Igniting the AI Spark to break barriers

CMW talks to Chantal Sturk-Nadeau, newly appointed vice-president of Spark and PCMA insights. What excites you most about your new role? After 25+ years leading a DMO and an NTO, I can now leverage my knowledge and expertise with an industry association leader. I have been a PCMA member for a long time and been on their Board where I could see first hand how the team worked. Sherrif [Karamat] is always looking ahead and when he saw the opportunity to leverage AI for our industry, he wasn’t afraid to take a risk and develop a tool that could help event professionals, but also find a way to make it accessible for all. I look forward to continuing my journey in helping elevate our industry with Spark AI as it is a tool that helps event professionals seeking to stay ahead in an increasingly AI-driven industry.

I am responsible for developing, executing and overseeing the enterprise business and brand of Spark, along with other initiatives and their consulting arm with PCMA Insights. This will allow me to collaborate with joint venture partners on strategy, product development, marketing, business development and monetisation of the business areas of responsibility. What opportunities do you see in merging AI with the event management industry? Merging AI with the event management industry provides opportunities for automation, data-driven insights and enhanced experiences. Event professionals can streamline operations, gain audience insights and deliver superior experiences by leveraging AI tools. AI is currently shaping the way events are planned, executed and experienced. It enhances event planning, personalisation and attendee engagement. All things that are critically important for the meeting professionals to meet their goals. How do you plan to incorporate a global perspective into your work with Spark and PCMA Insights? PCMA has been setting the stage for global expansion already with regional directors in the EMEA, LATAM and APAC regions. I will work alongside each regional director to expand awareness of Spark benefits through business development, marketing initiatives and educational platforms (Labs, Workshops, event sessions, etc) in each market while collaborating with different audiences and recognising their stage of AI adoption. For those who may not be familiar with Spark, please elaborate on what makes it stand out? Various AI products are available, but for those looking to incorporate it into the overall event planning strategy, it is essential to ensure the respective platform is compliant to your organisation’s data policies. That’s where Spark comes into play as the industry’s first generative AI platform designed for event professionals by event professionals. What also differentiates Spark is the unique industry data behind it, and a user’s own data, which remains private. How do you envision Spark evolving to meet the changing needs of event professionals? The world we are living in today is global and hyper connected – and so are the events that we create and manage. Different regions would, of course, mean different languages. With Spark, we aim to break the language barriers and allow users to collaborate seamlessly with their global teams. This is just one example that makes Spark an inclusive platform. A recent enhancement is a universal language integration delivering access to over 25 languages across all 100+ tasks. For example, users can repurpose a video into a blogpost and the output is in Spanish. Another example is a user can have the input of the task in Portuguese, prompt in English and Spark will still generate the output in Portuguese. o summarise, it’s not simply one language to multiple languages, rather it’s multiple languages to multiple languages. With Spark we aim to break the language barriers and users to collaborate seamlessly with their global teams. What do you see as the most significant opportunities and challenges in integrating AI into event planning and management? And attendee experience for that matter. In the last year, tech developments have rocketed. AI is a hot topic in every industry. It might seem daunting, but  knowing how to use AI to help plan and deliver events is a huge boost for event professionals. A few of the most significant opportunities and impacts that AI can have on the events industry are;

• Streamlining event planning and management
• Event content and experience curation
• Increasing attendee engagement
• Driving event marketing and promotion
• Enhancing event security and safety
• Championing accessibility
• Improving sustainability

Some of the challenges and considerations of AI in events are:

• Data privacy and ethical concerns
• Overcoming biases and ensuring inclusivity
• Adapting to new skill requirements

AI job threat? A common concern we hear from event professionals is whether AI will take away their jobs. The reality is that while other industries may see jobs replaced by automation, the events industry relies on creative elements and the ability to understand a whole host of moving pieces. AI won’t replace the essential skills an event organiser brings to events, but working with AI helps streamline tasks, enabling eventprofs to focus on creativity, personalisation, and building connections with attendees. We should see it as a supportive tool rather than a threat. Use it for the right reasons and we can help ourselves be more efficient. How do you plan to ensure that Spark and PCMA Insights remain adaptable and relevant as industry needs change? Spark is really about transforming the way we work. Spark will remain relevant as we are continuously listening to our community by doing labs, focus groups, etc and taking the feedback back to our partner, Gevme, to develop new tasks to address new needs. The ongoing data and analysis will be evidence-based and we will introduce new updates quarterly. What is your approach to driving innovation and what legacy do you hope to build through your work with Spark and PCMA Insights? One of the main reasons I joined this team is that my personal values align with the leadership and organisation’s core values of inclusivity and accessibility for the advancement of the industry and professional development of the individual. I would love to see a global industry adoption of AI tools such as Spark. We are currently collaborating with a technology company in developing another AI tool that will work in alignment with Spark. The PCMA Insights side of the business is in its early stages delivering consulting services and this consulting varies from convention centres, tourism bureaus, and industry organisations in general. Our goal is to build out the PCMA Insights consulting practice. PCMA developed Spark with Gevme not only to provide the business events community with an AI tool that is industry specific, but to demonstrate the association’s commitment to being at the forefront of technological innovation. AI is a powerful tool that can transform the future of work — and advance the business events industry. My hope is to see these PCMA initiatives help support social and economic progress, professional and personal development, business growth and organisational success for the business event industry. More personally, I believe in pushing limits, colouring outside the lines, pushing for the right reasons and continuing to raise the bar.