AI & Innovation Stage Panel Discussion
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Let’s talk about the bit of event tech we don’t usually put in the case study. The tech fail. The integration that didn’t quite integrate. The 'brilliant' idea that made everything harder. The moment when human error met technology at exactly the wrong time.
In Event Tech Confessions, three people with very different perspectives on the events world come together for a refreshingly candid conversation: a marketing leader who spent 28 years a major media brand, a technologist with experience delivering large-scale experiential technology projects, and an event tech specialist with more than 20 years working across conferences and brand activations. Three viewpoints, plenty of experience... and, we suspect, a few good confessions.
Expect real Tech Fails, honest stories and practical lessons from people who have been there. Then it’s over to the audience for Tech Triage: bring us your event-tech challenge and our panel will diagnose it live. We’ll also put real-world scenarios to the room and ask you to decide what happens next.
From AI and integrations to over-engineering, user experience and good old-fashioned human error, this isn’t another panel predicting what event technology might look like in five years. It’s an interactive look at what we can learn from the reality of using it today, what went wrong, what we learned, and what we’d do differently next time.
No perfect case studies. No crystal balls. Just mistakes, fixes, audience participation and hopefully a few good stories along the way.
Speakers
Mark Sullivan is Growth & Partnerships Director at gther and an event industry commentator with a career spanning conferences, experiential events, brand activations and event technology. Having worked across both the creative and technology sides of the industry, Mark brings a practical perspective on how technology can enhance live experiences, and where it can sometimes get in the way.
His experience ranges from conferences and communities to major brand experiences, giving him an understanding of the different pressures facing organisers, agencies, brands and technology partners.
Today, Mark works closely with event professionals to explore how technology, data and emerging tools can solve real event challenges and create better connections between people. A regular attendee and commentator at industry events, he is particularly interested in the intersection between technology and human experience, and believes the best event tech should enable engagement rather than become the experience itself.
Sam Drew is a creative technologist and innovation consultant who has spent the last decade making things move, light up, react and, occasionally, make people scream (the good kind). Formerly Head of Creative Technology at 2Heads, which became Spiro after its acquisition, Sam now works independently, helping brands and agencies turn ambitious ideas into interactive experiences that really work.
His work has spanned rollercoasters, customer innovation centres and live events around the world, for global brands including LEGO, Belden, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Merlin, Bombardier, and SEGA. Several of these brands were responsible for a very happy childhood, so working with them has felt like coming full circle.
Where many technical leads are rooted in AV and production, Sam’s home turf is creative technology: building interactive experiences from the ground up, programming PLCs, hacking equipment together in ways it was never designed for, and constantly hunting down emerging tech that can be bent into something brilliant. The aim is always the same: to create world-class experiences that people remember and want to go back to.
Sam’s toughest critics are his children, who road-test every idea with brutal honesty and remain a constant source of inspiration. If it survives them, it’s ready for the public.
Sara Lilley is Strategy & Marketing Director at gther, an author and former agency leader with experience across experiential, events and brand communications.
Having spent much of her career agency-side, including leading global marketing at experiential agency 2Heads, Sara has worked with brands, event teams and technology partners across conferences, exhibitions and major international brand experiences. Today at gther, she brings that experience into the event technology space, helping shape how technology responds to the real needs of organisers, agencies and audiences. Alongside her industry career, Sara is an award-recognised fiction writer, giving her a particular interest in stories, what we learn from them, and how sharing the less-than-perfect ones can help us get better.
As moderator of Event Tech Confessions, Sara will encourage the panel to move beyond polished case studies and future-gazing to uncover the mistakes, lessons and real experiences behind better event technology, while inviting the audience to bring a few confessions of their own.
Sharon Williams is an entertainment marketing and events professional and founder of Surcal, a marketing consultancy. Events have been a thread throughout her career, spanning international industry showcases, brand partnerships, internal team building initiatives, series launches and thought-leadership gatherings, alongside more intimate client events.
During her 28-year career at Disney, Sharon’s events experience included MIPCOM and the London and LA Screenings, as well as having overall responsibility for trade events for The Walt Disney Company. Her work brought together content, storytelling and relationship-building, showcasing the company’s entertainment portfolio to broadcasters, digital platforms, industry and brand partners.
Her wider marketing career encompassed building B2B brands from Buena Vista International Television to Disney Media Distribution. She helped market landmark ABC series including Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, and showcased content from Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel and Disney Animation. Her remit also extended to marketing Disney+ Originals, including Rivals and Save our Squad with David Beckham, working with commissioners and producers.
Since leaving Disney, Sharon has established Surcal, drawing on her entertainment industry network to support clients with marketing and arrange smaller, relationship-focused events. She brings a commercially minded, creative approach, with an emphasis on compelling
storytelling, strong partnerships and bringing people together with purpose.