Standing out is difficult when you organise professional events. You are putting together a seminar, a convention, an annual gala or an awards ceremony, and you want to do something original.
An event app is the natural direction. There are plenty of solutions, for every taste and every budget. But they have become fashionable enough that telling them apart is now difficult.
And the fashion itself is the first trap to avoid: to be clear, taking an app for the sake of taking an app achieves very little.
It has to answer a real need, whether in organisation or in entertainment.
Clémence, a project manager at a large Paris event agency, acknowledges this: “Clients increasingly ask us for digital solutions, without really finding a purpose or a function for them within their event. It is better to work the other way round. Make sure the system you use, however innovative, genuinely suits your audience and your event.”
She adds: “If the app or solution you have chosen finds its place within your event, it will succeed, because people are keen on things they can control from their phone. If you have chosen by default, it will go unnoticed at best.”
Taking Clémence’s advice, here is our ranking of five mobile event applications. You will find ideas for organising the whole event, and for improving it through music, social features and event photo applications.
WeChain
A fast-growing French startup, WeChain has established itself in the event sector through a set of enjoyable features that increase attendee engagement: real-time photo projection, personal agendas, blind tests, games, video networking tools and more.
WeChain lets you easily create your event’s application, with or without a download. The strength of the solution lies in its customisation options. The promise of an “application in your image” is genuinely met.
A very clear back office lets you choose the features your event needs: agenda, quizzes, video rooms, programme, games, networking, QR codes, maps. You then apply your own visual identity. A statistics dashboard lets you measure your event’s performance in real time.
The plus: WeChain has kept an advisory dimension, and always assigns you a dedicated project manager. Digitisation without the stress.
Haloha
Haloha is one of those apps that handle an entire event. There are a great many solutions in this style, but Haloha is a very simple platform that leaves room for your imagination.
In a few clicks you can import content, choose features and pick a design that suits you. Once your app is built you manage the whole feed, moderate attendees’ questions and comments, and turn the data into statistics.
The plus: it is particularly simple to use. No three-hour tutorial required before you find your way around.
Inventapp
Inventapp is a promising young startup offering a fully dedicated event app. It is full of good ideas for personalising the immersive experience of attendees, particularly during meetings.
A genuine event Swiss army knife, handling every stage from the agenda to the entertainment, by way of collaborative working sessions. Different levels of customisation are available depending on your budget, from a white-label app to your own dedicated one.
The plus: customisation is handled particularly well. You can quickly build an app that matches your event in features and in identity.
Angage
Angage is aptly named: engagement is the basis of the promise made by this company, formed from the merger of PowerVote and NetVisio. Webinars, smart badges, beacons and interactive questionnaires let attendees exchange with the organiser through a system that is simple and well designed.
The platform’s look remains fairly institutional. Favour it for strongly business-oriented seminars. If your audience suits it, they will engage.
The plus: interactivity is handled very well through an ergonomic dedicated app, and there is no shortage of options for adapting it to your audience. For seminars and conventions it is a must-have.
Swapcard
Swapcard is a fixture of the event sector. Originally, the startup offered a clever way to scan the countless business cards collected in trade show aisles.
On the strength of the feature that made it spread, Swapcard has since extended its offering to networking as a whole. It is now possible to run a genuine networking strategy through the application.
It is one of the best solutions for an open event such as a trade show or a congress, where colleagues from the same company who do not usually work together can meet. When your event involves a lot of networking, Swapcard is worth considering.
The plus: relatively chaotic at the outset, the app’s scanning feature is now particularly practical, and saves you filling your pockets with business cards.