Event planning platform Planned released today what the company claims to be the first AI-sourcing tool. The tool aims to streamline the way planners research venues and vendors and interact with sales teams.
While many event professionals are already familiar with using AI for writing and content creation, Planned’s AI-powered sourcing tool leverages AI to address key pain points and save time in the event planning process.
How it Works
An event description is the starting point. The user can input this manually or liaise with a personal account manager. The AI tool is able to identify relevant information and output a standardized event brief. At this point, the planner can fill out any missing information.
The tool identifies the best suppliers for each service needed and automatically sends out the standardized event brief. It can also answer any questions from suppliers using generative AI, speeding up the process of receiving a quote.
The tool ensures that planners receive at least three quotes for each event, without the need for manual follow-ups. From here, planners are encouraged to compare options and negotiate the best prices within the platform.
Planning Ahead
Planned says it is focused on augmenting the capabilities of the platform with AI in the future. It plans to do so while sticking to the overarching goal of saving clients time and money.
“This AI-powered sourcing tool will revolutionize the way planners are able to optimize supplier outreach and communication,” said Gabriella Hachem, Head of Product at Planned. “We will continue to develop our product with this game-changing tech to make event planning less stressful, and a little more fun.”
Founded in 2017, Planned has taken a unique approach to its event technology offering. It featured as an outlier in the 2023 edition of Skift Meetings’ Event Technology Made Simple guide. The platform blends a venue and vendor marketplace with centralized communication, contracting, and payments, making it a potentially useful tool for both planning and procurement teams.
Appropriately, the company recently released its own guide to help event professionals leverage AI. The guide details the technology and explores what AI can and can’t do.