Mobile Event Apps: Features to Look For, Red Flags to Avoid

Posted by: Jenise Fryatt

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

With the vast array of mobile event app choices out there,  it can be very tough to make sense of it all. To help shed some light on the subject for Engage365, Marie-Claire Andrews of SmartShow, creators of the smartphone platform for events, ShowGizmo, recently answered a few questions. You can read the first part of this interview with Marie-Claire here.

JENISE: Are there any basic features that event planners should always look for in a mobile event app?

MARIE-CLAIRE: Maps are very important – maps give people a reason to get their phone out of their pocket (where am I going next?!)

We have found in our deployments that the second most clicked on feature is the schedule (what’s happening now and what’s happening later?!). After that comes lead-capture if you’re running a tradeshow or expo (think about QR code scanning, exhibitor lead reports).  Then exhibitor and attendee profiles and the ability to search for and connect with people.

If you’re intending to make money out of your app (which you certainly should be!) then you really want to have banners on the app which third parties can sponsor. The other thing is to make sure the app is cross-platform – you don’t want to miss out on engagement just because your app didn’t support blackberry or android.

JENISE: Are there any “red flags” to watch out for to avoid a bad experience?

MARIE-CLAIRE: It’s not a good idea to choose an app that is only available on one platform – you may get richer features but this is an engagement game so wide reach is what really matters.

Generally you can avoid the pitfalls by checking the app developer/platform provider’s credibility – some questions to ask include:

- How many shows have you done so far? (quite a few mobile app companies have apps of course…but no track record!  It’s better of course to find a company that’s deployed their app in a variety of event environments so that you can be confident that they know their game)

- What percentage of people used the apps at your previous events? (shiny beautiful…unused apps are not what you should invest in – but bear in mind the event producer’s marketing of the app can make a big difference to uptake)

5 – What new features should we look for in the future when it comes to mobile event apps?

The sky REALLY is the limit – we are currently pushing out a few new features every couple of months to stay ahead of the game and to capture the exciting new possibilities that the mobile platform offers.  Some of the more exciting features coming up are

• the ability for people to pull and push data from Social Networking sites, meaning you can get your delegates to be your own personal real-time sales-team
• silent-auctions
• tracking delegates and activity through heatmaps
• photo-capture sent directly to the site of the event organizer
• augmented reality games where people collect badges as they go from booth to booth at expos

(Photo by ilamont.com)