How many of you know the story of Ada Lovelace?
Ada Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron on the 10th of December 1815, was an English mathematician and writer. She is best known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the “Analytical Engine”. Lovelace recognised that the machine had applications beyond just calculation and is often considered the first computer programmer for her creation of an algorithm intended for the Analytical Engine.
Her visionary insights helped lay the groundwork for modern computing. Lovelace’s contributions were not fully recognised during her lifetime, but she is now celebrated as a pioneer in the field of computer science.
What her story means to VST
At VST Venues, we’re always looking for smarter ways to enhance our service, empower our team, and deliver outstanding campaign results for our clients. As part of that mission, we’ve launched something new, a virtual agent inspired by Ada, who’s already proving to be an unsung hero (just like Ada herself).
So, meet A.D.A.
An acronym for “Always Delivers Answers”, ever inspired by the pioneering computer scientist, A.D.A. is our in-house AI agent, built using Microsoft Copilot and trained with the knowledge our team, it is allowing our team to work smarter – not harder.
Why did we create an AI Agent?
Our callers work on behalf of multiple clients in a fast-paced, high-detail environment. Each campaign brings different needs, target demographics, fundraising approaches, and venue requirements. Keeping this volume of information accessible and up to date, especially with a hybrid, part-time team, was a growing challenge.
In the past, this meant huge folders and printed documents, updated manually and distributed slowly. Today, with A.D.A., all that knowledge is instantly available and at our callers’ fingertips.
A.D.A. helps our team:
- Get instant answers to campaign-related queries
- Check the latest client brief updates
- Prepare for calls more efficiently and overcome objections
- Stay motivated with reminders and support in what can be a tough role
- Access self-service refresher training quickly when switching campaigns
- Onboard new team members more effectively – no handover delays needed
Crucially, A.D.A. isn’t replacing our team, she’s enhancing what they can do. Our people remain at the heart of our service. A.D.A. helps them focus on what matters: having better conversations, booking better venues, and driving stronger results for our clients.
How A.D.A works:
A.D.A. is integrated into Microsoft Teams, where she pulls from:
- Categorised campaign documents
- A structured knowledge library
- All relevant internal training and operational updates
She’s trained to respond to example prompts, answer detailed campaign questions, and is updated in real time by our Operations and Client Services teams. And without these teams, A.D.A wouldn’t have the knowledge she needs to be able to answer the questions on our campaigns. So, a huge thank you goes out to the team that made this possible – and the team that are constantly feeding A.D.A more information so she can learn and improve.
Importantly, for our client’s peace of mind, this is a secure internal AI system. No data is shared externally, and all information remains hosted by VST. Copilot ensures GDPR compliance and peace of mind for both our clients and our team.
Why this matters for our clients, and our team
By using AI in a thoughtful, strategic way, we’re improving campaign accuracy, quality, and consistency. This isn’t just about saving time, it’s about delivering better outcomes for our clients through smarter working. That means:
- Better venue matches
- Higher donor conversion rates
- Stronger campaign ROI
- Greater team productivity and retention
As we continue developing A.D.A., we’re exploring future roles such as triaging client queries, supporting resource planning, and collecting venue feedback. The goal? Make information accessible the moment it’s needed, no delays, no confusion, just clarity.
AI’s role within Venue Booking
We believe this is a fantastic case study of how AI can support our team in a very fast moving and real time environment. Ade is also proving invaluable where our callers need to move campaigns quickly, so they need refresher training fast.
AI isn’t about people losing jobs, if anything we believe it can help people keep them by creating efficiencies and by making us more effective and accurate in what we do and therefore be better than our competitors. Hence, allowing us to deliver better, be more competitive and then be able to scale with confidence.
If you’re thinking of doing something similar with a virtual agent, please give us a shout as we’d be pleased to give you a few pointers. We’d also love to hear how you’re using AI in your business, how you are bringing it to life, did you need to? We’d love to hear about the expected and unexpected benefits you are receiving and of course any challenges you’re having to overcome too.
Finally, this was written without AI, like physical outbound calling and private site venue booking – some things are just best left to the humans.
