Event management is one of those sorts of business that seems to find it difficult to embrace technological development because so much is built on personal ties and relationships in this area.
However, this is not quite so because, as in any other area, the event industry consists of individual segments representing an already established market for event management application developers.
Event management apps can be used for many purposes: conferences, corporate training, leisure, music and film festivals, sports, and other events.
In this article, we will speculate on why you should think about creating such an app even if you have a website, and we will also list the main functions it should feature.
Easy and inexpensive way to deliver information. It is possible to add an unlimited amount of information to the app if you find it essential for the participants, as well as quickly change the information and make the changes available to everyone at once.
Involving the audience. The mobile application allows event managers to use such tools for involving the audience in participant questionnaires and surveys, speaker evaluation, rating reports, etc.
Enhanced networking capabilities. Networking is often the key motivation for conference participants to attend.
Additional sales channel. Digital marketing tools allow using the app as a fully fledged channel to sell tickets and distribute information about the event.
Planning efficiency. Planning apps allow using the best project management practices as part of the event preparation, making the processes as quick and efficient as possible at the initial stage.
As a result, it is possible to significantly save time for event managers, increase participants’ involvement, reveal the networking potential, and boost the return on the efforts made.
Too many features may overload the user interface and make working with the app complicated. If there are too few capabilities, that is bad as well. Therefore, it is important to find a balance. That is why it is necessary to approach the process of compiling a list of features seriously.
Here is the list of the most necessary features that, in our opinion, an even management mobile application should have.
This feature is especially useful if the event participants are from different cities. By showing the event location on the map, the app allows them to reach it the easiest way possible.
If we are talking about mega-cities, this feature will be also relevant even for local residents who will be able to make their way to the right place on foot. In addition, participants will be able to get notifications on their current location.
The event program is usually known in advance, and that allows displaying it in the calendar and adding it to the user’s schedule. This feature seems very simple, but it is extremely important for this type of application.
It is also possible to configure integration with the calendar in iOS/Android and third-party services – for example, Facebook and Google Calendar. Consequently, the necessary information will always be at hand for the user, and the customizable notification system (planner) will make sure that the user will not miss the event.
Data synchronization with the server allows informing the participants about changes in the event program, schedule, time, and location in real time. This sort of information requires prompt communications and always has to be relevant.
Push notifications are another useful feature available to the mobile application developers. For example, it is possible to send them the day before the event to additionally contact those who may have forgotten about the event or are still deciding whether to attend or not.
Such features are especially important for event apps, which are actually event aggregators – for example, aimed at the audience of a particular niche or city. This feature will increase user retention and involvement.
The guidelines function allows selecting an interesting event to attend based on the user’s previous activity or specific interests. A “Favorites” feature will allow adding interesting events to the user’s bookmarks so they do not to forget to attend them, or if the user has not yet arrived at their final decision as to whether to attend.
Communication opportunities and the possibility of active audience involvement in interaction with the event application are the key features necessary to attract new users and retain the existing ones. Think of the benefits of a feature allowing users to chat or even ask questions to speakers and experts without leaving the application.
If you intend to further develop the event management mobile app, it would be a good decision to provide its users with access to additional content. This great bonus will be a clear incentive for a user to install the software on their device.
This function may feature extended information about speakers or access to presentation files, audio and video recordings representing specific presentations and the conference in general.
And here is a lifehack for monetization: you can offer the option of getting paid access to the content archive to those people who, for some reason, could not attend the event but are very interested in the presentation subject.
No matter whether your application is dedicated to a specific event, held by your company, or is an aggregator, to make people start using it, you have to tell them about it.
inform people about the app in social networks.
Having taken the above steps, you can quickly create a loyal audience for the application.
As the mobile technologies develop and penetrate the event management industry, they greatly change the industry itself. They make the interaction between all process participants, like sponsors, managers and participants, much better.
In this article, we reviewed the main capabilities that a good event management mobile app should feature, and we hope that this information will help you develop it.
If you are currently searching for partners who could take on the implementation of the project’s technical aspects, the Lvivity team is always ready to assist you. Just contact us and we will help you make your objectives a reality.