If AI Can't Find Your Event, Does It Exist? ASP at SISO Leadership Conference 2026
In August I'll be in Seattle at the SISO Leadership Conference (18 - 20 August 2026) hosting a conversation with Shanna Allen of CloserStill Media. Here's why I think this is one of the most important commercial conversations the events industry needs to have right now.
The way audiences discover events has shifted. AI tools - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews - are now answering questions directly. Not sending people to websites to find the answer. And for event organisers, that changes everything.
The way audiences discover events has shifted. AI tools - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews - are now answering questions directly. Not sending people to websites to find the answer.
Someone searching for 'the best conference for sustainable packaging in 2026' or 'which trade shows should I exhibit at in the life sciences sector' is not looking for a specific event. They are looking for a recommendation. And the answer they get is shaped entirely by what AI can find, read and trust about the events in that space. If your event is not well represented, it doesn't appear in that answer. And the person searching never knows it exists.
If someone does search for your event by name, the same problem applies. The answer they get is not what your marketing says. It is what AI has pieced together from everything it has ever been able to find and read about you. For some events, that will be fine. For others, it will be thin, vague, or simply wrong.
That is the conversation I'm bringing to the SISO Leadership Conference 2026.
The sessionIf AI Can't Find Your Event, Does It Exist?
I'll be sitting down with Shanna Allen, Director of Marketing at CloserStill Media, for an honest discussion about what the AI visibility shift really means in practice.
It's not about technology trends. It's about revenue, registrations, exhibitor sales and sponsorship - and what happens to all of them when AI cannot find your event or cannot represent it accurately.
Who I'm speaking withShanna Allen, Director of Marketing, CloserStill Media
Shanna leads integrated marketing strategy for CloserStill Media's growing portfolio of B2B trade shows and conferences.
She has nearly two decades of experience in event and exhibition marketing, previously holding leadership roles at Emerald Expositions, Manfrotto Distribution, and The Vitamin Shoppe. She was named CloserStill Media's US Marketer of the Year in 2024 and serves on the Gleanin Customer Advisory Board.
Shanna is at SISO 2026 not as a theorist but as a practitioner. She started with the simplest possible test - she searched for one of her own events in ChatGPT to see what came back. What she found prompted a significant piece of work across the CloserStill US Vet Show portfolio.
She will share what that process involved, what it revealed, and what it means commercially for event organisations that have not yet looked at their own AI discoverability.
Why this matters now37% of consumers now start their searches with AI rather than Google and 93% of AI Mode search sessions end without a website visit at all. The AI answers the question. The search stops.
That means your event either exists in that answer or it does not exist in that interaction at all.
The good news - and this is important - is that websites are not dead. AI doesn't generate those answers from thin air. It reads websites. It looks at your speaker pages, your exhibitor listings, your FAQs and your session content. The website is still the source. It just needs to be structured in a way that AI can read, trust and choose to represent accurately.
This is a conversation for CEOs, Event Directors, Sales and Marketing Directors. Because the consequences of getting this wrong sit across the whole organisation, not just the marketing team.
Come and find us in Seattle
If you are attending SISO Leadership Forum in Seattle this is the session to be in.
And if you want to test your own AI visibility before you get there, open ChatGPT or Perplexity and search for your event. Ask who should attend, or whether it is worth going to. What comes back is your starting point.
We're looking forward to seeing you in Seattle!
Jon Benjamin is CEO of ASP, a specialist in event website performance trusted by over 100 organisations across the UK, US and Middle East.
ASP works with event organisations on website performance and AI visibility. Get in touch if you'd like more information on how we can help you.