Over the past decade, the way organizations approach event planning has changed dramatically. What were once considered supplementary virtual and hybrid events have now become integral to corporate engagement strategies. Initially sparked by global disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, this shift has only gained momentum, driven by advancements in technology, shifting workplace dynamics, and an increasing demand for flexibility and broader accessibility. Today, virtual and hybrid events are no longer an afterthought—they are central to how businesses connect, collaborate, and engage with audiences.
The adoption of virtual and hybrid events has soared in recent years. A survey conducted by Statista in 2024 revealed that 40% of events were held virtually in 2022, reflecting a significant increase from previous years (Max, 2022). Additionally, a report by Skift (2022) indicated that 70% of all events were hybrid, highlighting the growing preference for combining in-person and virtual formats.
Virtual and hybrid events bring a range of significant advantages. One of the most notable is their ability to reach a global audience. By removing the barriers of travel, these experiences enable participation from anywhere, expanding the event's reach and inclusivity. This inclusivity has led to increased attendance at conferences, webinars, and trade shows. Granvalor (2023) notes that virtual and hybrid events break down geographical barriers, allowing organizations to engage a wider range of participants. Cost efficiency is another notable benefit, as companies can reduce expenses, such as venue rental, catering, and travel for both speakers and attendees. A survey conducted by Wild Apricot (2024) found that 80% of event organizers considered virtual events to be more cost-effective than in-person events. In addition to cost-saving, virtual platforms offer previously unattainable scalability as they enable events to accommodate large audiences without the logistical constraints of physical spaces (Granvalor, 2023).
Despite these benefits, virtual and hybrid events present unique challenges. One of the primary concerns is maintaining attendee engagement in digital settings. Forrester (2021) found that 61% of event marketers considered engagement to be one of the biggest challenges in virtual events. Furthermore, technical issues, such as connectivity problems and audio or video disruptions, can significantly affect the attendee experience. Finally, delivering personalized experiences to a diverse audience is a complex task. Bringing attendees together from across different regions and time zones requires careful planning, advanced technology and, in some cases, designing asynchronous experiences in addition to synchronous. This creates logistical hurdles, such as ensuring real-time engagement across digital platforms, maintaining seamless communication, and delivering personalized experiences that keep participants invested throughout an event.
Another major challenge is interactivity. With in-person events, things like body language, eye contact, and informal networking naturally drive engagement. But in virtual environments, organizers need to be more intentional in fostering participation and keeping the audience interested. Without the right tools, it becomes tough to gauge real-time sentiment, making it harder to adjust content on the fly and keep things fresh.
Traditional event planning methods just can’t keep up with today’s demands. Relying on manual workflows, basic analytics, and rigid agendas leaves organizers struggling to adapt to shifting audience expectations. As the need for data-driven decisions, personalized experiences, and flawless execution in virtual and hybrid events grows, conventional approaches are simply not enough to meet the moment.
Eventible (Saluja, 2023) notes that the integration of AI in event management is more than just an enhancement—it represents a fundamental shift, ushering in a new era of how events are planned and executed. As The Curious Advantage (Ashcroft, et. al., 2020) states, “AI and ML bring new and exciting opportunities into the world, such as research and development, customer engagement and production.”
In the world of event experiences, AI is transforming delivery across four key areas, equipping event professionals with powerful tools that elevate every aspect of their work.
Data - AI-driven analytics offer real-time insights and sentiment analysis that allow organizations to track engagement and make adjustments lot the trajectories of events and programs. This ability to respond in real-time keeps participants immersed in the scenarios and ensures a dynamic experience that is responding to feedback and navigating towards specific objectives. Additionally, AI provides the data needed to demonstrate value and ROI, while also personalizing attendee experiences based on their behavior and preferences.
Decision-making - AI empowers event participants to make more informed decisions by analyzing big data sets and analyzing decisions, language, sentiment and polling created in events and workshops. By mapping data and also providing immediate visualizations from mind mapping to histograms, graphs and infographics lead to more thorough analysis and better decision-making for collaborative teams. AI is proving useful for generating future state scenarios, risk analysis and synthesis of complex, fuzzy data – all useful for enabling collaborative ideas formation.
Learning - AI personalizes the learning experience for event attendees in a learning scenario. It can support bespoke experiences by suggesting relevant materials based on individual interests and learning styles. Whether it’s recommending specific sessions, documents, or interactive activities, AI ensures that each attendee’s journey is tailored to maximize their engagement and knowledge retention, fostering a more impactful learning environment. AI can also work as a learning companion, supporting the individual as they search and become involved in self directed learning situations.
Production - Event producers benefit from AI’s ability to streamline the planning process with smart automation. From designing event schedules to managing logistics, AI simplifies the administrative burden, allowing producers to focus on crafting unique, purpose-driven events. By automating repetitive tasks, AI enables producers to design more sophisticated events that are tailored to their specific objectives, making the entire process more efficient and less stressful.
In each of these areas, AI is helping event professionals plan, execute, and refine events with greater precision and agility, ultimately delivering a more engaging and personalized experience for attendees.
In the following sections, we will explore the challenges that event producers face today and how AI-powered tools—such as SmartLab Event’s AI Data Assistant, AI Decision Assistant, AI Learning Assistant, and AI Production Assistant—are reshaping the future of virtual and hybrid events.