64% of Meetings Are Using a Mobile App

With so much new meeting technology being developed it can be hard to know what’s worth investing your time in, and what will simply be a flash in the pan. Our clients rely on us to keep them abreast of trends and technology, so our team works hard to keep our finger on the pulse of the meetings and convention industry.

Earlier this summer, Conference & Logistics Consultants conducted a survey of over 300 meeting planners to gauge our industry’s comfort level with new technologies. A key finding of the 2011 Meeting Technology Trends Survey was that 64 percent of meetings are already using a mobile app, or intend to add one this year. Another 16 percent intend to add one within three years.

If you’re not thinking about a mobile app for your meeting, you’re being left behind. Attendees are clamoring for instant access to information, and ways to personalize their conference experience. Mobile technology is an easy way to provide both. Mobile conference guides run the gamut from inexpensive web-based platforms ($9 – 15K) to high-end custom native apps ($25 – 100+K).

The survey also revealed a lot of other interesting information, which we will put out in a white paper later this fall. Stay tuned to the blog or subscribe to our RSS feed for future updates.

Meeting Trends: Using Mobile Technologies to Boost the Bottom Line

If you have a smartphone, you’re probably familiar with mobile apps that save you time, simplify mundane tasks, or just entertain you with movies or games. We rely on our phones for much more than just talking or texting.

In the last year, mobile apps have also emerged as an innovative method of both generating revenue and reducing costs for meetings and conventions. In fact, a leading meeting industry publication has dubbed 2011 the Year of the Mobile App. Savvy organizations are realizing that mobile apps return a great deal of value for a relatively small investment.

The question we often hear from our clients is, How can we maximize our investment in meeting technology? Mobile apps are extremely attractive to conference sponsors, who realize that conference delegates spend countless hours on their smartphones – both during conference sessions, as well as in their free time.

Technology sponsorships offer much richer delegate engagement than traditional sponsorship opportunities. A mobile app used throughout the conference draws hundreds of page views, while single-use items like food & beverage or disposable giveaways are quickly forgotten.

Sponsors are willing to invest $10K - $25K or more to get their logo and message in the place that attendees are already looking. A single sponsorship pays for the app several times over – bringing in additional revenue well beyond the initial investment. Additional sponsorships and ads can also be sold to produce even more profit. Small investment, big return!

Hashtags Make Twitter Work Harder

Sure, it’s interesting to following friends and colleagues on Twitter just to see what they’re up to. But many of us are vexed about the actual usefulness of the tool. Still others have shied away from incorporating Twitter into marketing plans because it can’t be easily controlled. Yet, that’s the real beauty of the tool: microblogging is a grassroots tool that allows you to collect attendee feedback and capture emerging trends in their infancy.

To get the most out of twitter for your next meeting or event, make the application work harder for you in just two steps.

Step 1: Create a hashtag. A hashtag is a shortened version of a few related keywords that allows people to categorize their posts. A sample hashtag for the XYZ Annual Conference might be #XYZ2010. Twitter’s functionality allows clickable searching by hashtag, and allows you to sort out only posts related to your event. To be useful, keep your hashtag short and descriptive – remember, these are people who have to communicate their entire thought in 140 characters or less!

Step 2: Publicize your hashtag in all conference materials. Ask some of your energetic supporters, volunteers, speakers, or staff to blog about your event regularly (once per week or more) and include your hashtag. The more interesting their tweets, the more likely they’ll be retweeted (forwarded to others) and the more publicity you’ll get.

Onsite, publicize your hashtag in all materials: in the program, on the conference bag, on the back of staff shirts, on slides during the plenary session …. well, you get the picture. Encourage attendees to tweet about the sessions they’re in and their experience overall. The feedback you collect will be piecemeal, but honest and timely.

Data mining of attendee and member tweets can show you entirely new dimensions of their needs and expectations – and allow you to provide products and services that meet those needs and expectations before anyone else. Regularly monitored, Twitter is like an ongoing virtual focus group. Get tweeting!

Get More out of your Conference with Swift Mobile

There’s not been a lot written about convergence in the meetings industry. Most of us stay connected though our mobile devices (iPhones, Blackberries, and the like), but we’ve not been able to use our trusty handheld device to connect with others during a conference. Until now.

Enter Swift Mobile for your smartphone: a veritable paintbox of features combining conference content, social networking, and mobile geolocation in the palm of your hand. The Swift application – which works best on the iPhone but is also supported on the mobile web and accessible by any wireless handheld device – allows users to create a personal profile to share information about themselves and connect with other convention goers with similar interests.

Swift allows conference delegates to navigate through educational content on their phone, essentially providing the conference program in the palm of their hand. The application also combines conference-related Twitter posts (“tweets”) into a single, relevant stream that can be customized for each user. Real-time feedback lets attendees keep tabs on other sessions, even those that they aren’t able to attend. In this way, Swift expands the conference experience beyond the limits of physical space and time.

On the revenue side, Swift offers branding opportunities for sponsors on the splash screen as well as long-range potential publications phase-out. Exhibitors and sponsors also have access to fee-based tools including polling, video publishing, and user messaging.

The Swift Mobile application is still in beta testing, but the implications for long-term use in the convention industry are encouraging. Keep up the good work!

Instant Feedback = Improvement

I recently learned about an exciting new online tool designed to help staff and managers improve their performance. It’s called Rypple. The online tool is designed to allow users to solicit and collect feedback on their performance, one question at a time. It’s quick and easy, both for the user and for the people from whom they are seeking feedback. Everything is done by email, and it’s completely anonymous so that responders can be candid. Rypple is not designed to replace the annual performance review, but rather to supplement it at regular intervals and allow employees to act on the feedback immediately.

Beyond the obvious implications for employees and managers, it seems to me that Rypple could also be used to engage conference attendees, both before and during a conference. It’s a fast and painless way to gauge attendee satisfaction, without making them complete a lengthy survey form. Just a few conference uses might be:

• Did you have any problems with the registration process?
• What’s one thing we could do to make your conference experience better?
• What did you think of this morning’s plenary session?
• How’s the food at the coffee breaks?

Rypple provides quick results so you can identify and resolve problems on the fly. Best of all, attendees feel the personal touch, and know that you value their input.

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Welcome to the Conference & Logistics Consultants, Inc. blog. This blog is intended as a tool for our clients, to help keep them abreast of current industry trends and happenings. Our team plans to update this site weekly with new and noteworthy items from the meetings and conventions industry. Please sign up for our RSS feed to receive these updates by email.

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