Planning and executing an event involves a plethora of pre-meditated activities that require impeccable planning and execution. Event management applications have surfaced over the last few years to streamline the entire process and have been lapped up by businesses and event managers alike. With 57% of event organizers using event management software and over $50 million pumped into creating modern event management solutions, we can certainly tell where the trend is taking us.
On the flip, event management applications demand immense investment from a time and effort perspective in getting things rolling. Aside from this, they also pose problems of excessive adverts, carry the risk of failure due to poor promotion and bring in complexities attendees do not see the rationale behind.
This brings us to the pressing question – Are event management software really worth it? And if they are, as widespread adoption indicates, how can your business leverage them to its advantage? Let’s get to the bottom of these questions.
What Goes into Creating a Successful Event Management App?
The world is recognizing how important it is to stay connected with mobile audiences by way of mobile-friendly applications. But what holds the key to the success of any applications and even event management apps is not so much how well it is made or how engaging its interface is. It all boils down to how many people are actually using it. After all, numbers matter above all else.
Keep it Simple
There’s little benefit in using an event management application that appeals to your exhibitors but drives your attendees up the wall with its complexity. It is important that all stakeholders stay invested in your application.
This is possible by creating a holistic solution that has something in it for everybody and makes operating on it a breeze whether you are within the business or outside of it.
So while you engage the best software out there with a full-blown list of features, here are a few best practices that can help you realize how event management software is truly worth it:
☑ Make Content Work for your Conference
Aside from registration, event information & timeline, you must ensure your application carries enough mettle in terms of content all stakeholders could use. This could include Live polls, Q&A during sessions, Live streaming of content and other such content that can keep them engaged.
☑ Personalization is the Key
Create personalized dashboards for all user groups to pick up and save important elements for their perusal. For an organizer, this could be a To-do list, Check-in Scanners, Ticket Scanners etc while for an attendee it could be their personalized program schedule, Message boards, Speakers’ profiles, Appointment scheduler or even details of a certain section of the event they are most interested in.
☑ Allow Takeaways
Create a structure that allows your app users, particularly the attendees and volunteers, to have takeaways from your application. This could range from knowledge sharing or a brief endorsement with a key speaker. Ensure your attendees always walk away with those additional takeaways that push the experience from good to great.
☑ Promote Extensively
We couldn’t stress this more. Engaging s stellar application with a host of world-class features that provide extraordinary experiences to your users is honestly just half the job done. You have got to push it and promote it extensively to leverage its full potential in garnering eyeballs and subsequent action.
☑ Performance Checks
So whether it is poor performance, load time issues or regular app freezes and breakdowns, make sure you lay enough emphasis on these concerns but also ensure your stress on the above functionalities that bring in that added punch to you using an application for your events.
How Do you Make Sure your Event Management App Appeals to Users?
For those of you asking whether event management applications are really worth it, there really are two critical parts to the success story of your event app.
The first is to choose an event management app that is extremely simple and easy to use, feature-rich, secure and easy to navigate around.
Additionally, you need to ensure that your application goes beyond these features and actually reaches out to engage your stakeholders through those little added experiences. That’s when the true worth of an event management application is unlocked, leaving every single user absolutely hooked onto the experience and throwing open for even manages unprecedented benefits in slashing operating costs.
