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We’re pleased to be in Exhibition News, talking about something we spend a lot of time thinking about at Eventflow: why are event operations still so often stuck in spreadsheets?
It is a slightly awkward question, because the events industry is not short of technology.
Over the past decade, we have seen huge investment in registration platforms, ticketing, event apps, lead capture, matchmaking, attendee engagement and data analytics. For visitors and delegates, the experience has become increasingly digital, personalised and connected.
But behind the scenes, the operational side of exhibitions has not always moved at the same pace.
For many organisers, exhibitor management is still held together by spreadsheets, shared drives, PDF manuals, email chains and a whole lot of chasing. Stand plans, risk assessments, insurance documents, directory listings, contractor forms, marketing assets, speaker bios, deadlines and approvals are often scattered across different places.
And somehow, the ops team is expected to keep it all moving.
The hidden workload behind every exhibition
Anyone who has worked in event operations knows that the job is not just about ticking boxes.
It is about coordination. Timing. Compliance. Communication. Problem-solving. Keeping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of exhibitors moving towards the same deadline while dealing with all the exceptions, questions and last-minute changes that inevitably appear along the way.
Can we build above four metres?
Where do we upload our insurance?
When is the deadline for the show guide?
Who approves our stand plan?
Can we bring our own contractor?
Where is the delivery label?
The answers usually exist somewhere. They might be in the exhibitor manual, a supplier PDF, a previous email, a spreadsheet, or in the head of someone on the operations team who has answered the same question 47 times already.
That is the problem.
The information exists, but it is not always easy to find, easy to manage or easy to act on.
Why spreadsheets have lasted so long
Spreadsheets are popular for a reason.
They are familiar, flexible and inexpensive. They can be set up quickly, adapted on the fly and shared with colleagues. For smaller events, they often feel like the simplest option.
The trouble is that they do not scale particularly well when the event grows, the number of exhibitors increases, or the process becomes more complex.
- Every missing document creates another follow-up
- Every missed deadline creates another reminder
- Every manual approval creates another email trail
- Every change to event information creates another risk that someone is working from an outdated version
Before long, the spreadsheet is not really a system. It is a holding pen for problems.
That does not mean operations teams are doing anything wrong. Quite the opposite. Most ops teams are incredibly good at making difficult processes work despite the tools they have been given.
But that is exactly the point. Too often, the system relies on the team being brilliant, patient and permanently on top of everything.
That is not a scalable operating model. It is a recipe for unnecessary pressure.
Operational friction affects exhibitors too
It is easy to think of operational systems as an internal issue. Something that matters to the team behind the event, but not necessarily to the exhibitors, sponsors or speakers taking part.
In reality, operational friction rarely stays behind the scenes.
- If information is hard to find, exhibitors ask more questions
- If forms are confusing, submissions are delayed or incomplete
- If deadlines are unclear, the organiser has to chase
- If approvals are slow, exhibitors become frustrated
- If data is scattered, mistakes are more likely
For exhibitors investing significant budgets into an event, the pre-event experience matters. It shapes their confidence in the organiser, their ability to prepare properly, and ultimately how they feel about the value of the event.
A smoother operational journey is not just nice to have. It is part of the exhibitor experience.
The AI opportunity in event operations
AI is now part of almost every event technology conversation, but much of the focus is still on attendee-facing use cases: matchmaking, personalised agendas, content recommendations, networking and registration journeys.
Those are all valuable areas. But one of the most practical opportunities for AI may be much less glamorous: reducing repetitive operational admin.
For example, an exhibitor might ask whether they can build above four metres. Instead of waiting for a member of the ops team to find and send the relevant section of the manual, an AI assistant could draw from the event’s own approved information and provide a clear answer.
If the question is straightforward, the exhibitor gets a faster response.
If the question needs human judgement, the system can escalate it to the team.
That kind of use case is not about replacing operations people. It is about removing the repetitive questions that stop them from focusing on the work that genuinely needs their expertise.
The quickest wins are often the simplest:
- Repeated exhibitor questions
- Deadline reminders
- Finding the right section of the manual
- Checking what information is still missing
- Highlighting bottlenecks before they become problems
- Helping exhibitors understand what they need to do next
None of this requires AI to be flashy. In fact, the best use of AI in event operations may be quietly practical.
AI only works if the information underneath is structured
There is an important caveat.
AI is only useful if it is working from accurate, structured and well-maintained information.
If an event’s key information is scattered across outdated PDFs, inboxes, spreadsheets and shared folders, AI will struggle to provide reliable answers. Worse, it could create confusion by surfacing the wrong information at the wrong time.
That is why the foundation matters.
Before organisers think about AI, they need to think about the structure of their operational information.
Where does the exhibitor manual live?
Who owns the content?
How are updates managed?
Are deadlines connected to tasks?
Can exhibitors see what they have completed and what is outstanding?
Can the ops team see progress clearly?
Can the system escalate exceptions?
Is there a single source of truth?
AI can be powerful, but it should sit on top of a well-organised operational system. It should not be used to paper over a messy process.
Better systems create better events
Operational technology has sometimes been seen as a back-office investment. Useful, but perhaps less exciting than tools that directly drive registrations, sponsorship or attendee engagement.
That view is starting to look outdated.
Better operational systems can reduce pressure on internal teams, improve exhibitor satisfaction, increase compliance, reduce missed deadlines and make the overall event feel more professional.
They also help organisers scale.
As events grow, lean teams cannot simply keep adding more spreadsheets, more inboxes and more manual chasing. At some point, the process needs to become more structured.
That does not mean losing flexibility. Good operational technology should support the way event teams actually work. It should make complex processes easier to manage, not force every organiser into a rigid template.
But it does mean moving away from scattered information and towards a clearer, more connected way of managing exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and suppliers.
The future of event ops is less manual
The next phase of event technology will not only be about what attendees see.
It will also be about the systems that power the event behind the scenes.
For exhibitions in particular, the opportunity is clear. Bring the manual online. Centralise exhibitor information. Make tasks and deadlines visible. Reduce repeated questions. Give ops teams better oversight. Use AI carefully, with the right guardrails, to help exhibitors get answers faster.
That is where the hidden tech gap starts to close.
Not with technology for the sake of technology, but with better systems that make life easier for the people delivering events and the exhibitors taking part in them.
At Eventflow, that is exactly what we are focused on: helping organisers move exhibitor management out of spreadsheets and into a more structured, intelligent and scalable way of working.
Because when the operations run more smoothly, everyone feels it.
You can read the original article here: https://exhibitionnews.uk/the-hidden-tech-gap-why-are-event-operations-still-stuck-in-spreadsheets/
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