Guide, last updated 8 October 2026
AI does four jobs well for an event organizer today. It writes first drafts, answers attendee questions, recommends sessions and booths, and sums up what attendees said. It does not run registration, badges or the venue.
Answers are the job we see most. At FOST London 2026, 147 of 268 attendee conversations with Sena were about the agenda or what was on now.
This guide splits event work into eight jobs and names the tool for each, including the jobs where another tool beats Sena.
AI is strong at work with words: drafts, answers, summaries, and matches from what people say. It is weak at work that needs a contract, a venue or a person on site. Most organizers need two or three tools.
Swipe the table to see every column
| When | Job | AI does well | Still needs a person | Tool for the job | Sena |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | Write the event copy | First drafts of pages, emails, session text and sponsor packages | Facts, prices, tone and the final read | A general assistant: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini | Not Sena |
| Before | Run registration, tickets and badges | Little. This job is software and operations | The whole job, with a platform | An event platform: Cvent, Swapcard, Whova, Brella or Grip | Not Sena. Keep your platform |
| Before | Learn why each attendee comes | Ask every registrant a question and read the answers | Decide what to ask, and act on the answers | Sena, or the AI recommendations inside your event app | Sena |
| During | Answer attendee questions | Times, rooms, the address, what is on now, at any hour | Lost badges, refunds, anything off the programme | An AI concierge or the assistant inside your event app | Sena |
| During | Send attendees to sessions, booths and people | Short lists that match what each attendee wants | Hosted-buyer programmes and VIP introductions | Sena for recommendations. A meeting platform for booked slots | Partly. Sena recommends and does not book meetings |
| During | Capture leads at the booth | Little. A lead scan is a badge scan | Exhibitor staff | Lead capture in Whova, Brella, Swapcard or Grip | Not Sena |
| After | Report to sponsors and plan the next edition | Sum up hundreds of conversations into what people wanted | The renewal conversation | Sena for intent. Your platform for in-app activity | Sena |
| After | Follow up with attendees | Draft messages from what each attendee said | Send them, from your CRM or email tool | Your CRM. Sena gives you the follow-up list as a file | Partly. A file, no CRM sync |
We checked each vendor on its own website on 8 October 2026. Vendor pricing is mostly quote-based, so we leave it out.
Before the event, a general assistant writes your first drafts, and an AI concierge asks each registrant why they come. Registration and badges stay with your platform.
ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini turn your notes into event pages, emails, session text and sponsor packages in minutes. They also invent facts with total confidence. Check every date, price and speaker name before it goes out.
A registration form gives you a name, a company and a job title. It does not tell you what the person wants from two days at your event. Event apps infer interests from profiles and clicks, for the attendees who open the app.
Sena asks each registrant directly what they came for, in a WhatsApp message or through a link to the same agent on the web. At FOST London 2026, 201 attendees replied to that first message. That was three times more replies than at any earlier FOST edition. Read the FOST London case study.
During the event, AI answers questions and recommends where to go. It does not scan badges, and Sena does not book meetings.
Most questions at a conference are about the programme and the clock. At FOST London 2026, 64 conversations asked about the venue, times, food or tickets. Sena answers these from your own programme, at any hour.
Sena recommends from what each attendee said. In 98 of the 268 London conversations, Sena pointed the attendee to a sponsor or an exhibitor, on request or as a suggestion. On a show floor of 2,996 exhibitors at VivaTech, Sena gave 1,672 recommendations to executives on Hub Institute tours.
If you sell booked meetings between buyers and sellers, use a platform that books them. Brella, Grip and Swapcard book the slots. Sena recommends people and leaves the meeting to them.
What attendees raised with Sena at FOST London 2026
Source: FOST London 2026.
After the event, AI turns hundreds of conversations into a report you can take to a sponsor. A person still has the renewal conversation.
Your event platform reports what happened inside the app: views, clicks, scans and booked meetings. Sena reports what attendees said they wanted, where Sena sent them, and who showed up. At FOST London, Sena recommended 30 of the 33 sponsors to attendees with a need that fits. The three others had empty profiles, a fix to make before renewal. See what a post-event report covers, section by section.
Sena gives you a follow-up list as a file: every attendee who talked to Sena, with their goal in their own words. Your CRM or email tool sends the follow-up. Sena does not sync with your CRM.
At FOST London 2026, registrants who replied before the event had an 18.8% no-show rate. Registrants who got the message and stayed silent had 43.5%. A reply is a strong sign that someone plans to come. It does not prove that Sena made them come. Read the full no-show data.
An event platform does five jobs that Sena does not do. A guide that the author wins on every row is an advertisement.
Cvent, Swapcard, Whova, Brella and Grip all sell these. Sena sells none of them.
Whova, Brella, Swapcard and Grip give exhibitors lead capture. Sena does not scan badges.
Brella, Grip and Swapcard book meeting slots between buyers and sellers. Sena recommends people and leaves the meeting to them.
Cvent finds and books venues, and Sena has nothing for this job.
Cvent Attendee Hub and Swapcard both show AI recommendations inside their apps. If your attendees open the app, the app reaches them there.
Vendor pages we checked on 8 October 2026: Cvent Attendee Hub, Swapcard, Whova, Brella and Grip. For a closer look at the apps, read our comparison of event apps, or where Sena fits next to Cvent.
Pick the row that matches your event.
You need registration, badges and an attendee app
Start with an event platform. Choose it for those jobs, and treat its AI features as a bonus.
You have a platform, and you do not know why attendees come
Add an AI concierge on top of the platform. This is the job Sena does.
You sell a hosted-buyer programme with booked meetings
Use a platform with meeting slots. Brella, Grip and Swapcard do this well.
You run an event under about 100 attendees
Use a general assistant for the copy. Introduce people yourself, and you will do it better than any tool.
You need copy, emails and session text this week
Use a general assistant, then check every fact before it goes out.
Sena works at different kinds of event. See Sena at dinners, trade shows, conferences and tours, and what your team sends us to set it up.
No single tool does every job. Event work is several jobs: copy, registration, attendee questions, recommendations, lead capture and reports. A general assistant writes the copy. An event platform runs registration and badges. An AI concierge such as Sena talks to attendees and reports what they wanted.
It drafts the plan. It writes run sheets, emails and session text from your notes. It does not book a venue, sell tickets or talk to your attendees. Check every fact, date and price it gives you.
Yes. On 8 October 2026, Cvent, Swapcard, Brella and Grip all showed AI recommendations or AI matches on their own websites. These features work for attendees who open the app. Attendees who never open it get nothing from them.
It talks to each attendee before and during the event, on WhatsApp or on the web. It asks what they came for, answers their questions and sends them to the right sessions, sponsors and people. After the event, the organizer gets a report of what attendees asked for and where the concierge sent them.
Not proven. At FOST London 2026, registrants who replied to the event message before the event had an 18.8% no-show rate. Registrants who got the message and stayed silent had 43.5%. People who plan to come are the people who reply, so a reply is a signal, not a cause.
The anonymized sponsor report from a live event with 1,306 attendees, in your inbox.
A real, anonymized sponsor report from a live event. No newsletter, no sequence.
Have an event on the calendar? Book a demo and we will tell you which of these jobs Sena takes off your team. Under about 100 attendees, we will tell you to do it yourself.