Artificial intelligence can help planners with everything from security at an event to enhanced networking, customization and post event analysis. Courtesy of Bizzabo

In a world where events strive for heightened attendee engagement, facial analysis technology has emerged as a game-changer. By decoding facial expressions, events now have the power to tailor experiences to each individual’s emotional responses in real time.

Nick Borelli, director of marketing for the facial analytics company Zenus Inc., who has been in the event industry for decades, explains how facial recognition is recording and accessing databases to determine, based on AI, who a specific face is and then ties that information into another database.

“The upshot of it is that, with facial recognition, you can see specific individuals and what their behaviors are at an event,” he says. “There’s some pluses to that. For instance, if you have a booth, you can see how many CEOs came to that booth, and how much time each person spent with you.”

The calculation of sentiment, which his company calls “energy scores,” looks for the changes in the face during a specific time period — with the AI denoting positive facial expressions, which is accurate of up to 90 %.

“We can give you metrics for return on experience in person,” Borelli says. “It’s very trackable and very clear to understand behavior.”

Will Curran, who works at wearable tech company Bizzabo as the Head of Klik, spent more than 15 years as chairman of Endless Events, so he understands the meeting and event industry as well as anyone, and quickly saw the usefulness of facial analysis technology in driving the industry forward.

“I always looked at events through a technological lens, looking for ways to make events better, using it to facilitate more engagement and everything we are looking to do as organizers,” he says. “Once the big AI push started to happen, I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of and use data to craft better and smarter events.” He feels that meeting and event organizers have forever been using natural facial recognition means — in other words, just using their experience to see things with their own eyes and making opinions that way.

“In reality, we need to be more specific than ever before, which is why this AI facial analysis data is so important,” Curran says. “It can tell us how much everyone is paying attention to the general session; are they happy? All the things we process through our eyes and brains can now be done at scale and also get the hard data.”

The reason why this is so important in a 2024 world, Curran says, is event organizers are becoming more valuable as part of the larger business process, particularly in the marketing world.

“We are at this moment in history where, because of AI, content marketing is no longer as successful as it used to be,” Curran says. “So, the next way to engage with our prospects and our potential customers is through our events. Marketers are looking for more and more data to understand how successful they are and understand the actions taken at events. Facial analysis is providing that data to allow them to have more sophisticated conversations.”

Matt Little, a meeting planner who has worked with several high-profile companies and events, including major Australian corporations such as Telstra, AN and Qantas, has seen firsthand how this technology has transformed the way everyone connects and collaborates.

“AI’s facial analysis technology is revolutionizing the way we conduct and experience meetings,” he says. “At its core, this technology uses sophisticated algorithms to interpret facial expressions, providing real-time insights into participants’ emotions and engagement levels.”

For instance, during virtual meetings, facial analysis can gauge whether attendees are attentive, bored or confused, allowing presenters to adjust their approach dynamically. This ensures a more responsive and engaging meeting environment, which is particularly beneficial for remote teams where non-verbal cues are harder to read.

Moreover, facial analysis can enhance participant interaction.

“For example, in a hybrid meeting setup, where some participants are in-person and others are virtual, the technology can help bridge the gap by monitoring and analyzing the reactions of all attendees,” Little says. “This creates a more inclusive atmosphere, ensuring that virtual attendees are equally heard and engaged. It’s like having a silent assistant that helps you understand the room better and tailor your interactions accordingly.”

Therefore, AI facial analysis presents a breakthrough tool for deciphering attendee behavior and preferences, empowering planners to optimize event content and delivery in real time.

“By harnessing AI facial analysis, meeting planners and event professionals can gain valuable insights into attendee sentiment, enabling more personalized, educational and impactful experiences,” says Chris Piche, founder of Smarter AI, a software platform for AI cameras.

The company’s AI vehicle cameras and computer solutions can help planners “see, listen and understand” what’s happening in the room.

“As AI facial analysis capabilities continue to evolve, we anticipate even greater opportunities for enhancing attendee engagement and overall event success,” Piche says.

Valerie Bihet, director of the VIBE Agency, which plans events throughout the world, first started using facial recognition software back in 2018 and found it hugely helpful for live, in-the-moment response to content being presented.

“Content is king in marketing, and with corporate events, the quality of the content and how well it reaches the audience adds to the entire experience,” she says. “Getting feedback from attendees after an event can be hard though, so using facial recognition on-site allows you to get an immediate summary of how people are reacting to each speaker and the content.”

Additionally, knowing things in real-time allows a planner to address any issues or enhance the experience so that everyone leaves with a very positive feeling about the event.

“AI is very good at data analysis. It will help condense the responses faster. You can learn for next time — pivot quickly during a session or multi-day conference if there is a less than favorable reaction,” Bihet says.

For instance, for two recent events in Paris and Miami, Bihet used facial recognition in conjunction with event apps to deliver on-site photography faster.

“The photographer uploads all the photos they take throughout the event each day to the app,” she explains. “It then scans the photos in the pictures and matches them to each attendees’ profile they upload and they get all the photos of them delivered right to their phone.”

Jon Morgan, CEO of Venture Smarter, has worked with meeting planners at several events and has seen the transformative power of facial analysis and technology in the industry.

“With this technology, event planners can now tailor their content, speaker selection and even venue design to maximize attendee satisfaction and engagement,” he says. “For example, if the AI detects a dip in audience interest during a particular session, the event organizer can quickly pivot to a more engaging topic or adjust the presentation style to re-capture attendees’ attention.”

In Action

In April, Zenus was contracted in Baltimore at a show for museum operators, and facial recognition was being used by a client at their booth, as they wanted to know the effectiveness of their booth.

“We find that when we deal with brands directly, they’re looking at their spend between all the places they exhibit at. They want to double down on the ones that work and they want to cut the ones that don’t,” Borelli says. “Currently, the only metric that they have in the B2B space is leads generated. They might get a metric of tickets sold of that event, but that’s not really that valuable. That’s where we come in.”

Zenus deploys a few different sensors in a space and can determine whether people like the messaging, can look at the average length of conversations between different booth operators, and just get an overall feel for what’s working and enticing attendees to stay.

The company is also doing zone coverage at the upcoming IAE Expo, deploying sensors and looking at if there are areas that have higher amounts of traffic, dwell rates or sentiment, and can provide this data to anyone who exhibits. “If they want to go deeper and have specific sensors put in their booth for specific things that they want to track, that’s the next level,” Borelli says.

There are numerous innovative and practical ways that facial recognition can be utilized to enhance and improve the experience and management of meetings and events.

One simple helpful way is with automatic check-in for attendees, as this can be done instantly by simply having their face scanned, eliminating the need for manual entry processes such as showing tickets or IDs.

Pre-registration also becomes easier as attendees can simply upload their photos in advance during the registration process, making the on-site check-in seamless and efficient.

Curran notes an important use is with helping to enhance security and access control, explaining facial recognition can be used to control access to certain areas of the event, ensuring that only authorized individuals can enter specific zones, such as VIP lounges or backstage areas.

“The technology can continuously monitor and verify attendees throughout the event, providing an additional layer of security and helping to quickly identify unauthorized individuals,” he says.

And don’t underestimate the power of tailored interactions for attendees.

“By recognizing attendees, event staff can offer personalized greetings and services, creating a more welcoming and customized experience,” Bihet says. “Based on facial recognition data, event organizers can provide tailored content or recommendations, such as suggesting sessions or activities that match an attendee’s interests.”

Panos Moutafis, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Zenus, says networking can also be greatly improved at events with facial software doing its job.

“Facial recognition can help attendees identify and connect with each other by displaying names and profiles when they approach, enhancing networking opportunities,” he says. “Additionally, by integrating with smart badges or mobile apps, it can provide attendees with information about nearby participants, making it easier to initiate conversations and build connections.”

While facial recognition has a lot of pluses, Borelli warns it does have negatives as well.

“On an individual level, you’re being tracked and followed, and the information that is gathered about you could be tied to other databases potentially,” Borelli says. “There’s some holes in that from a privacy standpoint.”

If that’s a deal-breaker for organizations, he adds that they won’t get any sort of data on return-on-experience because they are unable to get traffic on those individual data points containing personal identifying information.

After the Event

Facial analysis can offer some great analytics to help meeting planners post-event. After all, the technology provides accurate data on who attended the event, session participation, and overall foot traffic, enabling detailed attendance reports.

“Event organizers can analyze how long attendees stayed at specific sessions or booths, providing insights into engagement levels and interests,” Curran says. “Post-event, organizers can use the data collected to send personalized follow-up emails and marketing materials based on attendees’ behaviors and preferences during the event.”

Also, by understanding which sessions or areas were most popular, it can help with planning future meetings, making them more successful.

“We can tell you what’s working and what’s not,” Borelli says. “You want to cut a day, you want to add a day, you want to start earlier for your presentations, you want to start later, we can tell you that. We can tell you if one style of presentation has more energy and yields to more engagement. We can tell you which is better: a Q&A of 10 or five minutes.” And all this is done in a way that post-event surveys don’t necessarily provide.

Learning Curve

One doesn’t need to be a tech genius to utilize facial recognition; in fact, things have advanced so much in such a short period of time that practically anyone can use it as long as they have the right software.

“It’s very simple with an iPhone,” Bihet says. “Pay for the license for the software to attach it to your event app. I have been using a European provider for this because it’s more cost effective for my clients and gives them all the same result.”

Looking Forward

Looking toward the future, the potential of AI’s facial analysis in meetings is vast.

“Imagine a scenario where the technology not only tracks engagement but also offers personalized feedback to speakers,” Little says. “This could include tips on pacing, tone adjustments, or even suggesting breaks when the system detects waning interest. Plus, integrating facial analysis with other AI tools, such as natural language processing, could provide a holistic view of meeting dynamics, capturing both emotional and conversational nuances.”

As an event planner, Bihet looks out for new tech to incorporate into events, as it is something she will be using more in the years ahead. “It will continue to evolve and the smart planners will stay ahead of the curve and ready to evolve along with it, and use it in ways to benefit our clients,” she says.

Morgan envisions this technology being integrated into virtual and hybrid events, enabling organizers to measure the emotional resonance of remote attendees and create more inclusive and immersive experiences.

“Facial analysis could be used to facilitate more effective networking, pairing attendees with similar interests and preferences, and even helping to identify potential business partners or collaborators,” he says.

Borelli feels for this to become more of a common thing, facial analysis must best its biggest competitor — meeting organizers’ guts. “We end up validating a lot of hypothesis that organizers have. Because they’ve worked in a vacuum of data for so long, they have gotten really good at expectations. But we can confirm to them if they are right or wrong,” he says. “Plus, data is often seen as, and often is, a road to more work. But this is an opportunity for improvement and I think more people will realize that and utilize this in the future.” C&IT