The problem with eventtech for operations teams

Yesterday I was very fortunate to join Lou Kiwanuka as a guest for one of their live sessions for the The Ops Nest

I've never actually worked in ops in events, so was a little apprehensive, however, I have had the good fortune of working with many incredibly experienced individuals and teams to deliver some amazing events over the years, so was reassured it would be fine.

But, it didn't matter. Well, understanding the challenges and pains that ops teams face did help, but the tone was more about learning from shared experiences, across the industry, and, well, hopefully, it hit the mark.

A conversation about AI – yep, another one.

You might think “ahhhh not another session on AI”, but the conversation was framed around my experience with it and how some of the technologies that I've been playing with, could help support someone in an operational role to drive efficiencies and create better experiences at their events or exhibitions.

Listening to some of the challenges ops teams faced when responding to "tough customers" for example, and then over-pontificating about an email response – this is where AI writing tools like Jasper can help save you massive amounts of time with writing a comprehensive response in no time at all (with the right inputs of course).

On a similar note, we talked about tone of voice and how, again using a tool like Jasper, could help maintain a consistent tone of voice across an events communications, without the need for marketing to get involved in every single piece of content for example. Suddenly, boring exhibitor manual text could be as fun and engaging as marketing copy. Who'd have thought right? ;-)

We touched on other products like Notion and how it can help make your "messy notes" into coherent actions following a meeting or how using AI chatbots can help be the first line of defence (sorry, that should be response) to exhibitor enquiries "where's my electrics, how do I find the H&S form...etc.), tasks that can take up huge amounts of time for an ops exec.

I won't go into the detail of all of what we discussed, as you need to sign up to the OpsNest to see the full discussion, but it was great talking with people hungry to learn how others are doing things.

However, one of the questions Lou put forward has stuck with me.

"Ops can often be guilty of being a little clunky with tech - what are the first steps in seeing what AI could do in our world?"

I had to think about this a fair bit - and my thoughts weren't specifically around AI.

Why?

Why is it that operations are clunky with tech? Is it that there hasn't quite been the same revolution in tech innovation in an operational function as perhaps there has been for marketing or sales?

Is it because operations departments are often the last to be given the budget or Is it because operations are often seen as a cost centre and not a revenue generator?

Or is it simply that they don't have the same access to #eventtech training or budgets that say a marketing team may have?

The answer will depend on a range of factors, and I think the first steps in seeing what AI could do for ops, come down to recognising these questions and understanding why there may be a problem, before looking for the tech that can help solve it.

As discussed yesterday, for example, there is still a massive problem with Exhibitor Manuals. Old and clunky, with many forms to fill in, ops teams often must personally handhold exhibitors that are stuck, through a process to complete everything they need to do to arrive onsite safely - and the same questions are being asked year after year.

Event Tech for Ops

Now, there is tech such as Adam Jones' Ffair which is automating a lot of the comms and reminders to exhibitors around things like "not filling in your form on time" which is helping to alleviate a lot of the manual labour associated with this.

There are also technologies such as Crowd Connected which is making wayfinding easier for delegates - what's that got to do with operations teams you may ask? Whose budget does show signage often come from? So now you can drop the show signage costs and adopt wayfinding technology and suddenly ops teams can positively impact an event's net promoter score - maybe you will get more budget after all!

You've also got tools like Zapier, Asana, Notion (which I mentioned earlier) and combinations of tools like ChatGPT integrated with Google Sheets, which are helping ops teams to stay organised and automating tasks to help create more time efficiencies, so it's not to say there is low development within #eventtech for ops, but it does feel like, from yesterday’s attendees feedback, there is an opportunity for change.

How does #eventech and operations evolve?

Just as any operations team will do for an event or exhibition, the same approach can be said of finding the right technological solution.

Understand what the problem is, understand why there is a problem, and then source the right solution or technology that will help solve it. Start small (maybe it's automating your responses to annoying exhibitor emails!!), test and prove your use case.

But also, play.

Allow yourself the freedom to play. Try different tools to see if they can help save you time, save you money, or improve your events experiences.

Just remember that at the end of it all, your primary concern should be to make events better.

And if AI can do that - then great! If not, then no worries, move on. But don't shy away from trying out tech solutions just because they are new and shiny - we need to embrace change and understand how technology can make us better.

And that is my takeaway from the OpsNest session yesterday - don't let fear stop you from exploring how technology can make your job easier and, ultimately, create amazing experiences for your event participants.

EventTech companies - what have you got for ops? Educate me so we can share more with the teams that help make events happen.

Thanks Lou!

A great discussion