AI Scheduling at INBOUND: A Glimpse Into the Future of Events

A couple weeks ago, Julius Solaris shared a story in his newsletter that stuck with me. It was about an AI assistant at HubSpot’s INBOUND conference — and it might be one of the clearest signals yet about where event technology is heading.

Here’s what happened. Instead of scrolling through hundreds of sessions, Julius simply typed:
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“I am interested in sessions about event marketing.”

And instantly, the AI assistant built him a personalized agenda.

No friction. No endless clicking. Just relevant answers in seconds. It’s easy to see the magic here:

• Attendees skip the noise and get straight to what matters.
• Personalization stops being a buzzword and actually feels real.
  

But this is where things get tricky.

Why INBOUND’s Example Is Hard to Replicate

What INBOUND pulled off wasn’t just “drop content into an LLM and hope for the best.” They had advantages most events don’t:

• Clean, structured data.
• Full control over the content.
• One flagship event to optimize for.
  

Now, imagine trying to replicate that across dozens of events, with last-minute schedule changes, incomplete attendee profiles, messy content, and the need for analytics. That’s the real-world challenge.

What We’re Building at Highbar

For the past year, our team at Highbar.ai has been focused on exactly this problem: bringing the magic of AI-powered scheduling to any event, not just a flagship with perfect data.

That means:

• ⚡ Instant, personalized recommendations
• 📝 Built to handle real-world, imperfect data
• 💬 A natural conversation interface (not just filters)
• 📱 Integrated into a full event app, not bolted on as a separate tool
  

In other words: personalization that actually works — even when conditions aren’t perfect.

Why This Matters

Every event professional knows the frustration attendees feel when they’re overwhelmed by choice. AI can reduce that friction dramatically. But unless it’s designed for the messy, unpredictable reality of live events, the magic won’t last.

At Highbar, that’s the challenge we’ve taken on, and it’s what gets us excited about where event technology is headed.

👉 Here’s a 52-second demo of how it works.

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