Editor's note: The AI landscape is changing more quickly than ever. The recommendations below reflect how today's leading AI models discover and recommend content. As those models evolve, we'll continue testing, learning, and updating this guidance.

If someone asked AI to recommend the best B2B conference in your industry today, would your event make the list?

The way people discover events is fundamentally changing. Instead of searching fragmented keywords like “biggest cybersecurity conference Vegas,” they’re asking AI bots more conversational and complete questions like:

• “What is the best event for networking with CIOs?”
• “Which marketing conference is worth attending this fall?”
• “Are there conferences for people in cloud software?”

Those answers aren’t driven by clever headlines or keywords (don’t get us wrong, those are still important). But anymore, they’re answered using the information AI can easily find, understand, and trust. 

As part of an initiative to improve Opus Agency’s own visibility across AI visibility, we recently partnered with Lucile Ripa, AI visibility expert and founder of FanePath AI, to audit how LLMs discover and recommend our agency brand. 

Naturally, the conversation expanded beyond our own website as we began to think about how this impacts events and which of these insights are most valuable to event leaders. 

“We're moving from a world where people searched for information to one where they ask for advice,” Lucile shares. “That's a completely different behavior. Instead of giving people ten links to compare, AI is making a recommendation on their behalf.”

AI is now firmly established as a decision-making tool for attendees, sponsors, speakers, and executives, helping them determine which events are worth their time. 

And that changes the marketing playbook. 

“SEO isn't going away. The difference is that ranking well doesn't automatically mean you'll be recommended by an AI model. AI has to understand what your event is, who it's for, and why someone should care. That's where GEO comes in.”

There are two frontiers of AI visibility: Organic (GEO) and Paid. Conquer both, and you’ve got yourself highly rated by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or wherever your audience is searching. 

Here are five tactics to get you started with both. 

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1. Build Content AI Can Understand

AI engines prioritize content that's structured, specific, and consistently updated. 

• ‍Keep your content fresh.
  AI notices and cites fresh information surprisingly quickly. Update your event landing pages continuously with speaker updates and evolving agendas. Even adding a clear publication date to the page is a quick win that makes a big difference and helps guide AI models towards the most up-to-date information.‍
• Answer attendee questions directly.
  Replace broad event topic pages with direct answers to individual attendee questions (e.g., "What will I learn about AI scalability at [Event Name]?"). Precise answers get cited by AI; general overviews get skipped.‍
• Structure matters, a lot.
  Well-organized content is more easily extracted by AI. Because formatting influences citation likelihood, all agendas, timelines, and details should follow clear hierarchies.‍
• Write for two audiences.
  Your event marketing assets should speak to two distinct audiences: the AI engine and the human attendee. 
  
  • To deliver on AI preferences, use exact, question-based headers followed by immediate, fluff-free factual answers. 
  • To tap into human emotion, keep the top of your landing page experiential and benefit-driven, emphasizing in-person value and using creative hooks that tap into human psychology. ‍
• Own your narrative.
  Getting your event into AI search results is important. Making sure AI tells the right story is even more important. Give models enough clear, consistent context to understand what makes your event unique. Otherwise, they may fill in the gaps with incomplete (or worse, incorrect) information drawn from elsewhere.

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2. Earn Trust Beyond Your Website

AI trusts independent voices and relies on clear commercial context when serving up recommendations. 

“One of the biggest mistakes I see is brands assuming their own website is enough,” Lucile adds. “AI is looking for corroboration. When it sees the same story reflected across media coverage, partner sites, speaker bios, and other trusted sources, it becomes much more confident in the recommendation it gives.”

• ‍Earn third-party credibility.
  LLMs weigh outside perspectives more heavily than internal marketing copy. Ensure your core event themes, distinctive proof points, and strategic value are highlighted in industry sources and trade blogs. ‍
• Get your speakers quoted externally.
  Being cited as an expert source in industry roundups or editorial pieces provides a stronger authority signal to AI than content published on your own brand channels.‍
• Publish original research and data.
  Post-event reports, attendee surveys, benchmark studies, and proprietary insights often become primary sources that AI references repeatedly. Every trade article referencing your data amplifies your event's authority with AI.‍
• Remember the organic-only AI platforms.
  Not every AI platform offers a pay-to-play route. Some, like Perplexity, have transitioned away from paid strategy to prioritize user trust. This means that earned content, PR, and thought leadership are essential to appearing on organic platforms.
  
  

3. Prepare for the Paid AI Frontier ‍

As platforms monetize, LLM advertising will become another channel in the event marketer's media mix. 

• ‍Target conversational prompts.
  Unlike traditional paid search, which is audience-specific and spent on keywords, OpenAI Ads are built around answers to deep, natural-language questions like "What are the best healthcare conferences this year?" or "Where should I network with manufacturing leaders?" Bid on conversational prompts like these within your sector to win. ‍
• Retarget with past attendee data.
  As AI platforms mature, your attendee database becomes a vital asset for tailored outreach. Leverage OpenAI’s audience tools to integrate prior registration data, then retarget past attendees with VIP offers or “welcome back” messaging while they’re using ChatGPT for daily tasks.‍
• Optimize landing pages for AI extraction.
  Even paid placements rely on well-structured content. Clear, factual landing pages help AI accurately understand and communicate your event's value.
  
  

4. Show Up Where AI Is Looking ‍

AI is leveraging specific, community-trusted digital networks to pull real-time insights, reviews, and content. 

• ‍Activate on LinkedIn.
  LinkedIn is one of the most cited sources across AI platforms. Consistent thought leadership (paid and organic) from both your brand and your executives/speakers helps establish authority more than follower size.‍
• Build on Reddit.
  Reddit heavily influences Google rankings, AI overviews, and LLM responses, making it one of the highest-leverage channels for visibility. Join industry conversations, make recommendations, and share firsthand experiences about your event to stay relevant. ‍
• Post on YouTube.
  While ChatGPT relies on it less, YouTube remains a primary visibility driver for Gemini. Calibrate your video strategy—from speaker interviews to event teasers—to align with the specific AI platforms your target attendees frequent.‍
• Appear on podcasts.
  Pitch event organizers and speakers to guest on top niche podcasts. The transcripts create rich, long-form content that AI can reference while also expanding your industry's perception of your expertise.‍
• Manage external reviews.
  Platforms like G2, Glassdoor, and Trustpilot, along with niche industry boards, serve as primary sources of evidence for AI during evaluative searches. When potential attendees ask, "Is the registration cost for [Event A] justifiable?" AI relies on these community-driven reviews to formulate its recommendations.‍
• Own your Wikipedia page.
  If your flagship event or company is notable enough to have a Wikipedia page, keep it accurate. Wikipedia remains one of the web's strongest sources of reference for AI.
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5. Measure Your Success‍

Tracking AI visibility is more complex than traditional metrics like click-through rates or even conversions. 

“Marketers naturally want to ask, 'How many clicks did AI send me?' But that's only part of the story,” Lucile says. “AI influences the decision before someone ever visits your site, so you have to start looking at other signals to see how AI is recommending your event.”

• ‍Monitor referral traffic.
  Watch your analytics for increases in direct traffic and referrals from AI domains, indicating that people discovered your event through conversational search.‍
• Track branded search lift.
  Many users ask AI for recommendations before searching for an event by name. Rising branded search volume can be a strong signal that AI visibility is working.‍
• Implement a HDYHAU.
  Update the “How did you hear about us?” options in your registration to include AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity to capture attribution data and get a clearer picture of AI's influence on attendance.

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Big Idea

It’s an exciting time to be an event marketer. 

We say that all the time, but truly, AI is fundamentally changing how people discover the events worth attending. 

That’s huge. 

Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT, “Knowing everything you know about me, what event, conference, or festival do you think I'd enjoy attending?”

Of the ten events it recommended, I’d only heard of four.  

The other six weren't recommended because they had the biggest budgets or the flashiest speaker lineups. They surfaced because AI understood what I value and found events that communicate their purpose with clarity.

The recommendations weren't generic, either:

• ‍“This is less about the lineup and more about the atmosphere. I think you'd appreciate how intentional the community feels and leave with a notebook full of ideas.”
• “Creative people geeking out over design, branding, motion, storytelling, typography, and craft. I think you'd absolutely thrive here.”
• “The talks feel like long-form conversations with people obsessed with making better creative work. That feels very aligned with the way you approach writing.”
• “This one has such an optimistic, curious energy. It's less about industry prestige and more about the joy of making things. I think you'd find your people there.”

Within minutes, I’d added several of these events to my own bucket list. Don't be surprised if a few even make our 2027 Events to Watch list.

That’s the opportunity that awaits us.

The organizations that create clear, credible, and useful content, both earned and paid, will have the best AI visibility. 

As more people ask AI which events deserve their time, make sure yours has every reason to be recommended. 

Ready to elevate your event marketing? Let’s talk.