The 3 Minute AI Setup That Eliminates Event Planning Chaos

Summary

Podcast Summary:

Lead With AI – Episode: The 3 Minute AI Setup That Eliminates Event Planning Chaos
Host: Dr. Tamara Nall
Guest: Frances Quaquapone, Founder & CEO of Jam Jar
Date: September 30, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode of Lead With AI, Dr. Tamara Nall sits down with Frances Quaquapone to discuss Chaperone, an AI-powered event assistant created by Jam Jar. The conversation delves into how Chaperone is revolutionizing event planning by eliminating the common chaos and stress associated with guest management and information dissemination at large events. Frances shares her founder’s journey, the practical workings of Chaperone, its ethical design, and her vision for the future of AI in event management—offering practical insights and memorable anecdotes throughout.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Frances Quaquapone’s Journey and Motivation

• Frances’s Background:
  • Half Ghanaian, half English, she’s based in Ghana and has run an event agency across Africa for 12 years (02:39).
  • Motivated by changing perceptions about executing high-quality events in Africa and improving corporate engagement on the continent.
• Origin of Chaperone:
  • “What really drives me is doing anything we can…to kind of change that perception. And that's kind of where Chaperone came from.” (03:04)

2. What is Chaperone?

• Chaperone Defined:
  • An AI-powered event assistant tailored for guests and planners.
  • Automates real-time responses to common questions (“what time is this?”, “where do I need to be?”), removing the need for multiple human assistants (03:34).
• User Experience:
  • Attendees chat with Chaperone (often via WhatsApp-like interface) for instant, personalized event information (03:34, 04:16).
  • “Now you don't need to hire 20 or 30 chaperones. You can have your AI chaperone do it for you.” (04:16)

3. Pain Points Solved

• Stress Reduction for Event Planners:
  • Chaperone drastically reduces the flood of repetitive guest questions at help desks during large events (04:27).
  • “It's just that seamless. It just changes the way and the amount of time you need for onboarding people, briefing them.” (04:27)
• Guest Experience Upgraded:
  • Addresses the convenience gap—guests want quick, direct answers without searching PDFs or apps (05:11–05:42).

4. How Chaperone Works (Under the Hood)

• Setup Simplicity:
  • “You literally upload your documents and then into a dashboard and in minutes you essentially have an AI assistant…” (06:11)
  • No coding or technical setup required for event organizers.
• AI Technology:
  • Built on natural language AI, customizable to each event by uploading schedules, FAQs, and programs (06:11).

5. Real-World Impact and Highlights

• First Live Usage and Transformation:
  • Lowered help desk volume at a 100-person test conference; visible shift as guests preferred messaging with Chaperone (07:28).
  • “We could see people…messaging and asking. We could see them. We were watching and we thought, oh wow, we've really done something here…” (07:28)
• Human Touch Remains:
  • Support staff are still available for complex issues, but routine queries are automated.

6. Ethics and Data Privacy

• Privacy by Design:
  • Chaperone does not require guests to sign up, enter personal data, or download an app—uses a secure passphrase system (09:01).
  • “The guest interactions are strictly tied to the event and they don't need to download an app or even put in any of their sign in information… For us, the biggest ethical thing is accuracy and trust…” (09:01)

7. Access, Scale, and Vision

• Not App-Dependent:
  • Runs as a web app—you can save it as an icon but don’t download anything (10:03).
• Global Aspirations:
  • Designed for use worldwide, with a special emphasis on African events (11:20).
  • “We think every event could essentially have a chaperone. That's…how big. There's no reason why not.” (11:20)
• Open Beta and Pricing:
  • Currently in beta, accessible at ea.jamjargh.com. Pricing and commercial rollout in 2 months (12:22, 13:10).

8. Personal & Philosophical Insights

• Founder’s Personal “Goosebumps” Moment:
  • Watching live adoption and help desk usage drop during the first pilot (07:28).
• AI and Human Emotions (Listener Question):
  • Frances believes AI may simulate, but never fully understand, human experiences like joy or grief:
    • "A lot of the time we don't even understand them. So I think that AI is really going to be good at simulating and understanding all the context that maybe provides joy… but I don't know if it'll truly understand the dynamics behind it." (14:19)
• Branding Anecdote:
  • Jam Jar was chosen as a neutral, memorable household object (13:24).
• Background:
  • Not marketing, but politics, sociology, and globalization (13:44).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Automating Event Assistance:
  “You can just change all of that and focus on the creativity and the experience. Overall.” – Dr. Tamara Nall (04:27)

• On User Behavior:
  “Sometimes it's that scrolling that, like, people are like, there's too much other information. I just want that one specific thing that is relatable to me in this moment now.” – Frances Quaquapone (05:42)

• On Ethical AI in Events:
  “It's really just the event planners information in terms of login and access that we work with. But once they have developed the event assistant, it won't actually. The guests don't need to put in their information to sign up to it.” – Frances Quaquapone (09:01)

• On Impact:
  “Just watching people actually engage and interact meant like we've created something that people loved.” – Frances Quaquapone (07:28)

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Notable Timestamps

• [02:39] Frances introduces herself and ethos behind Jam Jar and Chaperone
• [03:34] What is Chaperone? Core features revealed
• [04:27] Practical benefit for planners: reduced stress, more creativity
• [06:11] Under the hood; Chaperone setup process explained
• [07:28] Frances’s proudest moment: observing transformation at live event
• [09:01] Approach to data privacy and ethical design
• [10:03] Clarification: Chaperone is a web app (not a download)
• [11:20] Vision for continent-wide and global adoption
• [12:22] Beta phase and upcoming pricing details
• [14:19] Listener question on AI understanding emotions
• [15:12] Rapid-fire: Overrated AI trend – virtual worlds
• [15:48] Rapid-fire: Underrated AI trend – conversational AI in creative industries
• [16:13] Book recommendation: The Death of Vivek Oji
• [16:58] Bold prediction: Every event will soon have a Chaperone-like AI assistant

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Guest and Product Contact Information

• Try Chaperone: ea.jamjargh.com (beta, web app)
• More on Jam Jar: jamjargh.com
• LinkedIn: Frances Quaquapone
• Instagram: @jamjargh

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Conclusion

Through an accessible and conversational style, Dr. Nall and Frances Quaquapone demonstrate how Chaperone is making a tangible difference for event planners and guests alike—reducing friction, respecting privacy, and focusing on real-world impact rather than hype. The hope is for a future where every event—large or small, local or global—features a customizable AI assistant, transforming the event experience for all.

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For more in-depth conversations exploring the disruptive, practical side of AI, subscribe to Lead With AI and follow Dr. Tamara Nall for the latest on technology making a real-world difference.

Transcript

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Imagine walking into an event where every guest has their own personal concierge ready to answer questions instantly about schedules, sessions, even directions. No lines, no stress, just seamless support. Powered by AI that's exactly what Frances Quaquapone, founder and CEO of Jam Jar, has built with Chaperone. On this episode of Lead with AI, we explore how she's transforming a event planning and guest experience from start to finish. Let's get into it.

Welcome to lead with AI. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall. In each episode, we will take you behind the scenes with visionary leaders shaping the future of AI across public and private sectors. Join us as we explore groundbreaking projects and innovations that are transforming industries and making a real impact on people's lives. Let's dive in.

So, hello, everyone. How are you? I'm excited to have Frances Kwakupom here, founder and CEO of Jam Jar. Frances, how are you?

[Frances Quaquapone]

I'm doing great, thank you. So great to be here.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Absolutely. And we are excited to have you here. And for everyone who is listening, you know who I am, if we have any new listeners, I am Dr. T, your host with lead with AI and we've been number one in tech on Apple podcast in June of this year for month and a half. So we're excited and it is because of fabulous guests like you, Francis. So thank you. Amazing.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Thank you. Congratulations.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yes. So I had to have you on this show because for those of you who don't know, she and I met in Ghana for a YPO event and she and her team organized everything from A to Z. It was flawless. No mistakes. I mean, it was perfect. And while we were talking, she was talking about, like, have developing this AI tool, Chaperone. And so I said, you know, Frances, you have to be on the show. So here she is, everyone I know.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Amazing.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

It's amazing. It's been a few months now, so I'm excited to have you there. But just so that people get to know you, tell us about who you are at your core. How did you come up with the idea for Chaperone? Because we feel that it starts with the founder and something there.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yes, absolutely. So I am based in Ghana, so I've been working on the continent. I'm half Ghanaian, half English. I grew up in Ghana and have just a love for everything I do being continent centered and Africa centered. And so I set up my agency 12 years ago and we've been running events across Africa and yeah, it's been an incredible journey. And so, you know, we at its core. And the reason I Set up the company was very much to change the way people engage with the continent, especially corporates and large multinationals. Just knowing that we can execute flawlessly on the continent and kind of change the stereotype. And so what really drives me is doing anything we can, as much as we can, to kind of change that perception. And that's kind of where Chaperone came from.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Awesome. Awesome. And so tell us a little bit about Chaperone. What is it?

[Frances Quaquapone]

So Chaperone is an event assistant, but for your guests. So it's supposed to help you as a planner. You know, people ask you a million questions, what time is this? When is this? Even though you've sent them a PDF, you have an event app, you know, like, you've given them all the information, but people will still ask you, when is this? Where do I need to be? And we decided that people will normally ask us the question via WhatsApp, via chat. So we figured, why not create a chat that other event planners can also use to essentially create their own event assistant and make it easier for them to answer the questions. So now you don't need to hire 20 or 30 chaperones. You can have your AI chaperone do it for you.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

That's amazing. And so tell us, describe that moment where your customer says, whoa, Chaperone changes this. It changes everything for me and how I run my business.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, when you're at an event, you've got 500 people, you've got a help desk, you've got all of those sort of moments. And you are just stressed because you want to respond to everyone. You want to give everyone that, like, perfect set of information. And so this really supports the event planner in that moment where it's like the most stressful moment. Someone says, when's dinner? Tonight? They've set up their event assistant by just uploading all their information. Guests can chat directly with it. And it's just that seamless. It just changes the way and the amount of time you need for onboarding people, briefing them. You can just change all of that and focus on the creativity and the experience. Overall.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Overall, yeah. And, you know, you're right. So when I go to conferences and I go to events, they do provide everything. They PDF. They have this app, you know, they have these communities. And I'm trying to think, I was like. But there's still something about asking someone. Maybe it's because it's laziness, Like, I don't want to scroll through it. So if I can just go in there and just ask my shop.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Exactly.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

And you know, like what's happening at 8:30? Even though it's like literally if I look over, it's right there. Yeah, yeah.

[Frances Quaquapone]

But sometimes it's that screw. It's that scrolling that like people are like, there's too much other information. I just want that one specific thing that is relatable to me in this moment now. And so that's really what we were like, no, hold on a minute. People are asking us all these questions. Someone else can do this.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Right? Exactly, exactly. So our listeners are very curious. So tell us, like we open up the hood and look at the brain of Chaperone. How does it work?

[Frances Quaquapone]

So really it is processing and ingesting all your documents. Right. So if you open it up and you upload your documents, your programs, your FAQs, it's really simple. We've just, it's for the, for the person that's using it. You don't have to code anything. You don't have to take it like develop anything yourself. You literally upload your documents and then into a dashboard and in minutes you essentially have an AI assistant because we've done that hard work on the back end. So it's based on a natural language AI and basically it's built from our experience.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Got it. So if I'm an event planner and I have all of this information, just upload it in the system and then it's going to. Chaperone is going to customize it just for that event.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Absolutely. Exactly. So it'll be detailed to you.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Right. I love that, I love that. Now talk to me. I mean, of course, as you were developing this, talk to me about where you saw the benefit of Chaperone, even in either in the development of it or the. Were you yourself as the owner, Francis got chills and goosebumps and was like, oh my gosh, I did this.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yeah, it was. We were doing a conference in the. Because it's still, you know, we've been rolling this out, we've been testing it and we tested it for 100 person conference recently and it was when our sort of questions, not that we don't love questions from guests, but when that volume had sort of significantly reduced. And so we had this help desk. We're waiting for people to show up, but we could see people like messaging and asking. We could see them. We were, we were watching and we thought, oh wow, we've really done something here that has changed the way the experience happens for guests because now they're getting Real time information. We're still there to support if there's, you know, information that they still need or explanation. But that really gave me chills because I was like, oh, wow. Just watching people actually engage and interact meant like we've created something that people loved.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh my goodness. That is amazing. Congratulations on that. That is absolutely wonderful. And you know, and it's all in the marketing too. Like you're there and the event planner. Sorry, are the. Yeah, the event planner can actually use it and look and say, and say this is your like personal concierge at this event. All your questions. You have an invisible person that's just walking with you, walking with you at the same time. I love that. I really, really do. Now talk about how you view ethics. You're obviously dealing with a lot of data. How do you think about these ethical crossroads and factor that?

[Frances Quaquapone]

So that's actually the great thing about what we've done, is that the guest interactions are strictly tied to the event and they don't need to download an app or even put in any of their sign in information. So we won't actually capture the guest information. It's a like a secure passphrase that they can use to download it. But there's no requirement for guests to actually put in their data. For us, the biggest ethical thing is accuracy and trust and making sure that people feel comfortable without feeling like they need to share all this information, especially in a time where people are really sensitive to that. So it's really just the event planners information in terms of login and access that we work with. But once they have developed the event assistant, it won't actually. The guests don't need to put in their information to sign up to it.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh, wow, that's amazing. So is it an app? So it's not an app you download on your phone?

[Frances Quaquapone]

It's not an app. It's like a web app. You can have it on your phone so it hosts as like a little icon and that you can chat to, but you don't need to download it as an app.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, got it, got it, got it. Okay, that makes sense. And where do you see the future of Chaperone? Like, big picture? I used to ask, oh, five years from now, three years from now, but sometimes it's like tomorrow.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

So what's the future for Chaperone?

[Frances Quaquapone]

For us, it's really to replace that, you know, PDF or small posters or looking for stuff that you have to train. It's really changing that whole game globally, but also just on the continent. You know, when. Whenever we're doing anything, we're thinking, how can this be easier for, you know, anyone who's trying to, either from a language perspective or from a context perspective, just give people better access to information, both the guests and the staff. And chaperone sort of changes that and helps to bridge all of those gaps in a way. So we, for us, that's a really big thing that we see on the continent, but for us, we think every event could essentially have a chaperone. That's. That's how big. There's no reason why not.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yeah, I love that. And my question for you is, do. Is this only for event planners on the continent, or can I be in the US Or Europe?

[Frances Quaquapone]

This. Anybody around the world can use this, but we always develop for how we can enhance our events that people are experiencing on the continent as well.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, got it. So if I'm here and I'm like, oh, I could use this, how do I find out about it? How do I get in contact with you? What are all the hash?

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yes. So you can just log in. You can just go to ea.jamjargh.com and that will literally, you'll be able to sign up. You can. We're in beta at the moment, so you can sign up to test it, sign up to try it out, and play around with it. Make as many event assistants as you want for different contexts. And that's our main landing page.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Got it. Now I got to ask this question because I have my business mind on. So we can try it out. We can do as many assistants as possible, but at what time does the revenue start coming in for you? Yes.

[Frances Quaquapone]

So we're hoping to roll out in the next, like, formalize it and have our pricing out in the next two months so that we can start generating revenue off it and have as many people sign up. So beta is obviously closed. Wait list. And then once we roll out, revenue starts coming in.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay. Because I heard. I was like, I can do infinite. Just download it now. So it sounds like everybody. You have like, two months, and then from there. So. And you kind of asked. My next question was. So repeat that. If I wanted to test it, try it out, get to know it, I should reach out again to ea.jamjar j-a.

[Frances Quaquapone]

M j-a r g h dot com.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, perfect.

[Frances Quaquapone]

So it's like EA stands for event assistant dot jamjargh dot com yeah. And then soon we will have our chaperone. AI.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, got it. By the way, this is totally, like, not playing but how did you come up with the name of Jam Jar? I love that.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Oh, that was. I wanted a household object that didn't mean much and then I could make something like people ask that question and then they would Google it and find out what it was.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh, very clever.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yes.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

You have a marketing background too? I.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Well, no, actually politics and sociology and globalization and development. Politics is. Was my back.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yeah, politics. That would get. That would get all the time. Messaging is important. So of course we always have a question from our previous guest. And Francis, your question is, do you think AI would ever be able to understand human experiences like joy, grief or love? Or do you think it will just always be able to only simulate it?

[Frances Quaquapone]

That's a great question. I am quite an emotional person. Just naturally, I'm not sure if AI is really going to be able to ever understand it. I think human emotions are deeply complex. A lot of the time we don't even understand them. So I think that AI is really going to be good at simulating and understanding all the context that maybe provides joy or what it thinks it provides, you know, anger or pain or whatever it is, but I don't know if it'll truly understand the dynamics behind it.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Got it. Understood, understood. Thank you for that. I was like, ooh, that was an interesting question.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yeah, it is a good question.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

All right, bonus rapid fire. I'm going to give you four questions. You give me the first response that comes to your mind. Yes. Number one, the most overrated AI trend.

[Frances Quaquapone]

People might not like me for this, but I think the idea of virtual worlds, so the alternative virtual worlds and how much we're going to be living in them, I feel like that was a lot of the hype.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

You know, you can only wear. Only wear the goggles for so long.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, got it. Yeah, I've, I've worn those too. And there is a time where I'm like, okay, time out, time out. Most underrated AI or tech trend.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Yeah, so I think conversational. I think, you know, in industries like events and creative industries, how AI supports not just from the creation of the items, but actually just in step by step processes and things like that. There is AI there, but I don't think it's looked into enough.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, all right, love that. What's a book we should all read and.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Oh, a book that we should all read. I am a big fan of African authors and so I think if you haven't read the Death of Vivek Oji, it's a great book. It's Very interesting. Talks about a lot of different dynamics when it comes to just the continent and different cultural and historical elements. But it's a great book. Yes.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, I gotta write that down. The Death.

[Frances Quaquapone]

The Death of Vivek B I V E K O G OG oji. It's a Nigerian Filipino writer. She's amazing.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh, okay. Amazing. And then give us your biggest, boldest prediction.

[Frances Quaquapone]

So I think that every live event, every event in the next sort of 50 years is going to have some sort of chaperone and hopefully it's chaperone AI that they're using. But Global Summit, that's what the thing is going to be.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Mm. Love it, love it, love it. Well, Francis, I've enjoyed this conversation and learning about. Well, I experienced Jam Jar for sure Chaperone. It's been amazing. Now, you told us how to try out Chaperone, but how do we get connected to you, to Jam Jar? What if we have planners out there that want to work with you?

[Frances Quaquapone]

Absolutely. So jamjargh.com is our. Is our website, but you can connect with me on LinkedIn. Francis Kwakpom on LinkedIn. Send me a message. Message. I'm very responsive on there and also on Instagram. It's the same Amjargh. And yeah, we, we work across the continent and help brands sort of do that. So in creative and. And tech savvy ways.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yes, everyone. She's amazing. Jam Jar is amazing. And in fact, so much so, I was planning for something somewhere else and I reached out to her and say, hey, I know you said confident.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Can you do this?

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

We can, we can.

[Frances Quaquapone]

We will go anywhere. To be fair, if someone's like, hey, can you come here? We will absolutely do it.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Frances, thank you so much for being a guest on Lee with AI. I'm sure that all the listeners enjoyed it and definitely can't wait to see Chaperone on the global event planning stage.

[Frances Quaquapone]

Amazing. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Absolutely. Until next time, everyone. Lead with AI.

Thanks for tuning in to Lead with AI. I'll see you next time as we continue exploring the cutting edge innovations shaping AI across the public and private sectors. Until then, keep leading with AI.