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Best Practices When Planning for Your Mobile Event App

7/31/2015

By Jeannie Power, CMP

In today’s tech-dependent world, a mobile event app is crucial to the success of your event. When adding a mobile app to your event, there are some things that you need to consider in order to maximize the benefits that it can provide.

Plan

Don’t think of your mobile app as simply an add-on. To use the app to it’s fullest potential and provide maximum benefits, be sure to integrate it fully into your overall event marketing plan from the very beginning. Be sure to include ways to promote the app before, during, and after the event.

Use It To It’s Fullest

In order for the event app to be beneficial to attendees, it must be robust and full of content. Discuss the benefits that the app can provide with sponsors, exhibitors and speakers. Consider adding suggestions or requirements in your contracts that include completing their mobile app profiles. This could include logos, bios, contact information, handouts, slides, and links. To increase the value of the mobile event app, provide content that can not be found elsewhere.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Mobile event apps are an excellent way to provide new benefits for sponsors. Each mobile app company has different methods and options, so be sure to discuss what is available when selecting the best app for your needs. Be creative when offering packages to sponsors and exhibitors. The more beneficial it is to them, the more they will help promote the app and event!

Support It

While mobile event apps are becoming more user friendly, there are still critical situations to consider. To be successful, the app experience should be smooth, easy, and positive. Having someone onsite dedicated to mobile app support will ensure that the attendees have a smooth and positive mobile experience and increase usage.

In Conclusion

A positive and smooth digital experience is crucial for overall event success in today’s world. Be sure you have fully discussed the digital options so you can take advantage of everything that these new experiences will bring with them.

Jeannie Power, CMP is Co-Founder and Event Technologist at Power Event Group, an event company specializing in event technology integration. Jeannie enjoys the challenge of creating a customized and engaging attendee experience by thoughtfully integrating event technology. She is also a social media fangirl and is addicted to sharing information to improve the hospitality industry. Follow Jeannie via @evntgrrl.

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Independent Planning: What Do YOU Want to Know?

7/15/2015

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By Terry Matthews-Lombardo CMP

            I was asked to get the ‘blog ball’ rolling by posting the second one. So many topics; which one to choose? Easy. A subject matter we, meaning those of us who are already independent planners, get tons of questions about from those who dream about going out on their own. But becoming independent is not for the faint at heart, so I decided to approach this from a kind of ‘top ten’ point of view except for the sake of brevity I’m narrowing it down to three. Maybe you’d like to add more? (HINT-HINT)

So here, after 30 ‘la-la-la’ years of hanging out my own shingle in this industry are my top pieces of advice for ‘going rogue’:

1)    Don’t do it for the money. Yeah, you heard me. In this industry it’s rare to find an indy planner that is happy with their income; especially for those first few lean and mean years. Heck, most of us don’t even do it for the fame and glory (where is that, by the way?). You have to really, really want to be your own boss, and totally understand the highs and lows of every aspect of running your own empire of, um, one. Remember, until those big sales come in, it’s me/myself/and I.

2)    Speaking of which, managing your own business is not for the faint of heart! That planner’s skill set that got you through years of corporate meetings success may not mean squat when you work for yourself, unless you also learned how to: be an accountant, be your own IT tech, sell yourself like your business depends on it (because it most definitely does), organize your office and then religiously maintain that organization so you can function without being frazzled, create a good marketing campaign for ‘the business of you’, keep yourself motivated to work each and every day even though you really want to call in sick (mommy, please?), successfully network at every opportunity including and not limited to the grocery store and every elevator you step into, be your #1 fan, and well, I think you get the picture here. You are omnificent in that you’re doing everything. . . and then some.

3)    You must build a reliable infrastructure of consultant team members to cover things like contract liabilities, financial advice, insurance/bonding/licensing fees (each state/county is different in these requirements), printing, computer tech work, creative writing, advertising, and so much more. In the end, you’re never really working alone even though you actually work alone. Make sense?

Have I scared you off yet? Sorry because this wasn’t meant for that purpose! I just wanted to get the dialogue going and see what input you all have. We welcome your questions, comments, input and insight into this issue and any other topic you want to toss out here in the SPIN Blogsphere. Let’s get the dialogue going and see where the conversation leads!

Send your contributions to: [email protected]

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Best Practices When Planning for Your Mobile Event App

Independent Planning: What Do YOU Want to Know?

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