From experience designer to experience curator in the age of AI
What is happening now
AI has radically expanded the playing field of events. Not by making us more creative, but by multiplying options.
What once required time, alignment and deliberate decision-making now flows effortlessly from systems:
- alternative programmes
- personalised routes
- content variations
- engagement scenarios
The result often looks impressive. And undeniably professional.
But this is precisely where a new tension emerges.
When everything is possible, choosing becomes the profession
In the events world, we are trained to design. We build formats. We fill programmes. We add layers.
More experience. More interaction. More stimulation.
AI amplifies this reflex. Not because it demands it, but because it enables it.
And that is the risk.
When everything is possible, doing everything becomes tempting. Events become fuller, but not richer. Impressive, but without direction.
A shift we are still underestimating
In a world where AI can generate options effortlessly, the core competence of the professional shifts.
Not from creativity to technology. But from production to selection.
The experience professional of tomorrow is less a maker and more a curator.
That means:
- Not everything that can be done should be done: AI creates abundance. Curation requires boundaries. Consciously leaving things out becomes more valuable than adding more.
- Taste matters more than tools: When everyone has access to the same technology, differentiation lies not in what you use, but in what you choose. And why.
- Context over optimisation: AI recognises patterns, but it does not understand meaning. It predicts what might work, but not when something feels right or when it starts to feel wrong.
- Ethics as a design principle: Those who select take responsibility. For levels of stimulation. For inclusion. For mental safety. For what is appropriate. And what is not.
The paradox of AI in MICE
This may well be the paradox of AI in the MICE sector:
The smarter our systems become, the more important human judgement becomes.
Not to create everything ourselves. But to decide what we do not do.
Because in a world where programmes, matchmaking, journeys and formats can be generated endlessly, the real question is no longer: what can we add to this event?
But: what do we consciously choose to leave out?
That is where it becomes uncomfortable. Because choosing also means disappointing. Setting boundaries. And sometimes designing against expectations.
And that is exactly what separates curation from production in MICE.
AI can keep generating. But meaning in live environments only emerges when someone says:
“this is enough. this is right for this group, at this moment. and this deserves attention”.
And that is where the profession shifts. Not quietly. But fundamentally.
From experience designer to experience curator.
I explore this shift from designing experiences to curating meaning more deeply in From Experience to Purpose, where I examine how experience, transformation and purpose require deliberate choices rather than endless possibilities.