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Events to become ‘oasis of truth’ in world of AI

Events to become ‘oasis of truth’ in world of AI

Events will become an “oasis of truth” amid a world where experiences of reality are being increasingly shifted by AI, according to an industry expert.

Nick Borelli, marketing director at event tech firm Zenus, sees a future where trust built face-to-face becomes one of the most valuable arguments for in-person events.

This is because the need for genuine human interaction grows as AI tools increasingly generate content that looks and sounds real.

He said: “Events will be an oasis of truth. Every other thing that you see online you ask, ‘Is it real? What’s their background? What are they trying to prove?’

“But when I’m meeting you in person, I know you’re there and I ask you a question about, ‘Can you provide this service for me?’

“The result will be an increased amount of acceleration of trust that takes place in person.

“That’s not going to be from a technology doing that, but events leaning into the fact that it is not a complete digital environment. So that part’s exciting for me too.

“As somebody who works in tech, it’s not the answer that most people would give – but I really think that.”

Nick also believes the industry is stuck in outdated ways of thinking – rather than growing and evolving, many events operate in predictable loops.

He sees a pattern where events are judged in simple terms: good or bad, success or failure.

Nick said: “It’s off or it’s on, or it’s good or it’s bad – as opposed to iterative.

“I don’t see this binary thinking as a slight on the intelligence of an organizer – I just see it as the culture of events from the leadership down is to execute an event and see if you can do the same results with a little bit less money.”

It was argued this type of thinking holds events back from real innovation because organisers often repeat what feels safe, rather than trying new things and building on what works.

He added: “Designs aren’t created to grow – they’re designed to not fail. And growth means vulnerability.”

At the heart of Nick’s vision is a move toward iteration. He compares it to digital advertising, where campaigns are tested, adjusted and improved over time. 

He wants events to embrace that same mindset. This requires organisers to have access to clear, actionable data.

Zenus uses facial analysis to track sentiment and engagement, all without recording video or identifying individuals.

Nick said: “We’re not trying to position ourselves as instead of post-event surveys. Post-event surveys are awesome because they provide very valuable contextual clues to things that we discover.

Zenus technology captures patterns in how groups respond to different parts of an event. 

It can reveal when people are most engaged during sessions or whether a booth design is helping or hurting performance.

This kind of insight is a way to drive real-time change through live dashboards, allowing organisers to make decisions during the show.

Nick said: “You get a dashboard immediately where it starts clocking in data and organizing it into all kinds of different groupings allowing you to compare one thing versus another thing instantaneously and in real time.

“The most progressive show uses are those who evaluate certain aspects of an event at the end of day one, because they get enough data so they can predict how to make a change for day two.”

He pointed out a common pattern in event behaviour – day one tends to have more traffic, but day two sees deeper engagement. 

That’s because people use the first day to explore, then return for serious conversations on the second.

Nick added: “Almost every show experience based on our data is more traffic on day one, but day two the story is higher dwell rates within booths.

“So the deeper, more impactful conversations – higher sentiment and higher dwell rates – pretty predictably happen on the second day.”

He wants organisers to use that knowledge to improve planning. 

They might focus branding efforts on day one, then schedule key meetings for day two.

One organiser used data-led insights to turn an underused hallway into a premium sponsorship space, which Nick said helped them in generating $250,000 in the process.

But he is also clear that privacy is a core principle – they do not collect personally identifiable information and they avoid use cases that cross ethical boundaries.

He said: “We just say no to money like that all the time. That’s because we have a very specific view of what we offer.

“It really comes down to people who have a firm understanding in the events world of duty of care.”

Meanwhile, Nick sees matchmaking as one of the biggest opportunities in the industry. 

But he believes it will only reach its potential if platforms can access richer data sets that persist beyond individual events.

For Nick, the real innovation is not just in the tools, but in how they’re used. He urges organisers to challenge habits and make data a core part of decision-making.

He added: “Comparisons are where you get real value because you get control – it gives you something to have a baseline for.”