Five Ways to Use a Mobile App to Engage Your Attendees and Reach Your Event Goals

When we developed the RainFocus Mobile App, we spent eight months researching what matters most to attendees and event managers. We interviewed more than 50 people who spoke about their experiences attending events, as well as more than 20 event managers to learn their perspective.

In our conversations, we repeatedly heard a few themes. In today’s fast-paced world, when most people spend a great deal of time using their smartphones, a well-designed mobile app can help organizations easily reach their event attendees. Apps drive better event experiences and provide valuable information to attendees and organizers alike. 

Here are five of the most important ways that you can engage your event attendees through a mobile app before, during, and after your event: 

1. Make schedule-building easy. A common pre-event challenge for attendees is planning out and optimizing their schedule for when they arrive. Schedule-building can feel particularly overwhelming at large events with multiple concurrent sessions, and simple list views may not be adequate for visualizing. A calendar view, such as the one built into RainFocus Mobile App, gives an easier-to-read display of when every session happens. Make sure to include this type of view for your attendees. A feature for allowing attendees to favorite or save concurrent sessions and decide which to attend later can also be helpful. Building out schedules helps generate excitement and anticipation for your event! 

2. Give exhibitors a boost. Booth foot traffic at the event isn’t the only avenue for exhibitors to scan new leads and hold valuable conversations with their prospects and customers. A mobile app starts the connections early. RainFocus Mobile App includes full exhibitor profiles to allow attendees to discover relevant exhibitors before they arrive at the event. They can search for exhibitors they are interested in, get more information by watching videos and downloading provided resources, and even contact exhibitors directly. For exhibitors, profile view data gives a full picture of who’s interested in their offering and who might be stopping by the booth at the event, increasing the effectiveness of outreach. 

3. Help attendees effectively navigate the event space. Indoor mapping capabilities, including turn-by-turn directions (coming soon to RainFocus Mobile App), make it simple for attendees to find their way to various conference rooms and other locations. Reduce their stress and increase session attendance by helping everyone get where they need to be, on time. 

4. Reach your attendees where they are. With scheduled push notifications already in place (and location services coming to RainFocus Mobile App in early 2023), you can send attendees reminders of sessions they signed up to attend and deliver other just-in-time information. For instance, if someone just left a session, a push notification can encourage them to take a quick survey on session content. Or, if they’re approaching the exhibit hall, a notification can tell them about a hot giveaway happening at a certain booth.
   
   
5. Gather data for continuous event optimization. In addition to providing benefits for attendees, mobile apps also enhance event-wide data for everyone involved. A wealth of information from before, during, and after the event is available through a full mobile dashboard in RainFocus Mobile App. You can look at how many attendees downloaded the app, which features they used most frequently, which activities were abandoned, and more. All of this data can help you improve your next event. Best of all, the data is also available in real time so that you can track engagement and make quick changes as needed. 

Learn more about the RainFocus Mobile App here!