Whether you’re planning a 10,000 attendee trade show or a 20 person corporate leadership conference, you’ve probably thought about how you could create an event app.
When should you make the leap? What should you expect to get from the investment? How do you create an event app?
We found a lot of event professionals were asking those questions, so DoubleDutch (the leading mobile event app provider) teamed up with Meeting Professionals International (MPI) to get some answers.
In September 2014, MPI conducted a survey to their event professionals to determine who uses mobile event apps and why. The data revealed that 63% of meeting planners are currently using mobile apps at events. Of those not currently using a mobile app, 60% expect to be in the next 1-2 years.
Are you currently using a mobile app at your events?
For Non-App Users: Do you plan to use a mobile app in the future?
Why does your event need an app?
Event success is largely determined by attendee satisfaction. Typically, this is done through post-event evaluation surveys, tracking early bird registrations, and other ad hoc data points.
Mobile event apps like the ones DoubleDutch provides can help significantly here. With a branded mobile app for their event, enable planners can improve the experience for attendees, solicit feedback seamlessly, and capture many never-before-seen data points that can help demonstrate success to leadership.
To summarize, mobile event applications help planners and organizers answer the age-old question: How was the event?
Here are a few reasons why planners are adopting mobile so avidly…
Which statement best describes your event app use?
Let us elaborate on some of these answers in more detail.
A Central Hub for Event Content & Information
Gone are the days of carrying around large printed guides from session to session. By giving attendees mobile access to the most up-to-date event details, applications create a convenient hub for all event-critical information.
Thanks to cloud configuration, planners have the ability to update content on the fly. If a session runs over time or a speaker’s flight has been delayed, organizers can notify attendees in the moment to avoid confusion and frustration. Because printed guides are often outdated the moment they return from the printer, these problems are more difficult to overcome without the help of a mobile application that is accessible for instant content updates.
Give your event participants access to important resources. Resources like presentation decks, PDFs, videos, and more) in the mobile application is really helpful. This affords planners an opportunity to create a central hub for all event content from beginning to end.
Replacing the printed guide with a mobile app gives incredible flexibility for content changes and can reduce printing costs significantly, making it a win-win for attendees and planners alike.
An Engaging Social Community
Many people attend events because of the networking opportunities available to them. An event application creates a community environment for attendees to engage with content and each other in meaningful ways. By giving conference attendees a platform to communicate with one another (and the organizers) through status updates and private messaging, planners are able to create a deeper bond between attendees and the event, ultimately leading to greater brand loyalty and attendee retention.
Event apps can be used to open up lines of communication between attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and planners. As each event stakeholder is given a voice in the app, the event becomes a more collaborative, participatory experience.
Generate Data to Fuel Your Business
The first question every planner is faced with upon returning to the office is, “how was the event?” An event application can help you answer this question with confidence.
From a high level, planners are looking at the number of app downloads, active users, and activities per user to determine the success (ROI) of the application. These numbers provide a basic understanding of the value of the mobile application, and can also give some strong signals around content performance.
Mobile applications with native, in-app polling and survey features give planners a second layer of data to better comprehend and react to event performance. Using contextual triggers, like time and location, mobile applications have the ability to prompt attendees to give honest feedback in the moment. This in comparison gathering data days or weeks after the event. Because of this, planners can increase response rates significantly and quickly, empowering them to make smart, data-driven decisions in the moment and for future events.
The Time for Mobile is Now
While these are just a handful of reasons why events need mobile applications, the possibilities are truly endless. From internal corporate meetings, like sales kick offs, to large user conferences, planners around the world are leveraging the power of mobile to create award-winning event experiences. Find out how you can create an event app for your events today.
Ready to create a mobile strategy for your next event?
This guest article was written by Justin Gonzalez of DoubleDutch.
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