2026 is not over, but at the moment it seems likely that it will go down in history as the year Artificial Intelligence (AI) went mainstream. AI is now widely available at little or no cost and the many ways it can be a part of our personal and professional lives are becoming more evident by the day.

The live events industry, as reliant on people power as it is, does not function apart from this. Rhino management personnel has had the Pro version of Google’s Gemini at its disposal for months and has been actively integrating it into their workflows. Our thinking and approach to this has been informed, in part, by Geoff Woods’ book The AI-Driven Leader. Copies of it have been circulating within our ranks and it has prompted, pun intended, heightened awareness and use of AI within the company.

To find out how AI adoption has been transpiring within our ranks, we put a series of questions about AI usage and Wood’s book to two of our early adopters, Floyd Dillman, Board of Directors Advisory Committee for Rhino’s parent company Program Productions, and Boone Jackson, Rhino Staging’s National Director of Safety.

Here is Part II of that interview where Floyd and Boone answer questions about The AI-Driven Leader. See page bottom for a link to Part I.

Q: In The AI Driven Leader, author Geoff Woods states that the AI revolution isn’t coming, it’s here. Is he right?

Floyd: You bet. It’s allowed me to be much more effective at my work for Rhino and PPI and to generate a lot more output – and faster.

Boone: It is definitely here.  Once considered abstract, AI is beginning to be used in multiple industries and those who do not recognize it are going to be taken by surprise.

Q: A fundamental takeaway of The Al Driven Leader is the idea that Al should to be used as a thought partner and that you, the human user, are the thought leader. Is this a concept that has hit home for you and that you have been able to master?

Floyd: Yes, and so far it’s working for me.

Boone: AI can definitely be a thought partner.  Many people still use it as a powerful search engine but that does not take advantage of its most insightful resources.  As a thought partner, AI asks questions that make me think about problems from angles I hadn’t considered.  As the thought leader, I choose which thought strings to pull on.

Q: The crafting of effective prompts for use during Al interactions is presented as crucial in The Al Driven Leader. How has your experience with crafting prompts been and do you often use the author’s prescribed CRIT (Context, Role, Interview, Task) framework in crafting yours?

Floyd: CRIT is my basic starting point. And now that I’ve had many conversations inside projects with the AI, I can also point it back to work it’s done in the past that for the basis of where we start today.

Boone: The CRIT framework is my go-to when I’m working on a problem.  This framework allows me to define the direction of the conversation while fine tuning the focus of the solutions I seek.

Q: People worry that AI will destroy many jobs that humans now occupy. In attempting to calm that fear, Woods points out that a large percentage of jobs today did not exist just a few decades ago, they were created by new technologies and, he implies, the new technology of AI can have the same job creating effect. Without asking you to predict the future, do you find that a credible position for him to have taken? Is the worry pointless?

Floyd: Well, I now have an assistant that is available 24/7/365 for $100 a month. And if I need a PowerPoint presentation I can create an outline, direct the AI on a style for the PPT and it will crank it out. And do changes in minutes that would have taken me hours. So yes, jobs will be lost. 

Boone: The human touch cannot be discounted.  In a time when customer service is uncommon people are beginning to grow more accustomed to many interactions being automated.  To compete, people need to be able to offer the thing that AI cannot, sincere thoughtful service.  AI can assist people with being more efficient with that service and those will be the ones who excel.  As with any advancement in technology, it will replace that from which it cannot be differentiated and is made more valuable with the new technology.

Read Part I of this interview at https://www.rhinostaging.com/ai-adoption-at-rhino-an-interview-part-i/.