Using AI to Spark Meaningful Connections at Advisory Board Meetings

We had our college advisory boards coming to town. Each board represents its college, but what members love most is meeting each other. Especially folks from other boards. Those are the connections they don’t usually get, and more often than not, those connections turn into real professional opportunities. I’ve seen members go on to do business together because of relationships that started at these meetings.

So for this year’s luncheon, with close to 100 board members attending, we wanted to make sure they weren’t just sitting with the same people they already know. We wanted to seat them by industry so they could connect with peers in their own fields, but across colleges. Sounds simple, but with that many people, it’s not.

That’s where AI came in.

I dropped all the names and bios into an AI tool with this prompt:

Act as a seasoned fundraising professional and event strategist. I am hosting a luncheon for 80 members of all the college advisory boards, with each college represented. The purpose of this luncheon is to encourage cross-council connections by seating members with others who share similar professional industries and interests, while ensuring strong diversity of representation at each table. Attached is a spreadsheet with the attendees that has their name, their advisory board and biography for their background. Please: Create five table groupings with clear table names that reflect common industries or interest areas. Assign members to tables based on shared interests/industries, while intentionally mixing members from different boards (avoiding heavy concentration of any one board at a single table). Ensure that the table names feel engaging, relevant, and professional, so they naturally spark conversation among participants. The end goal is for every attendee to leave the luncheon with meaningful new connections across colleges, boards, and industries. Try to make the tables the same amount of people in size (within 4 people).

It’s worth noting: these bios are all public information, and the AI tool I used is secure and recommended by our university.

Within seconds, the tool came up with these grouping with assigned tables for each board member:

• Table 1 – Innovators & Entrepreneurs
• Table 2 – Healthcare, Human Impact & Education
• Table 3 – Media, Marketing & Storytelling
• Table 4 – Technology & Applied Engineering
• Table 5 – Builders & Problem-Solvers

What would have taken hours of manual work was done instantly. And the result? We’re walking into an event where every attendee has a meaningful chance to meet new people in their industry, leave with fresh connections, and feel like their time was well spent.