Smarter Event Planning with AI: A Cheat Code for Success

Event planners juggle a massive workload: coordinating logistics, managing vendors, marketing events, and integrating tech to deliver seamless experiences. It’s a high-stakes job with a lot of moving parts.

But what if AI could take some of that off your plate?

Many people try AI tools and give up quickly, saying the results aren’t useful. In most cases, the issue isn’t the AI—it’s the prompt.

Before you get meaningful output, you need to give your AI the right context. That’s where context documents come in.

Why Context Matters

Think of AI like a super assistant. It’s fast, creative, and tireless—but it can’t read your mind. To unlock its full potential, you have to teach it what you’re trying to do. That’s where the context document comes in.

Let’s say you’re hosting an in-person Tech Hackathon for 50 people. You want AI to help you make smarter decisions faster. But first, you need to prime it with the right background.

Here’s how you can start with something practical: venue selection.

Building a Smarter Venue Evaluation System with AI

You want a venue that checks all the boxes—budget, capacity, location, amenities. Instead of comparing options manually, let AI build you a detailed, criteria-based evaluation system.

Prompt Framework

Goal: Create a detailed, comparative venue evaluation system to ensure all critical requirements are met and help make an informed venue selection decision.

Guidelines:

• Use actionable, measurable criteria
• Include must-have and nice-to-have features
• Account for in-person and hybrid event requirements
• Rate criteria on a consistent scale
• Flag potential deal-breakers
• Consider both obvious and hidden costs

Instructions:

1. Fill in your event specifics:
   • Event Name
   • Expected Attendance
   • Required Amenities
2. Analyze each venue using the evaluation criteria
3. Score each area on a scale of 1–5
4. Flag any deal-breakers
5. Offer a recommendation based on the overall score

Once you submit this prompt with your context, AI can generate a custom evaluation report comparing different venues. Here’s what that might look like:

Venue Evaluation Report Summary

Venue Name: The Grand Plaza Convention Center
Date Evaluated: February 14, 2025

Location & Accessibility (Score: 4/5)

• Central location with public transit access
• 350 parking spaces with valet
• Fully ADA compliant
• Minor concern: limited street parking

Capacity & Layout (Score: 5/5)

• Main hall fits 800 theater-style
• 6 breakout rooms and 10,000 sq ft exhibition space
• Flexible partitions and a dedicated registration area

Technology & Infrastructure (Score: 4/5)

• 1GB internet, built-in PA, LED walls, and hybrid AV support
• Flagged concern: limited power backup

Catering & Food (Score: 4/5)

• In-house catering with dietary accommodations
• Limited flexibility on external vendors

Budget Considerations (Score: 3/5)

• $15,000/day rental, 50% deposit
• Includes AV package, but staff fees are mandatory

Contracts & Policies (Score: 4/5)

• Good cancellation terms, 24-hour access, clear contract language

Overall Score: 24/30
Deal-Breakers Found: No
Recommendation: Highly recommended. Strong location, excellent layout and tech support, with minor improvements needed in power and catering flexibility.

Bonus: Ask AI What Context It Needs

If you’re not sure what context to provide for a new task or prompt, you can actually ask AI directly. Try something like:

“Based on my goal, what supporting information do you need to generate the best output?”

Let the AI give you a list, then provide the relevant details in your next message. You’ll get better, faster results—every time.

Try It Yourself

We’ve created an entire library of AI prompts specifically for event planners. These prompts can help you with everything from marketing plans to sponsorship outreach, budgeting, content generation, and more.

Conclusion

AI won’t take over your job as an event planner, but it will absolutely change how you work. When used right—with the proper context and goal in mind—it becomes a powerful assistant that helps you plan smarter, not harder. From evaluating venues to crafting event content, the right prompts can save hours of effort and boost the quality of your decisions.

Ready to dive deeper?

Explore the Full AI Prompt Library for Event Planners →

Get inspired by 50+ ready-to-use prompts, real examples, and tips to level up your event planning workflow.