When the countdown clock hit zero and the opening stream went live, we all knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary event. This was the culmination of weeks of brainstorming, coding, debugging, producing, and—let’s be honest—improvising. It was AI Hackathon LIVE, and for ninety minutes we invited the world into our Virtual Creator Studio to see what happens when humans, machines, and a fearless production team throw themselves into the deep end of innovation.
As producer, I had a front-row seat and a headset full of chatter. I watched as ideas that looked brilliant on whiteboards met the reality of live code, live demos, and live audiences. My company, Tree-Fan Events Production, carried the responsibility of turning all of this into a seamless livestream. Every cue, every handoff, every glitch and recovery—it all came through our channel.
The beauty of this hackathon wasn’t just the bots or the tech. It was the people behind it, daring to build, break, and try again under the eyes of a live audience. It was messy, unpredictable, and exhilarating. And it was exactly the kind of story worth telling.
If you’re reading this and have no idea what the AI Slack-Bot Production Assistant — don’t worry, you’re in the right place. This was my project for the Club Ichi AI Hackathon, where teams were challenged to build something practical with AI. I decided to create an AI Production Assistant: a tool designed to help event producers manage tasks, timelines, and show details without drowning in spreadsheets. What follows is the full story of how it started as a wild idea, grew into 4,000+ lines of code and 57 deployments, and ended up saving our team time, stress, and manual effort.
The Build-Up: Behind the Curtain
The weeks before the event were a mix of excitement and meticulous prep. Club Ichi had conceptualized the hackathon and brought together an eclectic mix of teams. TK Events provided their Virtual Creator Studio, a platform designed to be simple and stable. My role was to push that simplicity to its limits—layering in AI, production tricks, and storytelling flourishes that could carry a global audience along for the ride.
Behind the curtain, we ran rehearsals that felt like both tech bootcamps and improv workshops. We tested StreamYard links, Zoom backchannels, slide sharing with sound, and fallback scenarios if (or when) a demo tanked. The production team had to think in two dimensions at once: how to make things run smoothly for attendees, and how to empower presenters to take risks without derailing the show.
It was a delicate balance. Too much structure, and we’d strangle the creativity of the teams. Too little, and we risked chaos on the live stage. We found our rhythm in that middle space, a constant dance between human instinct and machine assistance.
And yes, there were glitches. One team’s bot introduced itself by immediately crashing. Another demo started in the wrong window. At one point, our virtual host decided it needed a “hard drive nap.” For me, those weren’t failures—they were the essence of what we came to explore.
Meet the Teams: Brains + Code
Seven teams entered the hackathon, each armed with different concepts and ambitions. Some wanted to create AI co-pilots for event management. Others set out to build bots that could automate routine tasks or enhance attendee engagement. A few were bold enough to chase moonshot ideas that might not even be technically feasible within ninety minutes—but they tried anyway.
That’s the spirit of a hackathon. Start with a grand idea, wrestle it into a working demo, and discover what’s possible when the clock is ticking.
Our AI host, Ancient Glitch, narrated the experience with its own brand of algorithmic humor. Early in the event, it declared:
“When this event began, I was a young, sprightly bot full of corrupted code and caffeine. And now, after a million years of AI demos, workshop games, Q&A, and one actual fire, I am but a wrinkled algorithm.”
The line landed, because it captured the vibe perfectly. The teams weren’t just coding—they were surviving. They were pushing through the messy middle where concepts meet execution, and the audience was right there with them.
Some demos wowed us. A bot that scheduled tasks with uncanny accuracy. A workflow assistant that turned natural language into structured event plans. A registration page that could spin up in minutes. Other demos… well, let’s just say they were more “aspirational” than functional. But every single one revealed something valuable about where AI can help, and where it still falls short.
The Energy of Live
If you’ve ever been part of a live production, you know the unique electricity of it. Unlike a pre-recorded demo, there’s no safety net. If something breaks, you fix it on the fly—or you lean into it and make it part of the story.
Ancient Glitch became the throughline that kept the show moving even when the code didn’t cooperate. At one point, after a particularly clunky demo, it sighed:
“My hard drive creaks when I stand. But let me tell you, what a ride.”
The humor disarmed the tension and reminded everyone: this was supposed to be fun. Yes, we were experimenting with AI. Yes, we wanted practical takeaways. But at its heart, this was about exploration, not perfection.
And the audience was with us. They didn’t just watch passively. They poked at the bots, asked hard questions, and engaged in real time. When one feature failed spectacularly, the chat lit up with both sympathy and suggestions. That’s the kind of engagement you can’t script.
For me as producer, those moments were gold. They reminded me why live events still matter in an age of endless on-demand content. When you’re live, you’re vulnerable. And in that vulnerability, you create connection.
Gratitude and Recognition
No event of this scale happens without serious support. Sponsors kept the lights on and the Wi-Fi humming. Giv, Gotchafinder, TK Events, Snapsight, Nunify, and Nowadays all played a role in making sure we could push boundaries without worrying the stream would collapse under us.
Club Ichi, led by Liz Lathan, CMP, was the engine behind the idea. They dreamed this up, rallied the community, and as our host put it, “held the emergency brake.” Their vision was simple: create a space where event professionals could experiment with AI not in theory, but in practice.
From my vantage point in the production chair, I can tell you it worked. It worked because the brains behind the bots were human. People made the choices, steered the direction, and turned setbacks into teaching moments.
And my own team at Tree-Fan Events Production LLC? They were the glue. From switching live feeds to managing cues to troubleshooting on the fly, they made sure the stream stayed professional even when the content got unpredictable. Producing this hackathon was less about perfection and more about agility, and I couldn’t be prouder of how we delivered.
Lessons Learned: AI’s Hits and Misses
If you tuned in hoping for a flawless showcase of AI magic, you might have been surprised. Not everything worked. Some bots flopped. Some ideas looked better on slides than in execution. But that’s the point. This wasn’t a product launch—it was a lab.
Here’s what stood out:
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Where AI failed: Over-promising was the common trap. Natural language processing still struggled with nuance. Automations broke under unexpected inputs. Some demos highlighted how fragile “intelligent” systems still are when pushed outside their narrow comfort zones.
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Where AI shined: Speed and structure. Bots that handled repetitive tasks—scheduling, summarizing, formatting—performed reliably and impressed attendees. One build showed how quickly a functional registration site could spin up, saving hours of manual work. Another nailed the task of translating loose notes into a structured run of show.
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The meta-lesson: Execution always looks different than proof of concept. As I said to my team, “That’s not failure. That’s the process.” You learn more from what doesn’t work than from what does, and you adjust.
For event professionals, these lessons are gold. They remind us not to chase AI for the sake of buzz, but to integrate it thoughtfully where it actually makes a difference.
Closing Reflections: Beyond the Hackathon
Check out this article that goes into the nerdy numbers behind the build.As the event drew to a close, Ancient Glitch offered a final farewell:
“Now go forth, you glorious meat and machine beings. Use AI wisely—or recklessly. Either way, just don’t let it write your out-of-office emails. This is Ancient Glitch signing off. Good night, goodbye, and may your prompts always return something usable.”
The stream faded, but the energy carried on into the afterparty in Zoom. That’s when it hit me: what we built here wasn’t just a hackathon. It was a living experiment in how humans and machines can collaborate under pressure, in public, and still find joy in the process.
For me personally, producing AI Hackathon LIVE was a reminder of why I’m so committed to pushing the boundaries of event production. Technology changes fast. AI is rewriting the playbook in real time. But at the heart of it, events are still about people—connecting, learning, and daring to try something new together.
Tree-Fan Events Production is leaning into that future. Not by chasing every shiny tool, but by building systems, stories, and experiences where AI becomes a co-pilot, not the driver. This hackathon was proof: when you combine human creativity with machine assistance, you don’t just get working code. You get community, resilience, and the courage to experiment.
Call to Action
The AI Hackathon LIVE may be over, but the conversation is just beginning. If you’re an event professional curious about how AI can fit into your workflow, or if you want to explore what’s possible when production meets innovation, I’d love to continue the dialogue.
Book me to speak: ancaplatontrifan.me
Book me to produce your next event: treefanevents.com
Schedule a meet and greet.
Together, let’s keep experimenting—wisely or recklessly—and keep building the future of events where humans and AI thrive side by side.