Possession of modern technology and continuous improvement in this area for the event professional today — is, as they say, a must. Perhaps this is one of the two skills (the first is a foreign language), which is no longer a feature, an advantage, as we understood it before, or something exceptional. Knowledge of a foreign language and understanding of app development technologies in their various variants have become a kind of “natural advantage.” It seems to be still one of the benefits, but it is already a kind of expected element of the profile of a specialist.
For the event manager who thinks about efficiency and skill in his business, that is why you have to monitor the topic of technology in the event industry. Progress in this area is rapid, and every day there are excellent solutions designed to improve their work and the quality of the arrangement, whatever type they are. Thus boosting the event app development sphere is becoming more and more popular.
We wrote about some of the technological solutions in our reviews of the leading award called EventTechAwards. One of the fastest-growing categories is event app creation. This solution has enormous potential and is gaining popularity among the agencies, as it can solve critical tasks at once.
The Reasons You Need Apps in the Event Industry
To improve the quality of networking, event managers use the smartphones of participants of their events and encourage them to use devices for active networking. However, this is not the only use of smartphones for event managers: developers are creating industry-specific business solutions that optimize specific business processes, automate work, and generate more revenue.
Mobile solutions for event managers are quite an established market. However, at the same time, it is possible to distinguish its segments on the market.
- Apps-planners and checklists. Example: Eventum, MobilePlanner, DoubleDutch.
- Services aimed at finding participants. Example: Time pad.
- Chats of participants. Example: MeYou.
- Event guides for interaction between organizers, speakers, sponsors, and participants. Example: Eventlook, Omyconf.
App development allows you to organize and conduct all kinds of training (from language courses to yoga classes), activities of educational institutions (open house), public events (city days), corporate events, and team-building programs more effectively.
For example, among our clients, a large proportion is not organizers, but rather marketing and HR departments of corporations, whose responsibilities include organizing internal corporate events.
How can app development be helpful for an event organizer? Currently, applications can help event organizers inform the participants of the event conveniently and inexpensively.
A mobile app is a new alternative to printed booklets. They save money and time for sending and handing out materials (program, information about speakers and partners) and forget about significant problems.
Networking and Increasing Audience Engagement
Most mobile apps give organizers the ability to actively engage audiences through a variety of tools, such as:
- participant activity ratings;
- online surveys of the room;
- participant surveys;
- speaker and presentation ratings;
- questions from the audience.
In 99% of cases, new customers ask about these options. Such features allow you to significantly increase the audience’s attention to the event and its activity.
Most of the mobile app development for organizing events allows organizers to create a semblance of a temporary social network between event participants and allow participants to quickly “melt the ice” and get the right contacts.
The Application as a Sales Channel
The app development can become a full-fledged ticket sales channel: all the same digital marketing tools apply to the mobile internet and the “traditional” internet.
There are more exciting uses for the functions of the mobile app. For example, organizers resort to pushing messaging a day before an event to contact those who forgot about it or have not decided whether or not to go.
According to the event organizers who use our service, a Push notification usually sent on time adds 1,5-3% of participants.
Saving Time
The mobile app saves time at all stages of the event preparation. However, organizers, as always, are short of time.
- Instant informing of participants via Push-messages replaces mailing lists and phone calls. And these hours, if not days.
- Care from mailings and phone calls is critical when the program is constantly changing because of changes in plans of speakers, illnesses, etc. Mailing allows you to inform about changes in the program, schedule, time, and place of the activities in real-time.
- Mobile app development replaces handouts. There is no need to spend time preparing, printing, or delivering them. You can see all materials and comprehensive information in the mobile app.
Monetizing
One of the main focuses of developers is to help event organizers make more money. To do this, solution providers offer several options, of which the standard ones are:
- Push-message advertising.
- Information about sponsors in relevant sections of the app.
- The advertising message in surveys.
Tellingly, apps are entirely changing the way organizers and sponsors interact.
Scheduling Events
Those apps that position themselves as planners allow you to make checklists as part of the positioning and build their work at the stage of organizing the event much faster and more effectively. Thus, best practices from project management can be used as part of event preparation.
Mobile apps are and will continue to change the event industry in a big way as mobile technology evolves and penetrates.
They will change the interaction format between everyone involved — sponsors, organizers, and participants. At the same time, sponsors will expect more transparency from the organizers in terms of the marketing usefulness of event offers, and users will expect more interactivity during events.
There are also minuses and problems with using event app development. However, the two most challenging issues at the moment are:
- The app is expensive, and the better it is, the more expensive it tends to be. Not every agency will dare to spend its budget on it. However, we assume that this problem will gradually disappear with the development of this market, increasing offers, and understanding that it is a profitable investment that can seriously save time and finances. According to a recent survey of 2000 respondents, 53% of event managers are planning to use the app in their work.
- The application usability among participants. And this issue is complicated. Event organizers can buy a great app, but how do they convince attendees to download and use it? Most of the features are built on it, and this is the key to success. As a result, more satisfaction of participants from the event. This question is still open.
However, there is no doubt that event apps are the future of any event organizer and its participants. It is not least evidenced by the fact that there is already a certification program for event managers to work with event app development — so far, the only one of its kind.
