Attendees use the Whova app to capture other’s contact information and compare schedules at ACES 2024 San Diego: Unleashing Creativity. Courtesy of Gigi Sutton

Every generation of the meeting industry has its technology. In the early 2000s, video conferencing became widely available while the simultaneous rise of the internet led to online registration, reporting and many other offerings.

The COVID pandemic led to video site inspections and, of course, the skyrocketing popularity of online meetings. Now, with cell phones being as ubiquitous as air, it’s time for mobile applications’ turn in the spotlight.

Given the popularity of apps — enabling people to order, learn or view just about anything whenever they want, and wherever they are — scores of meeting applications (sometimes called event applications) have been developed. They serve a wide variety of purposes, from accepting registrations and enabling networking during a meeting to sending attendees a closing message, and they’ve become a critical item in a meeting planner’s toolbox to enhance the attendee experience.

“Meeting apps are incredibly useful for associations,” declares Sarah Shewey, CEO and founder of Happily, an event production firm. “Finding people who are in similar situations as you are in is what’s incredibly powerful about a meeting, so it’s great that apps can help people do that quickly. They’re incredibly essential.”

Rules of Engagement

Some apps are useful for event management but many of them are meant to foster attendee engagement, and some offer both types of features.

Under the engagement umbrella, functionality typically includes some combination of “agendas, session information, speaker profiles, attendee networking tools, live polling and feedback mechanisms,” says Quinn Bruster, senior director, meetings and expositions at Kellen, an association management firm.

“They provide easy access to event details like schedules and speaker bios, helping attendees plan their time effectively,” she adds. “Plus, they often include networking features, allowing attendees to connect with each other and with speakers or exhibitors.”

At some associations, where community building is the main focus of their app, attendees who connect on that platform create their own crowd and arrange get-togethers during events, fostering a sense of connection amid larger groups that can be a challenge to navigate.

“During our annual conference in April, it was great to see how different niches meet and come together, even though they don’t know one another,” shares Gigi Sutton, MBA, executive director, ACES: The Society for Editing.

“They create meetups,” she continues, “so they’ll put out a message in the app saying for example, ‘government editors, let’s meet for lunch on x date.’ When they do meet, they share resources and their insights from sessions they couldn’t attend because they were in another one or had some other conflict. It’s really nice.”

ACES’ virtual conference this year was larger than the in-person event, and attendees who watched the event on Zoom were equally engaged, if not more so, than those who were on site, according to Sutton. Among the approximately 1,200 to 1,300 who dialed in, attendees chatted constantly and visited virtual booths. Those meeting goers were incentivized to visit virtual booths, to be the most frequent communicator and to get engaged in numerous ways, with those who rose to the challenges receiving rewards.

First launched in 2022 (with a different app), ACES’ virtual event has given away many valuable prizes, including an iPad, one year’s annual membership, free conference attendance, association merchandise and more. But for planners looking to take a very different route on an app, that’s likely available too.

And the encouragement to engage more with a meeting, whether it’s virtual or in person, can go beyond just traditional networking, Bruster notes. “Interactive elements like live polls and Q&A sessions add a fun and dynamic touch, making the convention experience more enjoyable.”

In fact, the functionality of apps may be limited only by planners’ imagination.

At the National Restaurant Association, where meeting apps are used for a variety of events, some new features are being introduced. The organization is trying a photo-sharing feature that’s already in an event app it uses, in which it can upload images snapped by attendees throughout events, and it plans to eventually post full slideshows.

“We always hire a photographer but we don’t always get those in-the-moment shots of people connecting,” explains Christina Baur, senior director of enterprise meetings and events.

Sharing attendees’ candid pictures would surely generate buzz, she says. “Imagine if, on the second day of a meeting, you go to the general session and there’s a slideshow of attendees’ photos from the night before. It’s a great way to kick off the day, and it’s a lot more exciting than seeing housekeeping slides with the location of the bathrooms during lunch.”

Shewey recommends planners use chatbots or other technologies to help attendees navigate busy conventions when they are unsure what path to take.  “It’s personalized support and, as an attendee, I’d appreciate that.”

Surveys, Schedules and Reminders

For the last year, the National Restaurant Association has enabled attendees to rate speakers on the meeting app simply with a one-question survey inviting planners to rank presenters on a scale of one to five stars. From there, adds Baur, “We can pull reports at the end and say, ‘this session, or this speaker, really hit well. This helps us tailor our programming, and invite guest speakers for webinars or articles to expand on topics that interest attendees.”

The organization also uses its meeting app to put attendees in touch with speakers. “We use polling and voting features in our apps to facilitate speaker-audience interaction and receive real-time feedback on the sessions,” she says. “It’s been great.”

Looking forward, she continues, “We also are considering using a check-in feature in future programming to gather information on who attended particular sessions and which topics drew the largest audience. The more feedback we get, the better data we have for next year’s program.”

More commonplace but equally useful features of the app being used by the NRA include push notifications for last-minute change updates. “We’ve been in situations where a speaker couldn’t make their flight due to weather and then we have to make changes to the agenda,” notes Baur. Such a late adjustment wouldn’t get into a paper schedule, but in the app, she adds, “we can update attendees with real-time information because everyone carries a phone or tablet.”

The technology also allows the association to craft personalized messages, where necessary. “If an attendee loses a wallet or a watch, we can direct message them in the app. It allows us to do immediate problem-solving,” Baur says.

But going back to basics, last year, the NRA’s app helped two people who are in different sections of the same large company connect. “Honestly, that wasn’t something we were planning for. That was just a great surprise that we were able to help curate that connection.”

Meanwhile at the ACES: The Society for Editing annual conference, attendees who expect paper agendas or session hand-outs receive a rude awakening when they arrive at the in-person event, as the association now uploads all materials to the meeting app.

While certainly an improvement in terms of efficiency and green measures, the move saves ACES a good chunk of change, Sutton says. “If we had 700 people, our printing costs would have been $3,000 to $4,000. Last year, we printed a schedule that no one asked for, which cost us $2,800.”

The group does still post the schedule on signage at its conference, she admits, for those who can’t embrace apps.

But there aren’t many such meeting goers. “At this point, everyone is an adopter of mobile apps,” asserts Baur. “We’re so used to them in our day-to-day life, whether we use them for grocery shopping or for ordering an Uber. If people add one more app, they can figure it out.”

Rave Reviews

Apparently, they’ve done so because most attendees appear to be fans of the meeting app concept. At the ACES annual meeting last year, approximately 98% of attendees downloaded and used the app, while at the NRA’s various meetings, about 90% of attendees have downloaded and used the technology. [Note: The National Restaurant Association’s large annual convention is planned by a different team and is therefore not part of these specific meeting app experiences.]

Planners are hearing anecdotally from attendees too. “Attendees tell us how much they love it,” says Sutton. “They’ve walked up to us to say, ‘It’s such a great place for community engagement.’” Plus, ACES can measure its app success by the more frequent connections made between attendees.

“In the past, you had to find people to create engagement, whereas now you have an app to ask, ‘Does anyone do my exact job? Ping me if you do.’ That helps bring attendees together,” says Sutton.

And at the NRA, says Baur, “Attendees appreciate having event details on their phones for easy access to agendas, speaker information, and other features that keep them connected. They enjoy the ability to look up and access attendees who have shared interests or connect with someone who works for the same corporation whom they have yet to have the chance to meet in person.”

Future Iterations and Concerns

Given the relatively recent popularity of apps in all walks of life, not to mention meetings, there are miles of runway ahead for where they could go. Of course, today’s much-buzzed-about type of technology — artificial intelligence, or AI — has planners speculating.

“We can expect AI to bring even more personalized and helpful features to these apps,” says Bruster.

Adds her Kellen colleague Sean Hewitt, director, meetings and expositions, “The technology will enable apps to attract targeted attendees to meeting booths.”

Though he notes that, even now, the apps provide attendees, as well as exhibitors and sponsors, an improved networking experience. “If you are at an event with thousands of people, the likelihood of setting up in-person meetings with everyone you are interested in seeing is not usually attainable. Meeting apps allow attendees to connect with sponsors and others at the event, both virtually and in-person. It allows for a more focused and streamlined way to network by seeing who is attending.”

Shewey sees upgrades on the horizon. “We’ve seen AI matchmaking become more in demand for apps. I’m hopeful that event apps evolve more into year-round community platforms than just one-off event networks.”

Sutton doesn’t need to look further. She asserts, “Our app seems to do everything we want it to do. Why fix it if it’s not broken?”

As with any technology, particularly as it gets more sophisticated, privacy concerns could start to arise. However, Shewey notes that those who are concerned simply don’t have to download the app. There likely always will be some schedules posted or updates online; the information just may come a bit slower.

Purchasing Power

Costs for meeting apps are varied, depending on a group’s needs. Planners wouldn’t disclose specific pricing but noted that there are numerous types of offerings and payment structures, enabling a wider swath of groups to make the technology work than might be the case if there was a standard fee structure.

For example, at the NRA, says Baur, a flat fee that incorporates many functions to pick and choose from, whether they’re being used or not, makes sense as they may keep adding functionality.

Conversely, at ACES, an a la carte set-up works best. Sutton is so satisfied with her app, called Whova, that she signed a contract this year with the company through 2026, locking in fees as she was advised that inflation would send the price higher.

“It’s important to establish relationships with suppliers,” she states, “and let them know the limits of your budget.”

The quoted fee isn’t always the last word, notes Bruster. “Planners can negotiate discounts or flexible pricing arrangements on apps.”

In fact, Hewitt offers planners a tip for contract negotiations with app companies. “Providing exclusivity with an app provider to host a certain amount of events per year may help bring down overall costs for all of the meetings using that app.”

No matter the price, assuming it is feasible given a group’s budget, planners say the cost is worthwhile because the payoff is great.

“Being able to save profiles of industry colleagues I want to connect to, or to keep notes on those people after we meet, are great functions,” Shewey concludes. “People use meeting apps to make friends and connections, and that also happens to be the lifeblood of associations.” | AC&F |