5 Things You Don’t Want to Forget Before Unveiling Your Event App
Your event is in 4 weeks. The date is set, your venue is booked and your keynote speakers are confirmed. Things seem to be rolling. Cue the *temporary* sigh of relief. Plus, you’ve invested time to build an event app that includes everything an attendee would ever want to know. You’ve even written an email to your delegates promoting this year’s app and you’re ready to go. You’re about to hit send…
But wait! Because your app is a window into the event experience and the attendee’s first impression of your event — you want to make sure it’s the best it can be. So before you send that email encouraging attendees to download your app, make sure you’ve included these 5 elements in your event app.
- Agenda-At-A-Glance
Even if your sessions and speakers are only partially confirmed, no need to hide the schedule entirely.
Instead, include your draft agenda or session titles with buzz-building statements like “More exciting details to come” to pique everyone’s interest. You can add in the full agenda closer to the date, but this way, your attendees will have an idea of what’s in store well in advance of the conference.
As a bonus, including a Table View of these prospective sessions gives everyone a visual representation of the agenda and makes it easier to spot potential conflicts.
- Event Hashtag
It’s easy to overlook, yet so important! Encouraging attendees to tweet in the weeks leading up to your event builds excitement and anticipation for your event.
So be sure to include your event hashtag in the app. It will serve as a visual reminder to attendees to tweet early on. By the time the event rolls around, using your event hashtag will be second nature. Incorporating the hashtag into event activities will see your engagement with social media tools spike onsite.
- Directions To (and Within) the Venue
Providing directions to the event space in your app allows attendees to plan ahead for appropriate transportation. It also ensures they’ll be in the right place at the right time.
Embedding Google Maps (which your attendees are already familiar with) into your app will be especially beneficial for those travelling from out-of-town. In large, complex venues like expo halls or convention centres, you may want to include a venue floor plan to help attendees navigate the event. Adding drop pins tied to specific session rooms or exhibitor booths is an added bonus to ensure attendance at your breakouts, and prove ROI to stakeholders.
- Speaker List
Making sure details are uploaded in the event app for all your keynote speakers or well-known subject matter experts helps amp up anticipation and gets attendees excited about the event.
They’ll have something to look forward to, plus and it can boost session interest leading up to the event. Including a brief bio on the speaker, links to their social media accounts or even a quick document to learn more will help create pre-event speaker hype.
- Alert Delivery Schedule
When used strategically, event apps can be an extremely effective marketing tool, giving you a captive audience for promoting the event, sponsors and exhibitors.
You need to be ready to hit the ground running with a content strategy to communicate with your attendees through pre-scheduled alerts and direct notifications.
That way you can set it and forget it, which means there’s one less thing to worry about. Change it up with different kinds of messaging, such as pre-event promotion, know-before-you-go lists, etc. You can even monetize this messaging by offering sponsors the chance to buy a messaging blast, and include their logo.
You only get one chance making a great first impression with your event attendees. Including these elements in your event app will ensure this first touchpoint is memorable and piques their interest for the event to come. Now go forth (and push send)!
What’s Next?
- For more ideas on pre-event app promotion, check out our Event App Marketing ebook.