Speakers
Michael Barnett is a social marketing entrepreneur and CEO of InGo, a company driven by a new vision for event marketing: creating advocates by empowering attendees to engage their friends with events they love, with the goal of making events more fun and more social.
Prior to starting InGo, Michael spoke around the world about using Social Media to start and develop grass roots organizations and often captured hundreds of supporters in a single day. Michael studied at Virginia Tech with a brief break to intern in Parliament for Nigel Waterson, the Member of Parliament from Eastbourne. He resides in the Washington D.C., area, where he actively leads InGo.
Verena Papik is the Founder and CEO of Talkalytics, the voice-of-attendee intelligence platform helping event organizers and sponsors turn audience sentiment into revenue. A former musical.ly (now TikTok) executive, Verena has spent 15+ years studying what drives real engagement - and built Talkalytics to capture what most event data misses: what people actually felt, in their own words.
Talkalytics has been deployed across live experiences including TEDx, Advertising Week, and Axios to collect 60-second voice feedback on-site and post-event, then translate it into decision-ready insights teams can act on fast - improving the guest journey, sharpening programming and messaging, increasing ticket conversion, and proving sponsor impact to accelerate renewals. Verena is based between Miami and New York and is building the new standard for measuring live experience performance beyond scans, clicks, and attendance.
Jonathan Kazarian is an accomplished entrepreneur and business leader with a proven track record in the event technology space. He began his career at Windham Capital Management in 2012 as an Associate in Investments. In 2014, he transitioned to Windham Labs as Director of Sales and Business Development, where he played a key role in driving growth initiatives.
In 2015, Jonathan founded Accelevents, where he currently serves as CEO. Under his leadership, Accelevents has become a leading event technology platform, offering users a robust suite of tools for virtual and hybrid events, including keynote talks, breakout sessions, interactive workshops, virtual exhibitor engagement, networking opportunities, live polling, and more.
Jonathan holds a degree in Economics & Finance from Bentley University and has also earned a Captain’s License from the U.S. Coast Guard. His entrepreneurial vision and leadership have made him a recognized figure in the event tech industry.
SUMMARY
This tech panel explores how AI is reshaping the event ecosystem, from registration and acquisition to engagement and retention, while challenging organizers to think beyond cost-cutting and toward revenue growth. The panelists emphasize that AI’s real value lies in unlocking new monetization opportunities, improving conversion, and deepening audience understanding across the entire event lifecycle. From AI-powered customization and referral-driven growth to emotional intelligence insights gathered from voice data, the conversation highlights a critical shift: success will come from building more personalized, data-driven, and continuously optimized experiences. The biggest opportunity isn’t replacing existing systems, it’s using AI to become an “apex” event that drives exponential value and long-term loyalty.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00 – 00:01:30] Setting the Stage: AI & the Event Intelligence Stack The panel introduces the concept of a “closed-loop event intelligence stack,” covering the full lifecycle—from registration to post-event feedback—and how AI fits into each stage.
[00:01:30 – 00:02:30] AI’s Impact on SaaS & Event Tech Panelists acknowledge growing agreement that AI will disrupt SaaS platforms, but emphasize that the timeline is uncertain. In the near term, AI enhances—not replaces—core systems.
[00:02:30 – 00:03:30] AI as an Accelerator, Not a Cost Cutter AI’s biggest opportunity is not reducing SaaS spend, but driving revenue growth by filling gaps in workflows, enabling customization, and improving efficiency.
[00:03:30 – 00:04:30] The Bigger Opportunity: Exponential Growth Rather than focusing on incremental cost savings, organizations should aim to become “apex” companies—using AI to unlock 10x value and scale.
[00:04:30 – 00:05:30] Real Example: Monetization Through AI AI-enabled customization allowed one event team to create a unique sponsor activation worth $350K—demonstrating how AI can directly drive new revenue streams.
[00:05:30 – 00:07:00] What “AI-Native” Really Means The panel distinguishes between:
AI-native products (built entirely on AI/LLMs) AI-native companies (operations designed around AI-first thinking) The key is not the label, but how effectively AI drives outcomes.
[00:07:00 – 00:08:30] Focus on Value, Not the Technology AI itself isn’t the goal—the goal is solving business problems. Organizations should focus on the specific value they deliver and optimize AI around that.
[00:08:30 – 00:10:30] Emotional Intelligence & Voice Data A new approach to feedback emerges: analyzing voice instead of surveys. Voice data reveals deeper emotional insights, helping organizations better understand audience sentiment and engagement.
[00:10:30 – 00:12:00] The Event Lifecycle Flywheel The panel maps the full event journey:
Registration (conversion) Referral & growth (network effects) Onsite engagement Post-event feedback & retention AI can optimize each stage to create a continuous growth loop.
[00:12:00 – 00:13:30] Biggest Gaps: Conversion vs. Opportunity
Biggest loss: registration conversion (missed website visitors) Biggest opportunity: retention and long-term value
[00:13:30 – 00:14:30] Referral Power & Cost Efficiency Referral-driven acquisition delivers higher engagement, lower cost per acquisition, and better retention—making it one of the most effective growth levers.
[00:14:30 – 00:15:30] The Retention Problem Events generate strong initial revenue but suffer from high churn (~70%). The real opportunity lies in improving retention and lifetime value.
[00:15:30 – 00:16:30] Real-Time Feedback vs. Post-Event Surveys Onsite feedback is far more valuable than post-event surveys, as engagement drops significantly once attendees leave the event environment.
[00:16:30 – 00:17:30] Practical Takeaway: Personalization Matters Simple but powerful idea: create different experiences (e.g., websites) for new vs. returning attendees—yet most events don’t do this.
