CHICAGO — From chatbots to matchmaking tools, AI has been used in the trade show industry for years to add value to events. According to company websites, Exchange card And Expoplatform Both use AI for matchmaking, allowing the technology to create matches based on collected data and learn from people’s behavior and choices throughout the show’s cycle.
42Chat has brought AI to trade shows with their web and text chatbots. Their curated AI chatbots provide a Siri-like experience via SMS with an always-on support tool for trade show attendees. By offering this service to attendees, organizers can capture automatic registration via SMS, so they can reach out to their attendees via SMS. Once the event is over, chatbots can keep people engaged with the brand throughout the year to increase revenue through attendee acquisition.
“We believe the ability to use AI to understand people’s questions and provide them with the right answer instantly demonstrates the power of AI in the trade show industry,” said Bob Caldwell, Founding Partner of 42Chat. “For the attendee, each question the bot answers saves minutes or even hours of searching for information. For the organizer faced with fewer people and more work, AI can take 80 to 90 percent of the workload off a single person’s plate, so that person can focus on the higher-value needs of your event.”
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Caldwell explained that the SMS channel can be used to broadcast meaningful messages and even be essential for emergency updates, like when their chatbot was used by a group in Cancun, Mexico, to keep group members informed of an active shooter situation at the resort.
“Being able to instantly reach event guests in the event of an emergency and when it was safe to do so not only protected guests, but also showed guests that the event organizer had a plan to respond, if necessary,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell also said that 42Chat is excited about the attention that new programs like ChatGPT, which recently received massive media coverage, are bringing to AI, but that it’s important for event organizers to consider the accuracy of AI programs’ responses and how humans will monitor the programs to ensure they’re enhancing their brand.
A look at future applications of AI
Rich Stone, CEO of Expocadspoke with EAST on the potential uses of AI programs in the trade show industry, particularly how ChatGPT and other AI programs can be used in exhibit sales.
Stone explains that with a simple query, ChatGPT can generate sales pitches and marketing materials. “I went to ChatGPT and said, ‘If you’re a salesperson, sell me a booth at a trade show.’ And the AI said, ‘Are you looking to take your business to the next level and reach new customers? Look no further, I have the perfect solution for you. Exhibiting at a trade show is one of the most effective ways to get your products and services in front of a large, targeted audience.’ This creates a legitimate and compelling sales pitch that’s specific to our industry,” Stone said.
Other AI programs can create images. For example, OpenAI’s DALL-E program can create original images based on a text description using a dataset of text-image pairs, according to OpenAI’s website. Stone tested DALL-E and said the program can create new logos, brands, product designs, and visual representations of booths.
“I asked DALL-E to design a logo for a consumer trade show, specifically a sports show,” Stone said. “I didn’t give him any other direction, and he created several logos for this imaginary sports show. If you give him all the parameters, all the elements you could possibly need, and you spend the two paragraphs describing it, he’ll create something that’s in the direction you want to go.”
No matter how powerful AI is today, there still needs to be a human element to make the program work. “You need people to design these models, to generate this text, and to check whether it’s structured well. There are some hurdles, and that’s okay, because that’s where the human comes in,” Stone added.
“Since the arrival of ChatGPT, this technology is going to accelerate. We don’t know yet to what extent it will change the game, but it is a big “A deal,” Stone said.
Contact Bob Caldwell at robert.caldwell@42chat.com or (801) 971-4952; Rich Stone at rich@expocad.com
Are you using AI in your trade show planning and production? Share your thoughts below or email Maddy Ryley at mryley@tradeshowexecutive.com.