From Archives: 3 ways to augment conference experience with mobile apps

An integrated mobile app can make all the difference between a good conference experience, and one that was spent walking around in circles

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Conferences can be massive events, taking up several halls, ticket prices are also fairly hefty. For example, the price of admission for a conference organised by TheNextWeb costs at least €900 (US$990).

With an entrance fee this high, conference organisers have an obligation to deliver an optimal experience to the attendees. So how can they help provide such hassle-free experience for the attendees?

Event mobile apps can do just that, and a whole lot more. Companies such as US-based DoubleDutch help to create customisable apps for conference organisers.

Here are three ways mobile apps can help augment the conference-goers as well as the organiser’s experience.

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Helping with the “who, what, when and where”

Each conference-goer has a different agenda when they enter the hall. Some go there to network while others might be there to catch up on current tech trends. Either way, it is critical that they are kept abreast of every pertinent information about the exhibits, speakers, workshops as well as presentation schedules.

In the case of e27‘s Echelon 2015 conference, which utilised a DoubleDutch event app, an attendee could view a detailed layout of the conference hall along with map legends at the side for easy reference.

However, a mere map doesn’t cut it as only major investors were listed on the map due to space constraints.

To overcome this, attendees could search for a particular startup in the app, which would display the startup booth’s location. It could even guide the attendee to the booth as long as his or her smartphone had its location-based services enabled.

Attendees could use the inbuilt calendar function to check out the list and descriptions of the sessions taking place throughout the day. They could also customise their schedule by following only the sessions they were interested in.

The app would also push notifications to the attendees when a session was about to begin or if the timing has been changed.

In an email interview with e27, Jennifer Harvey, International Marketing Manager of DoubleDutch said, “Conference organisers can use event apps as a vehicle (to) deliver event critical information to attendees, making adjustments on the fly should there be a last-minute schedule change. They can use it as a vehicle to continue communicating with attendees throughout the event.”

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Simplifying the networking process

Many startups attend conferences with a goal of pitching their ideas to investors in order to potentially secure funding in the future.

It would be impractical if startups had to line up to get a word with the investors. Arranging a meeting via phone text messages or calls might not be feasible as investors may not wish to divulge their personal information.

Within DoubleDutch’s app, startups are able to set up a meeting with the investors by sending a message. After that, the startups can choose to hold the meeting by booking a slot in designated meeting spots within the conference.

It also features an activity feed page which works similar to Facebook’s feed page, allowing attendees to post an announcement that is visible to all the other attendees.

Helping organisers with post-event evaluation

After the event has concluded, DoubleDutch helps organisers conduct a post-event evaluation by compiling a report providing a statistical breakdown of each segment of the conference.

This information is extracted from the attendees’ app usage habits. For example, it is able to tell which exhibitor was the most popular by calculating the number of views that its profile page received, or which of the sessions were more sought-after by aggregating the number of check-ins for that session.

These statistics are be invaluable in helping organisers tweak their future conferences; by allowing them to develop more workshops that the attendees were drawn to, for instance.

“Organisers can use engagement data to better understand their attendees interests based off poll and survey results as well as trending topics. They can identify the most influential people in the app and leverage them as brand advocates and they can discover the most popular speakers in the app to ensure they are invited back to speak again. Using event app data, organisers can demonstrate and measure event ROI in an unprecedented way,” said Harvey.

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Drawbacks

Event apps do have shortcomings, some of which are more difficult to circumvent as they are dependent on external factors, such as the internet connection.

For example if the conference’s WiFi fails, some of the app’s functions, other than the conference layout and directions, would be rendered moot as real-time updates would no longer be available to them. These functions include ones that would allow investors to easily arrange meet ups with startups through the app.

The other challenge would be the adoption – getting attendees to use the app.

“We have found that promoting the app prior to the event via email and social media can help with this, and posting signs at registration can be helpful as well. We also recommend that event organisers nominate an ‘app champion’ – someone that is able to promote the app and help less tech-savvy attendees download and use it,” Harvey said.

“One thing that has proven helpful in increasing adoption rates has been getting rid of paper guides entirely. This not only saves money on printing costs but also increases adoption rates because people have to download the app if they wish to access event-critical information,” she added.

Disclaimer: This article has been written in collaboration with DoubleDutch.

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