Event apps provide the conference organizer with a wealth of information that can be used to improve both this year’s event and future ones as well. By harvesting your conference app data, you can prevent problems at your current event and plan effectively so that next year’s conference is even better and more engaging for attendees. Let’s look at a few ways to do this.
BEFORE THE EVENT: Look at who is using the event app before the conference and who is not. If your adoption rate is low, you may need to do some additional outreach, encouraging attendees to download the app and use its many helpful features. Most attendees only have to start using their conference app, and they find it so helpful, they never want to do without it again!
BEFORE THE EVENT: Once most of your attendees have created their personal agenda in the event app, you can check numbers for various sessions and panels. This is helpful to make sure you have assigned each session to the right room. If you need to move a particularly popular session, you can always send out an in-app email or even a last-minute push alert to let attendees know.
DURING THE EVENT: By observing which attendees interact most with the event app (for example, who’s winning the integrated games or posting the most marketing videos or social comments), you can identify highly engaged participants. These would be good people to contact for feedback on the conference or on the app itself. What do they like or dislike? What sessions or conference app features would they like to see next time? What type of technology are they using at the conference—iPhone, Android, tablet, laptop?
DURING/AFTER THE EVENT: Look at the feedback attendees provide on speakers, and how they respond to any in-app surveys or polling. Are a lot of attendees responding? If not, you may want to publicize this capability more and encourage participants to let you know their opinions. And their opinions can then help you decide which speakers and which type of speakers provide the most benefit to your audience, so you can plan for next year. Data on session attendance can also help you gauge which sessions which most popular with attendees.
AFTER THE EVENT: If networking is an important part of your event, check out the statistics on how many meetings your attendees arranged through the event app. If your event makes it easy for participants to connect to opportunity, showcase that fact in your marketing for next year’s conference! Your in-app social feed is also a great place to find enthusiastic attendees.