The way people discover events has changed. Most event websites aren't built for it.

In a recent episode of The Event Tech Talks podcast, recorded live on the show floor at International Confex, Jon Benjamin - CEO of ASP - made an observation that should stop every event marketer in their tracks.

He suggested that any organiser who wants to understand how discoverable their event really is should try this: open ChatGPT, describe your ideal attendee profile in detail - their role, their industry, what they're trying to achieve - and ask which events they should attend this year.

For many of the shows Jon has tested this with, the result is, in his words, terrifying. Events with strong reputations, loyal audiences, and significant marketing budgets simply don't appear. Not because they're not good events. Because their content strategy hasn't been built with AI discovery in mind.

Jon's starting point - one he's been advocating for several years - is that the event website is the single most important digital asset an organiser has. Every campaign, every channel, every pound of marketing spend ultimately leads back to it. It's live 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, speaking to potential attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors even when the team is focused elsewhere.

And yet, for some organisers, it's treated as a background task rather than a strategic priority. The AI search shift, Jon argues, makes that approach increasingly costly.

How People Are Actually Searching for Events Now

The shift isn't subtle. Jon pointed to data suggesting hundreds of millions of searches are now happening every week on AI tools like ChatGPT alone, with Google showing AI-generated summaries on more than half of all searches.

But it's not just the volume - it's the nature of the search. People aren't typing five-word prompts anymore. They're describing their situation, their goals, the kind of companies they want to meet, and expecting a personalised recommendation in return.

Keyword density doesn't answer the question 'which event is right for someone like me?' Structured, rich, contextual content does - if it's there to be found.

Why Most Event Websites Aren't Visible to AI Search

The reasons come down to habits baked into the industry for years.

Content gets deleted between editions.

When a new show cycle begins, last year's speakers, sessions, and exhibitor listings often get cleared out. It feels like good housekeeping. It's actually damaging. Historical content is precisely what AI search uses to establish credibility - who has spoken at your event, which companies exhibit consistently, what topics your show owns. That accumulated record is how an AI tool decides whether your event is worth recommending.

The website is treated as a project, not a platform.

Jon has spent years pushing back against a familiar pattern: the website goes live, everyone moves on, and it only gets attention again a couple of months before the next show. AI search tools favour sources that are consistent, current, and authoritative. A website that's dormant for eight months of the year doesn't look like an authority on anything.

The technical structure isn't built for discovery.

The Source of Truth Problem

If your website isn't the clear, authoritative source of truth about your event, AI tools will fill the gap with whatever else they can find. That could be outdated information, competitor content, or a negative article you're not even monitoring.

When someone asks an AI tool about your event and your own website hasn't given it a compelling, comprehensive answer - you've lost control of the narrative.

The solution is straightforward in principle: make your event website so rich, so well-structured, and so consistently updated that there's no gap for anything else to fill.

This Is Where the Budget Problem Comes In

Jon described a pattern he sees regularly: organisers who cap website spend at a few thousand pounds while comfortably allocating six-figure sums to pay-per-click advertising. When registrations don't materialise, more budget gets added. Then another tranche. The paid traffic is arriving. It's just not converting.

The smarter model is to build organic discoverability first - so the audience arriving on your website already has context and intent. When PPC layers on top of that foundation, it works on a warmer audience and cost per acquisition falls. But that foundation only exists if your website is genuinely discoverable: by Google, by AI search, and by the conversational queries that are increasingly how people find events.

The Bottom Line

The events that show up in AI search conversations are the ones that have information on their websites that is capable of being found - with consistent content, solid technical foundations, and a year-round presence.

Before you add another pound to your ad budget, it's worth understanding whether the destination you're sending people to is actually doing its job.

This article draws on insights shared by Jon Benjamin, CEO of ASP, in a conversation recorded live at International Confex for The Event Tech Talk Show podcast, hosted by Event Tech Live. Watch the full episode below.