The event-specific app is methodically nudging the paper-filled binder into extinction, and providing planners with a tech tool that puts all the key details in one portable place.
Tech-savvy attendees in particular are also catching on to the attributes of apps acutely designed to enhance the meeting experience by providing pertinent information with a tap of an icon, plus more socialization and networking opportunities. And events are also benefiting from increased marketing, advertising and sponsorship possibilities.
“Event apps are now widely accepted as the norm, not the exception,” says Patrick Payne, CEO of Vancouver, British Columbia-based QuickMobile, which invented the mobile event app in 2008 and has built more apps than any other provider. “Planners want all their conference information and interactive functionality in one app for their specific event. Today’s attendees are much more comfortable using event apps than ever before.”
Groups using event apps can see ROI in sponsorship money and increased attendee involvement and excitement that helps build their brand in a mobile universe. Moreover, apps give attendees the ability to connect for more pre- and post-event engagement, which can enhance business opportunities and solidify relationships.
Adapting to Apps
Since 2012, LeAnne Nienhuis, the education and customer programs manager at the American Public Power Association (APPA) in Washington, D.C., has used nine apps for the organization’s meetings.
“We still have a paper program, but the adoption rate for apps among our attendees increases with every meeting,” Nienhuis says. “Once they realize how much easier it is to access information as opposed to leafing through pages, they’re hooked.”
Nienhuis says a member built her association’s first event-specific app for free and it was an immediate hit.
“After that, we wanted an experienced company to build a more complex app,” she says.
They selected CrowdCompass, a Cvent subsidiary with more than 2,000 event apps published, and a client list that includes Disney, Nike, Ford and General Electric, as well as Meetings Focus. CrowdCompass’ product menu features interactive, customized apps for conferences, meetings, tradeshows, conventions, corporate events and educational purposes.
According to Nienhuis, the adoption rate for apps at the organization’s smallest conference of 300 is two-thirds of attendees, while at the largest conference of 1,500, which tends to attract older members, it’s about one-third of attendees.
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Increasingly Interactive
Event apps have evolved from one-dimensional products that simply replaced the printed program guide to multifaceted communications technology encouraging interaction and collaboration—and providing important analytics.
“Attendees have increased interaction with event apps and a feeling of involvement, more networking possibilities and the ease of scheduling appointments with others at the meeting,” says Jordan Schwartz, CEO of Pathable, a Seattle-based company specializing in mobile event apps and Web tools for conferences.
For planners, the benefits are plentiful, too.
“By studying analytics provided by apps, you can determine how much engagement occurred between attendees and sponsors and what might encourage the attendees to return to the conference the following year,” says Lucian Beebe, vice president of product management for San Francisco-based DoubleDutch, whose data-driven event app features an interactive event activity feed, post-event analytics reporting, survey and ratings, and registration system integration.
QuickMobile’s Payne foresees next-generation apps focusing on developing a connected attendee community long after the meetings, presentations and speeches have concluded at the conference.
“The goal for the app will be to keep the attendees engaged with each other for 365 days a year, not just the four or five days of the meeting,” Payne says.
Recently, DoubleDutch introduced a new product to generate more conference engagement among all attendees, even those without an event app. Game Day by DoubleDutch is a large-screen activity visualizer display highlighting event content, upcoming sessions and buzzworthy events, that translates real-time mobile event app activity onto a communal screen.
“We’re continually brainstorming new ways to bridge the digital and real world at events, and Game Day is our newest entry into this arena,” says Lawrence Coburn, CEO and co-founder of DoubleDutch.
Not Just a Digital Guide
Apps are evolving to encourage more diverse and meaningful interaction among attendees.
“More people in the industry have stopped thinking about apps as a simple event-navigation tool, but rather as an extremely valuable way to engage people and improve their meeting,” says Eric Olson, CEO of Denver-based Zerista.
Zerista’s Meeting Hub app is designed to connect attendees, marketers and companies that are most valuable to each other. Among Meeting Hub’s popular new innovations are a configurable home screen that allows meeting organizers to create an information hub for an event with live updates, an event newsfeed, a social feed and a real-time gamification leaderboard.
“Our focus is to get the attendee involved before, during and after the event to enhance the impact of the meeting and make it easier for them to reach their goals,” Olson says.
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Meet New People
Have you ever walked into ballroom with a sea of people wearing nametags, with aspirations of discovering a new business friend or decision-maker?
David Aubespin and his New York City company, Topi, have an app that directly addresses this predicament.
“Meeting new people at a conference can be overwhelming and frustrating because you only have a limited time to make a connection,” says Aubespin, Topi’s CEO.
The Topi app allows attendees to connect with each other through engagement features such as a profiles search, interest groups listing, private chats, social network integration, LinkedIn feed and rich conversations that go beyond text, with shared images, sketches, maps and audio messages.
“Everything is public in the initial connection where people can eavesdrop, so to speak, then the participants can take the conversation private and one-on-one,” Aubespin says. “It can be customized for different groups and events and dramatically enhance communication between attendees.”
In addition to the networking and socialization application, the Topi app has basic features like searchable agendas, schedules, speaker information, event details, surveys and marketing and sponsorship opportunities.
Ultimate Sales Tool
Arguably, the most difficult attendees to connect with at a large corporate meeting or B2B event are potential customers who might be interested in your product or service.
BusyEvent, a St. Louis-based company, offers a mobile event platform specifically designed to help gather qualified sales leads at meetings and conferences.
“The two biggest challenges for sales professionals at meetings are how can they make the experience profitable and how to find those seriously interested in their product,” says Brian Slawin, BusyEvent’s co-founder.
DataKeys by BusyEvent is a lead-generation and scoring system that retrieves business intelligence by following a person’s digital trail at a meeting. It traces an attendee’s digital movement as they interact with the website, mobile app, sessions, speakers, booths and more.
“Once you learn what actions they’re taking and then analyze those actions you can better understand who might be interested in your product,” Slawin says.
The BusyEvent app for meetings encompasses a wide variety of components designed to enhance the meeting experience, such as multiple venue and show floor maps, a personalized agenda, session engagement reporting, attendee lists, speaker directory, activities, polls and social media integration.
Other robust event-specific apps worth consideration include EventPilot, Sherpa Solutions, Core-Apps and GenieConnect; and it’s a safe bet the playing field will only become more crowded in coming years.
Edward Schmidt Jr., an Orlando-based writer, loves apps and vows to never use a hard-copy program guide again.
