Recently I sold some furniture through a well know boot sale app. The buyer turned up at my house, told me he had no cash and was it ok if he pinged me the money. This just confirmed my belief that even traditional methods such as handing over hard cash is becoming a thing of the past and that in the evolving world of events its no different and we have to move with the times.
I am sure you have attended an event recently where you have had your ticket on your mobile phone or you have lost your event guide and went online to see what the lineup was. Research shows that people check their smartphones on average 85 times per day. If your event attendees are continuously checking their smartphones then why not use the opportunity to direct their attention to your event’s content and help increase your event engagement levels.
The rate of mobile device adoption has escalated the use of apps and viewing content on the small screen. In 2015 mobile content overtook desktops as the most preferred content viewing platform. This has changed everything around content delivery and consumption and as event planners we need to move with this trend.
So no matter what size or type of event you are planning here are the top 5 reasons why you need to take it mobile!
# 1 All your event content resides in one place online
Your agenda, speaker profiles, presentations and other additional content, questionnaires and live polls are all accessible from one page. Delegates will be able to plan their time before they even walk through the door.
#2 Increased audience engagement and interaction
Through having access to the delegate list in advance, your attendees can see who is going prior to the event, begin conversations through social media or the app’s messaging and activity feed. This way they can get to know each other, interact and engage on a more informal basis prior to the event and then carry on the conversations in person. This can also help to reduce no show rates as delegates are already invested in the event before they arrive.
#3 Last minute changes
Any program changes can be done in real-time. The days of working to midnight to create packs last minute will be gone as they will be digitally provided. You will also save on printing costs which can help to justify the additional cost of having the lpapp.
#4 Delegate notifications
Once attendees adopt the app you can send real-time notifications and alerts that pop-up on their smartphones, such as reminders the morning of the event and questionnaires prior to the event. If it is a hospitality event we can message guests if the meeting point has changed due to bad weather or traffic disruptions etc.
#5 Get key success learnings from your event with an analytics dashboardÂ
Most apps give you an event dashboard where you have unlimited access to event information and attendee engagement rates for surveys and live polls plus many other activity reports.
Happy planning
