AUSTIN, TX - March 9, 2017 - South by Southwest® (SXSW®) and mobile event technology leader Eventbase have created “Abby” a purpose-built automated bot that will answer attendee questions with personalized recommendations and a little attitude.
Embedded within the official 2017 SXSW Go mobile app, the bot is designed to act as a personalized concierge to help attendees quickly find meaningful content at the massive conference and festivals taking place in Austin from March 10 to 19, 2017.
Abby can have conversations with human users via text and voice command. Abby replicates a concierge style experience through automated messages. Powered by AI, Abby can understand user preferences and context to better provide content, recommendations and information users seek.
Abby can answer a range of questions about any of the 6,000+ sessions taking place across 600+ venues, such as “When is Adam Grant speaking?” or “Where is Spoon playing?”
The SXSW team has also equipped Abby with answers to other common questions, like “Where can I find a taco?” Sending the taco emoji to the bot will also get a response.
“Using a bot is a completely new way to interface with the SXSW Go app,” said Scott Wilcox, Chief Innovation Officer. “Importantly, Abby will learn over time and we can refine its responses to better meet the needs of our community. We’re looking forward to seeing how our attendees interact with it and how Abby will evolve.”
Powered by Eventbase, the conversational interface of the bot was engineered to integrate seamlessly into its Enterprise Event App Platform and scale to serve the world’s most demanding events and brands.
Extending SXSW Recommends
Working with Eventbase, SXSW has also added an additional layer of intelligence to the app this year, extending its popular SXSW Recommends platform beyond sessions to include attendee networking recommendations. A sophisticated matching algorithm will help attendees find people they may want to meet based on a range of factors including their people in common, tags in common, events in common and more.
Eventbase CEO Jeff Sinclair says SXSW is always keen to showcase innovations that push the boundaries of what an event app can do.
“The mobile experience at SXSW offers a layer of intelligence never before seen at a large event,” Sinclair said. “This moves the event app far beyond being an interactive replacement for the printed guide, it is now an indispensable and intelligent personal concierge that elevates the attendee experience.”
About SXSW
SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. The event, an essential destination for global professionals, features sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2017 will take place March 10-19, 2017.
SXSW 2017 is sponsored by Esurance, Mazda, Monster Energy, Bud Light, Capital One, McDonald’s, The Austin Chronicle, Sonicbids and Pandora.
About Eventbase
Eventbase is the leading mobile technology platform for premium events. Trusted by global brands for their Tier 1 conferences, customers include IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, SAP, CES and SXSW. Eventbase also delivers apps for massive consumer events including three Olympic Games, Comic-Con International and Sundance Film Festival. Our platform propels events into the mobile age, personalizing the experience through apps that incorporate sophisticated design, industry-leading scalability, and ground-breaking innovations. Three time winner for "Best Event App" at the Event Technology Awards, Eventbase is based in Vancouver, Canada and has an office in London, UK. For more information, visit www.eventbase.com and follow @EventbaseTech.
