An event is one of the most important dates marked with a red pen on a brand’s calendar. It is a key moment for companies that come out on the street to adopt a tangible presence, beyond the area they occupy their offices, to meet with their clients and future buyers and to let them know about the latest developments.
If you are an event organizer, you probably have a website with which to present the characteristics of the activity to your attendees. Have you also considered having an app to enjoy the advantages of this event?
In previous articles we have already discussed the advantages of an app. Some of these advantages for the user are the ease of use, the possibility of using specific content on your smartphone, updated information and access to unique advantages and functionalities before and during the event.
In this article we’ll tell you what to consider when creating your event app and what elements it should contain to get the most out of it.
To explain the aspects to take into account during the process of creating an application for an event, we will illustrate the different sections of this post with an example of an application created with our platform, King of App. This application was created on the occasion of the World Cup in Russia, trying to create a specific content for the Spanish national team. In this case, it is a sporting event that our brand was not involved in, but for which we were also able to create an event app.
Remember that if you want to create an application quickly and easily, you have access to our tool here, so that you can create your own event app.
Contents of an app for events
We start by defining what elements an event app should include. Although not all of the sections discussed below are essential, as each type of application will have its own specific needs, it is recommended that you consider implementing them in some way. Keep in mind that the contents of your application are focused on a very specific period of use. It is not an application that you will be making profitable for a long time (that is not the objective of an app of events, at least in the beginning), so it will have to respond to very specific questions, focused on the event itself. In the case we used as an example, our World Cup application was designed to experiment with it during the period that Spain was participating in the World Cup, although once the event was over and we had a large user base, we plan to turn it into a more generic application for the Spanish football team. To create an app of an event you will need to determine and add a series of sections and basic elements:Description of the event
First, you will need to determine a section that defines the event itself. What is the objective of the event, what topics are covered, the very reason for the event… In this same tab you can enter information such as dates and place of sale of tickets with a button to the site where you buy them if you are going to promote your purchase well before the event…. Also indicate the location of the event by adding a map and a button that provides directions to the user to get there. You can use a single section to define the event or you may need multiple pages to cover different topics, in which case it will be convenient to group them together using a common menu. You will have to determine yourself how you classify content, if you have to create a section or sections that talk about the event, if you link from the main screen or from an internal menu. Each event app responds to a specific need and as such, will have specific characteristics.Speaker’s profile
Depending on the type of event, there will usually be different participants or speakers giving talks related to the main theme of the event on what they are experts in. In the case of a sports event like our example app, instead of speaker chips we create one for each of them. If there are only a few speakers, you can link each one’s file directly from the main menu or design a specific screen to summarize their profile and expand it from a more specific screen. If the number of speakers is high, you will create a tab as a vertical menu in which a button appears towards the tab, such as presentation, of each of them. In addition to the file that describes the speaker, you can include an internal link to another place with information about their presentation or include it directly on this screen. Add access to your social networks using buttons. Depending on the type of speaker, it will be interesting to add a gallery of images, either selected and inserted manually or directly embedded into your Instagram. Although the World Cup is not an event in which speakers participate by making a presentation, it was possible to create a profile of the participants, in this case of each of the players. We make a card with a similar structure for everyone: name of the player, a header image with the photograph of the footballer and a card with all his data: age, place of birth, position, number, sports career and other data. In the case of such participants, we could have added access to their social networks or even embedded their Instagram profile images in each player’s profile.
Programme of speeches
Will there be speeches or activities within the event? Create a program with the times and place where each of these will take place. You can choose a list that includes all the events of the different days as a summary with option to click to expand the information of each one. Inside each card, detailed information is provided, a link to the speaker’s profile and, if desired, a button for the user to register. In the case of the selection app, instead of presentations, matches were held, which were updated with the results of the last matches.Tabs of the event participants
If there are participating brands, you can create something similar to what you did with the speakers. Having a large number of brands is a great support for your app, as it gives you trust. Just as you could do with the list of speakers and a specific sheet for each of them, you can do the same with the brands. It includes a card with a header image or logo of the brand, a description of the brand and its relationship with the event. What you come to present, your commitment to the theme of the event and where you can find it within the event.Map of the site
In relation to the previous paragraph, if your event is organized in a large space, with different locations of interest, it will be almost compulsory to add a site plan indicating the location of the different sites: stands, meeting points, access points, conference rooms, coffee shop, toilets…Sponsor of the event
Is it an event organized by a brand or around a specific product? Normally, you will generate an outstanding tab. For example, if the event is related to food health and is organized by a brand such as Nestlé, you will need a sheet that talks about the Swiss firm’s commitment to this topic. In the Spanish national team application, King of App acts as a sponsor would in your event app. In this case, as the app has been created with this tool, your logo has been placed on the upload screen announcing that the application has been developed with King of App. However, we decided not to introduce brand content into the app because its relationship with the content of the application is too heterogeneous.Real-time news and social networking
Implement Social Network features or a news feed to constantly update them and display the latest information, in real time, within the app. You can embed your own Twitter, Instagram or use other third-party APIs to project comments and interesting news for the event attendees.Section of previous editions of the event
Why not enter information about past events? You will be able to reflect the success of other editions by generating expectations about the new event.Interactive elements to involve event attendees
Add interactive elements to your app so that the user can interact and feel part of the action that took place during the event:- Create a video section, either informative or for educational or entertainment purposes.
- If it’s a music event, you can add a playlist to Spotify to let the user know about tracks from the participating groups…
- A gallery of images showing updated photographs of the event or downloadable for use on your smartphone, as a wallpaper.
- You can include surveys with instant results to find out what a user thinks about an event or to discover knowledge about a specific topic.
- Add games to increase user participation with the event.
- Introduce raffles by giving away prizes, encouraging participation so that they can attend a presentation, so that they can carry out an action motivated by the prize.
Other elements that will complete your event app
Other elements that would be interesting to add would be:- Possibility of purchasing tickets before the event and a section in the app where the ticket appears for use at the door. Depending on the extras or characteristics included in the ticket, it gives access to different advantages such as the VIP area, press area…
- You can make a profit by entering purchasing elements through third-party platforms. Use an API for travel and hotel management near the event area and get a commission from the sale or sell products that appear in affiliate stores like Amazon, which will provide you with a certain percentage of the sale. The Spanish National Team app included a Fan Zone with merchandising and affiliate link to their product file on Amazon.
- Add presentations in PPT, PDF or Slideshare format to the tab of each presentation so that users can follow it on their mobile phone or have it available later.
- Live broadcast for users who cannot attend the event. It’s an interesting way to get downloads from users who can’t be impersonated.
- Add a Contact section so they can write you an email or make a phone call at the touch of a button.
