Tag: facial recognition

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How to use AI in event management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has boomed in recent years and AI in event management has become a giant trend. But what is it, and how can you use it the event industry?

What is AI?

AI is a branch of computer science to develop intelligent machines to think and work like humans. Computer systems perform tasks that usually need human intelligence. These include visual perception, speech recognition, planning, decision-making, problem-solving and translation between languages.

Most of us are now familiar with voice recognition systems such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri, and Cortana. The driverless car has been developed which senses its environment and move safely with little or no human input.

Increasingly more intelligent devices are being used in homes through thermostats, lighting, and home security systems. AI is already being used in marketing, customer service, medical research, entertainment delivery, shipping/product delivery and much more.

Examples of AI in event management

SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION

‘Wordly’ is a system that uses voice recognition to instantly translate an event presentation into over 50 languages. All that is required is a patch from the sound system into the internet-based application. Attendees access the information via their mobile devices using Wi-Fi.

The cost is lower than providing human interpreters, sound booths and issuing audio headsets to attendees. Although this system will not replace the need for human translators for high-end events, it enables simultaneous translation for a broad range of events.

SPEEDY REGISTRATION USING FACIAL RECOGNITION

Airlines are testing facial recognition for boarding passengers. iPhone users can use it to unlock their phones. Hotels in China are using it for room check-in. If a conference delegate adds their picture upon event registration, cameras on arrival recognise them and print the badge automatically. This speeds up the process while increasing security.

For more information about facial recognition, take a look at our previous article.

Tracking attendee numbers, demographics, and mood anonymously: iPhone cameras can be used for facial recognition to collect estimates of the number of attendees, their age, gender, demographics, reactions, the amount of time spent and what they are looking at in an exhibition or other event area. It can be used anonymously, so there is no concern about privacy.

CHATBOTS

Chatbots can provide good support and reduce the number of staff onsite. They can conduct conversations using text and respond humanely and are available 24/7.

CHATGPT

Similar to a chatbot, organisers can use ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI. The “Chat” in ChatGPT refers to the model’s ability to engage in conversation and generate human-like text based on the input it receives.

ChatGPT is designed to understand and generate coherent and contextually relevant text. It is pre-trained on diverse internet text data, allowing it to capture patterns, context, and information from various sources. Users can interact with ChatGPT by providing prompts or queries, and the model generates responses based on its training data.

It’s important to note that ChatGPT operates based on patterns in the data it was trained on and doesn’t have real-world knowledge or understanding. It may generate plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical responses, so take it with a pinch of salt.

The premium version of ChatGPT has recently been updated to include up-to-date information and the latest news, meaning it can generate more factual and relevant information.

Organisers can use this to pull data, create reports, compile checklists, write copy, and so on. It is a handy tool to save time and resources.

MAKING CONTACTS

Matchmaking programmes driven by AI can analyse registration data, social media feeds, surveys, agendas, and badge scans to suggest matches for event attendees and exhibitors. Attendees can be given recommendations to attendees on the best sessions, speakers, and panels to attend. This ultimately could improve attendee ROI.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Software like ChatGPT can analyse data and make predictions more quickly and deeply than doing this manually. It can be used for better attendee personalisation, to provide more accurate data for decision-making, to streamline communications, to plan content and improve sales.

AI can monitor online content, remember what a user clicks on and prioritise future content based on these clicks. It can also provide links to related content sources. In the case of an online newsletter, each reader could receive a customised page based on their interests.

There will be more development of AI in event management and beyond, as the adoption of these tools becomes widespread. It has already taken the industry by storm; we’ll be keeping watch on what becomes capable of in the future.

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Is facial recognition valuable to your event?

Facial recognition will bring changes to the event industry. However, alongside the cost, there are concerns about privacy and how attendee data is stored and used. 

It could be of great benefit, particularly at large-scale events. But would your attendees be comfortable knowing they are being watched?

Facial recognition technology

The recognition technology is becoming more advanced each year and is now being used commercially as biometric identification in place of passwords. 

It has also been introduced by the Metropolitan Police in London. 

Cameras in popular locations will scan passers-by to find criminals and suspicious individuals. This Computer Weekly guide looks at the use of facial recognition technology by UK police forces, and where it’s heading next. The guide includes police facial recognition controversies, including how it originally had ‘no firm legal basis, poor transparency and questionable accuracy (especially for women and people with darker skin tones)’.  

The EU Parliament adopted a ban on facial recognition in public places in 2023. While the technology may not be introduced to the rest of Europe soon, it can still be used for events.

Facial recognition technology is still new and daunting for the events industry. Organisers and attendees will need to experience it and see the benefits, before trusting it.

Will facial recognition improve the attendee’s experience?

Event attendees can opt-in to share a photo when registering and supply certain pieces of personal data. Then, faces can be scanned on arrival at the event, avoiding the need to queue for a badge. Or attendees can check on-site at a kiosk which produces a badge. 

The new radio frequency identification (RFID) badge has a code which can be detected by an electronic reader. It is far easier and quicker to detect than the current method of manually scanning badges.

It can also add another level of security if only people who have registered in advance and have been approved are permitted to join.

Data about the event can be collected and analysed in real-time. For example, in the conference rooms judge how well attended the sessions are, the number of attendees in breakout sessions, demographics of attendees, and the number of attendees for catering. 

A further step is to detect facial expressions to judge the interest in presentations and assess positive and negative reactions. Facial recognition cameras can also be used at exhibitions to find out how people navigate the event, which stands they visit and how long they stay there.

This technology can impress attendees and many will find it a fun and exciting experience. It will enable an attendee to have a completely personalised event, as a camera recognises a delegate’s face wherever they go. When they arrive, their badge will be printed automatically, in seconds.

Considerations

However, event organisers need to reassure attendees about how their data will be used. Where and how long it will be stored? How does it take UK GDPR into account? 

In the USA, guidelines on the use of facial recognition are falling behind. There are calls for federal legislation and an executive order, as well as attention from courts, the private sector, civil society organizations, and other organisations that work with facial recognition technology and provide guidance for the technology’s responsible development and deployment.

The technology does have its problems and will need to be addressed so that facial recognition can be used effectively. As with all technology, it can make errors and incorrectly identify attendees, leading to confusion and frustration. It can also be costly and time-consuming to set up and integrate into the event.