Sustainability is a term that gets thrown around massively these days. In the event management industry as well, many contemporary organizers are making active amends to ensure sustainability in their events. They do this by minimizing wastage, tracking their net carbon emissions and keeping a watch on energy consumption. That’s primarily why event organizers are switching from printed materials to mobile event apps for conferences.
If you are an attendee who hopes to attend more sustainable events in the future or are an organizer who intends to host more such sustainable gatherings, a component you should pay close attention to is paper wastage. ShunWaste, a US-based environmental watchdog, estimates that the world consumes 400 million tons of paper each year. And this is a rough estimate. Papercut noted that the print industry contributes about 1% to global carbon emissions. The event management industry factors in these estimates as significant contributors.
With Dryfta’s mobile event app features, we are doing no more greenwashing. We understand the impact that even seemingly small or medium-sized conferences have on the larger question of paper wastage and sustainability. It is in this context that we have since moved to hosting all material, be it event schedules, agendas, speaker profiles and even venue directional maps to our native app.
On top of this, at Dryfta, we are also paying close attention to the carbon emissions we produce after every successful event we host. At a conference we hosted for TU Delft titled ‘Soft for Soils 2026,’ we attempted to track carbon emissions and wastage per participant by using a number of calculative tools. We also eliminated printed material significantly, all thanks to Dryfta’s native event mobile app.
Sustainability is convenient for you and for the planet. In this blog, we’re taking a deep dive into how Dryfta’s mobile event app solutions can help you reduce the need for printed materials substantially.
The Majority is Now on the Mobile Event App
For decades, printed programs, paper schedules, laminated badges and thick conference booklets dominated the event management industry. However, today, driven by the growth of technology as well as concerns for sustainability, more than half of all event attendees are using mobile event apps. This means that the majority is already in your favor. They are receptive to any changes you may make now. The rise of all-in-one event management software has now delivered a solution that is faster, cheaper and far more adaptable than anything print can produce.
The argument of if paper or apps are more effective leans more toward the latter easily. The case for switching to mobile event apps is equal parts about sustainability as it is about convenience. Paper materials were and are never truly efficient. They never can be. There is no such thing as a print that is 100% sustainable.
The very act of printing on paper is unsustainable as it involves the depletion of resources. However, this is a flawed argument for the human race consuming several different depletable resources daily. Sustainability has more to do with using non-renewable resources with great caution and minimizing paper wastage in events speaks to this view.
On Dryfta’s Mobile Event App Features Replacing Printed Materials
Understanding the specifics of Dryfta’s mobile event can help you, either as an organizer, attendee or as someone who values sustainability, make some smarter purchasing and customization decisions. Dryfta’s mobile event app is built on a native architecture that works across both iOS and Android and is available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play. There are plenty of similar native apps in the event management market, some far more used than Dryfta. So, what sets Dryfta apart?
We distinguish our platform beginning from the stage of its development. The mobile event app features a provision that allows for direct database connection between the application and the rest of our platform. This means that Dryfta’s mobile event app is connected directly to the same database that powers the rest of our event management software.
In even more simpler terms, what this means is, you will no longer have to fret about last-minute schedule updates, speaker changes or room assignments. Anything you do in the backend will appear instantaneously on our app without any manual syncing required at all.
We also take a deliberate approach to access. There are attendees who simply prefer not to download an app and we respect that. Therefore, your attendees can still access the full experience via a mobile or desktop browser with no major loss of functionality. This removes one of the most common friction points in mobile event app adoption, which is the need to get attendees to install software before them being able to access even the most basic of event information.
How Dryfta’s Mobile Event App Helps Stakeholders
Printed programs carry direct expenses in design, proofing, printing and distribution. They also carry hidden costs when content changes after print runs are complete. An event app built for sustainability and budget minimization can help combat this.
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- In the context of event revenue, Dryfta’s mobile event app solutions open up sponsorship inventories that print simply cannot match.
- Exhibitors can use the app’s built-in QR code scanner to scan attendees’ QR codes on their badges and save contact details to their list of vCards, which can later be exported. This single feature replaces the entire system of printed lead cards that exhibitors have relied on for years.
The Benefits for the Event Teams
Perhaps the most visible and immediate benefits of switching to a mobile event app are enjoyed by your ground staff, who will appreciate any relaxation in work responsibilities. Dryfta’s mobile event app helps businesses achieve better staff efficiency. In action, this means that:
Your registration lines have shrunk so substantially that it is difficult to catch a queue. You might as well wonder if attendees are walking through the front door or via a secret portal straight to the venue.
With attendees carrying digital QR codes on their phones, the registration process is made simple. And completed within seconds. Your back-office teams will also be spending less time fielding calls from attendees looking for schedule information.
Our User Reviews
A user on Google Play Store noted,
“The medical conference I attended was using Dryfta. Initially I was apprehensive about installing it but when I started using it I experienced its benefits.”
Another user left the following review of Dryfta’s mobile event app,
“Great stuff. Looking forward to using it for more future events!”
User reviews like the above from attendees and event professionals alike identify our mobile event app solutions as one of Dryfta’s most valuable features. This is something that printed materials, regardless of paper quality, can never provide no matter how well it is designed.
Why Pick Dryfta Over Other Conference Apps?
Not every platform suits every event, but we made Dryfta specifically to eliminate the trade-off between depth of features and ease of use. Smaller gatherings with modest budgets access the same core technology as large international conferences and the pay-as-you-use pricing model means our organizers are not paying for features they do not need.
We also encourage our readers to review the user reviews and testimonials on our software platform and our native app. Dryfta’s reviews consistently show our quality of customer support, which matters most when something unexpected happens during a live event. A platform that becomes unreachable during a live event creates exactly the kind of crisis that printed materials, for all their faults, never did. To explore our mobile event app’s solutions today, sign up for a free demo here.
