It's a formal approach to teaching and encouraging businesses to improve their operational and marketing functions with the help of AI.
Avant Gard studio is leading the way through its second AI summit which took place today, with invited international guests who illustrated how they are using Ai in their fields.
Here's what Jomarie Lanza reported at the summit.
Their objective is to teach businesses and their employees how they can harness AI as a tool to improve business functions, moving away from the idea that AI is a threat or a hurdle to overcome. The 2nd edition AI summit for Belize had a high turnout today, and the managing director for the event says that it is a testament to the curiosity and interest that the industry has on wanting to learn the multifunctions of Ai
Maynor Larrieu, Managing Director, Avant Garde Digital Marketing & PR studio
"This year we are actually focused on scale efficiency, and the idea came about, because Ai is moving so rapidly you know I don't think there is any other Ai summit being held in Belize or in the region rom what some of the speakers mentioned to me so I think it is very forward thinking, and you know just looking at some of our clients we do a lot of digital marketing training and we saw the need and the interest and the curiosity from many of our clients that want to learn and get hands and tools so we organized it last year and it was a fantastic success, this year we are actually having a mini workshop in the afternoon we have a total of 12 different speakers all Ai experts from Europe, the US and we have a few Belizeans too who are also going to be presenting. For us it is very important that you know we can be more curious, we can think better with Ai we can be more efficient, we can lead better in different industries so the summit is generally for marketeers, we have a section for cyber security as well, we have a section for tourism and you know it is a very packed day but at the same time some of the tools that you can leverage and get your hands on will be very beneficial for you guys to go back. So one of our requests is not just to be inspired by the Ai and how you can use it and that is the focus of this year's Ai summit."
The use of Ai is highly beneficial to the tourism and MSME sector, which in turn can result in more productivity for both.
David Cabrera, Director of Regional Center for the Promotion of MSMEs of SICA
"We need and we want to move from the conversation of Ai to the action and the use of Ai for the businesses to make it more profitable and increase the productivity of MSME's particularly in the tourism sector it is a sector with high potential in use of Ai and improving the tourism in Belize with higher quality, and tourists will pay more for more quality. For example there are a lot of speakers from the private sector from the US and Europe that can teach us how we can use the Ai in that way."
Participants will master web development and service optimization under the guidance of experts who have perfected AI prompting to drive marketing growth.
Micky Bowen, Head of Creative, Ad Conversion
"And what I am going to be talking about about today is I'm going to be addressing a little bit more of the Belizean audience speaking in my expertise as a web designer and a developer I am also a web flow professional partner which means that I am skilled in building websites specifically with web flow but across other platforms as well, so what we are going to be talking about today in my presentation is how we can utilize Ai to build smarter websites, build them faster get them in front of people and improve visibility as well as use some of the latest technologies that are out there on the market."
The goal is not to get left behind as Ai continues to transform and enhance productivity in other sectors. Up to 100 participants attended today's summit.
Maynor Larrieu, Managing Director, Avant Garde Digital Marketing & PR studio
"We want Belize to be at a global stage and not be left behind so one of our speakers David Cabrera who is the executive director of Ai for Central America he is actually going to be talking about the state of the region, how countries are evolving and how fast or slow in terms of the adaptability and we do see that while Belize has a lot of interest we are not adapting it as quick we don't have Ai guidelines in university, same in your workplace, right like what can you or you can do, privacy policy so we are still very much behind and who should be here today or who should have attend is you know people who are curious, there are still people who are still very afraid of utilizing Ai some people embrace it but you know what it is here to stay we need to use it whether you like it or not in universities there is actually 2 segments on education you know how to reimagine Ai and also how to create critical thinking because now it is different how the professors or the lectures are going to be grading you with or without Ai the use of Ai so I think it is very across the board and even when we were putting this together I remember we had 2 calls at our office, one was from an accountant and one was an architect and their question was very focal they were like do you have a segment for accounting? Do you have a segment for architecture and unfortunately we don't it is just one day but what I did assure them is that some of the same Ai applications can be used in different industries so if you are in the room that is one step closer for you to get more acquainted, lose that fear of you will lose your job I think it is going to empower work places that embrace it, make them better leaders, better creatives and more efficient generally all around."
The event was split into both a conference and a workshop that took place later this afternoon.