How Can Technology Help Build an Events Business? An Interview with Marco Giberti

The events industry is often associated with logistics, from venues and stages to registration systems and apps. But the most successful event founders recognise that an event alone isn’t enough, they must build a community around it. Technology can help with this when used appropriately. We discuss how with industry veteran Marco Giberti.

Marco has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of media, live events, and technology, and has seen first-hand how the industry evolves when founders capitalise on technology, without neglecting the warmth of the human touch. For this blog, we sit down with Marco to discuss how to build smarter events, how to know what should be automated and what shouldn’t, where founders commonly misstep, and so much more. 

Summarising the place for technology, Marco says, "Technology is not the strategy — it's the infrastructure that enables the strategy." 

How do I know where to invest in technology and automation? 

Before making any decisions regarding technology, Marco argues, founders should ask themselves: What is the customer value proposition? Events exist as a space for connection, knowledge transfer and commerce within a professional community. And technology should amplify those outcomes, making interactions more efficient, measurable, and scalable. 

The danger is in the reverse: adopting technology because it's trendy, not because it solves a real problem. Marco has watched this mistake time and time again. 

"If it doesn't move the needle on ROI, discovery, or community engagement, it's likely a distraction," says Marco. 

He adds a caution that many founders underestimate: technology doesn't just cost money, when applied at the wrong step it can eat up organisational attention. The discipline is to solve one meaningful problem well, before layering on additional tools. 

Where else do founders often go wrong?

Marco cautions founders to avoid adopting technology for fashion rather than function. This is in addition to disconnected tools accumulated without considering data integration or ownership. And - perhaps most damaging – expecting technology to transform outdated operating models. 

"Technology layered onto an outdated business model rarely delivers meaningful transformation," Giberti notes. The new generation of event founders, he believes, will need to think tech-first as not to add complexity, but to strip it away. 

This challenge is especially visible in how organisations approach hybrid events. 

Simply streaming the physical event to a remote audience isn't hybrid, it's broadcasting. And it serves neither audience well. True hybrid design, he argues, treats in-person and digital attendees as distinct user groups with different needs. The in-person experience should maximise networking density, serendipity, and immersion. The digital experience should prioritise content accessibility, curated connections, and ongoing engagement.  

The solution: "Think of the model as online → offline → online: digital engagement before the event, the physical gathering as the peak moment, and digital platforms sustaining the community afterward," - Marco Giberti. 

How can you know when to automate, and when to preserve the ‘human’ element of events?

On the question of what to automate, Giberti is decisive. High-volume operational processes such as registration, lead capture, scheduling and attendee segmentation are prime candidates for automation. These are repeatable, data-rich and unnecessarily time-consuming. 

But he argues that the most important elements of any event must remain human: community building, relationship development and content curation.  

The purpose of automation, in his framing, is to free teams from logistics so they can focus on the work that actually creates trust within a community. 

How does AI interplay with the future of the events industry?

On artificial intelligence, Giberti sees transformation happening in layers.  

The short-term opportunity is personalisation at scale. This looks like dynamically recommending meetings, sessions, and connections to each individual attendee.  

More sophisticated AI-powered matchmaking between buyers and sellers, in his view, will arrive within the next couple of years. 

Longer term, he sees AI turning events into continuous knowledge engines: capturing insights from sessions and distributing them through the community long after the doors close. The event itself becomes one signal inside a much larger, data-driven ecosystem. 

What is the key takeaway for founders?

All of it, for Giberti, points back to a single structural change in how founders must see themselves. 

Not as organisers of events, but as builders of community platforms for whom the event is the most powerful single moment within a year-round proposition. 

"Don't think of yourself as an event organiser. Think of yourself as a community platform builder. The event is simply the most powerful moment within that community — but the real opportunity is serving that market 365 days a year."

For founders in the events space, partners like Manta Media Capital provide capital and operational insight designed to support both growth and building long-term value. If you’re unsure when and where to invest in automation, you may benefit from our expert counsel and funding. Take two minutes to apply for funding with Manta Media Capital.