In today’s world of rapidly advancing technology, every industry is changing. The event industry is no exception, even though it’s still waiting for certain technologies to be implemented on a larger scale.
Among these, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and extended reality (XR) stand out. However, they won’t always be suitable for every event, and sometimes it is difficult or costly to implement them. Let’s have a closer look at Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality in the event planning industry and how they may be used in the future:
Extended Reality and Its Use in Events
There are a few different mediums all grouped under the umbrella term ‘Extended Reality’ (sometimes also Cross Reality or Immersive Computing): Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR). Each of them has its pros and cons and does slightly different things. All of them may be of use at events at some point, especially when it comes to improving attendee engagement, making more enticing exhibition demos or providing real-time information.
Virtual Reality creates a simulated environment and a 3D world that users can interact with. It has amazing capabilities, but it’s still a new and underdeveloped technology with a fragmented market, which makes it difficult and costly to create content for it. While it could be great for demos, it also somewhat defeats the purpose of events, as it is an isolated and individual experience, as opposed to engaging groups.
On the other hand, Mixed Reality and Augmented Reality are less immersive than VR, as they augment objects and images as an overlay on the user’s real-world view. This makes it easier to implement as part of event apps, where they can be used in various ways. The downside is that AR and MR headsets are expensive, which makes them difficult to use in an event setting. Still, on the smartphones of attendees, they can be quite impactful.
Artificial Intelligence at Events
When it comes to the application of Artificial Intelligence at events, it’s a technology that is developing at a similar pace but seeing faster adaptation on a large scale. For example, outside of the event industry, there’s been a trend of implementing chatbots on websites and business pages that was adopted quite quickly.
In the event industry, chatbots are still the most widely used aspect of AI technology. They are especially useful for event support, as they can be trained to answer all kinds of questions usually encountered at an event. When they are used as part of an event app, they have the potential to significantly improve attendee experience, as they provide all the necessary information and are available around the clock.
We are certainly going to see more technology-related trends like AI and ER taking hold in the event industry. Therefore, it’s critical to follow this technology development and create new and innovative ways to implement them to make events more meaningful.
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