What is the best conference mobile app?

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What is the Best Conference Mobile App Zwoor.com
After working with hundreds of event planners that used our
mobile app, here are our take-away of what makes a best
conference mobile app, what counts and what doesn’t, and
what to look for when shopping for a mobile app for your
event. Also provided is a checklist for selecting a Conference
Mobile app.
What is the Best Conference Mobile App?
A best conference mobile app starts with a user friendly, well designed mobile app, an easy
to use backend for the Event planning team, an experienced event app provider and,
importantly, clear pricing.
A lot of time is invested into selling Event planners on features that are often minor. At the
end of the day, you’ll want your event app company to be able to answer the following
questions to your satisfaction:
1. User friendly: Will attendees know how to use it to successfully navigate my
event?
2. Event Planner friendly: How easy is for my event team to create and change the
Event app content?
3. Vendor Experience and tenure: Is your vendor a new one, or has 3-5 years of
experience?
4. Clear Pricing: Is there a clear, published pricing, or am I embarking on an “add-on
surprise” pricing journey?
5. True mobile app or glorified web page: Will it work for my attendees both
online and offline?

The best conference mobile app is multi-channel, integrated across mobile
and PCs (iOS, Android, PCs, Macs)
Mobile apps have been the hot topic in the events industry. But, time after time, we see
that usage of mobile-only solutions lags behind solutions that provide an integrated
experience on any device, including the old fashion computer. And yes, the app needs
to work on an old Blackberry as well.
Key here is to look at the mobile app – is this a true mobile app, which takes advantage of
the mobile features, or a glorified web site that runs on the iPhone?
Some quick acid-test questions to ask: Does the app take advantage of the integration
with Google Maps for directions or Twitter for a quick post that integrates the event
hashtag? Does it work offline? Can you receive real-time alerts via your Phone messaging
system?
A good mobile app takes advantage of the device it runs on – the larger real estate of the
iPad, the capability of the browser on all devices, or the elegance of the iPhone smaller
screen.
The best conference mobile app is personal
The goal of an event app is to guide through the event, and make planning easy. It should
point people to the right connections, content and solutions. That’s the difference
between a traditional digital directory or program and a modern event app. So, it should

be no surprise then that the highest adoption and satisfaction come from apps that help
attendees find the right things—and build an app experience around those things.
Key things to look for: Can a user create a personal calendar and agenda to help them
navigate the event? Can the user tweet from the mobile app with a ready-made hashtag
for your event, without typing extra characters, or remembering what the event hashtag
is? Can the user easily ask questions on a Q&A session, or answer a survey for a session?
The best conference mobile app is integrating Surveys and
Questions and Answers (Q&A) features
The most successful event apps act as hub for everything your
attendees do at the event.
Whether they’re taking a session survey, participating in a poll or
reading the slides for a session, your event app should be their
platform for engagement. If there are other web sites, devices or
apps that your attendees need to use, you are hurting your adoption
rate—and diminishing your audience engagement. Of course, it’s
likely that your event app provider won’t have all that built in to their
solution. But, the best apps on the market will integrate with just
about any digital solution to provide a hub for everything people need to do at your event,
including social media channels.
The best conference mobile app is easy to use by the Event Planners and Content
Planners
The best conference mobile app needs to make the creation of content easy for your team.
Can you easily change the content – add speakers, add agenda topics, or anything needs
to be sent to a content team? Can you have multiple editors, or only one person on your
team can edit the content?
Is the content published instantly, or do you need approvals and workflow steps before the
change appears on your event attendee’s mobile devices and laptops?

We have found out that designing a mobile app involves a good understanding of how the
users look at the application during the event, but equally important how the event
planners plan.
Three examples on making it easy for the event planning team to
edit the content:
1. A speaker can present on multiple topics, and tracks. Our
Zwoor platform allows the event planner to re-use the
speaker profile already created, and simply add that
speaker profile to another topic, instead of retyping all the
info. Multiple speakers on a key topic? No problem, simply
add the speaker profile to that agenda item.
2. We can bulk-load an event from Excel. Most event planners
still operate in Excel, and it is only natural to offer a
template to load from there.
3. Creating tracks is done simply adding a keyword on the agenda topic description.
The best conference mobile app allows real time alerts and participants messaging
It’s not by chance that the Event Planner job is one of the most stressful jobs in the world.
With hundreds or participants, tens of speakers and tens of
sessions, surprises are bound to happen. A room gets flooded
(yes, it happened). The projector refuses to start. The road to
the restaurant gets blocked.
Key is to communicate easily with your participants, via a short
message. A webpage type application will not be able to do
that, while a true mobile app can do that via the integration
with the messaging system.
For the alerts, it is important that you have the capability
yourself, vs. trying to locate the content editor from your team,
or worse, a vendor team that might be located time zones
away. You should be able to type a short message, and then
send it to your participants.
This capability is also great for promotions or offers from your

participants. Just be aware that too much messaging grows old very quickly on your
participants – limit to two or three alerts per day.
The best conference mobile app is content rich
Many apps tout features that are nice to have vs. “must have”. Start with key functionality,
and then look for the extra features.
First, conference mobile apps provide key content, helping attendees build a schedule, find
their way around the building, see speaker profiles or participate in Q&A or live surveys.
Second, apps bring extra value to your event with digital-only content: presentations, white
papers and handouts. A key section to use is for sponsor materials that people can’t get
anywhere else. Several times better than advertising and banners that can become very
intrusive.
Third, the app is a hub for connections and user-generated content on social media. One
click connection to a speaker in Linked-in is a good example. Tweeting with the event
hashtag, and joining the social media discussion in an easy way is another.
Producers of successful event apps focus early and often on maximizing the value of all
three content types.
Speaker sessions are populated with a great description, speaker bio and speaker social
media connections. They make sure exhibitors fill out their digital “booths” just like they
do their physical stands. And they encourage speakers to seed discussions in social media
to spark conversation.
The best conference mobile app is intuitive and easy to navigate
The app should look familiar…look to the most used apps in the world for guidance,
including Facebook, LinkedIn, iTunes and Google Maps. Those apps have spent significant
time building an experience that works, and have set your audiences’ expectations for how
apps should work. Users don’t want to learn a new app interface at every event.
So, when you create an event app, check that it uses well-established best practices for
icons, menu design and layout.

The more clicks it takes an attendee to find the information they need, the more likely it is
you’ll lose them. Modern app designs have moved beyond directory-style interfaces to
living, breathing home screens that present the information that is most important, most
timely and most relevant to the individual. The less clicks to get to the info, the higher the
adoption.
The best conference mobile app avoids disruptive advertising and banners
Our experience shows that app usage declines when users see ads as a nuisance instead as
a value add. Disruptive advertising, characterized by lack of relevance gets in the way of a
positive user experience.
Some apps rotate banners every few seconds or plaster
them at the top and bottom of every screen.
The trick to creating powerful advertising in your event app
is not to make it “on your face”, but rather to make it
relevant and contextual. So, as should be the rule for all
content, choose an app that allows you to put information
in front of people, instead of intrusive banners. And,
instead of linking them to a web page on a slow cellular
data connection, send them in the mobile app to a piece of
content, like an eBook, that will help them make a decision
and keep them in the context of your event. Sponsorships
don’t have to kill adoption. In fact, it can improve it when it
provides relevant, useful information.
The best conference mobile app has strong security, but easy user access
Most event apps have layers of security. Our Zwoor mobile app has four different levels,
from listed events to unlisted events that are unlocked via code, to a layer that opens the
content to a group of users that validate a certain email domain (@ibm.com, for example)
to the highest security level, best suited to a Board meeting where a takeover discussion
might occur.

We combine that with strong encryption, in transit and at rest, so your content is truly
protected.
Our best advice is to “know your audience” and select the security level that is best for the
user. Any password or code access is one more hurdle for the user to get to the content.
Also, beware of the “single sign on” (SSO) unless you know your attendees are familiar
with those usernames and password. We’ve had a lot of association events where single
sign on becomes a big barrier. Simply put, members don’t know their association login.
The best conference mobile app is well promoted and communicated by the Event
Team
How many times the event app link and instructions become an afterthought, and are sent
the day before the event, when most participants are in transit? Despite time invested in
content, many event planners fail to communicate the value of the app through a strong
communication plan.
There are two important parts of promoting an event mobile app: 1.) communicating the
value and 2.) Creating awareness.
The first goal should be to create a compelling communication plan that conveys the value
of the app, focusing on the app content and experience as an extension of the live event.
For example, we create for each event a webpage, with a simple URL that can be typed,
where the instructions for downloading are shared 1.) As a link to the iStore and Android
store to our mobile app; 2.) As a QR code, and 3.) As a web link. Users have their preferred
method of getting the apps, and we want to cater to all this pathways.
Second, once the message is refined and the key values are well established, it’s critical to
promote the app at every step of the process, starting before registration and continuing
through confirmation pages, reminders, email, invitations, on site signage and even in
sessions and keynote presentations.
The most successful event apps are much more than apps—they are digital experiences
that span the entire lifecycle of the event.

The best conference mobile app is integrated with Social Media, and allows easy
connections between participants
Participants attend your events for the
knowledge AND connections. Having a
perfect speaker profile is a great start. Having
a great speaker profile that a participant can
send an invite via LinkedIn from within the
app is even better.
Being able to send a tweet about the
conference is a good start. Tweeting with the
event hashtag already populated is even
better.
The app social connectivity can be an additional reason to attend the event.
The best conference mobile app have clear, published pricing
Mobile app for events can be very expensive. Some of them start at $20,000+. Some start
with a low price point, but the add-ons add very quickly. The other part is that continuous
pressure for selling the add-ons. The best mobile app companies have clear, published, no-
surprise pricing that you can count on. From what we know, we are the only mobile app
that does not have a “range”, but a clear fixed pricing that you can count on.
We also offer a free trial, so you pay only after you experienced your event content and
mobile app features on your own mobile phone, or PC or MAC.
We hope you enjoyed our guide. If you have a questions or suggestion on how to make it
better, please send us a note at support@zwoor.com.
On behalf of our Zwoor Team,
Thanks for investing the time on reading this document! Looking for a quick checklist on
what to look for on a mile app? Next page offers a printable, simple checklist.

Checklist for selecting your Conference Mobile App
Key Questions on Selecting a Conference Mobile App
Zwoor.com
Vendor 1 Vendor 2
1. User friendly: Will attendees know
how to use it to successfully navigate my event?
Yes
2. Event Planner friendly: How easy is
for my event team to create and change the Event
app content?
Yes
3. Vendor Experience and tenure: Is
your vendor a new one, or has 3-5 years of
experience?
Established
2011; First
mobile Event
App Jan. 2012
4. Clear Pricing: Is there a clear, published
pricing, or am I embarking on an “add-on surprise”
pricing journey?
$500
5. True mobile app or glorified web
page: Will it work for my attendees both online and
offline?
Native mobile
app for iPhone,
iPad, Android
Phones and
Android Tablets,
PC and Mac
formats

What is the best conference mobile app?

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What is the best conference mobile app?