In the eternal quest to answer the question, “What’s new?” Cvent Connect brought an estimated 4,000 people to Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio for an unveiling of the latest technology, experiences and destination news. A big emphasis from stage was on new AI capabilities, the return of virtual (some 6,000 registered to participate virtually in Cvent Connect) and inspiration.
Cvent CEO Reggie Aggarwal called the gathering the Super Bowl of the events industry and focused on the reason for all the tech. “In a world where content is infinite, but meaning is scarce, events remain one of the few places where true trust is built, relationships are forged and brands come to life. That is why we are all here…to imagine what’s next.”
That visionary message was demonstrated by blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, who advocated for crushing limitations with a “no barriers mindset,” a powerful reminder that greatness comes from turning into the storm.
Actor James Van Der Beek brought the message home on the final day with a raw, real conversation about resilience, growth and finding your center in the chaos.
AI Advances
The big news this year was the announcement of CventIQ, which is billed as combining AI capabilities with deep industry expertise, proprietary insights and analytics, a smart platform and intelligent infrastructure. The goal is to help marketers, event planners and hospitality professionals move faster and smarter, collaborate better and deliver more engaging, high-return experiences.
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CventIQ is more of a feature integrated into existing tools than a stand-alone product. For instance, for those using the registration platform, it can create instant session insights from audience comments to understand sentiment and gain insight into speaker performance, session content engagement and session logistics. It can also automatically create content for emails, event pages and marketing. On the attendee side, it can suggest sessions to attend and people to meet.
Streamlined RFP forms could make sourcing faster for planners and suppliers. AI-generated event diagrams and virtual tours could eliminate some costly and time-consuming site inspection travel.
Event apps could easily incorporate personalized event dashboards with registration, agenda, contacts, CMP credits and on-demand content. Real-time AI transcripts and slide captures could empower attendees to save, revisit and share important session content with a tap.
In addition to the big reveals on-stage as part of the Event Marketing & Management Product Roadmap, being the scenes “tech tours” explained how the tools were used to set up Cvent Connect and offer insight into the event design and production strategies.
Simple Tools for Basic Meetings
For those lot looking for so many bells and buttons, Cvent Essentials has rolled out officially as the fast, scalable tool for non-event professionals looking to launch polished events easily using pre-approved templates that are on-brand and don’t require extensive oversight.
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Recent industry data from Cvent shows 58% of organizations plan to increase their volume of small, in-person events in 2025–2026. That either means more work for planners already managing large conferences or non-planners taking on some of the burden.
“Cvent Essentials was built for the often overlooked, but critically important, category of smaller events,” said McNeel Keenan, Cvent vice president of product management. “It helps teams say ‘yes’ to more event requests without sacrificing brand consistency or data visibility. For many organizations, that means freeing up valuable time and resources to focus on flagship experiences—like annual conferences or major customer events—while still maintaining control and capturing impact from the hundreds of smaller, high-frequency events that often fly under the radar.”
Field marketing teams, trainers and admins tasked with getting remote coworkers or executive teams together now have easy access to single-page online registration, along with walk-in registration and check-in via the Cvent OnArrival app to eliminate paper sign in sheets and provide valuable insights from reliable attendance data. Feature such as live polling, Q&A and post-event surveys are built in to help boost engagement and capture meaningful insights. Native integration with critical MarTech platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot ensures timely data capture and stronger event ROI tracking.
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Unlimited Essentials-only users enable teams across the business to self-manage events within the guardrails defined by admins. Admins maintain centralized governance of data collection, data privacy, security and event design.
Off Stage
The trade show floor was bustling with 200 destinations giving updates during scheduled appointments and kitten and baby goat activations. Upstairs, puppy yoga from Fit City Adventures and racing simulators from F1 Arcade.
At night, the crowd heated up with a Disco Rodeo at The Creamery and a fiesta finale at 1902 Nightclub.
In October, Cvent Connect goes to Europe at Intercontinental London—The 02. And next year, the North American event is at Nashville’s Music City Center.
Bigger, Bolder San Antonio
New Visit San Antonio, Texas President and CEO Mario Bass had exciting news for attendees. As part of a multi-entertainment and sports complex that the city of San Antonio is looking to add to the urban landscape, the city is proposing building a 200,000-square-foot contiguous exhibit hall expansion along with another ballroom and 19 meeting rooms that would allow the facility to operate as two separate convention centers under one roof with the Riverwalk as an endcap. The convention center was built in 1968 for the HemisFair World’s Fair, celebrating the city’s 250th birthday and last expanded in 2016.
San Antonio International Airport (SAT) is in the midst of a $2 billion update that could add nonstop and international flights.
Bass proudly reported that 17 new hotels have opened since 2021. “With the demand and excitement surrounding San Antonio, we’re looking forward to filling all of those and really getting back to ensuring heads in beds and focusing on our core strength,” he said.
