At the start of the year, the concept of an AI agent sounded like something from a science fiction movie to me. That concept has moved from the big screen to the boardroom in just a few months. At Skift Meetings Forum, these autonomous beings dominated the conversation. Instead of the old-school chatbots that didn’t really manage to accomplish much, AI agents are already hard at work behind the scenes to scour through terabytes of data and deliver actionable insights for planners.
They’re getting so good, however, that senior-level meeting planners may need to prepare for a very different future where AI agents outnumber human employees. Peter Bordes, vice president of events and experiences at Circle, believes that version of the future is speeding toward us and will be here within the next three years. If/when it arrives, it will make securing sign-off to hire another person who will sit next to you in the office a lot more difficult. Head below to read more about what the next chapter of agentic-powered innovation looks like and more from our team this week. — David McMillin
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SKIFT PICK: TRANSLATING TRAVEL TRENDS FOR MEETINGS
Your Next Net-Zero Venue Might Be 50 Years Old
Radisson Hotel Group just added four Scandinavian properties to its Verified Net Zero Hotels program. One of the additions is the Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel in Stockholm, which includes the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. It holds up to 3,000 people and is the program’s first large event venue. Three of the new properties opened between 1973 and 1984, long before net-zero status was part of anyone’s vocabulary. Chief Sustainability and Security Officer Inge Huijbrechts told Skift the older hotels didn’t need any dedicated capital spending to get there. The owners had already paid for insulation, window sealing, smart room controls, LED lighting and renewable energy contracts over the past five to six years.
What does that mean for meetings? We can all stop assuming that the “green” option is the shiny new building opening next year. Instead, a property built before you were born with a patient owner may be able to compete with the glass tower rendering with seven different certifications listed in the marketing messaging.
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