Podcast Summary
Podcast: B2B Agility with Greg Kihlström™: MarTech, E-Commerce, & Customer Success
Episode: #61: How Agentic AI Can Transform B2B Event Marketing with Travis Cushing, CPO of RainFocus
Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Greg Kihlström
Guest: Travis Cushing
Episode Overview
This episode explores how agentic AI is revolutionizing B2B event marketing, moving beyond legacy personalization and support models to deliver intelligent, autonomous experiences for both attendees and organizations. Greg Kihlström and Travis Cushing, CPO at RainFocus, discuss what “agentic AI” really means, emerging applications in hybrid and in-person events, the pivotal role of data, and how marketers can adapt their strategies to unlock new value and stay agile.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Defining Agentic AI in Event Marketing
- Agentic AI vs. Other AI Types
- Agentic AI is “the next wave of AI,” focused on the ability to take direct actions rather than just generating output or analyzing data.
- Quote:
“At Rainfocus, we define agentic AI as this next wave of AI, but the ability to take action. …Agentic takes you to the next step where you actually can take action for you.”
— Travis Cushing, [02:55]
- Distinction from Generative/ Predictive AI
- Traditional AI recommends actions, but users must still manually intervene; agentic AI automates the follow-through.
2. Agentic AI in Practice: Attendee Experience
- Beyond Traditional Personalization
- Traditional recommendation engines only guide attendees; agentic AI “creates an entirely holistic experience” and iteratively personalizes as attendees interact.
- Quote:
“Agentic really takes you to this whole new world where you…create an entirely holistic experience for somebody that’s not only personal, but can become more personalized as they interact.”
— Travis Cushing, [04:13]
- Personal “Concierge” Model
- AI is likened to a concierge escorting attendees through an event, preemptively resolving support needs.
- Quote:
“Agentic AI is all about a concierge experience, you know, almost white glove at a personal level.”
— Travis Cushing, [05:12]
3. Organizational Impacts: Support, Data, and Admin Experience
- Reducing Support Burden
- Agentic AI can resolve problems before attendees face them, shrinking support workloads.
- Admin and Multi-Agent Use Cases
- Focus on enabling event organizers to design impactful experiences efficiently, even in complex scenarios.
- Data Silo Integration:
Multi-agent systems connect previously isolated platforms, “complet[ing] a picture that’s been near impossible to understand in the past.”
— [07:45]
4. Unlocking Event Data with Agentic AI
- Easier Insight Extraction
- Agentic AI tools allow marketers to process large amounts of event data, surface insights, and analyze attendee journeys across touchpoints.
- Advice:
Success starts with clearly articulating desired business outcomes; agentic AI accelerates getting to answers but doesn’t substitute for fundamentals. - Quote:
“Let’s start at the basic questions…of why things are happening. I don’t think that changes [with new tech].”
— Travis Cushing, [10:22]
- Addressing Marketer Frustration and Bias
- New technology should encourage marketers to focus on what’s truly important, instead of defaulting to whatever the dashboard shows.
5. Mindset Shifts and Adoption Challenges
- Letting Go of Old Solutions
- Real breakthroughs come when teams “let go of how [they’ve] thought about things in the past.”
- Quote:
“That’s probably the number one challenge I see out there: just rewiring a little bit to the possibilities.”
— Travis Cushing, [13:17]
- From Campaigns to Customer Journeys
- Historically hard to map journeys across systems; agentic AI’s interoperability makes holistic journeys actionable.
-
“You can see it start to come together…AI and agentic AI specifically is really going to unlock that capability.”
— [14:22]
6. Advice for Marketers: Principles Over Hype
- Don’t Over-rotate on Technology
- Solutions should be driven by customer outcomes, not novelty for novelty’s sake.
- Quote:
“It doesn’t have to be AI…Make sure you’re paying attention to possibilities. But…a solution that’s not necessarily AI driven could be the right thing for that customer.”
— Travis Cushing, [18:13]
7. Looking to the Future: Acceleration and Interoperability
- Accelerating Experiences & Value
- Agentic AI expedites attendee value, organizer effectiveness, and cross-system data flow.
- Interoperability and multi-agent collaboration will bridge internal silos and empower unified customer understanding.
- Quote:
“The thing that we see that really is different from the past is how we connect to other systems that are inside an organization. …Multi agent interoperability, I think that’s where things are going.”
— Travis Cushing, [20:15]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “Agentic AI is all about a concierge experience, you know, almost white glove at a personal level.”
— Travis Cushing, [05:12] - “Let’s solve the problem before it even becomes a problem.”
— Travis Cushing, [06:03] - “[Agentic AI] finally allows you to solve that problem in a holistic way to understand that customer fully.”
— Travis Cushing, [20:15] - “If you go through just again, some patterns that are tried and true…understand why you’re doing it, define that problem or outcome, and then line up the solution, you—the light bulb can really go on.”
— Travis Cushing, [17:06] - “It doesn’t have to be AI…Make sure you’re paying attention to possibilities. But…it’s totally possible that...the solution you already had in mind is right.”
— Travis Cushing, [18:13]
Important Timestamps
| Timestamp | Segment | Details | |----------------|--------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [02:40–03:18] | What is agentic AI? | Definition and how it differs from other forms of AI | | [04:13–04:46] | Personalization with agentic AI | Deepening attendee experiences beyond recommendations | | [05:06–06:09] | Agentic AI as support concierge | Preemptively resolving attendee issues | | [07:08–07:54] | Admin & data interoperability | Enabling organizers and connecting multi-agent systems | | [08:33–09:37] | Event data analysis | How agentic AI analyzes and surfaces actionable event insights | | [10:02–11:24] | Metrics and measurement principles | Why articulating business outcomes still matters | | [13:05–15:13] | Adoption challenges & mindset | Advice for marketers on letting go and embracing new mental models | | [16:26–17:25] | Product example & lesson | Rethinking attendee journeys without tech preconceptions | | [19:22–21:19] | The future of agentic AI in events | Vision for multi-agent interoperability and acceleration of value |
Final Takeaways
- Agentic AI is poised to transform B2B event marketing by acting, not just recommending, for both attendees and organizations.
- Deep personalization and proactive support eliminate friction and enable richer attendee experiences.
- The greatest value comes when agentic AI is used to solve meaningful problems, not when implemented merely for buzz.
- Marketers must embrace new mental models, rethink journey mapping, and, most importantly, stay focused on core outcomes.
- Collaboration between agents (multi-agent setups) across systems will unlock “the holy grail” of unified customer understanding in B2B marketing.
Staying Agile—Travis’ Approach
- Productive early mornings, dedicated thinking time, and habitual reflection keep Travis agile and open to new ideas.
“I like to have some thinking time. I like to get outdoors…listening, reading, and then thinking about those things that really help me stay agile.”
— Travis Cushing, [21:41]
Recommended Next Steps for Listeners:
- Reflect on your event strategies by revisiting your “why” before adopting new AI solutions.
- Begin experimenting with agentic AI for attendee engagement and data integration.
- Stay attuned to how interoperable AI agents can drive unified value across marketing, sales, and technology functions.