How AI and Personalization Are Transforming Global Events: Insights from Cvent at IMEX Frankfurt 2025

AI, Personalization, and Global Growth: Insights from Cvent’s Graham Pope at IMEX Frankfurt 2025

Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2025

At IMEX Frankfurt 2025, Graham Pope, Vice President International Sales at Cvent, shared how AI-driven innovation and strategic expansion are changing the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) industry worldwide. With 26 years in the field, Cvent connects over 330,000 event planners with 340,000 venues globally, simplifying venue sourcing, managing RFPs, coordinating event logistics, and delivering performance analytics. This makes it an essential link between planners and suppliers.

Personalization is Changing Guest Experiences

Personalization is the biggest shift reshaping guest expectations today. AI plays a central role by helping to curate recommendations and streamline event operations. It enables planners to create highly specific RFPs and assists venues in responding efficiently, forecasting demand, and improving service quality.

Expanding into New Markets and Venues

Cvent is growing its presence in emerging MICE markets such as Japan, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. In Europe, planners are moving beyond traditional cities like London and exploring unique venues—galleries, historic landmarks, castles—that offer more experiential and memorable settings. This trend encourages creativity and raises competition among venues.

AI Enhances the Event Planning Process

AI tools within Cvent’s platform help planners find venues that perfectly match their criteria. For example, if a planner needs a venue in San Francisco with specific room counts and amenities, AI delivers precise recommendations quickly. Over time, AI learns preferences, making the search smarter and faster.

For venues, AI automates responses to RFPs and predicts trends to improve planning and resource allocation. This increases productivity and efficiency throughout the meetings and events ecosystem.

Key Factors Influencing Venue Choices

• Unique Venues: Non-traditional locations like museums and galleries are gaining traction as planners seek to offer attendees distinctive experiences.
• Geographic Diversity: Secondary cities and rural destinations are becoming attractive due to less competition, cost advantages, and authentic local experiences.
• Sustainable Tourism: Planners are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and cultural immersion, selecting destinations that support these values.

Upcoming Features and Improvements in Cvent’s Platform

Cvent is enhancing its AI-driven tools, including an advanced AI-powered RFP creation feature that allows planners to specify exact requirements and receive data-backed venue recommendations. The platform’s analytics capabilities are also expanding, offering deeper insights into event performance, attendee engagement, and ROI. These improvements help planners and venues make smarter, faster decisions.

Outlook for the MICE Industry

The MICE industry will continue to integrate technology and data to improve personalization, efficiency, and decision-making. AI will enable more precise event customization and better matching of venues to event needs. Event sourcing will become more geographically diverse, with increased use of emerging markets and unique venues. The focus on authentic experiences and sustainability will grow, helping events stand out and deliver measurable business results.

With these trends, Cvent remains a key partner for hospitality and events professionals aiming to create seamless, personalized, and impactful events worldwide.