Partnership will apply AI-powered behavioral analytics to understand how audiences interact with experiential environments.

SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / March 18, 2026 / Experiential marketing has long been defined by creativity, human interaction and highly customized brand activations. From immersive environments to one-of-a-kind live experiences, these programs are intentionally designed to be unique - making them historically difficult to measure with traditional marketing metrics.

As brands continue to invest heavily in experiential strategies, expectations for performance insight have grown.

Event Marketer is addressing that challenge by introducing behavioral analytics into its own environment. Organizers announced today that Experiential Marketing Summit (EMS) 2026 will partner with FastSensor, an AI-powered behavioral analytics platform to measure attendee engagement across the show floor.

The initiative will use unsupervised AI to analyze anonymized attendee movement patterns, dwell time and engagement across activations throughout the exhibit hall.

"Experiential marketing has always been about creating meaningful human connections, but as the channel matures, the industry also needs clearer ways to understand how those experiences perform," said Kerry Smith, Founder of Event Marketer and President of the Chief Marketer Network. "By measuring engagement within our own event environment, we're leading by example, harnessing artificial intelligence and contributing to a broader industry conversation about how experiential can be evaluated more thoughtfully."

Practicing What the Industry Preaches

For years, Experiential Marketing Summit has served as a forum where brands, agencies and event strategists discuss the evolving role of experiential marketing. By measuring engagement within the show itself, EMS is applying the same performance expectations increasingly placed on experiential programs.

"If we're encouraging the industry to think more critically about engagement and experiential ROI, it's important that we hold our own event to the same standard," said Kerry Smith. "This partnership allows us to learn from our environment and share those insights with the broader community."

Turning EMS into a A Living Case Study for Experiential Marketing

With interactive exhibits, brand activations, and networking environments throughout the show floor, EMS provides a natural setting to observe how audiences engage with experiential design.

Using AI-driven behavioral insights, the initiative will reveal how attendees move through the event, where engagement occurs and which experiences attract attention - effectively turning EMS into a live case study for the industry.

For exhibitors and sponsors participating in EMS, the initiative also reflects an effort to provide greater visibility into how attendees engage with the event environment.

"Exhibitors invest significant time and resources into their activations at EMS," Smith said. "Using AI to analyze engagement patterns helps provide deeper insight into how audiences interact with those experiences, giving brands and agencies a clearer understanding of what resonated with attendees."

Insights generated from the initiative will contribute to broader industry learning through post-event analysis exploring patterns in attendee movement, engagement duration, and activation-level interaction.

"Live experiences generate incredibly rich signals about how people engage with brands," said Daniel Bichara, CEO of FastSensor. "We're in a new era where technology can reveal the real behavioral dynamics inside activations. That insight can fundamentally improve how events are designed, how activations perform and how organizers and exhibitors create value."

As experiential marketing continues to grow as a strategic channel, AI-driven insights like these help shape how experiences are designed, evaluated and improved in the years ahead.

EMS 2026 Exhibitor Participation

Exhibitors interested in participating in measurement at Experiential Marketing Summit 2026 can learn more and sign up here.

Participating exhibitors will receive post-event engagement findings and insights designed to help better understand attendee behavior, activation performance and visitor interaction patterns across the exhibit hall.

About Event Marketer

Event Marketer was founded in 2002 to serve the information needs of strategic brand-side marketers across the spectrum of experiential marketing. Today it is the world's largest information resource on face-to-face marketing, serving an audience of more than 100,000 Fortune 1000 marketers. The EM portfolio spans its flagship magazine, exclusive corporate training practice, the annual Experiential Marketing Summit, the Ex Awards, the annual Agency Forum executive conference and more. Learn more at eventmarketer.com.

About FastSensor

FastSensor is an AI-powered spatial analytics platform that measures foot traffic and visitor engagement in exhibits and experiential environments. Using discreetly installed sensors, FastSensor captures anonymized behavioral data to reveal how audiences move through and interact with physical spaces.

Event organizers, venues, brands, and exhibitors use FastSensor insights to understand visitor flow, dwell time, and engagement patterns through tools such as heatmaps and connected journey analysis. These insights help organizations evaluate performance and optimize future experiences.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Diego, California, FastSensor provides objective measurement for live events, conferences, and trade shows. Learn more at fastsensor.com

Media Contact:
Kalon Welch
EVP, Business Development
FastSensor
kalonw@fastsensor.us

SOURCE: FastSensor