Association of Event Organisers

“The response was so fantastic. We had 94% download of the app on the actual day. Everybody got involved in the polling, so much so that after the event, people were talking about it in the feedback. That was a really good addition.”

- Jenni Jaques, Marketing Director, AEO

The Issue

The AEO's primary objective for using a mobile event app was to boost engagement at its annual AEO Conference in 2015. They wanted to make their event as interactive as possible and they needed a centralised hub for all the event's content. They realised an event app could allow them to do both and at the same time create a sustainable event by reducing paper usage. Being at the heart of the events industry, the AEO want to be seen as pioneers and knew using an event app would help achieve their goal.

Why CrowdCompass

The AEO intended to get the most out of their event app and felt the CrowdCompass team fully understood their needs. The association was impressed with the ideas suggested by the team on how to market the app and utilise the various features to promote engagement. The AEO appreciated the support offered by CrowdCompass, always having someone on hand whenever needed. They liked that the app could store important information such as delegate lists, agenda, speaker bios, and travel info all in one place, as it meant printing fewer programmes saving printing costs.

Reception

The AEO app had a download rate of 94% with 178 delegates downloading the app, of which 145 used the networking feature. The exceptional download rate was achieved through a marketing strategy which involved promoting the app prior to and during the event, and mentioning the live polling feature every time speakers were introduced. The delegates found the push notifications very engaging and convenient. "I spoke to multiple people on the day telling me how brilliant and useful they found the push notifications to be. It meant that they were fully engaged, they felt they were being communicated with," said Carmen Searle, Marketing Manager, AEO. Other features of the app were also well received, with the AEO finding 283 social shares being made and 181 polls filled during the conference. A total of 100 surveys were sent directly after the sessions.

Impact

The AEO saw a high level of engagement at their conference, with delegates enjoying the new event experience. This was demonstrated by the number of people utilising the networking feature and participating in the live polls at the sessions. The AEO also enjoyed the push notification feature which allowed them to alert delegates of issues such as how to get a taxi from the station or where to drop the bags on arrival, before they even reached the venue. They also used the feature to keep the delegates updated on changes to the programme and speakers.

“The response was so fantastic. We had 94% download of the app on the actual day. Everybody got involved in the polling, so much so that after the event, people were talking about it in the feedback. That was a really good addition.”

- Jenni Jaques, Marketing Director, AEO