5 Smart Things to Consider When Choosing a Mobile Event App
We all want our virtual and live attendees to make an impactful presence when interacting in live events. Not only this, an event is indeed one of the benchmark propositions for the organisers to gain additional insights and valuable experiences. And with currently more than 63% of professionals using mobile event apps, a rate that is likely to go upto 85-100% soon, event-critical information calls for smart mobile apps. Apps have become the need-to-have tool in their networking arsenal. But before you shun this topic away thinking that you would want your audience to be all-present in the event and not on the event app, here are some critical elements an organiser should be aware of when dialing down on their event app.
1. Content updates and constant engagement– One of the pivotal touch points of interaction with your mobile event app will have to be the activity feed. This is the place where your attendees will generate rich, live and unique content. Go for an app that allows your attendees to be instantly updated about any change in schedule of events, speaker line up, et al. Also, take into consideration some aspects of gamification in the app. For instance, if you are looking to amplify some survey completion rates or perhaps you want to choose ‘the best real-time updated champion’, make certain that your app has the ability to incentivize attendees in the form of points or prices.
2. Streamlining event venue check-in– Hiring a mutually reachable and scenically located event venue hire that offers different sized function rooms and a wide selection of catering options to accommodate all needs, is not where all your event planning need ends. After hiring a venue, one needs to see if the mobile event app they are going for lets them streamline guest check-in. This will help you to get hold of complete guest list and will make it easy for you to know which all attendees are not present.
3. How well does your app work offline? We all also know how wi-fi services can be spotty at times, hence your event app should be able to work as effectively on an offline mode too. Connectivity is indeed one of the main differences between a native app and mobile web app. Go for the former as native apps will help you to create an offline database, based on as and when your app was last synced.
4. Access of social networking right well and within the app– While many mobile event apps often give the basic functions of photo streams, meeting schedule, gamification strategies and private chat functions; one must also be able to their share their event’s content on social media platforms directly. Because well, for posting on LinkedIN or twitter, the user must not exit the app to put in their tweets of hashtag.
5. Your app should be able to include sponsor opportunities and should provide insightful analytics- Your app should be able to help you by giving the right amount of exposure to your sponsors — by including elements like videos, web urls, logo and brand information. It should help you to upload more than one event in a year, as this will allow the attendees to access all the events information in one app. Analytics wise, your app should be able to tell you how your guests used the app, what content they posted further on social networks and what sort of conversations they had with their co-attendees and vendors.
