337: If You Just Execute the Brief, AI Can Replace You with Eric Rozenberg

Today, Eric explores the value event professionals bring to the table and why that matters more than ever in the age of AI. Stay tuned to learn what you need to know about the client before designing an event, questions you need to ask to position yourself as a strategic partner, and how to maintain your competitive advantage. Ask Better Questions When a client gives you a brief, resist the urge to immediately start discussing destinations, rooms, budgets, activities, speakers, themes, or technology. Start by understanding what the client is trying to accomplish, where the face-to-face meeting fits into their strategy, and what people should know, feel, believe, or do differently afterward. Strategic Partner You can either work with a client as an order taker who executes what they ask for, or as a strategic partner who helps determine what they actually need. If your value lies only in execution and logistics, you become much easier to replace as AI becomes more capable. Your value comes from helping clients identify what they are truly trying to accomplish. Identify the Real Challenge An insurance company asked for an incentive trip, but further questioning revealed that employees from three different generations were working alongside one another rather than together. Eric placed employees from different generations and tenure levels into groups and had them work together to write and perform a song. The activity required them to collaborate and helped change the way they worked together afterward. What Needs to Change? When a global medical device company asked Eric to arrange a sales meeting to launch a new product, Eric discovered the new product could allow the company to become the market leader for the first time. The salespeople needed to stop selling as a competitor and start selling as the market leader. Through a role-playing exercise, they developed a new sales playbook to share with the entire sales force. Six months later, the company became the market leader. Ask Five Essential Questions Before discussing logistics or event design, Eric recommends asking five questions: Why are we bringing these people together, and what needs to happen when they meet? What business problem are we trying to solve? What needs to be different afterward? What is preventing that from happening today? How will we know that the meeting worked? Only once you have those answers should you start designing the meeting. From Logistics to Strategy AI can produce creative concepts, destinations, themes, team-building ideas, and sample agendas in seconds. That does not mean AI will replace event professionals. But it does mean your value needs to move from execution to diagnosis, from answering questions to asking better ones, and from logistics to strategy. Instead of simply accepting the treatment a client prescribes, such as an incentive trip, conference, or team-building experience, first diagnose the problem they are actually trying to solve. Diagnose Before You Design When you receive a client brief, do not immediately start developing the answer. Identify what information is missing and what questions you still need to ask to understand the client's real problem. Although AI can speed up execution, your competitive advantage comes from understanding the client deeply enough to identify their underlying issue and ask the questions nobody else thought to ask. Connect with Eric Rozenberg On LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Listen to The Business of Meetings podcast Subscribe to The Business of Meetings newsletter