Columbus Running Company

Technology should amplify people, not replace them. This principle has shaped how I approach introducing AI and new technologies into event operations.

Columbus Running Company Event Management is a small division within a larger organization. We have three full-time employees and a part-time event staff of around a dozen people, so technology is not something we adopt simply because it is new or impressive. We introduce it when it helps a small team plan more effectively, communicate more clearly, or operate with greater awareness on event day.

Recently, this has included using AI to help codify recurring pre-event processes, organize institutional knowledge, refine communications, and transform ideas that may exist in one staff member’s head into useful materials the entire team can access. We have also developed operational tools that provide staff with a clearer, real-time view of an event.

Our basic test is simple: Does this help our people do what they already do well, even better? Technology should support judgment and experience, not attempt to replace them.

Keeping People at the Center of Technology Decisions

The human experience is central when evaluating whether a new technology is worth adopting. A tool can be technically impressive and still be the wrong solution for the people expected to use it.

We consider whether technology feels natural within existing workflows, whether it removes unnecessary friction, and whether it allows staff to spend more time on work that requires empathy, judgment, and personal interaction. Humans remain responsible for providing context, reviewing outputs, and making decisions. Technology may accelerate a routine process, but accountability remains with the people using it.

“AI and technology are not the event. They are force multipliers for the people who make the event possible.”

We are not interested in creating more work in the name of innovation. The goal is to make it easier for our team to create meaningful experiences for participants, volunteers, clients, and partners.

Turning Experience into Scalable Systems

One of the biggest challenges in event management is that the perfect plan often exists inside one person’s head or is spread across the knowledge of several people. That creates risk. Staff, volunteers, vendors, and partners may each understand their own responsibilities without seeing how those responsibilities connect to the larger event.

Some of our recent improvements have come from converting that knowledge into clear, usable systems. AI and operational technology have helped us develop stronger checklists, event scripts, communication plans, staffing tools, and shared planning documents.

These systems help ensure the right people receive the right information at the right time.

The result is not only improved efficiency. It is more confident volunteers, better-prepared staff, and a smoother experience for participants.

Building Trust While Embracing Automation

As organizations adopt more automation, leaders must remain clear about what technology is designed to support.

For us, safety comes first. Every participant, volunteer, vendor, and staff member should go home safely after the event. AI and event technology can help us move closer to that goal.

From there, we focus on the participant as the hero. Registration, pre-event communication, signage, staffing plans, and race-day scripts should make it easier for participants to understand what is happening and feel supported throughout their experience.

Trust is preserved when people understand why a technology is being introduced and how it will help them. It is also important to invite feedback from the people actually using the system.

Technology should never become the focus of the event. It should quietly help the people involved deliver the experience more effectively.

Creating Better Experiences Through Smarter Operations

Looking ahead, I believe AI and operational technology will increasingly handle routine, repeatable, and organizational tasks. This will allow event professionals to focus more attention on the elements that make an event special.

Every event is different, but the strongest events share something fundamental: without people, the event is nothing.

Participants have trained, sacrificed, and earned the opportunity to be celebrated. Informed volunteers are more confident and more likely to return. Staff members with a comprehensive, real-time view of operations are better equipped to solve problems and serve others.

AI and technology are not the event. They are force multipliers for the people who make the event possible.

The goal is not to spend race day staring at more screens. It is to build better systems so we can spend more time at the finish line, watching meaningful stories unfold.