August 12, 2025
5 min read
Anna Huddleston
From Chatbots to Agents and Beyond: How AI is Transforming Trade Shows in 2025
The use of AI is evolving at neck-breaking speed across every aspect of our lives, rapidly changing how we plan, work, and even think. In trade shows, this evolution is also happening fast, with AI powering everything from access to knowledge to agents that can be built with no coding skills. Hereâs what weâre seeing right now, and what you can do to get ahead in the emerging zero-click economy. Globally, 63 percent of companies indicate that they currently use standard AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or similar) in at least some of their business functions, according to UFIâs Global Exhibition Barometer report released this month. Also, 17 percent have AI-powered tools integrated into their existing systems, and 3 percent have already developed proprietary algorithms trained on internal data. In parallel, 17 percent of respondents declare having no or almost no use of AI at this stage. In terms of their level of maturity, most companies are still researching or testing solutions in the three domains surveyed:- 72 percent towards âimproving company and process efficiencyâ
- 68 percent towards âimproving customer experienceâ
- 54 percent towards âgenerating revenues using AI-powered productsâ
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âWhile AI is by now widely used across the industry, meaningful integration is still limited,â says Kai Hattendorf, former UFI CEO. âTool-level adoption is widespread, while just a few companies have moved beyond basic use cases. But the shift from experimentation to adoption to AI-supported business models is starting to take shape, slowly, and unevenly across the many markets. A key challenge ahead will be the step from adoption to real transformation of business processes where it improves the industryâs products and services.â
Chatbots: Expert Knowledge at Lightning Speed
So how does this translate to AI adaptation on the ground? Over the past year, the industry is going deeper into GenAI for creative workflows and real-time event measurement. Custom chatbots are becoming more prevalent not just for customer service but also for deeper knowledge about specific subjects. âI love how simple it is to build chatbots through custom or templated GPTs,â says Kaitland Hunter, executive creative director at Impact XM. One of the GPTs the company developed is The Creative Edge, a gamified AI learning experience, guiding users through creative and strategic challenges. âWith some guardrails and pre-existing background documents, itâs incredible how useful it can be to form a training module or educational bot to help anywhere from onboarding employees to creating subject matter training to help us think differently.â Genesis Exhibits recently launched Maestro, an AI-powered consulting solution designed to assist exhibitors in navigating the complexities of the trade show landscape. Itâs trained using the companyâs industry knowledge and real-time trade show marketing data from around the world. Al Mercuro, strategic marketing and client engagement advisor at Genesis Exhibits, says: âItâs already quite good at estimating projects, however, one long-term goal, already in process, is to train it with additional, more detailed industry standards for design and manufacturing, further improving its ability to adjust concept renderings and generate deeper bills of materials (BOMs) for production purposes, faster and with far greater accuracy.âAI Agents: The Quiet Superforce
One of the big draws at Salesforceâs Dreamforce 2024 was that attendees could build their first AI agentâa program that uses AI to autonomously perform tasks and pursue goals on behalf of users or systemsâright there and then. Things are changing fast. The difference between chatbots and agents is that chatbots respond to queries while agents take proactive actions to complete tasks with minimal human input. Deloitte predicts that 25 percent of companies that use generative AI will launch Agentic AI pilots this year, growing to 50 percent in 2027. âRight now, most trade show organizers are still focused on AI as a tool for personalization or automation, which is valid, but Agentic AI takes things a step further,â says Anca Platon Trifan, CEO of Tree-Fan Events Production, and host of the âEvents Demystifiedâ podcast. âAgentic AI introduces the possibility of autonomous, goal-oriented systems that can carry out tasks on your behalf without micromanagement.â For the Summit, Platon Trifanâs team is building and testing several internal agents to support planning and production, such as a content support agent that manages speaker bios, intake forms, and session assets by compiling the info into a Notion database, flagging missing pieces, and prompting follow-ups. A workflow agent pulls form submissions, auto-generates email reminders, tracks confirmation status, and summarizes key points for speaker briefings. The team is also experimenting with a post-show agent that will take the final recordings and generate clips, blog outlines, social snippets, and recaps for each session, essentially helping the team publish faster with less manual effort. Introducing a public-facing AI assistant to help attendees navigate sessions in real time is the next step. âAgentic AI has massive potential for our industry, not just in helping us do more, but in changing how we think about work,â says Platon Trifan. âThe real power isnât in flashy demos. Itâs in those daily, boring, essential workflows that eat our time and energy. Thatâs where agents quietly shine.â AI agents are already down on the showfloor. To help drive higher performance at trade shows, New York-based Augmented AI recently launched an agent-based marketing platform that can perform tasks ranging from lead prioritization, personalized follow-up messaging, synching insights into a CRM without any manual involvement, and precise campaign performance measurement.
Can I Build an Agent?
Building a basic agent might be easier than it seems, and in its simplest form, doesnât require any coding skills. During a recent presentation, EventMobi CEO Bob Vaez built an agent to call event registrants the night before the event to confirm participation and answer questions in under 10 minutes using Lindy. For trade shows and events, EventMobiâs built-in AI agents can automatically create sessions, update attendee records, and automate attendee communications. Platon Trifan builds and uses agents to support different areas of her work and life, ranging from keeping up with the AI news to tracking emerging events. She uses N8n, Deep AI, Anthropic Claude, and Google AI Studio, depending on the complexity and integrations required. âI prioritize agents that connect seamlessly with the tools I already live in: Google Workspace, Notion, MailerLite, Slack, and WhatsApp. Integration is everything,â she says. âAn agent that works in isolation might be âcool,â but itâs not helpful if it doesnât live where the rest of my systems do.â To start exploring AI agents, the first step might be trying one of the pre-built agents released by most LLM providers. The next generation of AI-native browsers, such as Perplexityâs Comet and the upcoming browser by OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, are likely to push capabilities even further.âOut-humaningâ AI
âWeâre running a different kind of race now, against a runner much more powerful and faster than we are,â says Hunter with Impact XM, âbut this runner still canât quite articulate how the pavement feels under their feet, and how the wind feels in their face.â âWe have the advantage of making sense of the world in a sensorial way that is so undeniably human,â she says. âItâs something I think weâll see more of at in-person events in the future. Weâre going to need to be savvier about whatâs been created by AI and what hasnât. Itâs going to sharpen (or soften) our storytelling, force us to elevate in-person interactions, and really consider what humans desire in any given moment. So yeah, Iâm really excited to watch the humans win some races. Itâs going to surprise all of us how we got there.âPhotos: Courtesy of Salesforce; Anna Huddleston
Source: How AI is Transforming Trade Shows
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are AI agents, and how do they differ from chatbots?
AI agents are programs that use AI to autonomously perform tasks and pursue goals with minimal human input, whereas chatbots primarily respond to user queries.What percentage of companies are using AI tools?
Globally, 63 percent of companies use standard AI tools, 17 percent have AI-powered tools integrated into their systems, and 3 percent have developed proprietary algorithms.What are the primary domains companies are focusing on with AI implementation?
Companies are primarily focusing on improving company and process efficiency (72%), enhancing customer experience (68%), and generating revenue through AI-powered products (54%).How are custom chatbots being used in the trade show industry?
Custom chatbots are increasingly used for customer service and to provide deeper, specialized knowledge on specific subjects within the industry.What is the key challenge for AI transformation in the trade show industry?
A significant challenge is moving from AI adoption to the actual transformation of business processes, ensuring AI genuinely improves products and services.What is the future outlook for Agentic AI adoption?
Deloitte predicts that 25 percent of generative AI-using companies will launch Agentic AI pilots this year, growing to 50 percent by 2027.What are the benefits of using AI agents for trade show planning and production?
AI agents can automate tasks such as managing speaker bios and session assets, generating email reminders, tracking confirmations, and summarizing information for briefings, leading to faster and more efficient workflows.How easy is it to build a basic AI agent?
Building a basic AI agent can be straightforward and may not require any coding skills, often utilizing platforms that allow for custom or templated GPTs.What is crucial for an AI agent to be truly helpful?
Seamless integration with existing tools and systems that users already work with is essential for an agent's helpfulness, rather than operating in isolation.What is the ultimate goal of AI agents in the industry, according to experts?
The goal is not just to do more work, but to fundamentally change how we approach and think about work, by automating essential but time-consuming workflows.Crypto Market AI's Take
The rapid advancement of AI in transforming trade shows is a compelling parallel to the ongoing revolution in the financial sector, particularly within cryptocurrency. Just as AI agents are automating complex tasks for event organizers, sophisticated AI algorithms are being developed to analyze market volatility, predict price movements, and execute trades in the crypto space. Our platform, Crypto Market AI, leverages these advanced AI capabilities to offer intelligent trading bots and comprehensive market analytics, aiming to provide users with a significant edge in this dynamic digital asset landscape. Understanding the potential of AI in streamlining complex processes, whether for trade shows or financial markets, is key to navigating the future of business and technology.More to Read:
Source: How AI is Transforming Trade Shows