From Vision to Reality: A conversation with Swapcard's Co-Founder on the future of event intelligence

What does it take to transform an entire industry? In this candid conversation, Swapcard co-founder Baptiste Boulard shares the vision behind building a unified event platform, why fragmented tech stacks are holding organizers back, and how AI is finally ready to unlock the true value of event data.

Why we built Swapcard

When we started Swapcard back in 2014, we had a simple but powerful observation: everything meaningful in life happens because of the people around you—your family, your partner, your friends, your colleagues. Whether you're building a company, launching a product, or growing your career, it all comes down to human connections.

And where do those connections happen? Yes, we meet people online, but the most impactful relationships are still formed in real life. Events are one of the biggest drivers of those connections—both in your professional and personal life.

But in 2014, there was a glaring gap: there was no real networking solution for events. This was the early days of mobile apps. Event registration existed, platforms like Eventbrite were around, but nothing was designed to help people truly connect during the event itself.

Connecting people where it matters most

We saw an opportunity. We believed the market needed a solution that would help attendees meet the right people, not just manage logistics. And that's what we've been doing for more than 10 years now: building technology that empowers meaningful connections at scale.

Our first client event in 2014 set the tone. Since then, we've powered over 15,000 events, facilitated 700,000 meetings, and generated 33 million leads. But at the core, it's still about the same thing: helping people find each other in a crowd of thousands.

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The frankenstein problem

One of the biggest challenges holding the events industry back today is complexity. Running a modern event requires working with so many different providers that it becomes a logistical nightmare.

Think about it: you have your registration platform. Then you need an exhibitor portal. Then you add an engagement or mobile app solution for your attendees. Maybe you're running a hosted buyer program for your top VIP buyers and sellers, which requires yet another tool. And if you're an association, you've got a membership database with an AMS, plus systems for managing calls for papers.

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Why event tech is still too fragmented

Your registration might integrate with your mobile app, or maybe it doesn't, and exhibitor lead capture or onsite service is provided by a separate vendor. At the end of the day, as an organizer, you're sitting on top of a Frankenstein-type solution: lots of platforms that aren't well integrated or connected to each other.

The consequences are serious. You create data silos. It becomes incredibly hard to deliver the best attendee and exhibitor experience because you don't have a unified view. And critically, it prevents you from building any kind of intelligent AI workflows or agents, because you don't own the full picture. The platforms just aren't connected well enough and can’t trigger actions across them.

That's exactly what we're trying to solve at Swapcard.

We've built seven modules that are fully integrated: from registration to exhibitor portal, engagement platform, lead capture, and more. Everything is designed to facilitate the attendee and exhibitor journeys.

We collect demographic data on attendees and exhibitors from registration, which feeds our networking solution and AI-powered suggestions inside our engagement platform. That generates behavioral data signals about who needs to meet with whom. This is the future: removing providers, consolidating tools into one intelligent, unified platform. And that's what we've been building.

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AI as an experience engine

At Swapcard, we've been building AI since 2018—long before it became an industry buzzword.

Our first major client event was massive: 60,000 people in Paris. Imagine attending an event with 60,000 attendees. How do you find the right people to meet? It could take you days to scroll through the attendee list, filter, and search manually.

From logistics to meaningful connections

So in 2019, we built our own AI solution to suggest the people you should meet. Today, that's evolved into something much more comprehensive: we suggest your entire event journey—who to meet, which exhibitors to visit, which sessions to attend, even which products you should explore.

But with the release of tools like ChatGPT, we're entering a new era. There are new possibilities for how AI can simplify event construction and logistics. That said, when I speak with event leaders—and I've been interviewing many over the last few weeks—their focus isn't just on simplifying operations. It's on delivering a much better experience at the show.

Here's why event experience matters

When more people are meeting and connecting during your show, the value of the show increases. That improves retention. It strengthens your brand. It makes your event more attractive to new audiences. And critically, it helps you acquire more exhibitors and more attendees.

I believe the true focus of the industry should be on providing the best attendee-to-exhibitor experience, powered by data. We're sitting on mountains of data. Now is the time to extract it, connect it, and focus on your end users—your attendees and exhibitors—because they are the ones driving the success of your show.

AI isn't just about automation. It's about understanding behavior, predicting needs, and creating personalized experiences at scale. That's what transforms an event from a crowded venue into a revenue-generating, relationship-building ecosystem.

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The industry is finally ready for AI

What excites me most right now is that this is the right time for the events industry to embrace AI.

Here's why: when I speak with industry leaders today, they're building data warehouse systems where all their data—from all their different systems—is fed into one centralized database. And that's the foundation you need for AI. You need structured, clean, well-segmented data.

The first step is getting it all into one platform

This is exactly why we're building a unified platform at Swapcard—so you don't have to rely on dozens of integrations and fragmented providers.

Once your data is centralized, the use cases become incredibly powerful. You can:

• Project future no-shows based on historical behavior
• Predict exhibitor churn before it happens
• Analyze sentiment across different attendee segments

As an event organizer, your ultimate goal is to provide the best attendee-to-exhibitor experience—because that builds your brand and makes your show more attractive year after year. To achieve that, you need to segment your audiences, understand their behaviors, and measure their sentiment.

Is a particular segment highly loyal? Are they detractors? Are they neutral? Once you know that, your sales and marketing actions can be much more targeted and effective.

More prospects and clients focus on data as a strategic asset

They understand that data is the key to boosting event outcomes. And the outcome is no longer just about the volume of attendees and exhibitors or the square meters sold. It's about what happens during the show. It's about facilitating value for your end users.

AI is the best tool we have to unlock that value. We're still in the early days, but the foundation is being laid. And the future? It's about focusing on the end user first—using AI to enhance the human experience, not replace it.

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Final Thoughts

The events industry is at an inflection point. For years, event technology was seen as a cost center—a necessary expense to keep operations running. But that's changing.

Today in the new world of AI, the smartest organizers are realizing that events can be stronger revenue engines, powered by unified platforms, intelligent data, and AI that works behind the scenes to create meaningful connections.

At Swapcard, we've been building toward this vision for over a decade. And we're just getting started.

Ready to see how a unified, AI-powered platform can transform your events? Let's talk.