How Event Leaders Use AI Without Killing Creativity and Connection
# AI in events
# Event strategy
# Revenue leadership
# Trust premium
# Event monetization
# Community building
# CXO strategy
# Executive leadership
# Experience design
Why CEOs must use AI to reclaim strategic time while doubling down on human connection in live events.
Heather Holst-Knudsen
I have lived through every major disruption in this industry since the dawn of digital. The integration of AI is the current operational reality. Leaders who view AI strictly as a cost-cutting tool misunderstand its strategic value.
In my latest Revenue Room conversation, I sat down with Doug Emslie. Doug built and scaled Tarsus Group from a startup to a nearly $1 billion acquisition by Informa. He now leads Cuil Bay Capital, taking strategic positions in passion-driven communities.
Doug and I discussed the precise application of AI in event business models. His stance is clear. Technology must handle the mundane to protect the human connection.
Automating the Mundane
Event organizing involves heavy operational friction. Prospecting, building lists, and producing standard marketing materials consume massive amounts of team bandwidth.
Doug identifies these areas as the primary targets for AI integration. AI can process event research, build target lists, and generate initial strategy reports based on key variables. This strips the manual labor out of the business model.
The goal is not simply to reduce headcount. The strategic win is time. Doug states that if AI saves 20% of a CEO's day, that time must be reallocated to thinking and creative execution. Leaders are currently too bogged down in administration to build better products.
The Trust Premium in an AI World
There is a counter-reaction to digital automation. As the internet floods with synthetic content and automated marketing, the credibility of digital channels drops.
Doug highlights a critical market shift. Buyers and sellers can no longer verify the authenticity of a digital interaction. This creates a massive competitive advantage for physical events.
"When you go to an event, you meet somebody, you know they're real," Doug notes.
Live events are the ultimate verification engines. In an automated economy, face-to-face interaction commands a premium because it is the only un-hackable environment. The strategy is to position your event as the source of absolute truth in your sector.
Engineering Connection
If AI handles the data, the operator must handle the experience. Doug warns that optimizing serendipity out of an event kills the value. Attendees require energy and fun.
He points to two specific execution models.
At Jacobs Media in the luxury travel sector, organizers rejected volume-based networking. A standard 30-minute meeting block allocates only 5 minutes to formal business. The remaining 25 minutes are dedicated to a shared experience, such as a city walk or a spa treatment. This builds deep, defensible relationships rather than shallow speed-dating.
At TrailCon, an event for elite ultra-runners, organizers did not rely on standard expo booths. They hosted a 100-meter sprint for athletes conditioned for 100-mile races. It created a highly competitive, viral social media moment.
These tactics do not fit neatly onto a spreadsheet, but they drive the retention and loyalty that algorithms cannot replicate.
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Strategic Takeaway
To implement AI without destroying the core value of your events, CEOs must:
1. Automate the Mundane: Use AI for list building, marketing workflows, and initial data analysis to buy back strategic time.
2. Monetize Verification: Capitalize on the "Trust Premium." Sell the reality of face-to-face interaction as the antidote to digital noise.
3. Invest in the Experience: Use your reclaimed time to engineer high-energy moments and shared experiences that algorithms cannot duplicate.
The conversation continues inside Revenue Room CXO, the invite-only network where revenue-critical leaders execute real growth strategies. Join us live to trade playbooks at RevvedUP 2026, March 23-24 at The Vinoy in St. Pete, FL.
