As an event organisers, you must have asked yourself number of times how to provide the best possible experience to your attendees, for the simple reason that if your attendees are satisfied they will both come back next year and spread the word about the event . This will ultimately increase your ROI.  

An event app is at the heart of creating fulfilling experience. Depending on the type of your event and target market the following 10 features are recommended to create the best event app.
 

1. Sharing facility - Enable the attendees to share information about the sessions, speakers and location via social media channels. This will help them to make real-time recommendations and ask questions about the event.

2. Floor plan and map – An interactive map helps the attendees to locate where they are and where to go next. Icons and popup windows can provide extra information to the users about amenities and sessions, for example running times or…

3. Up to date information about 

  • Speakers – A list of speakers with profiles that include their picture, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google plus links will help the attendees to choose the session that they want to attend and also connect with the experts. 
  • Exhibitors - Searchable exhibitor listings categorised by sector
  • Attendees - Attendee profiles to provide ability to connect via LinkedIn and follow on Twitter could provide great opportunities for making new connections This is better for smaller events because creating several thousand profiles could be time consuming for the organisers to administrate and searching through them could be a daunting task for even the most committed sales rep. 

4. Meeting set up – Networking with likeminded people is one of the main attractions for many event goers.  Therefore enable the users to book meetings with exhibitors, speakers and others attendees and check availability easily. The alert for an upcoming meeting could be integrated in the feature, making meeting with new people a lot more convenient for your visitors.  

5. Voting and rating – Creating more engagement by asking the attendees to rate sessions, finalists and exhibitors benefits the visitors by making them feel valued for being asked about their opinion of the programs Also, the result of the feedback is invaluable data for the organisers to improve the event in the future.   

6. News Stream –Event-related news from organisers and social media feed will help everyone involved in the event to stay updated. The news stream could be from social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or from the organiser’s news and blog.

7. Ability to work offline – From a usability point of view the app always needs to be fast to load. Butconference venues have a reputation for their hit and miss Wi-Fi coverage, so make sure your app can work offline. The solution is a native doesn’t need to connect to the internet every time it is started up. 

8. Local information – If your event has international attendees then basic local information such as an area map, travel, and local merchants will help them to enjoy their stay around the area and the event overall.  

9. Personalisation - It is the magic word for today’s consumers as we are moving away from mass marketing to tailored experiences. Giving attendees the ability to create a personalised schedule that includes meetings and seminar sessions will assist them in making the most of your event. 

10. Compliant on different operating systems and devices - According to an October 2013 report by Kantar World Panel, 62.7% of the UK users have Android phones and iPhones users make up 21.5% of the market share.  Therefore ensure your event app works on iPad, iPhone and Android devices smoothly. 

Check out event app that we have created for Saïd Business School at: 

For iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/svco/id717209899?mt=8

For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Obergine.Said&hl=en_GB