Behind the Rise of Chatbots in Meetings and Events
Photo Credit: Meeting planners can integrate chatbots into almost all platforms with instant messaging. Sciens.io
Skift Take
Chatbots offer the first glimpse into a future where meeting and event planners can deliver mass personalization at scale using artificial intelligence.
There's been a surge of meetings and events that are integrating chatbots into their communication platforms in 2017, powered by artificial intelligence engines to provide automated 24/7 brand engagement.
In Austin this year, South by Southwest's bot "Abby" answered more than 56,000 questions submitted by attendees in the SXSW Go event app. Other recent event chatbot launches included "Frank" at IMEX Frankfurt and "Betty" at BizBash Live LA.
As was the case with event apps just a few years ago, there's a lot of confusion today about what chatbots are, and what they can provide for both meeting planners and attendees.
According to Salt Lake City-based Sciensio, which developed IMEX's Frank and BizBash's Betty bots earlier this year, "Chatbots are software programs, which can include AI components, designed to interact with people over messaging apps." Eventually, in all likelihood, all consumer and industry brands will have AI-powered chat platforms to engage their audiences, a
