The Event Data Crisis: Why detached leadership fails

Event chiefs might have grown too detached from their own exhibitions to understand where they are failing on experiences, according to an industry strategist.

Barış Onay, founder of Precision Communities, argues organizers are hiding behind expensive technology to mask the disorganized state of their underlying data.

He believes industry bosses need to step up and get more first-hand experience of what it means to take part in their events – which will lead to better outcomes.

Barış – expert contributor to the Event Tech Forecast 2026 – said: “I once published a CEO checklist on data where I asked CEOs ‘when was the last time you signed up for one of your shows?’ 

“The answer was almost always never. They are all talking about being customer-centric but have never used anything their customer uses. That’s really just lip service.

“They would understand what is going on if they did.”

This detachment results in a broken customer experience – attendees face redundant communications and unnecessary registration friction because no one at the top has experienced the norm.

Findings from the Event Tech Forecast put data collection and analytics as the top opportunity for 2026. 

A total of 82% of respondents cited this area, which reinforces the idea that a key part of making this work is having consistent and clear information to work with. 

Personalization of experience also remains a high priority for 76% of organizers.

Barış urged event bosses to register to their own shows to understand the friction caused by answering so many questions – often unnecessary – before seeing if their team even noticed they were signed up.

He added: “No one will notice – I guarantee you – because no one ever eyeballs data. That is a huge mistake.”

It was argued that success in 2026 will belong to those who abandon corporate lip service and fix their broken internal processes. 

This requires a shift from chasing AI-driven layoffs toward building human “nudge departments” that actually facilitate business.

The data integrity crisis

Many organizers are failing to create relevant experiences because the quality of their database is poor, according to Barış. 

He believes most of these eventprofs attempt sophisticated marketing manoeuvres on a foundation of sand. 

The result is that the promise of personalization remains a myth until the data is clean, complete and recent.

Barış said: “Their data is messy. There’s just no question about it. 

“I work with lots of organizers and generally we look at a sophisticated thing they want to do. 

“They want to triangulate a small portion of the audience with a really tailored message. That’s great, but do we have data that will help you do that? No, they don’t.

“The data quality falls down the cracks because it looks like an intellectual problem, but it really is a business problem that gets left until the last minute. 

“How are you going to personalize it if you’re missing first names for a portion of your database? 

“What are you going to do if you’re missing product interest for half of your database?”

Barış advocates for a media view of data analysis – which involves analyzing the difference between who is in the database and who actually attends. 

He suggests using Large Language Models (LLMs) to standardize entries, as these can understand that different job titles mean the same thing and see beyond any language barriers – which is something legacy systems can’t do.

The Nudge Department

Meanwhile, eventprofs have been reminded that technology is not a standalone solution for the industry’s engagement problems. 

Organizers must put human resources behind their platforms to make them work – which Barış calls a “nudge department”.

These teams act as matchmakers who proactively facilitate connections rather than waiting for users to discover them.

Barış said: “When I go to a show I don’t want to download an app. But if I’m incentivized to download the app – if I receive an email saying 22 people are looking to meet with me – I will download that app. 

“Organizers think investing in technology by itself is going to be enough – people will magically download the app in their thousands, know how to use it and be incentivized to use it – which is not true. 

“You have to have more focus on making the tech work – we’re missing the nudge department for technology to actually do what it’s supposed to do.”

The nudge department acts as an instigator – they are teams who query the system to find groups that aren’t engaging and use targeted outreach to facilitate meetings. 

This human intervention ensures the technology achieves its intended purpose.

The instigator strategy

Driving engagement is a proactive human task, not a passive technical one. A “nudge department” acts as a digital matchmaker that monitors the system in real-time to provoke serendipity.

• Move beyond random oversight: This role should not be assigned to a junior staff member – it requires a strategist who understands the industry, the specific market, and digital operations.
• Query and act: The team must have access to CRM and platform data to quickly identify demographics that are not engaging before the show begins.
• Incentivize engagement: Instead of generic reminders, send high-value nudges, such as an email notifying a buyer of opportunities to drive app downloads.

Eliminating the museum atmosphere

A major point of failure is opening a digital platform that is empty, which Barış compares to a “museum”. The nudge department must fast-track the interaction window to fix this.

• Pre-fill with Expertise: Rather than waiting for exhibitors to fill 25 boxes of information, the nudge team should proactively pull logos, bios and products from LinkedIn and company websites.
• Elongate the Window: By doing the work for the exhibitors, organizers can launch their platforms months earlier – moving a June show’s digital opening from late May to January.
• Handhold the Buyer: For key visitor cohorts, the team should manually ensure their profiles are optimized and offer them a curated list of “20 companies not to miss” with one-click meeting options.

Steps for implementation:

• Deploy a matchmaking instigator: Hire or assign a team specifically to live and breathe the show digitally, pressing the button on targeted communications.
• Launch with 80% completion: Do not open your portal to visitors until exhibitor profiles are at least 80% complete – even if you have to get someone to fill it manually.
• Focus on the chaperone role: Treat the visitor as a customer who needs to be chaperoned through the technology to reach the standard of service they expect as consumers.

Technology alone cannot always change habits alone. Investing in a “nudge department” – whether internal or external – means organizers bridge the gap between having a system and having a successful show where buyers and sellers actually meet.

Growth vs the bottom line

Barış highlighted a rift is forming between organizers as AI adoption accelerates – some use the technology for top-line growth while others use it to cut costs. 

Eventprofs were warned that using AI primarily for staff reductions is a false economy, as cutting marketing or operations staff in a people-heavy business risks cutting into the bone.

He said: “Organisers are stingy. If AI is replacing cost, they will adopt it. If AI is adding cost, they won’t. 

“The mistake we’re all making is we want to sprinkle AI on what we’re doing and magically it will be more efficient. 

“How you grow your bottom line is the big question. If you want to replace your people with AI and grow your bottom line – or if you want to give AI-enabled tools to your people so they can do 30% more work and you’re making more money. 

“I think most CFOs and CEOs are looking at the first one. That is a false economy.”

The Event Tech Forecast shows 55% of organizers allocate between 0-9% of their budget to event technology. This is an increase from 2025 when 40% of respondents fell into this segment. 

About 32% of organizers spend 10-29% of their budget on tech, while 8% allocate 30-49%.

A small “tech-first” segment (5%) now reports spending over 70% of their budget on event technology.

The goal of invisibility

The hallmark of a smart technology decision in 2026 is subtraction rather than addition, according to Barış. 

It was recommended that organizers embrace the philosophy of invisible technology. 

Success is measured by reducing the number of disparate systems and focusing on a seamless user journey.

He said: “The highest peak of technology is being invisible. Try to remove the number of systems your people, your exhibitors and visitors log into. 

“The smartest event technology decision an organizer can make is to remove systems. Really, just take them out. The fewer systems, the better.”

Thank you for reading. Get more insights from Paul, other expert contributors and analysis of the global survey data in the Event Tech Forecast 2026.