The Mobile App You Use For Events Really Matters. Especially Now.
We've all been there. We wake up to find ourselves having a bad day. What's worse is the bad days always seem to coincide with busy and important ones. I generally don't dwell on these things, but I found myself doing so while attending a conference last month. After a fitful night of sleep, a bland breakfast, and an early morning email declaring a beloved project doomed, crawling back into bed sounded great.
Eager to fend off a bad attitude, I grabbed a large coffee and opened up the conference's app to plan out the day’s adventure. Attending conferences is always a balancing act of time management, and I was determined to get the most out of my time at this one, bad day or not. Scrolling through the events immediately perked up my mood. I was excited to see a host of interesting speakers and informative panels.
My excitement quickly vanished as the app I was using closed and the app store on my phone opened, prompting me to download a separate app. Confused, I went back to the conference's website and looked around. I saw a tiny banner on the schedule, letting me know they used another solution for scheduling. Somewhat dejected, I went back to the app store and downloaded the app—taking a deep drink of coffee before I spent a few minutes filling out the sign-up form. Thankfully I looked up at the time. I was so wrapped up in figuring out the right app to use for the conference that I was almost late!
You might not see what the big deal is. With so much going on in the world, using multiple apps for your conference can seem like small potatoes. However, with more context, we can see how using more than one tech solution to run events can have some serious consequences—ones we can't ignore.
I founded Hubb after years of dealing with this kind of information management hell. I experienced the real pains of event planners and attendees and wanted to create a solution, so people could focus on what's important and get the work done. Hubb is an event planning solution that allows event organizers to focus on strategizing, data gathering, and even providing a great mobile experience for attendees. It is the all-in-one tech platform event planners need so that no matter what is happening, attendees have an amazing time.
The New Reality Of Events
Today, event budgets are tight, and the pressures surrounding in-person events have entirely changed the industry. COVID, of course, has been a major factor. Before COVID, companies and organizations putting on events were primarily strangers to the health risks of a pandemic. Ideas like social distancing and vaccine requirements were totally alien to most people. The new reality is that plans may change at the drop of a hat, and some in-person events may be postponed or even canceled. Many have moved to hybrid events, or have gone virtual, opting to host everything online.
This means that updating attendees, providing accurate information, and helping people have a smooth experience at events—no matter their venue—is vital. It is no longer only a question of a good experience but also of giving organizers and attendees peace of mind.
The Old Way Of Approaching Mobile Apps Doesn't Work
Using more than one app or multiple solutions for an event becomes a liability. We can see this from a few angles. First, teams are doubling their workloads. With multiple apps, everything from data entry to data management has to happen twice or more, costing the team precious time. Secondly, using multiple apps also come with more costs—sometimes even burdensome contract agreements. For event planners, this approach robs their team of time and budget. As I experienced, it also wastes attendees' time as they are forced to become familiar with various solutions, missing out on valuable information and encountering frustrating situations.
Updating event information in this situation is also tricky. When updating the same data on multiple platforms, a slip up can delay or leave many attendees without new information or updates. In the past this may have only been annoying, but now in the age of COVID, there is a real urgency and need to push out accurate and timely information to people attending events.
Another changing dynamic is attendees' ability to meet and network with each other. Many event apps lack solutions that allow attendees and speakers to set up in-person and virtual meetings. This forces attendees to navigate difficult circumstances and reach for yet another app.
An All-In-One Solution For Event Planners
Hubb looks to solve these issues by offering a seamless digital experience to meeting planners. As an all-in-one solution for events and meetings, Hubb can offer one source of truth for any event format.
Starting with attendees, we know they should have intuitive and instant access to event information. Speaker profiles, schedules, and location details should be easy to find and simple to interact with on a mobile device. Within the same app, people should have easy ways of connecting, sharing contact information, and setting up meetings in-person or virtually. Most importantly, attendees at events should feel like they are gaining value from what's happening around them while not feeling lost because of technology—or worrying that their data is spread across multiple companies.
Event planners should only have one place to go to manage attendees' experiences and gain valuable insights. Content should live across event apps and management platforms, updating instantly. And perhaps most importantly, event planners should have access to the valuable data generated by their events—the kind of data that can help them improve year over year while also offering helpful information that enhances sales and marketing campaigns. Event planners deserve a system that saves time and money while providing real value at the same time. In many cases, using multiple apps makes collecting and sorting this kind of data impossible—but Hubb makes it quick and easy.
Looking Towards The Future
The value companies gain from doing events is always unique to them. Some may determine value comes from exposure to experts, some from helping transform their business or discover new tools and ways of doing things. Whatever the reason for the event, Hubb looks to cater to those needs while cutting down on time and money used. Our mobile app is built with these solutions in mind. You can learn more about the features of our web app here and read our latest blog post on the subject here.