences. $98,000-$148,000 + bonus. Apply here

💼 Senior Event Executive @ Octagon (Chicago, IL | Hybrid) – Coordinate high-end B2B hospitality programs tied to sports and entertainment. Lead client meetings, event reporting, and on-site logistics for elite experiential activations. $50,000 + overtime + benefits. Apply here

🏥 Event Planner Associate @ Blackstone (New York, NY | On-site) – Plan and execute high-visibility corporate, investor, and internal events. Support budget management, venue selection, and compliance for a leading investment firm. $92,000-$115,000 + bonus. Apply here

🌟 Senior Events Manager @ Zoox (Foster City, CA | Hybrid) – Lead external brand events strategy for autonomous vehicle company. Manage large-scale activations, oversee budgets, and ensure brand consistency across industry events. $166K-$184K + equity. Apply here

Check out the full spreadsheet with 100+ up-to-date event jobs here.

Are you hiring? I can spread the word. Reply to this email with any job opportunities and I’ll add it to the sheet!