MAICON Applies AI to Event Workflows While Retaining Human Oversight
MAICON uses AI agents for research, forecasting and clip generation but keeps email, programming decisions and speaker relations with people, according to MarTech.
MAICON Integrates AI Across Event Lifecycle
MAICON employs AI agents to handle research, content production and post-event tasks while assigning customer communication, programming choices and speaker relationships to staff. The approach was described by Cathy McPhillips, chief marketing officer at SmarterX and leader of marketing for the Marketing AI Institute brands.
Pre-Event Research and Forecasting
AI agents collect sponsor data by scanning websites, capturing screenshots and compiling spreadsheets of packages and logos. The output helps teams prioritize outreach calls and evaluate pricing adjustments. Forecasting draws on queries to past event records that function like institutional memory, allowing staff to distinguish trends from anomalies. According to MarTech, these steps free time for relationship-based work that requires human judgment.
Email and Promotion Boundaries
Email remains a human-only channel. McPhillips cited an experiment in which a persona GPT suggested changes that reduced open and click rates; subsequent AI analysis indicated the messages no longer addressed attendee questions. The team concluded that AI does not replace strategic intent in customer-facing channels.
Agenda Design and Speaker Process
Programming staff compare draft agendas against conference evaluations, Slack discussions, webinar chats and podcast comments. One review identified a gap between new and advanced AI users, prompting two new formats: 15-minute CMO interviews on implemented projects and 30-minute build sessions that produce working agents. Speakers must submit titles and abstracts with their signed agreements, removing later follow-up.
On-Site Production and Speaker Kits
Goldcast integration generates roughly 10 short clips from each main-stage session within one hour. By the close of the event the team had assembled about 150 clips. The day after the event, speakers receive kits containing session highlights, audience questions and graphics. These kits are first assembled in a Claude project and then reviewed by a person before distribution. According to MarTech, the workflow illustrates decisions about which tasks to automate and which to keep with people.
