One Planner Uses AI to Save Time on Event Paperwork, the Other Uses It Sparingly: Two Independent Event Planners

A meeting or event looks effortless on the day because of the paperwork that came before it: rooming lists, registration data, food and beverage budgets, menus, contracts, and a run of show that tells every supplier where to be and when. For a planner working on their own, all of it lands on one desk.

Two independent event planners, interviewed for the May/June 2026 issue of The Meeting Professional, the magazine of the events association Meeting Professionals International (MPI), show two different answers to the question of how much of that work to hand to AI. One uses AI to save time on a range of planning documents. The other uses it sparingly and sets firm limits.

This article is for event planners, and for anyone in a service business that runs on detail and relationships. We look at what each of them hands to AI, and then, in a separate section, at what their experience still has to do.

Fiona Nieman: AI where it saves time

Fiona Nieman, CMP, HMCC, is the founder and principal planner of Indaba Events, based in Nashville, Tennessee, and a member of MPI's Tennessee chapter. Her company's website lists only her.

How she uses AI

According to the magazine, she says AI makes a real difference and saves a lot of time on certain tasks:

• Checking lists. Comparing rooming lists against registrations.
• Budgets and menus. Building food and beverage budgets and planning menus.
• Documents. Developing standard operating procedure manuals and event workbooks.
• Run of show. Creating a comprehensive run of show for the event.
• Inspiration. When she is tired, AI gives her ideas for curated, unusual experiences in any location.

Where she draws the line

She still relies mostly on her own experience and expertise. In her view, planners are human beings creating experiences for human beings, and no amount of AI can replace the personal touch.

Kristen Collins: AI used sparingly, with firm limits

Kristen Collins is the chief event officer of Typecast Meetings + Events, based near Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of MPI's New England chapter. Her company's website lists only her and says she partners with other industry professionals.

How she uses AI

According to the magazine, she uses AI sparingly, as a supplement:

• Finding hotels. She uses a dedicated hotel sourcing platform, and has used AI on top of it to find a few unusual properties and a new hotel she had not known about.
• Analysis and summaries. She has used it for quick brainstorming, for building a registration rate analysis and forecast tool, and for a polished summary of gift ideas she had sourced.
• Gut checks. She uses it to sense-check her thinking when negotiating a specific contract clause.
• On site. She once used it for turn-by-turn directions when she was lost looking for a function room in a huge Las Vegas hotel.

Where she draws the line

She never uploads a whole contract, attendees' registration details or other proprietary information. She also has deep concerns about AI's use of natural resources, and says part of her feels guilty when she uses it. If she could find a sustainable option, she would like AI to help her prepare data-backed event strategies, build automations in her business, and run a secure, closed assistant for a single event that holds all its specifications and lists to make on-site management smoother.

What experience gave them that AI could not

This section is our analysis, not a claim made by either planner.

• Knowing which documents follow a pattern. Rooming lists, budgets and schedules repeat from event to event. Experienced planners know which ones can be drafted by a machine and checked by a person.
• Knowing what must stay private. Collins's rule about contracts and attendee data reflects a professional's responsibility to clients and guests.
• Negotiating. AI can sense-check a clause, but the negotiation, and the relationship with the venue, belong to the planner.
• Creating the experience. Nieman says no amount of AI can replace the personal touch, and Collins wants AI only to make on-site management smoother. The human side of events stays with the planner.

The two approaches side by side:

	Fiona Nieman	Kristen Collins
Company	Indaba Events	Typecast Meetings + Events
Base	Nashville, Tennessee	Near Boston, Massachusetts
Approach to AI	Uses it on a range of planning documents	Uses it sparingly, as a supplement
What AI handles	Rooming list checks, budgets, menus, manuals, workbooks, run of show, ideas	Extra hotel research, brainstorming, rate analysis, gift summaries, contract gut checks
Firm limits	Personal touch stays human	No contracts, attendee data or proprietary information; concern about environmental cost

What you can copy

These are our suggestions, drawn from the two stories.

1. Start with documents that repeat. Run-of-show schedules, budgets and checklists are good first candidates.
2. Let AI check, not decide. Use it to compare lists or test your reasoning, and keep the final call.
3. Set data rules before you start. Decide what you will never paste into an AI tool, such as contracts and guest details.
4. Use specialist tools where they exist. A dedicated platform may do a job better, with AI as a supplement.
5. Be honest about the trade-offs. If AI's costs, including its environmental cost, matter to you, factor them into how much you use it.

Notes on the sources

The facts about how both planners use AI come from an article by Blair Potter in The Meeting Professional, MPI's magazine, published on June 1, 2026. Their companies, locations and the size of their businesses come from their own websites, which list only the founder; neither source states that they work entirely alone, and Collins's website says she partners with other professionals. Neither source gives revenue or event numbers.

Sources

• Event skills: Unlocked, Blair Potter, The Meeting Professional (MPI), June 1, 2026
• About, Indaba Events
• About, Typecast Meetings + Events