Louisa Daley , deputy editor , Conference News , investigates how eventprofs can turn data into strategic insights and action , with help from AI

e have all heard the old adage ‘ data is king ’. That ’ s because as event professionals , we understand the vital role data plays in improving and measuring event experiences . Whether you are looking at behaviour , processes or engagement – data analysis is a must for modern events .

However , a sizeable challenge seems to remain . As an industry , do we truly know what to do with the data once we have it ? I sat down with data experts , Alex Temple , senior corporate relations manager , Explori ; Felicia Asiedu , marketing director , Cvent ; and Rob Prevett , marketing director , Totem , to understand how event

organisers can draw and manage insights from post-event data , how technology will assist in this transition , and what the impact will be for future events .

Solid foundations According to Temple , there are three types of data that you can collect during an event : “ your demographic data , your engagement data and your sentiment data .” Similarly , Prevett breaks down event data into three , but calls it “ attendee data , intent data and value data .”

“ It ’ s no mean feat when you are an organiser . You have all of this data at your fingertips , so it can be difficult to know what is useful and what is not .”

– Alex Temple

Regardless of the naming conventions , the event professionals speak of all similar data sets . The important thing is to have “ a solid foundation of data that you are collecting in the first place before you start using AI wizardry ,” says Temple .

Prevett agrees and states that the industry has a long way to go with this . “ Based on the survey Totem ran over the summer , which looked at the digital maturity of events , less than 50 % of event organisers have a single truth for their data ,” he reveals . “ This is something that needs to be addressed , and there are a couple of options to do that , through a unified platform like Totem , or have really good integrations with your CRM which pulls everything together in real time . AI is only efficient if it ’ s got a really good data set to work with ,” he adds .

Once event organisers have a single source , they can start layering those three aspects of data post-event . “ By doing this , you can end up with something very powerful . It allows you to make some data driven decisions ,” says

Prevett .

For instance , event organisers are able to start generating benchmarks for their events which will form the basis