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Backstory

Tesco Bengaluru is the only international technology and retail operations center for Tesco worldwide. They make the Tesco experience better for millions of customers, and simpler for over 4,60,000 colleagues around the world. Keeping the organization connected and engaged the world over is critical to Tesco’s continued success.

The Goals

1. Launch an app at a Tesco event that keeps the attendees connected after the event.

2. Use the app to ensure a smooth check-in experience for every attendee at the event.

Tesco Business Services wanted their Foundation Day to help connect event attendees through an event app, so they stay engaged beyond the conference. Additionally, they wanted the event to be a great experience for their employees, and wanted to ensure a smooth and seamless event check-in and registration experience.

The Result

How did an app connect an organization this large?

With a clever combination of pre-event content to build excitement for Foundation Day, interaction through live polls, engagement with speakers through live Q&A during sessions, and much more. And there’s more than meets the eye – the app also gathers data that gives Tesco insights into what sessions and themes their employees are most interested in, and sets them up for success in all their future events and employee engagement activities.

If there’s a company that’s mastered the art of employee engagement, it’s Tesco Business Services. We’re glad to be partners to them on this journey!

If you’ve ever had an event app, you will know the importance of the Event Agenda feature. The agenda is the first feature everyone expects when they get their event app. They use it to highlight rich speaker profiles, description of the session, personal reminders, rating & feedback, and attaching documents.

The agenda has often been confused as a feature that can only be used to inform attendees. To enhance your event experience in far more interactive ways, the agenda feature really helps. Let us show you how.

Interactive Event Agenda Features

Live Q&A

During panel discussions or speaker sessions, the Live Q&A feature is very helpful. The audience can ask questions through the mobile event APP. Projection of questions happens post-moderation. This is a fun and interactive way to engage with the audience rather than using an old-fashioned method of the speaker individually choosing a member of the audience to ask a question.

Individual/Group Chat

During the event, since the speaker doesn’t have time to answer or point out to every nuance of his speech, it can be hard for an attendee to follow. To rectify this dilemma, we have enabled the chat feature on the event agenda. Here, the audience can chat with their fellow attendees and discuss topics that are related to the session.

Session Check-in

For some event owners, its vital that they know the number of people attending a session. Such event analytics are necessary for a lead generation platform, limit the session to a selected few and so on. Using the event agenda, we can integrate it with our check-in and help the event owners and organizers get this crucial data. Before attending the session, with the event agenda, all the attendee needs to do is scan the QR-Code and get approved. Instantly, the data will get uploaded to the system for analysis.

Live Polling

To maintain the interest of the attendees, you need to interact with them during the session. Live polling is a brilliant way of getting opinions from the attendees and making them invested in the session. For example, during a session, the speaker can pose a question to the audience and based on their viewpoint they can answer accordingly. Projecting this on to the main screen to see the live result is what makes it interesting!

Personalized Agenda

There are times in events where there are many sessions in the same time slot, a limited number of seats and etc. To commit to one of these sessions, the attendees need to know the time and description of it. Once they identify the session they want to attend, they can click the RSVP button and then register themselves. This ensures that they have a chance to attend the event and it also provides the event organizer with real-time data on how many people have registered.

Video/Note-taking

When attendees come into a session, expecting them to have pen and papers is a big ask. Note-taking is an important part of any session! Depending on their preference they can either write them down or take a video. What makes it really interactive is that they can share their notes and views with the fellow audience!

Sponsored sessions

There are many ways one can highlight the sponsors of the event. It can range from banners, ads in the event and etc. The problem with this is, not many attendees will remember them since it is not their main concern. An Event Agenda APP can power your sponsors better. Since attendees will constantly be on the event app, you can market your sponsors in their agenda. In each session, the attendees will get to know either in the description, through images, banners in the app of what that sponsor does. The analytics you get from this will really be helpful to them.

Conclusion

To interact with your audience and not just inform them is what makes a successful event agenda. Getting raving reviews is the whole idea of making the event interactive. In conclusion, an event agenda is a powerful tool that provides a quicker and cheaper alternative to traditional methods to achieve your goals.

Supercharge your way to #BetterEventTech.
Sign Up to create your event APP in minutes!

Introduction to Event Technology

If a question that’s on your mind is “How can event technology enhance an event’s experience?”, then the answer is – The possibilities are endless!

Event apps, registration microsites, check-in solutions, social walls, surveys, audience polls, live Q&A, gamification, augmented reality, virtual reality, iBeacons — the list goes on. Often brands, event organizers and event owners are unaware of the impact event technology can have on the event, the audience, and the event ROI. The great news is that we can now measure this impact in real time and adapt to the ever-changing requirements of an event – from concept to post-event.

Let’s take a quick look at how we can achieve #BetterEventTech.

Before the event

Even before the event starts, you should keep the event on top of everyone’s minds. This is where event technology starts coming into play. You should connect with your attendees, speakers, sponsors and other stakeholders at a whole new level!

• Registration: Provide a quick and easy way to register for your event with a responsive website. We recommend QR Codes for confirmation since they are cost-effective.
• Event app: Launching an event app is the next crucial step. Ensure there is initial event information on it. Once you get the event app, you need to generate some buzz. It’s a great way to engage with participants several days ahead of the event.
• Private Social Wall – Within the Event app, generate hype for the event. Share videos of speakers and post-invitation messages. Encourage users to post pictures and videos, and engage with the content by liking and commenting on it.
• Polls – Conduct polls to know your audience – seek opinions on the content of the event, ask for feedback on pre-event activities, gather preferences and more.
• Alerts – Pique curiosity by sending notifications about sessions, keynote speakers, in-app contests, and agenda updates. An admin’s app will allow you to create all these while on the go!
• Agenda – The itinerary, schedules and scientific programs are extremely critical for your attendees. Each attendee should be able to personalize their own schedule and plan how they’re going to get the best out of the event.

During the event

Event day is always tense! The day of the event can be nerve-racking! It should be fun and memorable for everyone — including you! Let technology be your workhorse – from check-in to engagement, to interactions, to collecting on-ground data. You should get to focus on the show.

• Check In – The first impression is the best impression. No one likes long queues. A good event check-in solution should identify and scan an attendee within seconds. Nothing is as pleasant as a hassle-free, quick check-in. You can even take it one step further – send a personalized welcome message to each attendee!
• Live Q&A – Imagine a session or a panel discussion where the audience gets to chime in too! Increase engagement during the event between the speakers and the audience. The audience can post questions through the mobile event app, and these can be projected post-moderation.
• Audience Polls – Hold the attention of the audience throughout the event by interacting with them directly. Have the audience choose winners, let speakers seek opinions during their sessions, and much more.
• Lead Generation – Continue using the attendees’ QR codes to capture their interest in booths and to track when they have checked in at sessions.They can also use them for lunch and dinner coupons.
• Feedback – Make it easy. Make it offline. No paper.

After the event

The biggest benefit of using event technology is the ability to engage with attendees even after the event. All of the data is gathered on your platform from before the event to D-day. This can range from how many people attended, what parts of the event they found most interesting, their feedback, and more. You can continue engaging with attendees about upcoming events, latest news, pictures from the event etc.,

Event technology is a powerful tool that provides a quicker and cheaper alternative to traditional methods to achieve your goals.

Want to see proof of how technology can really help you set a trend for your event? View the full case study to see how Tesco became part of the #BetterEventTech family.

Supercharge your way to #BetterEventTech.
Sign Up to create your event APP in minutes!

Mobile apps are in the mainstream today, the question for the event organizers is not whether “do I need an event app to leverage on the event?” but rather “how does one improve the user experience through a mobile app and with the right content?” 

You can maximize the leverage on your event by creating great content, which can significantly generate online interest for the event, as well as extend its life cycle and recall value. Let’s now delve into how you can plan and deliver your event content to create an engaging event.

Planning your Event APP content

Content planning can involve different strategies, depending on the goals of the event, which can start with:

Setting The Objectives

Do you need to persuade, to inform, to include, to join the event? Make the plan as detailed as possible, include numbers and other tangible measurements to ensure you can monitor and know when you get to the respective milestones. For example, if you are organising a local concert, then define the needs you have: reach 100K users (target audience – explained later) within November 15th with an expected ticket conversion rate of 1% (1000).

Are there other sub-objectives?

• Cross-selling of products or services to event attendees.
• Building your database for the future events etc.

Tip: Spend time at this stage, make sure you get an agreement from all the stakeholders before finalising the objectives and be sure that the set goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed (SMART Objectives). Once set, email all the stakeholders to be sure to document what was agreed to get them all on the same page.

Defining The Target Audience (TA)

The next step towards content planning is defining the target audience for your event app. Which of the event participants will be served most by the event app? Mostly, the answer to this is the “event attendees”. Following are a few questions that one must keep in mind when defining the target audience.

Start building your buyer persona:

• Demographics: Age, gender, location, income level, education, marital status and other details you deem important.
• Personality traits: attitude, values, lifestyle, interest and hobbies etc.

From the above, look at your current database on how many such users you can target and do you have enough target population to reach the magic mark (100K users based on the earlier example

). If the target users do not reach the required number (100K) you may need to modify the sub-objectives into “acquire new users” and “target existing users”, and respective goals.

Tip: You can increase your demographic set by understanding who are your competitors targeting and their customers. You can also identify current gaps in their campaign or bring in a new target segment if they fit into the equation.

Using Content Marketing Metrics

Identifying key metrics is vital for the content sharing success. An understanding of what is on track or not at the start of the campaign will help to measure your success objectively.

• Consumption metrics, which indicates the view or download rate of the event content.
• Share metrics, which indicates the number of shares for the content.
• Lead generation metrics, which indicates if the content has generated any leads for the event.
• Sales metrics, which indicates the number of event registrations from the various forms of content.

Delivering your Event content

Improving your attendees’ event experience is critical, not just for the event goals, but also empowering them with helpful information at their fingertips. The right event app for attendees is the right medium, capturing the essence of the event, thus enabling their ability to:

• Recall and share the event online, or with their friends or colleagues.
• Use their gained insights (through presentation slides, handouts, and notes) to understand the event better.
• Engage with the event and the organisers consistently.

Content Types

Content that you produce should answer general user questions about the event: why would they, (TA), be interested in your event? How can your content help them make a decision to purchase/promote?

Understand the content funnels and types, start with:

• Promotional campaigns: Are you offering some early discounts? And why should they purchase? Notification can be used here to talk about new content. This can also be presented using a landing page (or a promotional template).
• Exclusive campaigns: Create exclusive content based on your objectives and the target audience. For example, millennials are known to love video content that is entertaining and engaging. Others can include infographics, illustrations and photos.
• Social activity campaigns: Push content when their friends and followers perform an activity, to generate interest or desired result. Encourage conversation among the users (do not forget to moderate).
• Re-Permission campaigns: Reminders when they have exited the app without the desired result, e.g: Push Notifications – Retargeting your interested users should be one of your main strategies here.
• Transactional Campaigns: An interaction that leads to some transaction, a sign-up / purchase etc. Make sure your messaging is accurate and clear on the goals you want to achieve.
• Event details: It is easy to miss concentrating on the event details with all the promotion that is around. Do not forget to craft a great “events page” with all the required details, descriptions, videos, pictures, FAQs and any other content you feel is important (do the brainstorming).

Understand that majority of your users may come from outside the app. A strategy that helps to bring new users to the event part of the app can be useful.

• Which social media channels are appropriate for this type of content?
• What type of content should be delivered into each of these channels?
• Do you want to leverage email marketing?

Tip 1: The content needs to be app friendly and brief, especially when targeting an impatient generation. So, know your target audience and design your content accordingly.

Tip 2: The key is to choose the right campaigns/mediums for the objectives at hand, and not what is popular. For example, the Boeing current market outlook app by the aeroplane company is not here to sell planes on their app, but to provide interested users with the right information, to put a human face to their operations. So, the objective of each company may differ.  

Content Calendar

Scheduling all the tasks including who does what is important, but keeping to it is even more critical. Sending timely calendar events to participants before the event, including first invites, follow-ups regarding confirmation, and reminders. The calendar planning must happen once at the planning stage, and the details need to be revisited when the content types and campaigns are agreed upon.

Tip 1: Keep the various content funnel templates (content at various stages) ready in advance. Running campaigns (delivery of content) and production (creation of content) at the same time creates speed mismatch and puts additional pressure on the teams.  

Tip 2: Consider making the content easily viral: content outreach can be easily increased tenfold by making it easy to share and via marketing platforms.

Tip 3: Post regularly, make sure you control the frequency. The content should not be too frequent or otherwise.

Conclusion

A successful content strategy for your event app is about reaching your target audience at the right time and frequency. For this to happen, quantify your plan, involve all stakeholders, develop a content strategy, put-in a milestone check, measure and communicate. The key is making a plan, timely checks and improvising (backed by data) as needed.

About Us

Aidaio’s platform focusses on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com/event-app to know more or write to us at [email protected]

Follow us on twitter @teamaidaio

Introducing our QR Code Check-In Solution!

Quoting Wikipedia – “A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera.” QR codes have become popular as a mechanism to direct people to a website a lot quicker than manually entering a URL.

Whether you are an event professional or an attendee, long lines at the registration desk are always an eyesore. For an event organizer, the day of the event is already rough with all the running around. On top of it, the chaos and unhappiness caused by long lines can be nerve-racking. 

How can I leverage the convenience of QR codes to ease my pain on event days, you ask? Well, when an attendee registers for your event, a unique QR code is shared with them. On the day of the event, all you have to do is equip your ground staff with QR code scanners. When the delegate arrives at the venue, they are asked to display their unique QR code to your ground staff at the entrance. Once it is successfully scanned, the QR code becomes an authorized digital entry pass for the delegate.

Still not blown away by this nifty check-in solution? Let us tell you how they are the next-big-thing to revolutionize your events.

Main Benefits

Easy Setup and Dismantling  – Time and manpower spent in the construction of registration counters and dismantling them afterwards are immense. With QR code check-ins, you can cut that out by at least a tenth.

Smaller and Faster Moving Lines  – The QR code check-in solution takes less time per attendee check-in. In addition, there are no badges or lunch passes to be handed out separately. The code acts as a single pass for all possible entry points at the venue. That’s one QR code to rule them all!

Fewer Security Concerns – If you are organizing large events, you know handling massive crowds is not only cumbersome, but also raises security concerns. No matter how many times you check and re-check, the same guests end up getting listed more than once. Eliminate duplication of guest profiles and free your mind for other important aspects of the event that needs your attention.

Fewer Devices, Staff and Stationery – QR code check-ins not only take less time but fewer ground staff too. QR code scanners are super easy to handle and operate. Stop worrying about procuring and setting up laptops and stationery for your staff at the registration desk. 

No Power or Internet Connection Required – A most painful and dubious part of setting up is the task of ensuring that the power supply and internet connection for laptops at the registration desks work. Well, not anymore! These QR code scanners can be charged beforehand and they work offline too.

Simple Training and Briefing  – QR code scanners are very easy to operate. Your ground staff will need no training to start using them. All you have to do is test the scanners ahead of the event. When you huddle with your team before the start of the event to raise their spirits for the big day, you can cut out the whole activity of briefing them about making registrations work.

Other Benefits

Go Green -A single QR code can be used as an entry pass, a lunch coupon or as a form of authorized access to various parts of the event. You will be reducing the printing costs for the entry passes/badges/lunch passes. That means less litter at the end of the event as well!

Less waste – The number of guests who have checked in is data that you can pass to the kitchen straight away. You’ll be helping your chef plan better and avoid wastage or shortage of food. 

Actionable Analytics – With obsolete registration counters, there’s no comprehensive way to know when a guest arrived and when they left. Metrics like that can be very useful to track and analyze. During the span of the event, when did the maximum number of check-outs happen? Was it during a particular session or time? If yes, what can you do to ensure that it does not happen at your forthcoming event? Once you are back to the office after a great event, we will empower you with analytics and reports to make sure your next event is even better!

Cut Costs, Save Money – Now that you know all of the above, the monetary benefits to you are a no-brainer.

Lo and behold, check-ins are no longer a pain – not for you nor for your attendees. You have invested your heart, body and soul for each of your events. Don’t let the long and chaotic registration lines reduce the shine at all. Unlock the power of QR code check-ins for your next event!

About Us

AidaIO’s platform focusses on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com/event-app to know more or write to us at [email protected]

Follow us @teamaidaio

A question we get asked often by Event Organizers is –

“How would an Event App benefit my festival ?”

Here is a handful of ways event apps can be an amazing convenience tool and add value to both festivals and fairs. Ensure you are using the Event app to reap ALL these benefits to maximize the ROI of it.

Hassle-free Ticketing – Booking tickets for the festival has never been so easy and effortless. Festival-goers can view and book deals & packages on the move.

Boost Sponsorship – Over 100 Festival Apps (powered by AIDAIO) have helped festivals reduce their on-site staff and going paperless. For this reason, it has helped to reduce costs by 30%. Additionally, it creates a platform to generate revenue from sponsors by selling in-app banners, splash screens, notifications and more.

Inspired Audience – Help your audience have the time of their lives by informing them about the festival’s calendar. Let them know when their favorites are playing! Introduce the newer ones by sharing youtube videos and much more.

Event Content goes mobile – Make your app the go-to place for all your content instantly. Get announcements and directions to important locations and don’t forget to include emergency information in the App!

The bottom line is that mobile possibilities are endless. Don’t use it to only replace paper or brand visibility. Or even worse a replica of your website!

Also, check out these blogs if you Have a conference or Tradeshow?

Contact us:

Do you want to know more about how we can help you in delivering a digital and seamless event experience? Visit us at www.aidaio.com. Another way you can reach out to us is to write to us at [email protected]

A question we get asked often by Tradeshows and Expo managers is-

“How an Event App would benefit my Tradeshows?”

There are a handful of ways event apps can be an amazing convenience tool and add value to both exhibitors and visitors. Ensure you are using the Event app to reap all these benefits to maximize the ROI of it.

Happy Exhibitors – Empower your exhibitors to get discovered, increase booth visits, target notifications to visitors through exhibitor listings linked to an interactive floor plan.

Buyer-Seller Connect – Utilize the APP to provide exhibitor content with product brochures, videos & pre-show brand information to your visitors. This, in turn, facilitates better connections, booking meetings and did we say an additional revenue for you?

Instant Lead Generation – A simple APP survey recently run on an APP (powered by AIDAIO) generated over 5000 leads. So don’t just list the exhibitors. Make it interactive with sponsored polls, giveaways, contests besides an in-app contact exchange and much more.

Save Money, Earn Money – Over 100 Event Apps (powered by AIDAIO), have helped tradeshows and expos by going paperless and reduced their on-site staff. This, in turn, has reduced their costs by 30%. Additionally, it creates a digital advertising platform for all exhibitors to promote their brand.

Also, if you have a conference then check out this link.

The bottom line is that mobile possibilities are endless. Don’t use it to replace paper or improve your brand visibility, or worse a replica of your website! To know more about mobile apps, click here!

About Us

Aidaio’s platform focuses on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more about how we can help your tradeshows and expos. You can also write to us at [email protected]

45% of event planners say that event sponsorship is their biggest challenge when planning an event. Source

If you are one of these event planners, worrying about the budget for your next event, then fret not, you are at the right place.

Problem

Every sponsor does their ground work before agreeing to associate their brand with an event. Once that hurdle is crossed, they have to make it a successful sales campaign in terms of brand visibility and customer reach. Standees and banners at venues have become a thing of the past. There are so many of these, all around the venue, that the brand gets lost in the sea of billboards.

To stand out from competitors and grab more eyeballs, why not go digital? Smartphones have become a part and parcel of our lives, and we spend more time with these than with a family member or friend.

Most event planners today, consider event apps as an indispensable and integral part of their events. But have you thought about how you can make it a win-win for you and your event sponsors? Here are some features of the event app that enable you to do just that.

Splash Screen

This is the entry point for the users to the app and thus offers a great opportunity it to make an unforgettable first impression. And the feather on the cap is that the coverage is maximum  – because it is full screen. Moreover, every time users open the app, the splash screen with brand collaterals are displayed to them.

Banner Images

Once the user logs in, she gets to the landing screen where general information about the event is shared, also termed as the home screen. These rotating images are displayed on the top section of the mobile screen. A banner of the brand is displayed for around 5 seconds.

Partner Listing

If the motive is to share details of your brand through website and contact details like telephone number email address etc., then highlighted partner listing is the best option. The sponsors can be classified into categories – for instance, Platinum, Gold or Silver Partners, and listed accordingly.

Ad Banner

If you don’t want to share your space with anybody and want to be featured all across the app, then ad banners are your best bet. The brand is displayed at the bottom of the mobile screen and stays in the user’s view all throughout.

If brands are exhibiting their products in stalls at the venue, then the opportunities are much more.

Sponsored Notifications

Imagine a situation where an individual venture to a stall and she gets a custom notification about the brand and its products. Such services are striking as they grab the individual’s attention and drive home the point by exploiting the advantage of proximity. The notifications based on proximity require hardware to trigger the notifications, called Beacons. But if you wish to remove the overhead of hardware, then sponsored notifications can be configured to be sent at regular intervals.

Floor Maps

Most events today share the floor map of the venue to make it easy for themselves and the delegates. Exhibitors can use it to their advantage by getting their stall highlighted in the venue map.

Conclusion

We have got you covered for the budget for your next event – one of the many things that you as an event planner worry about and definitely of the topmost priority. It’s up to you now to interest your sponsors by creating the best digital event sponsorship packages.

About Us

The AidaIo platform is focussed on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more about how we can help with event sponsorship. You can also write to us at [email protected]

Follow us @teamaidaio

Live Audience Polls

Engaging events are never a one-way journey. It’s all about interactivity and capturing the imagination of your audience polls. Instant audience engagement and interaction can be rewarding, not only in terms of evaluating your event but also to prepare for the next.

Then comes the fancy world of ARS (Audience Response System). Yes, the same thing that you see in some of the TV shows. The presenter asks a question and the audience press a button on a small voting pad and shares their votes. There is a receiver device that captures and consolidates these votes.

Problem

On the first look, ARS does seem very interesting, but as you delve deep into its world, you realise it’s just more responsibilities falling on your shoulders, in terms of procuring the devices, testing them and the list goes on.

Procurement – First and foremost, for using ARS in your event, you must plan ahead to procure or rent the devices. Once procured, they have to be stored appropriately.

Capacity – The number of devices needed for your event depends on the number of targeted voters. Each receiver has a set capacity, which is usually around 200-500 voters.

Cost – The rental cost is often around $5-$20 for each voting device. Over that, there is a fixed cost that is to be paid for the receivers, which could be anywhere from $800 to $1000.

Powering – Once procured, you have to ensure that all the devices are powered and working properly. These devices work on small batteries, which need to be checked often and recharged. In case of faulty devices, you need to get them repaired ahead of the onset of the event.

Dry runs – And once that is ensured, you must go ahead and carry out multiple dry runs with the devices and receivers. A small amount of training and ‘getting-used-to’ is required for setting up polls.

Handling – You also need volunteers to hand out devices and collect them once the voting is over. With larger events, ARS becomes all the more cumbersome to distribute, collect and store.

Proximity – If the targeted audience is distributed across the venue, then good luck on getting them to assemble at one point and casting their votes. The voting pads need to be within the range of the receiver, which is usually a radius of 100 meters.

Solution

There’s got to be a better way. Each one of us carries a smartphone today, so how about putting them to good use at events. How about sending Polls to your audience through your event app?

Using the right tool makes it a lot easier. The audience have their smartphones in their pockets, so you don’t have to worry about any of the above problems. Even if the audience is spread across the venue, you can broadcast a poll and they can send their responses from wherever they are. Moreover, at a given point of time, multiple polls can be active simultaneously. Users can peruse previous polls and their votes. As the results pour in, you can display them on a live display screen of your choice.

Just imagine the plethora of analytics possibilities that would be available. Based on how an individual vote’s, you can target content to her appropriately. You could make use of these learnings to plan your next event. Since the possibilities are endless – Make sure you make the most it!

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This is Part 2 of our Event ROI series – Venue Performance Evaluation. Check out Part 1 -Speaker Evaluation.

When organizing any event, an event planner has to make many decisions that will have an impact on the overall success of the event. Deciding upon the best event space is one such delicate decision that has the largest impact both on experience and budget. There are lots of reading material on how to choose a location. Here is the link. But often neglected is getting feedback from the attendees post-event about the Event space.

Evaluate your venue performance with these 9 metrics (w/BONUS).

You: Where the Needs met? | Visitor: “I accomplished my goal”

1. How good were the basic amenities at the venue? Like lighting, water, power, fire exits, etc.
2. Was it too crowded ? Was there ample space for networking or finding people?
3. How were the acoustics at venue ? Too loud ? Was it hard to hear people?
4. [BONUS] Was the venue accessible to everyone? Special needs? Elderly guests? etc.,

You: Was it Easy? | Visitor : “I didn’t have to work hard”

1. Was it easy to locate the place? Parking? Public transportation availability?
2. Were the venue staff/in-charge easily accessible ? Did you know/utilize the venue concierge service? 
3. Was the layout easy to navigate? Did the floor plan help to locate areas of interests?

You : Was it Enjoyable? | Visitor: “I felt good about that”

1. What was your impression of the overall decor and ambiance of the venue ?
2. Was the location clean?Restrooms, Dining areas etc.,
3. Would you recommend or visit the event space again with family or colleagues ?

Using Aidaio Event apps you can not only capture above data efficiently, but also provide venue information such as parking information, interactive floor plans and much more.

About Us

At AIDAIO, we believe a significant part of the answer lies in data generated by event technology and mobile apps. Using the Customer Experience Pyramid we are excited to start a series to provide Actionable metrics for event planners to measure various aspects of Event ROI. We are glad to hear from you and add to it. Do visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more. You can also write to us at [email protected]

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It has always been a challenge for meeting and event owners to create Event ROI that is meaningful. With the onset of Big Data this challenge needs to be addressed with Actionable ROI and not restricted to Vanity metrics.

At AIDAIO, we believe a significant part of the answer lies in data generated by event technology and mobile apps. Using the Customer Experience Pyramid we are excited to start a series to provide Actionable metrics for event planners to measure various aspects of Event ROI. We are glad to hear from you and add to it. Do reach out at [email protected] or tweet us @teamaidaio.

So here we go with Part 1 – Actionable metrics for Speaker evaluation

You : Were the Needs met ? | Visitor : “I accomplished my goal”

1. Did the session cover the topic announced ?
2. Did you get enough time to ask questions ?
3. What is the best idea you heard in the session ?

You: Was it Easy? | Visitor : “I didn’t have to work hard”

1. Did the Speaker communicate effectively ? Was she or he too fast ? too slow ?
2. Did the Speaker share their social credentials & presentation(s) for post-event reach?
3. Did you provide easy tools to interact with speaker ? Live Polls etc.,

You : Was it Enjoyable? | Visitor: “I felt good about that”

1. Did speaker’s talk involve fun interactive content like videos, case-studies etc.,
2. Did you gratify attendees to participate in LIVE polls & quiz ?
3. Would you recommend the session/speaker to someone else?

The Apple WWDC 2016 concluded yesterday. A ton of exciting announcements – link . Lots of analysis already out there about it and we will soon have ours.

In the meanwhile here are 7 mind-blowing facts about Apple that Tim Cook talked about.

72% first-time attendees this year(2016)

9 Year old Anvitha Vijay is the Youngest developer at WWDC 2016. 

In 8 years number of apps in Apple app Store rose from 500 to 2 Million. 

130 Billion App downloads till date. 

Siri Caters to 2 Billion requests per week. 

15 billion apple music subscribers. 

6000 tvOS apps on Apple TV within a year 

BONUS : 5 Non-white men presented 

Why your app would be better by being Native and not Hybrid.

Have you ever lost your phone?

What’s the first thing you told yourself – “Hmm… I’ll find it another time. Not at this point.”

Definitely not!

Once you lose your phone, all other priorities go out the window. In today’s world that’s how much we value our mobile device. It’s with you every minute of the 24 hours.

That leads us to the question we need to ask ourselves as App promoters & App makers. If the value of a mobile device is so immense, shouldn’t Apps we deploy be more reliable, respond faster, and give all the answers your customers need as soon as possible?

Let’s skip the topic on why users download an App. 85% of consumers prefer mobile Applications over the mobile website – Source.

Don’t be the 15% who disagrees. So fast forward to once they download your mobile Application. What makes them keep it? Rather, the question to ponder and solve is how good is  user experience of your App – Only 28% say mobile Apps offer a better user experience – Source

In today’s “SnapChat” world, consumers expect snap reactions from their Apps. Apps that take full advantage of the built-in capabilities of their mobile devices – GPS, address book, camera, Bluetooth etc.,

Consumers want to chat real-time, view directions, set reminders, take pictures and much more. They use gestures, swipes, and are willing to uncover hidden actions that adhere to the guidelines of the respective platform. Your App needs to feel consistent with core native Apps on their devices.

Consumers expect proactive and relevant information within the context of their location at a particular time. Apps are expected to push personalized content based on their actions, with the ability to share content socially. App makers need to integrate emerging technologies like ibeacon, virtual reality.  Apps are expected to work offline and degrade gracefully – not show a loading spinner.

Let’s correct ourselves – these aren’t expectations anymore. This criteria will make or break the success of your App. The customer experience of your App is more important to your brand than you might think.  Apps that look great but perform poorly, will damage your brand.

79% of consumers would retry an App only once. Only 16% give it more than two attempts – Source.

You may get a chance to get it right once. but most certainly won’t get a second one.

Native app is the uncontested winner

The core of ensuring a great experience is using native Apps. Not hybrid ones that are HTML5 websites packaged into native wrappers. Can’t tell the difference? A simple eye test is to launch your Application in airplane mode and experience it., You are going to know the difference!

A few years back, it was expensive and time-consuming to build native mobile applications. In today’s ASAP world it’s easy to give up on getting a good App partner or choose a hybrid App approach. But with a platform like ours, cutting edge technology exist that provide custom branded Apps with authentic native experience at prices that translate to huge ROI.

Your users will DEMAND a great experience. They will open your App and expect it to be intuitive and responsive. Native Applications are the uncontested winner in both cases. To quote Mark Zuckerberg – “The biggest mistake we’ve made as a company is betting on HTML5 over native”

A long lasting relationship depends on the quality of each encounter – not just the first one. So do NOT compromise.

You’re exploring event apps for your next event, but you’re unsure whether attendees will download your app? Do you feel that event marketing for your app can take up much of your time and effort?

According to EventManagerBlog, 29% of event professionals reported less than 35% of their attendees downloaded their event app. This is a real problem! Our experience shows that event engagement increases when at least 50% of your attendees download the app. Event apps can boost attendee engagement by over 77%.  Event apps also offer many tangible benefits for event organizers. Leveraging event apps can help you realize significant ROI from your events. We have seen that with some simple app promotion strategies, you can ensure upto 65% downloads pre-event.

Event App adoption

Yet most organisers feel that app marketing is an additional task at hand. Given your hectic schedules especially closer to the date of the event, you may feel overwhelmed with the task of promoting apps. Yet, to ensure that attendees download event apps, an app promotion strategy is a must.

The good news is that event app promotion is not such a hard task. There is but a little effort involved in ensuring app downloads.

Plugging in app promotion as part of event marketing strategy can help you create a much better impact.

App promotion methods are subjective to the type of your event. Listed below are some of the simple event marketing steps for your app that we recommend . Consider these for promoting app downloads and adoption.

App availability before event – Ensure apps are available for download at least 2 weeks before your event. Look for event apps that offer the flexibility to change content without the need to publish the app to the app stores.  Also see the event app with rich, relevant event information. Your attendees don’t want to download an app that is blank, and with no relevant content.

Email marketing about the app – When you send out EDMs to your attendees, speakers, and sponsors, include a short highlight about the event app. Sending out one or more exclusive emailers detailing why your attendees need to download the event app can also be helpful. Plan for these EDMs in the 2 weeks lead up to your event so it stays fresh in your attendee’s mind.

Integrate with Social Campaigns – Looking at app promotion as an isolated activity is a rookie mistake. When you have your social handles, print & broadcast media active, you don’t need to look further. Plug in your app promotion content into these channels. Introduce event app details

Familiarity – When you are familiar with the features of your event app you can influence your audience effectively. If you don’t use the event app yourself, it can be quite pointless to ask your audience to do so. So make sure you and your on-ground team downloads and actively use the app.

Content – Keep your app content up-to-date. Keep your attendees’ interest alive even pre-event. Publish event trivia, photos from event planning, quotes from speakers, and all event related updates. Make sure that your attendees look forward to seeing fresh content every day.  Interesting, relevant and timely content is a great way to trigger app promotions.

Incentivize attendees – Educating attendees about the value of the event app is one way to trigger app promotions. In addition, you should also consider other incentives.  Offer special discounts, goodies, VIP check-in, special seating. Running contests in the app for early adopters can help create a buzz, that could trigger organic downloads.

At-venue app signage – Make your event app visible. Provide a chance to download the app during the event.  Printed posters of the app at registration desks, QR codes to app URL on delegate kits, app details on event background displays, short announcements etc. can help promote adoption.

In-session promotions – Reminding attendees to rate sessions or post questions will encourage app usage and downloads during the event.

Create a community  – Don’t stop at pushing information. You want your attendees to engage with your content. Once you reach a certain threshold of users on the app, start publishing polls, or posts seeking inputs from your audience. Use data from these polls to attract other attendees to also download and participate in the event community.

Conclusion

Do not just focus on creating an event app – focus on creating the experience around your event app. Promoting an event app does not need to be an isolated activity.  When you channelise a small percentage of your event marketing efforts to include event app promotion, it can positively impact app adoption.

About Us

The AidaIo platform is focused on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. If you’re looking for more ideas on rolling out an event app for your next event, visit our website www.aidaio.com. You can also write to us at [email protected]

Attendee engagement is a journey. Brands strive to build an emotional connect with a consumer. It begins with powerful messaging. But brands can sustain this only by creating amazing experiences, and building a community.

Events are a high touch point channel for brand to connect with a highly activated audience.

The journey of a brand’s connect with its attendees begins with Brand visibility, and progresses towards Brand activation, then engagement and finally creating Brand Ambassadors.

Technology is a great enabler for consumer engagement whether it is in events or elsewhere. Social media and cross-channel marketing strategies are quite powerful in reaching out to potential consumers. But, often brand connect and social communities stay out of sync.   It is important to have solutions that create a unified persona of the consumer across the different channels.

Also important, is the need to understand the consumer’s context, and target relevant content based on her location, interests and preferences.

At AIDA, we see this connect between brand and consumer evolve through 5 stages.

Introducing the Attendee Engagement Funnel

Guidance:  When a brand initiates it’s connect with consumers, it is crucial to guide, educate and inform them.

This is the first step towards understanding what a brand stands for, and what the consumer can gain from the brand.

In the case of events, the program schedule, speaker list, venue etc. serve the purpose of guidance.

But, bringing in an interactive aspect to this information can change the way a consumer receives this. Structuring content such that it leads a consumer on a journey of discovery, can help make Guidance a fun way to connect to the consumer.

Simple interactions, such as RSVP on agenda, guided maps; chat to speakers etc. can go a long way in establishing the ground for the next stage of Engagement.

Engagement: As consumers embark on their journey of content discovery, they find more and more reasons to engage with the brands. Even asking for more information or expressing an opinion about the brand’s content can be gratifying.

This engagement sets the grounds for brands to initiate 2 way conversations with their consumers.

In events, many of these conversations are primarily face-to-face. Can technology complement these face-to-face conversations? The answer is a resounding Yes.

Polls, surveys, event activity walls, 1 on 1 chat with organizers/ event partners etc. are easy to use technology complements. Games such as Treasure Hunts are an effective way to activate your audience. They can have a great time while discovering brand content!

Community: When people have a good time, they tell others about it. They create their own communities, and share their experiences. This is a key social behavior that brands can leverage. Social media is a space where most of a brand’s community building happens today. But, social media is an open forum. A consumer needs to sift through a lot of noise before they can find relevant content.

There is a need today to create a channel that can seamlessly combine social media advantages with the private social context of a brand.  White labeled mobile apps serve as a context aware channel for brands to achieve this.

Providing a space for attendees to connect to other delegates, share, like and comment on event activities, creating a social buzz in the context of the event, creating multi lingual content etc. can nudge even the passive attendee into being part of the larger event community.

Achievement: Sustaining the community connect, conversations is equally essential. Recognizing the influencers in the community, responding actively to the pulse of the community, identifying trending topics is a good way to begin. But, unless there is a sense of achievement that your consumer can realize from her engagement, this buzz is likely to die down.

Gamification is a great way to push the community engagement to the nest stage. Can you reward the active participants or even promote a healthy competition among the peers? Combine social conversations with in-venue gratification by launching in-venue gamified social walls.  Plan a crowd sourced social activity that can result in a larger achievement or reward for the entire community. For instance, if 50 photos are posted under the event hashtag in the next 1 hour, everyone gets a free coupon!

Brands no more need to worry about creating content, since the community has started co-creating content for them.

Influence: When the community is so highly activated, everyone is a brand ambassador. Even the passive consumer, is now an active influencer for the brand.

In the case of events, this translates into extending these conversations over and beyond the event. Turning them into a year long conversation channel, and as a lead up to the next edition.

So, what are you waiting for? Start your journey with AIDA today. Activate your passive consumer into passionate brand ambassadors.

We bet your events are informative, engaging, and fun. But do you continue to rely on printed material for distributing event information? Do you still use outdated technology for communicating with your attendees?

Attendees today have high engagement needs but low attention spans. They are smart, and are eager to converse. They carry smart phones and embrace technology with ease.

Why then are your events still in the era of printed-paper?

It is indeed time for you to consider an app for your next event. There are many benefits of rolling out a mobile app for your event. We have listed a few of these below.

1. Go Green, Go Paperless

Every event needs to distribute information about the program, venue layout, partners and promotional material, banners etc.  Printing may not be the most important item on your cost cutting list. Yet they have a larger impact on your responsibility to environmental sustainability. Besides, no one ever wants to go through a conference carrying a load of papers. Go Green. Now.

Putting up event information on a website isn’t good enough. Especially given the flaky nature of Internet in-venue. Mobile apps can easily be the channel for your event information. Go for the ones where you can publish last minute changes with ease. Your attendees must be able to access event information even when offline.

2. Stay tuned to Event schedule

Every event manager has had last minute changes to make in the program. Speakers cancel at the last minute. Partners may need changes to their promotional material.  Why go through the hassle of re-printing event material, when you can make changes in a few seconds?

Moreover, digital content is interactive and real time. You can push notifications and announcements through the app. You can even integrate your social channels with your app for a seamless end to end engagement experience.

3. Why start your event with a long queue ?

Every event begins with a really long queue. Your attendees wait in frustration, while your registration desk tries to sort through piles of registration badges, and lanyards.  Why start a great event with frustration ?

Mobile apps can create digital badges through QR codes. You can even issue your food coupons or limit access to sessions through these digital badges. Offer special treatment to your prominent guests or key speakers. Be notified of their arrival, and check-them in automatically.

4.    A digital emcee 

Let your attendees take complete control of their schedules. Attendees can create their own schedule by choosing lectures of their interest and get reminders for the sessions chosen.

Sitting in hall A, an attendee can now know what lectures are running in other halls.

They can also take notes in session. They can download presentation material. They can post questions too. Your event app can become a digital emcee.

5. Create an Event Community

Networking is a big part of every event. People attend events just to find the right people to meet, network and socially engage with.

Why not help your attendees network, setup meetings, reach out to your partners, and even reach out to you with ease ?

Event apps have created a new way of engagement that was previously non-existent in traditional events. Attendees can discover fellow delegates, chat, post comments & photos. They can respond to live polling, participate in games, and engage in conversations. As your attendees engage and network, you can glean powerful insights into their likes and dislikes, and trending topics. You can use these insights to respond and react fast.

6. More value for your Event Partners

Your event partners can get a themed digital booth in your event app. Attendees can view digital promotional content, sponsored notifications, product brochures, videos and much more. They can also reach out to your partners through the app. This is a great way for your partners to capture leads. What better way to show your event partners a great event ROI?

If you need more information about how Carrot apps can help your next event, reach out to us now.

Brands harness the power of consumer influence through captive messaging, emotional connect and interactive audience engagement. At its core, the power of marketing hinges on the relationship between a brand and its consumers. By employing appropriate media platforms, brands can nurture a community of actively engaged consumers.

Brand Visibility can be sustained by Innovative ideas and digital strategies.  Social connect, digital innovation and face-to-face engagement can activate an audience engagement.

Product launches, experiential marketing, brand activations and Promotions thrive on the emotional connect that a brand can make with its audience. To create a successful experiential campaign, brands rely on Brand Visibility, Brand Experience, and Brand-Recall.

Technology plays an important role in complementing these experiences.

Imagine a large physical venue with curated brand content. For instance, a large art gallery, a new corporate campus or even a large exhibition ground. How can a brand make its messaging and content visible to its audience in-venue?  How can the brand enthrall its audience even as they traverse the large venue?

Can fun be induced into this experience?  How to make the audience not just passively consume brand content, but actively engage and discover?

A guided tour or games such as Treasure hunts or scavenger hunt can be a great way to lead your audience across your venue.  Digitizing a guided tour or these games is a real option. A digital treasure hunt can provide clues, quizzes, and trivia based on the audience location. When used in conjunction with beacons and proximity targeting it can also act as a channel to publish relevant information.

Experiencing the brand is a combination of social, digital, and face-to-face interactions. Not all consumers are active on social channels. Yet, brands get a high visibility and marketing leverage on social channels. They are always on the lookout for simple ways to increase social engagement. Gamifying the social engagement through competitive social leaderboards, live social walls or activity points can activate the audience engagement.

It is not new to offer simple giveaways for audiences who are actively engaging with a brand. It creates a unique brand recall value.

Traditionally giveaways involve games, typically lotteries or simple puzzle solving or other activities. Digitizing these games gives a brand not only the flexibility to theme & configure these games but also to capture leads. Virtual reality, Augmented reality, 3D experiences are making a huge wave in the experiential world. But they are a costly affair. There are also simple, affordable, easy to use solutions.

AIDAIO introduces Ice – Interactive Digital Games to increase attendee engagement in exhibitor booths, conferences, activation events, and product launches. Choose from games such as SpinWheel, Treasure Hunt, Quiz, Picture puzzles and more.

Ice games are easy to set up. You can theme your games per your branding. Setup and configure game rules and giveaways. You can customize lead capture forms, go live with your game in an hour, and preview your game setup.

Ice games are phone and tablet friendly, easy to install, and cost-effective. Options for multiplayer, single player, conducted games are available. You can also choose a single game or a basket of games to suit your brand engagement needs. You can also activate it as part of your Event App.

Explore how Ice can make a difference in your brand engagement strategy.

Download the Ice app now and sign up for a free trial.

About Us

The AidaIo platform is focussed on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more or write to us at [email protected]

Before event apps changed the landscape of exhibitions and trade shows altogether, getting a satisfactory space for a stall remained the biggest concern of Event Organizers and Exhibitors. The key motivations for taking up a stall space in general were to

1. Showcase products
2. Capture leads
3. Increase brand recall

In the midst of these impediments, the real focus of evaluating ROI from an exhibition space was lost.

But what if we could flip this around and say that physical space does not necessarily amount to greater ROI? And what if there is a fair scope for every exhibitor to improve brand visibility, showcase products and carry out valuable lead generation with ease? What if you could democratise exhibition spaces?

Ambitious as it may sound, this is exactly where event apps come in and drive the desired difference.

Event apps can address not just the key motivations/ goals for an exhibitor, but also create more value and better insights into ROI.

Here are some of the key aspects to consider in event apps :

Showcase products

Creating a digital booth in your event app is the smartest way to showcase your partners, and ensure greater visibility.

Digital booths help exhibitors and sponsors to promote their brand, products, provide brochures and relevant contact details.

Capture leads

Why wait for weeks until after the event to collate, organize all the business cards you received at your stall? What if you could do that instantly through the event app, and capture details of any delegate interested in reaching out to you.

What if you could run simple fun games that capture leads and let your attendees win prizes?

Better brand recall

Can you create a unique brand recall value for your products? Is it possible to create a themed digital booth where you attendees can view and experience your brand? Can product experiences be transformed into digital content and captured instantly to provide exhibitors with a better visibility into the profile of delegates who are reaching out to them?

In addition to these, event apps combined with strategically positioned beacons can help exhibitors drive traffic into their booths. Imagine if you could send a personalised offer to an attendee who is in the proximity of your stall. All the data from number of views on your digital booth, number of leads to the profile of leads will all be available in an instant. This is the kind of actionable content that can provide measurable insights to help your event partners realize better ROI.

It’s a confluence of these smart functionalities that makes event apps an interesting possibility. For your attendees and exhibitors, event apps are the perfect companion but for you, it is a true business associate.

To know more about how you can add value to your event partners, reach out to us at [email protected] or visit our website

Quite often than not, you might have come across that uneasy feeling when you had a question to ask in a public gathering, but were too shy to speak it out? Didn’t you feel distant and left out in the crowd for the simple reason that you spoke a different language? You waited for days and months for an event which turned up as a bitter-sweet experience in the end!

In gatherings, especially in events, attendees from different backgrounds, languages, personalities bind together in the context of the theme of the event. As an event organizer, you want your event to be memorable and enjoyable. You want to create an event where your audience feel connected, carrying back with them an unforgettable experience. But, we live in a world of diversity. Diverse cultures, many languages, different personalities. How do you then create that experience where none of your audience feels left out?

The answer lies in bringing context-aware content to the platform in a language of your attendee’s choice.This is where regional players gain tremendous significance. A great amount of content is now being consumed by regional players. As per a recent survey conducted by Economic Times, about 24 million internet users consume content in vernacular languages. More engrossing is the fact that about $20 Billion worth of content is consumed by Indians in local languages.The statistics says it all. India is gaining significance as a popular new destination for MICE and attracting a global audience. It is, therefore, important for event organizers to quickly adapt to this change.

Multilingual event apps are a great channel to deliver regional language content and facilitate this disruptive change. Imagine the impact you can create with something as simple as a personalized welcome message in your attendee’s native language. You can now stay in complete control by publishing key announcements in more than 30 languages, and make sure that everyone stays tuned to your event updates irrespective of the language they speak.

Here are some of the key aspects of multilingual apps that are worth taking a look at:

Flexibility of publishing content

How quickly can multi-lingual content be published in an app? Does the app have a content management interface that can publish content seamlessly in the languages of your choice?

Carrot’s content platform powered by AIDAIO allows you to do this with a simple tap. Once your content is up and ready, publishing it is a child’s play indeed.

Don’t create different apps for each language

Your event app is a vital part of your event’s branding and brand experience. Why then do you need to have 5 different apps for each language your event supports? Why not have your attendees download a single event app, choose the language in which they want to consume content?

Carrot’s multilingual apps exactly do this by letting your attendees have complete control on how they want to view their content.

Create personalized content

You can create groups among your audience, and target specialized content for groups based on their chosen language. This can provide you with a flexibility to target exclusive content when needed.

Users can post in the language of their choice

Publishing content is not just the organizer’s prerogative anymore. Attendees can interact, share views, comment and do more through your event app. This way they can post comments and questions whenever they want to, without feeling hesitant about it.

Explore Carrot apps with Multiple language support – Get in touch with us now.

Gender inequality is a real and pressing issue that our world faces today. Bridging the gender gap at workplaces and creating opportunities for women to not just join the workforce, but to retain and propel them into leadership roles is a necessity that companies corporates are waking up to. It is one of the best times for women to prosper in their career and make a name for themselves. The increased awareness and an impetus on companies to bridge the gender gap, accompanied by supporting forums, women role models and mentors is bound to give the much-needed shot in the arm for the careers of aspiring women.

McKinsey Global Institute’s Sept 2015 report claims that women contributing “full-potential” by bridging the gender gap will add $12 trillion to the annual GDP in 2025.

Events play a great role in advocating, spreading the reach and awareness of the campaigns to encourage women, share best practices and to influence policy makers. The Event Industry itself, however, struggles to see more women in leadership roles. Recruiting a skilled woman does not seem to be an issue here. However, the same attributes that make event management appealing are what make it hard for maintaining the right balance between personal and professional lives. Family friendly work hours, creative yet highly demanding (in terms of travel, with limited remote working options) work environments are likely to impair the career progress of women beyond a certain stage.

As part of MPI EMEC 2015, Warsaw, in Feb 2015, a short survey sums this up quite well.The results included the following insights:

Our own analysis of how women are represented in events as attendees or as speakers paints an even more dismal picture. Our analysis of data from technical and business conferences, corporate events, exhibitions powered by Carrot, shows that women constitute less than 10% of attendees, and less than 8% of the speakers are women.

We believe that affirmative action to actively encourage women to attend and speak at events is the need of the hour. As women, we ourselves also need to understand the importance of networking, and aspire for leadership roles. An overall policy change in providing better, safe and dependable child care options and maternity policies will go a long way in opening up a world of opportunities for women.

Here is a Tribute to all the #WomenInEvents!

We have, in our journey with Carrot, come across many creative, competent, amazing women – entrepreneurs, event managers, leaders who are fantastic at what they do. Events are indeed a better place because of you women. We wish you all a very happy women’s day. Keep rocking, rockstar #WomenInEvents.

Did you know that Networking is one of the most important reasons to attend events ? Networking remains one of the time-tested approaches to build business contacts in a non-competitive environment. Social Communities thrive on this aspect of networking.

By curating networking events for your attendees, you can facilitate a great opportunity to make business connects, and to increase their visibility and reach in their area of expertise.

But in doing so, you face many challenges. Difficulties in co-ordinating meeting time between different people within the limited duration of an event, or in some cases, leading the right kind of audience to your exhibitors are just some of the challenges.

Bringing attendees together under one roof and staging a flawless networking experience is one of the hardest tasks for any organizer.

This being the key issue, there is still one pertinent question for any organizer!

How to make sure your attendees take back a great experience?

Can technology take care of this aspect? Here is how event apps can complement event networking

Discover Attendees – Search for attendees nearby with similar interests and exchange contact details.

Request a call back from exhibitors – Create a digital space for your exhibitors and let your attendees reach out and schedule a call back. This creates a new avenue for your exhibitors and an effortless, seamless way to capture leads.

Exchange contact details: Generally, a networking event involves sharing of personal or business contact details in the form of business cards. In events, this is quite a challenge, since there is no simple way to know how many people of interest you might meet. You may run out of business cards in the middle of an event. Even when attendees exchange business cards, it is hard to remember the context of conversations, a few weeks after the event.

Mobile apps can create QR codes with attendee contact details. Attendees can scan QR Codes to exchange contact details

One on One Chat – Send a chat request to a fellow delegate, and initiate a conversation. Let your attendees find the best time to network.

Create focus groups – You can mix and match your attendees by creating networking groups for people with similar interests. You can set sharing access levels, and manage networking groups effortlessly.

Make new friends – One key aspect you should consider in networking is the ability to share information and make new connects. Mobile apps with an interactive timeline that lets attendees share their views, pictures, or even like, share and comment on other posts is a great way to build social communities at events.

These are few of the many benefits a mobile app brings to your event. Why don’t you try an app for your next event too? And see how your attendees acknowledge you for the effortless networking.

Wasn’t it a great feeling to have staged yet another successful event and get the crowd talking about it throughout the day?

The outcome was everything you wished for. It created a buzz in social media, talked about in radio and was the talk of the town. Kudos! A pat on your back for all the efforts you put in!

But what if we say you deserved more adulation than what you received ? That the recognition wasn’t meant for just a single day!

What if you could sustain that excitement and buzz all year long? What if you could continue that cherished engagement long after the event is over? ‘A wishful thinking!’ you would say, wouldn’t you?

‘No…it’s not!’.

Let’s start from where it all began!!

From the very event…from the very successful event YOU organized!

There was a great zeal among the audience to see, to hear, to network and familiarize. As self-evident as it may seem, networking remains one of the top reasons for people to attend events. Why not build on this desire to engage by giving them a platform that seamlessly bridges their online- offline interactions?

We believe that technology, when used the right way, can complement human interactions and behaviour. We live in a time where smart phones have become our identity. We carry it with us everywhere and stay connected on the go.

In spite of that, users won’t download an app or continue its use if they see no value in it. Therefore technology needs to be complemented with the right kind of content – one that is context aware, relevant and valuable. Social channels provide an open platform for people to express, but may not be the best place to have context relevant conversations within a heterogeneous group. Whatsapp comes close, but the type of content, group limitations, lack of analytics and moderation make it unsuitable as a medium for professional conversations.

If you want your attendees or event community to stay connected and continue the conversations, then consider the following imperatives.

Branding

When your event community wants to stay in touch, they do so under the umbrella of your brand. Therefore having an open forum such as a social channel does not meet the desired objective of having a safe, context relevant communication channel. White labelled mobile apps are a great option.

Content

Content is king. Or queen. It is important to have a variety of content to publish. Don’t just send short announcements. Try blogs. Newsletters. Polls. Surveys. Photos. Videos. Do not settle for less. Opt for content management systems that let you quickly adapt your content across social and mobile channels.

Interactivity

It would indeed be a dull affair if all the content were linear in tone and text. A lecture is the last thing your attendees would hope for in your event. Remember! People like to socialize. They want to hear and be heard. And in between these two acts they relieve their experience. So, choose a solution that lets your community create, share, like and promote content. Turn that passive consumer into a passionate brand ambassador.

Moderation

Yes, we can see that worried twitch in your forehead when you read about the “letting your community create content”. Trust us, in a forum with context relevant content and like-minded people, everyone feels accommodated and accepted. They feel at ease to contribute and share responsibly. That said, you need the flexibility to moderate/ tone down content if a situation arises. So gain access to your content board and stay in control.

Analytics

At any point of time, you need to be aware of the pulse of your community. Who is the most influential user ? Is there anyone who has minimal contribution? Are there people dropping out of the forum ? What are the trending topics of the day/week/month?. A good analytics dashboard helps you react to the trends, and improve on the already great engagement.

Don’t just create an event app – Create a community app. Start today. Explore our year long engagement & multi event solutions.

Imagine you had a magic wand that could tell what your attendees want! A magic wand that could tell your attendees’ behaviour, tastes and preferences ? Wouldn’t you then wave it often to see what their popular spot are or the amount of time they spend in the exhibition halls or many such revelations.

What if we tell you that you already have that magic wand – the smartphone which your attendee has, would you be surprised ? Don’t believe us  – Let’s explore how smartphone can help usher that magic and change the way event managers organize and run events.

Smartphones come equipped with many sensors. When you have a mobile app that can leverage these sensors, you begin to track a number of actions – movement, proximity, time, interests and much more. This information can be captured real time, and even without the availability of internet. Predicting your audience’s behavior, channelizing their interests and providing unparalleled experiences is what makes events smarter, turning them into a blockbuster. Now add to this Bluetooth Low Energy Sensors such as iBeacons  – you land up creating hyper local “points of interest” within a given location.

The Power of Proximity Targeting

Did you know the average attention span for humans (8 seconds) in 2015 is less than a goldfish ? It’s not that we aren’t capable of paying attention. The reality is in today’s fast paced world of information distribution and creation, it is becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to pay attention to one thing for an extended period of time. Unless, it is relevant to them at that moment and place.

Technology is a huge enabler for this relevance smartly. The smartness of technology is in how you convert your attendee’s attention of 8 seconds with a notification, prodding her to view it in more detail by spending 1 minute, and using that minute to prompt her to take an action that lasts for minutes.

A combination of iBeacons and Geo-Location enabled mobile apps give you the power to target personalized, location specific, content to your attendees. Proximity targeting pins your event location to the target audience, making sure they never lose their way in the floor plans and venue layouts. It can also be used to track attendee movements and create heat maps of different areas of your event space.

The ability to target location specific content opens up many possibilities. You can use it for something as simple as sending a personalized “Welcome” message or to publish special offers based on interests & actions. Too Boring ? Why not set up something interactive and fun – a treasure hunt for attendees to discover various exhibitors across your venue. Exhibitors and sponsors can benefit from proximity marketing by promoting context relevant content only to attendees in specific sessions or to attendees near their stalls.

The use cases of proximity targeting are myriad and we are just scratching the tip of the iceberg. Drop us a note if you would like to be a part of it.

Take Control with Real time Insights

Imagine if you can track attendance at exhibitor booths, popular spots at your venue, times at which most attendees visit exhibitor stalls, attendee movement through your venue. You can use this information to not just plan your event venue but also to unlock new revenue streams. Exhibitors and sponsors benefit by promoting product offers to attendees based on their interests, time and proximity.

Real-time insights from event apps can help event managers make informed decisions. Through live surveys and interactive content, event apps can capture attendee feedback on popular speakers and influencers, session ratings and trending topics. Event managers no longer need to be in the dark about event trends or wait until after a few weeks to glean insights about their event.

Summary

Event intelligence and proximity targeting will continue to grow in popularity at events. But an isolated application of Bluetooth beacons or analytics without context is insignificant.The right mix of proximity targeting and context aware intelligence brings the right impact at your events. It helps you in curating engagement that transforms attendees experience into a phenomenon that catapults your events into a blockbuster.

Remember the concert where your audience turned up in huge numbers and returned disheartened on learning that the star-artist didn’t show up? Weren’t you irked beyond when you had to run around communicating a last minute venue change at a recent tech conference you organized?

To put it into perspective, events result in two polar outcomes- a huge success or a dismal show. As an organizer, being at the receiving end of logistic and organizing bandwagon can escalate into a nightmare. It poses a threat to the very experience an organizer cherishes to create. How does one solve these intangible problem?s Are there key parameters which minimize last-minute uncertainties ? How can organizers enhance attendee engagement ?

It was an observation of these challenges faced by event organizers that set off Mangalam & Pallav, co-founders of AIDAIO, on an exploration into the nitty-gritty of events industry. As Pallav and Mangalam gathered insights from event organizers, speakers, attendees and sponsors, they found a dire need for events to go digital. And an even greater value in nurturing social communities around events. Pallav fondly recollects, “Carrot is an idea born in a conference!”

Managing last minutes changes is an issue that bites every event organizer. Schedules of events are printed weeks before the event. However they are susceptible to alternations, even on the day of the event. It was this pain-point that Carrot addressed in its early days. On its advantage, Pallav remarks, “Carrot apps are powered by AIDAIO’s powerful and flexible backend system.  It allows event managers to customize every bit of detail on the apps anytime, anywhere instantly. With Carrot, event managers gain control to publish content changes real-time and send instant announcements. It doesn’t stop here. You can switch on/off features, change app look and feel, moderate user content, support local language and much more in seconds. It’s the kind of control and agility that can empower every event organizer.”

Further he adds, “In terms of accessibility and adaptability, the platform gives an edge to promote event apps well in advance. Events don’t need to be constrained with app approval timelines with the ability to design and publish an app in ONE hour.”

Our efforts didn’t go unnoticed. In recognition of the innovative technology, product design, flexible solution, of Carrot, AIDAIO was recently shortlisted among the Top 10 Promising Start-ups by CII, at the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Summit in November 2015. This came a few months after being nominated in the Best Event Technology category at MICE Asia Pacific 2015, held at Singapore.

“It’s a milestone we are honored by to have achieved so early in our journey. We owe it to our partners & customers who adopted our solution early. They made us a part of their journeys, and became a part of ours.” said Pallav.

We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and can’t wait to continue challenging ourselves to produce valuable solutions for the event industry. Thanks to everyone who encouraged us and continue believing in us.

“What an App. I am overwhelmed. I haven’t witnessed such experience in any state, national or international medical conference. Take a bow”

–  Attendee at KOSCON 2015

KOSCON 2015 – SUCCESS STORY

Karnataka Ophthalmic Society is one of the largest State Societies in India affiliated to the All India Ophthalmological Society. The 34th Annual Conference KOSCON was held at Hubli, Dharwad between 20th and 22nd of November 2015.

Objectives

• Make KOSCON 2015 interactive and reducing paper to Go Green.
• Create a digital hub for all event information and engagement.

Go Green – One of a kind, paperless Medical Conferences

Medical conferences print a lot of collateral – paper abstracts, agenda, brochures etc. KOSCON made it their vision this year to elevate the event experience by going paperless, and adopt a digital platform. The KOSCON 2015 mobile app, powered by Carrot, displayed interactive real time content, enabling attendees to engage in two-way interactions.

Digital Engagement – Building Private Social Communities

The KOSCON Mobile app was not just a replacement of paper brochures. The app provided many interactive channels for attendees to post their comments, photos, respond to polls, quizzes and much more. Even conference delegates who were not present at the venue could stay tuned to the buzz of the event.

KOSCON attendees embraced the interactive event activity timeline, with the organizing team constantly communicating latest updates, reminders, and photos from across the conference venue. Attendees even used the app to post their questions to speakers and provided their feedback and rating for the sessions.

Injecting Fun in a Professional Conference

Medical conferences typically include discussions, paper presentations, and lectures on serious topics. As such, it becomes very crucial to hold the attendees’ attention span constantly and throughout the event; and the gamification provided by the app enhanced the attendee’s experience and engagement.

“The app was very effective in staying connected with the attendees. It seamlessly fed live updates and notifications to the attendees. We could even manage attendee travel needs with live bus schedules and updates”

– Dr. Shrinivas, the chair of organising committee for 34th edition of KOSCON

Result

• 80% Attendees used the app for all event needs
• 70% Overall Attendee Engagement increased

Download a PDF version of this success story.

About Us

Do you want to know more about how we can help you in delivering a digital and seamless event experience? Visit us at www.aidaio.com. Another way you can reach out to us is to write to us at [email protected]

Everything in this world boils down to one thing – Love. Love of a person, Love of travel, Love of food. This Valentine’s Day we unfold another genre of love that remains unrealized. The unspoken love between an Event Manager and their attendees.

Because we believe that unless there is a personal, “can feel your pulse” connection no amount of elaborate setup, yummy food, dazzling performances or gripping speeches will leave event attendees dreamy eyed. Success of an event should be judged by how attendees reminisce about it long after it’s over – How many memories were created? How many relationships were forged? How many old bonds were strengthened?

So here is our take on how you can gift your attendees the perfect Valentines year.

Woo them personally: Create a buzz around what you have to offer with your personal touch. Give them a personalized unique experience. How? Gone are the days of pamphlets and static websites that just gave out information. Find your attendees ahead of D-day and stay close. And what is closest to your attendees? No prize for guessing the answer – their mobiles. It’s the personal gateway for individual engagement in today’s world.

Entertain: Now that you have their attention don’t lay back.Events are vibrant, creative and lively with conversations and memorable connections. We believe and have experienced that it takes a lot of creative effort to inspire people’s behavior, So why not evoke your creative genius to entertain and engage your attendees until the D-day with groupie photo-contests? Or fun competitive quizzes to the lead up to your event? Have more ideas? We are listening.

Communicate and Commit: Don’t let lack of two-way communication weaken this budding relationship. When you give your attendees a glimpse of the promise you have made, they will have queries, doubts and inputs. In this kind of digital courtship, trust and comfort is set on the grounds of how much they know you and how much you listen to them. Give them real time updates. Solve their real time problems. Time, Place, Internet no barrier. Know more.

Welcome them to your Community:  Your community is where all your attendees are, where your team is and where your invited guest delegates are. You need to make them talk as one single community. We know that this will not only make everyone excited about the D-day, they will also have more take away in the form of friendships, networks and memories.

D-day/V-day/E-day: The day arrives when you beautifully wrap your event and gift it to your attendees. All your hard work will be worth every penny when your attendees are drawn into the magic that you put together. And you will know what they are experiencing, moment-by-moment. You will know what excited them the most, what made them happy and what made them think.

Valentine’s Day is for anyone you deeply care about. Be it your partner, your friends, or in the dazzling world of Events “your attendees”  – the 💗 of every event!

When we launched Carrot – native white-labeled mobile apps for events, we observed that there was a clear absence of in-venue digital engagement. According to a 2013 report by Frost & Sullivan, 80% of event processes continue to be manual.

Mobile Apps seemed to be a good solution to address this. Although most event managers found event apps to be a great differentiator and a value add to the services they provide, they continue to be hesitant about adopting a digital complement for in-venue engagement with their audience.

This blog is an analysis of why event managers hesitate to adopt apps, and some guidelines on how to choose apps that overcome these barriers to adoption.

Some of the reasons we heard from Events Managers:

“I already have the event’s website”

Most events put up websites with event related information. Event organizers feel that it is redundant to publish the same information in a mobile app too.

Yes, we agree. However, mobile apps go beyond information publishing. It is a tool for engagement, interaction & personalized communication to the attendee. Mobile apps help increase audience engagement by 77%. Below are some snapshots of insights gained from events that were powered by AIDA.

“Would attendees download an app just for my event?”

If an app remains a replica of an event brochure or website, it will have a short-lifetime and there will be resistance to download.

Hence, it is critical to find solutions that go beyond a replacement of printed materials. Solutions from AIDA focus on audience engagement and value creation before, during and post the event. The focus of an event app must be to increase interactivity in the audience, and not just informational. The 5 key facets of an app should be Information, Engagement, Networking, Analytics, and Monetization. Attendees will be more inclined to adopt an app that addresses these facets when compared to an app that serves as a mere replacement of a printed materials.

“I do not know how to promote an app?”

We had put together some tips on how to promote event apps in an earlier blog.  We have observed that when  enough buzz is created around an event, app engagement peaks from a week before the event and continues for up to a week after the event is over. However there is a great potential to capture attendees attention by continuing to engage with them for much longer. AIDA also offers year-long engagement/multi-event apps that allow you to stay tuned to your audience all year long.

“Negative Feedback”

Event organizers also feel wary about attendees posting comments on the app for fear of a negative buzz. However, we have observed that most delegates are quite prudent when posting comments. Also organizer involvement in the app interactions, helps stay tuned to the buzz that’s happening and react to it sooner, rather than letting things go out of control. In addition, when coupled with a ‘moderator’ facility, organizers can choose to keep a healthy engagement alive on the app.

“Isn’t app development & maintenance expensive and who bears the cost?”

Many event organizers feel that costs of event apps are high and are unsure if it justifies the return of investment. For starters, the mobile app can reduce printing costs at an event by 7%. But more importantly, the apps create a new channel for revenue and better returns on investment for the organizers and event partners.

Sponsor visibility, sponsored messages, direct connect/facility to exchange business cards with sponsors and exhibitors can create much better ROI for your partners. Attendee engagement, stats on usage of the app, how often attendees connected to a partner through the app, among others provide great insights for organizers and partners and add value from a lead generation/marketing perspective. Always choose apps that provide you these added benefits.

“There is no Internet in-venue, the app would be useless”

This is definitely an issue with event apps that are just web views.

So it is important to choose mobile apps that can work completely in the offline mode. Event Apps powered by Carrot  need Internet only when first installed. Attendees can continue to use and interact with the app even when offline.

So, if you are an event organizer and are now convinced about why an app is a great idea for events, give us a buzz. But if you are still hesitant about adopting event apps, still give us a buzz. We are curious to learn why and want to see how we can address your concerns.

Drop us an email at [email protected] or leave a comment on our blog.

Mobile apps have become essential for every event. In an earlier post we highlighted how mobile apps can boost at-venue engagement by over 77%, besides other benefits like last-minute changes, lead generation, attendee communication, marketing and sponsorship opportunities. But for event organizers to realize them it is equally important to promote the app.

More than half of event organizers face a challenge when it comes to promoting their apps. An app promotion strategy is required to trigger organic downloads. Our experience has shown that when at least 50% of your attendees download the app it will show tangible ROI for your event.

App promotion methods are subjective to type of your event. Below are some methods that have worked for us. Feel free to try them out and let us know how it works for you.

1. App availability before event – Ensure apps are available in stores at least 2 weeks before your event.
2. Email marketing about the app – Highlight app availability in every email communication – possibly in the signature. Do not forget to send out that big EDM blast about the features in the app !
3. Signage across digital touchpoints – Promote your apps on website, social handles, partner sites, social campaigns with posts that provide the download link.
4. Mandatory Staff downloads – Mandate on-site and off-site staff to download and use the. They can be the biggest promoters of the app during sales vists, registration/check-ins, partner signups.
5. Incentivize attendees – Offer a discount on tickets or a gift-card draw sponsored by your partner to those who download by a specific date.
6. Pre-event value creation – Using solutions like ours you can provide value for your attendees much before they arrive for the event like Attractions near-by, Speaker blogs/videos, Book transport and accommodations and many more
7. Initiate In-app conversations – Push key announcements, simple messages, trivia and encourage attendees to respond by liking or commenting on public posts
8. Reduce printed materials – Eliminating print would be ideal, but it can be a gradual phase out by giving attendees an option to choose print or get all information in-app.
9. Word-of-mouth – Focus on unique value of an app like photo-sharing, personal schedules, get directions etc., that they can’t get with print. You can run an in-app campaign for co-creation of content.
10. Speakers, Partners & Exhibitors – Create and show value of the app to them. Their adoption of app will multiply the effect on attendees. Sponsored content is a great way to get your partners interested in the app while creating more revenue for you.
11. At-venue app signage – Put app details, QR codes on delegate kits,  volunteer t-shirts, posters at key areas – entrance, registration desks.
12. In-session promotions – Reminding attendees to rate sessions or post questions will encourage app usage and downloads during the event.

Do not just focus on creating an event app – focus on creating the experience around your event app. We would love to hear your app promotion stories and challenges. Do share them with us.

Drop us an email to [email protected]

Today mobile phones are a 24×7 engagement channel. According to a study in 2013 by Frost & Sullivan, mobile apps increase attendee engagement by 33%. So why stop at using mobile as just an information and communication channel. It goes without saying, before an event your goal is to drive attendance, but do not Attendee Engagement forget your attendees once they get there ! Leverage the mobility of your attendees to connect and engage your event’s physical and digital ecosystem.

The critical aspect of engagement is to understand your audience before choosing the type of content and tools. The right combination creates a an active, productive & thrilled audience. In addition makes your event an unforgettable one that will keep attendees coming back for years to come.

A mobile event app is a great tool to trigger engagement. It can make attendees feel involved to start sharing their thoughts, ideas and experiences of your event. Here are our favorite features from our event apps we have used to increase engagement by over 50% across concerts, conferences, workshops, corporate annual meet and exhibitions.

Activity Feed

An activity or news feed is the heart of your mobile app. It should curate and centralize everything that is going on at your event. It should be the launch pad for attendees to engage with other features in the event app. A buzzing activity feed creates an active channel for organizers to promote relevant information to the attendees. And attendees to post their content – comments, photos, opinions and much more. You can create a buzz about your event, long before your event has begun.

Contextual Announcements

Push notifications allow you to send messages that pop up on on an attendee’s mobile device. Sending a notification is only half the job – it is important to have a notification strategy to make these messages specific, relevant and timely. We leverage latest mobile technology to transform text notifications be actionable and include images. Push notifications can further be made impactful by using attendee location (GPS) and proximity (via Bluetooth beacons). For example, you can send out travel information for attendees a day prior to the event and auto-check-in & welcome attendees when they arrive at event venue.

Photos & Videos

Pictures and videos are worth thousands of words – and people love clicking them. While attendees can share their photos within the event app, you can enhance their experience by using digital photo walls like Hashout. You can project LIVE moderated crowdsourced photos and videos, from your event app and your social feeds, on jumbotrons.

Mobile Contests

Gamify your event engagement by rewarding attendees for simple but valuable actions like providing feedback, ratings, re-tweets, profile updates or RSVP. In addition, you can create spontaneous contests like  selfie contests, brand props contests or polls, quizzes and much more. Such engagement ensures attendees connect with your brand message long after the event is over. It can be even more rewarding if you can rope in your sponsors and exhibitors to giveaway goodies for the live contests and polls.

Rich Profiles

In almost all your events, attendees are looking to connect with – brand (speaker, sponsor), vendors (exhibitors) or each other. Use your mobile app to facilitate such connections with rich profiles. Rich profiles should include social handles, business contact details, marketing collateral, videos and much more. In return you show high ROI to your attendees, exhibitors and sponsors by capturing connects within the app. Empower your attendees to tell their own brand story –  Of Course keeping privacy in mind !

Smartphones owned by your attendees continue to get smarter and more personalized. So do not miss out on smart & innovative features in your event mobile app. We would love to hear your take on it and what else can we do to re-invent event engagement. Meanwhile, stay tuned for updates to know how to make your next event smarter, captivating and engaging.

What are you waiting for ? Recreate Magic At your Events with Carrot