What growing adoption means for the people managing the details.Trade show planning has always depended on experience, checklists, spreadsheets, vendor relationships, and the ability to handle whatever happens next.
The electricity needs ordering. The graphics need approval. Someone needs to confirm whether the freight deadline means arrival at the warehouse or arrival at the venue.
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of that familiar routine. It can help research options, summarize documents, organize information, and prepare communications. But the more interesting change is what happens when those individual assists become part of how we manage an event.
For event professionals, that could mean spending less time gathering information and more time putting it to work.
Adoption is widespread. Integration is still developing.
UFI’s July 2026 Global Exhibition Barometer found that 91% of surveyed exhibition companies reported using AI, up from 87% six months earlier. However, just 17% selected the category describing AI-powered tools integrated into existing systems. The survey included 466 companies across 59 countries and regions, covering organizers, venues, and service providers.
That distinction matters. Asking an AI assistant to write an email is one level of adoption. Connecting it to the information, deadlines, and responsibilities behind an event is another.
The broader project management profession is making that transition, too. In research published in March 2026, the Association for Project Management surveyed 1,000 UK project professionals. 27% said AI was fully embedded in their workflows, while 18% reported using it to support task scheduling. These findings span multiple industries rather than events specifically, but they show how AI is entering the work of planning and coordination.
The opportunity is in the everyday work.
For a busy event coordinator, the practical value might start with an exhibitor services manual.
AI can help extract ordering deadlines, summarize requirements, and prepare a draft checklist. With the right tools and connections, that information could then support assigned tasks, reminders, and a working timeline.
The same principle applies to budgets, vendor comparisons, and team briefings: gather the information, organize it, and make the next decision easier.
For a small business managing several shows without a dedicated event team, those assists could be particularly useful. There is plenty of work that needs doing before anyone gets to focus on the booth experience or prepare for customer conversations.
But speed alone is a poor measure of success. A checklist generated in seconds still needs to be correct.
An experienced planner knows to question an unfamiliar charge, confirm an ambiguous deadline, and call the vendor when something doesn’t add up. AI should support that discipline. Dates, costs, and contractual requirements still need checking against their original sources.
Better planning should improve what happens at the show.
There is a reason to care about all this administrative work: it supports the experience people came for.
In Freeman’s 2025 research with IMEX, based on more than 2,600 attendees and organizers, 61% of attendees defined immersive experiences as hands-on product interaction. That is a useful reminder for exhibitors deciding where to invest their attention.
A working demonstration. A prepared salesperson. Enough time to answer an unexpected question.
My view is that AI earns its place when it helps teams deliver those things more consistently.
Start with one recurring planning headache. Use AI to help address it. Check the output and determine whether it actually improved the work.
The impact of AI on event planning will depend on how thoughtfully we apply it—and what we do with the time it gives us.
The checklist still matters. So does the person who knows what belongs on it.