3 ways AI can remarkably improve virtual event engagement

Last year, when live events businesses adopted virtual events as their primary marketing channel, customer expectations drastically changed across several industries, including events and exhibitions. To engage customers and provide immersive, personalised experiences, there is a growing need for event organisers to integrate modern-age technologies with real-time responses and improvements.

As global market research company Forrester’s VP Kate Legget suggested in a recent webinar:

“To emerge stronger and leaner from the pandemic, you will have to reimagine your current strategy and long-term investments in digitisation, AI, and automation.” 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a crucial tool fueling customer service transformation. AI and Machine Learning technology is increasingly used to analyse and predict attendee engagement patterns, offer suggestions based on audience preferences, automatically interact with customers and a lot more.

Here are three ways AI can transform attendee engagement at virtual events:

AI-powered matchmaking for networking

According to B2B growth marketing blog Markletic, audience engagement and interaction are the two biggest challenges event organisers face during virtual events. A lot of it stems from the fact that virtual events tend to report massive attendee numbers, which dilutes the signal-to-noise ratio, i.e. the useful connections for people attending the event.  

As a result, your attendees will need to sift through the noise and connect with relevant people, products and content that could lead to mutually beneficial business relationships.

With AI-powered matchmaking services, you can customise recommendations for attendees based on the information they have filled in, such as their areas of interest, geographical location and professional seniority. This helps drive meaningful interactions, boosts peer-to-peer networking and aligns business goals.

The best part about AI matchmaking? If the user feels the match is not relevant, they can easily communicate their decision (through a thumbs-down feature) and the algorithm keeps adjusting and improving until a suitable connection is found.  

AI-driven analytics and insights to improve interactions

By analysing interactions in real-time, AI can improve attendee engagement and provide necessary assistance without human intervention. In contrast, conventional analytics only assess the content after the event concludes to identify what worked and what didn’t.

Using AI algorithms, you can track virtual footfall and pinpoint exactly which resources are meeting their targets, or which touch points are receiving the maximum engagement. By studying the different factors influencing attendee behaviour and analysing multiple simulated scenarios, AI can provide answers to questions like:

• Is the content being shared relevant to the attendees?
• Are the meeting and communications channels being used effectively?
• Are the correct attendees being targeted?

AI-powered chatbots for conversational marketing and language translation

A scalable, user-friendly conversational AI solution with chatbots and language translation features can enhance virtual event engagement significantly.

It can automate customer support by facilitating conversations on thousands of industry-specific topics, rather than being a mere FAQ tool. For example, if the event is related to banking and financial services that have complex product offerings, it’s helpful to have a virtual agent that can answer questions and provide relevant information.

AI language translators can instantly and accurately translate any event communication, web pages and content resources into different languages. This enhances the global appeal of your virtual event and helps you reach out to a more diverse audience across different cultures.

Conclusion

By automating responses to frequent queries and improving audience interactions, AI saves your team precious time and energy, allowing them to focus on other crucial aspects of the event. With virtual events expected to be a key marketing channel for the foreseeable future, it makes sense for companies to invest in AI-powered solutions and deliver more engaging attendee experiences.