Meetings in your hand
Planning and connecting at your fingertips
Wi-Fi is an added value for your technologically advanced attendees, but even without it, meeting planners can take advantage of the tool that attendees have likely brought along to enhance their meeting experience — a smartphone with its own wireless network. Mobile applications, ranging from the passive Twitter hashtag for attendees already using the social network to a custom app for your event, are redefining events, attendee experience and the ongoing conversation.
Not everyone at your event has a smartphone, but connecting with those who do has become a must. The device can be used to implement audience response technology or other communication and engagement tools.
Custom applications have become an affordable option for conventions. You can have a custom app created by one of hundreds of mobile application developers, or have an application already created with meetings and trade shows in mind customized for your event. ChirpE by a2z, one such example, won a Trade Show Executive 2009 Innovation Award. The application has event maps, floor plans, program schedules and an exhibitor list, and integrates social media into one place. “Buzz” text messages can be sent through the app to alert attendees of schedule updates, promotions, or other important conference and event reminders.
FollowMe, created by Core-Apps, was used at the 2010 International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. It integrates with Twitter, sending notifications and alerts. It allows attendees to add sessions and events to a personal schedule, read speaker and exhibitor profiles, star who they want to see on the trade-show floor and download brochures from exhibitors. The GPS exhibit hall mapping tool allows exhibitors to offer promotions to attendees as they walk by.
VisionTree Conference is accessible through a personal mobile device or one provided by the developer. VisionTree has much of the same functionality as other apps — exhibitor listings, floor plans, messages and agendas — and adds mobile surveys, the ability to ask questions during a session and business card exchange.
MacroView Labs creates custom apps for hotels, airports, cities and attractions, including the new interactive apps for Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and New York-New York resorts in Las Vegas that allow guests to view video, GPS maps and indoor casino maps, and to order room service, preview event space and more. Meetings at the three properties can add passcode-protected content viewable only to attendees, including program schedules, photos and more. When creating other custom apps, MacroView Labs can also incorporate area and hotel information, as well as the custom content needed for the event, including GPS maps, ratings and reviews, meetings schedules, speaker information and PDF downloads.
“We host the content but give you access,” explains Keith Michel, co-founder and CTO. “It is a loose and dynamic app. It can be updated every hour to provide content specific to the event.”
Current mobile technology enhances the attendee experience a great deal. Programs, handouts and other paperwork have become almost unnecessary. The conversation surrounding the event can be ongoing — and this is just the beginning. With the introduction of the iPad, the opportunity for new meeting technology has grown exponentially.
— Jennifer Garrett
