Event management software firm Active Network has
launched a new suite of mobile applications for meetings and
events that is designed to encourage attendees to engage with
meetings' goals and conferences' brands, while helping the
executives running them to better and more efficiently respond
to attendees' needs.
The mobile technology itself is not new to the firm, which has
been offering it for more than three years, says Anthony
Miller, vice president of strategy for San Diego-based Active
Network's Business Solutions division. "We've been providing
mobile solutions for all sorts and sizes of events, including
some of the biggest and some of the most influential events in
the world, such as Cisco Live," he says.
Among the new features are a QR code contact exchange mechanism
for smartphones, and gamification tools that the company has
been testing since last year.
"Gamification in the event space is designed to do two things:
to deepen engagement between brand and audience, and to
encourage people to take part in certain activities that are
important to the brand," says Miller.
At one customer's event in January, attendees earned points by
using their mobile devices to check in at exhibitors' booths,
take surveys, and participate in various networking events -
all of which helped the attendees chart their progress during
the event, Miller says. "There was a leaderboard that allowed
them to see how they were doing compared to their friends,
colleagues, and peers at the event, and see where they're
positioned during the event and beyond it, throughout the
year," he says. This also helped the show organizers and
exhibitors track attendees' behavior.
A QR code reader is now built into the Active Network app, and
the company thinks it will offer a service that the company has
wanted to include in the mobile event app since it first
launched: an efficient e-business card/contact exchange
technology. While Active Network has explored the possibility
for years, it felt that earlier technologies were not good
enough - for example, Bluetooth requires a multi-step device
pairing before the exchange, and would drain mobile batteries
too fast, says Miller.
The suite also offers tools for planners, such as immediate
access to registration statistics and attendee feedback. "We've
got real-time survey feedback so that, within minutes of a
speaker coming off stage, we can see the feedback," Miller
says. "In one case, [at a conference education session], a
number of people were saying that they weren't clear on a
specific topic. We were able to send that speaker back out onto
the stage to clarify that point. That encapsulates real-time
mobile feedback and how it enables us to continually take the
pulse of what's going on and adjust and update the experience
to make sure it's of maximum value to the attendee."