Between direct mail, golf outings, galas, grants, major gifts, planned gifts, QR codes, and text-to-give, there are so many channels hospitals have access to when it comes to raising money. 

However, healthcare fundraising has always had unique elements that influence development officers’ strategies. Hospitals and healthcare organizations can and should still host events, send fundraising emails, and conduct phone drives, but when it comes to asking for gifts from their primary audience—patients, patient families, and hospitals’ communities—healthcare fundraisers have to take a strategic approach that addresses changing demographics and donor preferences.

With modern advances in fundraising, healthcare organizations are discovering new ways to craft fundraising strategies that are both profitable and empathetic. To help your organization develop its own strategy, this guide will dive into how modern technology and attitudes toward giving can influence your fundraising for the better. 

Rethink Your Donor Engagement Lifecycle

Despite the growth in digital and social media channels for fundraising, a major component of modern fundraising is still personal relationship building. Donors today expect hyper-personalized communication, whether this takes the form of direct social media messaging or content tailored to their interests. 

For healthcare fundraising, strong relationships are already a part of the process. After all, grateful patient programs revolve around clinicians, volunteers, other donors, and your fundraising team building relationships with prospective donors before, during, and after treatment. However, healthcare organizations can still benefit from reassessing their approach to the donor lifecycle to improve these relationships’ longevity. 

Assess your organization’s current approach to the donor lifecycle by paying extra attention to:

• Relationship-building post solicitation. The donor lifecycle is a cycle, and your relationship with supporters should continue long after their first gift. After a donor gives, assess your follow-up procedures to ensure you express proper thanks and continue stewarding the relationship to potentially earn future donations. 
• Touchpoint tracking. Create a map of your touchpoints with various types of donors, starting from their first interactions with your healthcare organization to post-gift follow-up. Knowing how and when donors encounter major turning points in their relationship with your organization can help you maximize these moments’ potential. Also, be aware that your first contact with donors may not involve your fundraising team. For patient donors, their first touchpoint is likely to be their intake process or even browsing your website from home. 
• Automation opportunities. Ultimately, donor relationships require a human touch. Still, software can be essential when it comes to managing relationships at scale. For instance, your analytics software can assess your entire supporter base to find prospective planned donors, or your marketing tools can auto-populate message templates to ensure content is personalized to each supporter. 

The key to a healthy donor lifecycle is that as many supporters as possible restart it after giving. This allows you to build up long-term relationships that can lead to bigger and bigger gifts, such as major donations like capital campaign gifts.

Break up your donor lifecycle into stages to assess how various interactions with your organization move supporters forward or might influence them to drop out. Your lifecycle stages might be something like: initial contact, intake, in-hospital treatment, post-treatment follow-up, and continued stewardship. 

When assessing these stages, for example, you might realize you have a strong patient care program and good stewardship practices for patient donors, but struggle to smoothly transition patients into supporters.  

Create a Structured Solicitation Process

While modern donors want personalized relationships with your nonprofit, a structured solicitation process will help your fundraising team stay organized and operate at scale. 

However, remember that structured does not mean impersonal. In fact, reliable fundraising processes often involve many moments of personalized interaction, as well as branching paths based on donors’ interests. For example, you would take a different approach with a donor who gives immediately than with one who indicates they cannot give now but would like to in the future. 

When it comes to the donation appeal itself, your team should have a structured playbook that fundraisers can use to create individualized pitches. For instance, a grateful patient fundraising program should have solicitation guidelines that advise development officers to consider:

• Timing. Timing is key in grateful patient programs, as many donor prospects have likely undergone major medical procedures, and some may still be in long-term recovery programs. With the right timing, you can ensure that the positive care they received is still in recent memory without appearing pushy or insensitive. 
• Past gifts. New donors and recurring donors require different solicitation processes. New donors need an introduction to your fundraising program, whereas recurring donors need a strong, enduring connection with your organization. 
• Past solicitations. Always consider the donor’s response to previous gift requests when putting together subsequent pitches. If a donor responded enthusiastically last time, you may aim to recreate your previous approach. In contrast, if the last solicitation did not go well, you should direct fundraisers to consider why and how future donation appeals can better meet the supporter’s needs and interests. 

To keep your efforts organized but personal, consider creating different general solicitation plans for different groups of donors. For example, you might have a new donor solicitation strategy that provides information about your program, and one for past donors that focuses on your long-term relationship. 

Leverage Data to Inform Your Fundraising Strategy

Modern fundraisers are data-driven for good reason. With thorough data on your donors and past successful fundraisers, you create informed solicitation strategies that are likely to yield better fundraising results. 

However, healthcare organizations also have to be conscious of patient donors’ confidential information. A few ways your organization can leverage data while respecting supporters’ privacy include:

• Creating comprehensive donor profiles. Each supporter should have a profile in your CRM that you regularly update every time they interact with your organization. This helps maintain a consistent donor experience and make strategic steps in their engagement. Additionally, ensure all of your fundraising-related software is connected so all data flows smoothly into your CRM. For example, you might monitor which donors attended a past fundraising event by connecting your event management software to your CRM. 
• Leveraging predictive analytics. Discover new giving prospects by analyzing the profiles of past major donors. Use this information to create a profile of your typical donor and leverage it to identify new supporters with similar characteristics. 
• Tracking engagement data. When you send an email, host an event, or create a new website landing page, ensure you can track its engagement data. Information like bounce rate, click-through rate, and conversion rates can help you determine what types of content and outreach work for your audience. 

To leverage your data, ensure you also practice proper data hygiene. Routinely assess your database to update outdated information, remove duplicate data, and identify missing information. This will ensure your organization can create more accurate fundraising reports that give you a better understanding of your donors. 

Take a Patient-First Approach to Fundraising

Hospitals and healthcare organizations face a unique hurdle compared to other nonprofits: maintaining high-quality patient care programs. No matter your fundraising strategy, your organization should never compromise on patient care. 

A few ways you can take a patient-first approach include:

• Educating staff about their role in fundraising. In a successful grateful patient program, your care team and fundraising teams will work together. Ensure care professionals understand how they can help fundraisers without imposing fundraising responsibilities on them or jeopardizing their relationships with patients. For instance, in many grateful patient programs, care teams are simply asked to communicate to development officers which patients may be worthwhile prospective donors. Provide your clinical partners with training about how to assess potential grateful patient donors, and provide updates about patients they helped point your fundraising team toward to keep them engaged. 
• Treating all patients equally. Patients who are not strong donor prospects or who decline to give should receive equal treatment to patient donors. Ensure patients understand that the care they receive is not in any way tied to the amount they donate. This is another reason why development officers should be conscious of their timing for donation appeals—an ask at the wrong time may make patients question whether their response will impact their quality of care. 
• Maintaining high ethical standards. Anyone who engages with donors should adhere to the highest ethical standards regarding patient privacy and care. Review relevant laws for collecting and using patient data to ensure your fundraising team maintains patient privacy and protects your organization from liability. 

After patients leave your hospital or healthcare organization, you can keep them engaged in your fundraising efforts by creating donor-focused experiences. For example, you might start a donor membership program that provides participants with exclusive content, such as free merchandise, access to published medical studies, private events, and more. 

Additionally, try new marketing efforts. Hospitals have expanded their marketing efforts to include billboards, TV commercials, and online ads. These ads discuss the role philanthropy can play in making a difference, and when placed strategically, this outreach can be instrumental in spreading the word about your hospital’s fundraisers. For example, some hospitals even have ads for their giving program in their waiting rooms.

A modern healthcare fundraising approach takes many factors into consideration: data, automation, and human relationships. Remember that “modern” doesn’t mean that technology alone runs your program, but rather that software, data analysis, and automation tools can work with your fundraising team to make relationship building simpler. 

To start modernizing your hospital or healthcare organization’s approach to fundraising, map out your donor lifecycle to identify key inflection points. Then, collect data about those moments to create a structured stewardship and solicitation process that guides supporters toward making a gift, all without sacrificing your high-quality patient care. 

The post Healthcare Fundraising: How to Modernize Your Approach appeared first on EventMobi.

Paper lists and expensive scanners are not the best way to check in large numbers of attendees or set the tone for your event. Did you know that the tablet or mobile phone you use daily can efficiently check guests in and out of your events in real-time? When paired with the right Event Check-in App, it’s easy to create a fast event registration and check-in flow for your attendees.

In this article, you will learn:

• What you can do to speed up your check-in process
• How to reduce hardware costs 
• How you can use check-in data to better measure event ROI 

Plus, check out the bonus tip on how to get creative with your check-in data and extract powerful insights using AI! 

Use an Event Check-in App to Speed Up the Process

Long lines at the registration desk are a common frustration for attendees at everything from conferences and trade shows to free events. Typically, delays are caused by event staff checking in attendees with printed lists. This might not make a huge difference at the smallest of events with under 40-50 attendees. But, at larger events, manually checking names off a list one by one will slow down the process and create a poor first impression. That’s why planners need easy-to-use check-in technologies that move attendees out of the registration hall and into the main event experience.

EventMobi’s event management solution includes a user-friendly Event Check-in App that lets you quickly scan attendees in and out of your event and sessions. All you need to do is point the in-app camera at the QR code on an attendee’s physical or digital badge (digital badges are found in the attendee profile in your event’s mobile app!).

An attendee’s unique QR code includes all the information captured at registration—including attendee type, which allows your check-in staff to quickly distinguish between guests with different levels of access. For instance, speakers can be directed backstage before their presentation without having to explain what their role is. Likewise, your staff can recognize VIPs, sponsors, and other important guests immediately at check-in to prevent confusion or potential delays.

If an attendee doesn’t have their badge handy, simply type their name into the app to check them in. EventMobi’s Check-in App is lightning-fast, which means it won’t disrupt attendees as they enter your event and move through sessions. It also produces valuable data, making it easy to measure session performance and award CE credits. In the future, you also have the option to include a QR Code Google Form in the promotional materials for your upcoming event, like posters, flyers, and banners, to achieve faster event check-in.

To make check-in and check-out even faster, create a self-scanning station for your attendees by downloading the Check-in App onto tablets and enabling the service kiosk mode.

EventMobi’s Production Services Team Manager, Ryan Sturno, demonstrates how to get started setting up your event check-in app and create a streamlined self-check-in kiosk with any tablet. 

Reduce Check-in Hardware Costs with an Event Check-in App

Many event teams have tighter budgets than ever, so it’s important to invest in event technology that will reduce costs. Typically, the expense of rented badge scanners is prohibitive for many events. But, when your team’s mobile phones or tablets can be used as scanners, you can affordably increase the number of staff checking attendees in and out.

EventMobi’s Event Check-in App works on any mobile device that can read QR codes. Add staff email addresses to the check-in feature in EventMobi and an access code will be automatically emailed to them. If you’re working with external staff, there’s no need to worry about data privacy. The access code only grants them access to the front end of the Check-in App, so your event data stays safe.

The EventMobi solution also includes an easy-to-use Badge Designer and cost-effective Pre-Printed Badge Ordering—offering yet another opportunity to reduce hardware costs and make badging the least stressful part of your event. With Pre-Printed Badges, you can place your order through the EventMobi platform, so all of your attendee data is automatically synced and ready to print. Simply select the number of badges you’d like, review your quote, and enter your address, and your laminated, ready-to-wear badges will arrive at your venue within 5 business days!

Recommended Resource: Are you looking for cost-effective, easier ways to build and manage your events? Watch 8 short videos to learn how to deliver events in any format that engage attendees and offer sponsors more value.

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Measure Your ROI Better by Tracking Attendance with an Event Check-in App

Accurately reporting on in-person events as a marketing and engagement channel is a challenge for planners. Registration software can’t tell you what happens onsite! But, by leveraging an easy-to-use check-in app with powerful analytics in the backend, you’ll get valuable details about the event attendee journey.

As attendees scan in and out of sessions, you’ll see where—and for how long—they chose to spend their time at your event. This is important for awarding CE credits and reporting on sponsored session ROI. This data will come in handy when you need to prove the value of your event to potential sponsors next year! Use it to highlight attendee demographics and report on engagement by measuring time spent in sessions.

BONUS: Use AI to Generate Reports with Your Check-in Data

Did you know AI can help you generate different types of reports based on your check-in data? Say you’re responsible for member education at your association and need to award CE credits. Instead of manually calculating time spent in sessions for every attendee, you can ask an AI tool like ChatGPT to tell you how long attendees spent in sessions so you can allocate credits accordingly. Check out the video from our VP of Product Marketing, Thorben Gosser, who breaks down how to do this step-by-step.

Thorben Grosser demonstrates how you can use ChatGPT to bulk-calculate attendee time spent in sessions.

Create the Best Event Check-in Experience for Your Guests

What happens at check-in will set the tone for the rest of your event. Paper lists and expensive scanners will slow down the check-in process—not the best start for your attendees! EventMobi’s Event Check-in app will help you get your guests faster, save money on hardware, track session attendance, and measure event ROI. Plus, you can feed that data into an AI tool to get even more insights if you need to.

Interested in learning more about EventMobi’s Check-in App and onsite features? Book your personalized demo today!

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The post Get Your Guests in Faster with an Event Check-in App appeared first on EventMobi.

Breakout sessions are key to facilitating important conversations, networking, and skill-building. They break up the pace of the conference day and diversify the attendee experience. 

Read on for 37 creative conference breakout session ideas to add to your next conference program!

What Are Conference Breakout Sessions?

Conference Breakout Sessions are a key opportunity to break larger groups (E.G. panels, workshops) into smaller groups, to facilitate networking, conversation, and exercises.

Breakout sessions can be implemented into a session agenda for all kinds of reasons, like: 

And more! Regardless of the reason, breakout sessions are great ways for attendees to connect.

How Do You Make a Breakout Session Interesting & Productive? 

When you plan your breakout session with your goals in mind, opportunities for creative implementation may jump out of the woodwork and surprise even you!

Here are our tips for crafting a dynamic session that offers even higher value to participants.

Get feedback before the event

You don’t have to plan in a vacuum! You never know where other people’s feedback might take you.

Some people to ask for feedback could include:

• Experienced facilitators. Do you know someone who’s organized a great breakout group or two in their time? Ask what helped make their experience great—and what to avoid.
• Experts in the field. Running an educational breakout session? Ask seasoned experts in the field what they wished they’d learned earlier in their career.
• Your conference attendees. If you can poll attendees before they arrive, ask them what experience they’re hoping for! Questions could include what skills they hope to build and what their ideal conference structure looks like.

Select the best format for your session

The right format for your breakout conference session depends on what your session aims to achieve!

For example:

• Skill-building. These sessions might allow attendees to practice the skill in mind. For research, sales, or pitching, a three-minute thesis format might fit the bill!
• Leadership. A leadership session could involve role-playing exercises or a roundtable discussion with prompts.
• Teambuilding. Strengthening bonds takes time—and it can be fun! Your session could focus on skill-sharing and collaboration. An escape room is a great example.
• Networking. Attendees need an interactive format to connect with each other. Consider small groups with conversation prompts, speed networking, or experience sharing.
• Relaxation. Sometimes attendees just need a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the conference environment. Consider guided meditation, a breathing exercise, or a quiet collaborative activity.

There are also ways to vary how attendees participate in sessions. For example, interactive conference session ideas could include gamifying your session to encourage greater participant engagement.

Set clear expectations

When you set goals for your breakout session, you not only provide yourself with planning guidelines—you also have built-in attendee participation guidelines.

Be sure to convey your goals to your breakout groups before they begin.

Keep the breakout on topic

With so much happening at conferences, it can be easy to wander off-topic! Appointing facilitators within each small group is a great way to make sure the session moves in the right direction. 

Give your facilitators a hand by providing an outline or other facilitation tips. Even a few sample segue phrases could help keep the group on task. 

Designate the right amount of time

How much time do you have available for a breakout session? Make sure that participants have enough time to warm up to their group, get into it, and figure out—if relevant—what they’ll share on the other side.

Too short, and the breakout sessions won’t be productive. Too long, and breakout session participants might complete the task and disengage.

Calculating the right amount of time may require some trial and error. “Three-minute thesis” events make it quite easy to estimate timelines, but a more collaborative and constructive event might need more flexibility.

Everybody deserves a chance to speak, so don’t forget to factor in the number of participants in each breakout group!

Use the right space or event tech

From the in person setting to the virtual space, your environment and tools set the tone for your breakouts.

For in person, is the room big enough, or too big? Does each breakout group have their own space? Does everyone have the tools they need (whiteboard, pens, paper, fidget toys, seating), and, if relevant, privacy?

For virtual, do you have event tech that lets you easily set up and run virtual breakout rooms? Do your facilitators know how to use it, and is there troubleshooting available for your participants?

Figuring out your needs before the event gives the session itself more time to flourish.

Mix introverts and extroverts

The trick to any well constructed group is balance. Group strong talkers with strong listeners for a dynamic conversation full of insights and different ways of processing information.

Create an inclusive event

An important question to consider when planning your breakout session is: how easy is it to alter or accommodate the setup depending on participants’ abilities and needs?

For example:

• If there’s a strong visual component to the session, is there an alternative way for people with low vision to participate?
• If there’s a strong physical component, how can mobility needs be accommodated?
• If there is a strong verbal component, is there a visual accommodation (like captions) for people with audio processing disorders?

After all, the last thing you want is for someone to be unable to enjoy the event you’ve so thoughtfully put together!

Create safety measures

Attendees come from a variety of backgrounds and each may have varying levels of comfort at events.

Safety measures help all participants feel empowered to participate in breakout sessions, where event staff might not be present to help moderate uncomfortable situations.

These can include:

• Providing facilitators with de-escalation or segue skills. If tensions rise in a breakout group or if someone says they aren’t comfortable, facilitators should feel empowered to quickly address the tension and/or move the conversation along.
• Code of Conduct. A comprehensive code of conduct that attendees are required to agree to beforehand holds everybody to the same standard and protects you from any attendee misbehavior.
• Security. Invest in hired security so that you can focus on running your event and supporting your facilitators. That way, any in person disruptions can be professionally addressed. 
• Moderation. In a virtual setting, it’s important to task one or more people with moderating the digital space and managing breakout room assignments. With EventMobi’s GoLive! Production Services Team, you can even find expert support for your breakout sessions. 
• Incorporating illness-prevention protocols. Recommending and providing masks or ensuring your venue implements air filtration helps you create an inclusive event. Disabled and immunocompromised people may feel more comfortable coming to your conference and breakout sessions! Plus: no one likes con crud.

What Are Some Good Conference Breakout Session Topics?

Hosting the best conference breakout session will depend on what kind of conference you’re hosting!

To start brainstorming ideas, focus on your goals for the session.

Not sure of your goals? Ask yourself:

• What are people learning? Are they building skills, or gaining knowledge? Another way of framing this is what conference-goers want from the breakout session—whether that be industry info or professional skills.
• What are people sharing? Again—will they share skills, or knowledge? Another way of framing this is what conference-goers have to offer the breakout session.
• How do you enrich the existing programming? Will you provide attendees with new skills, new knowledge, new connections? Will you build on or deviate from existing conference programming?
• What tools will facilitators use to drive discussion? This could include technology like slideshow presentations or facilitation tools like brainstorms and mediation skills.

With your goals clearly established, it’ll be easy to align your conference breakout session ideas with your attendees’ interests! 

Looking for breakout session examples? Attendees at a leadership conference might benefit from a breakout session that allows them to share leadership experiences and problem-solve. Or, at an academic conference, a three-minute thesis competition could encourage academic inspiration and learning.

How To Structure a Breakout Session

Breakout sessions are more than just the main event! Here’s one structure to help make your sessions feel social and natural—and to build connections between your participants.

• Provide a framework or outline. This helps you share your goals for the session with attendees. Make sure participants know what’s expected of them—and how to time the components of the session.
• Appoint breakout leaders/facilitators. Identify leaders before breaking into groups, or ask the groups to elect one amongst themselves. Ideally, your leaders will volunteer!
• Facilitate introductions. This is a great time for an icebreaker question, or even an activity if time permits! Have participants offer one fun fact about themselves, or ask what made them smile in the last week.
• Dive into the activity. The reason everyone’s here!
• Wind the session down. Provide some light guidance on how groups should wrap the session amongst themselves before returning to the main room.
• Reunite and share findings. Everyone will be eager to share what they learned! Have a plan for how best to discuss the conference breakout session once everyone’s come back together.
• Ask for feedback on structure. Find a way to collect feedback efficiently, such as through live polling, then implement those suggestions in the next session you host!

Now you know what should be included in a conference breakout! If you’ve set goals for your sessions and planned around them, odds are that your breakout session’s structure has already started taking shape. 

Now, let’s explore 37 interactive conference session ideas to help guide your next event.

5 Collaborative Discussion Conference Breakout Session Ideas

A conference breakout session that focuses on discussion can be a great way for attendees to connect, problem-solve, or brainstorm.

If you’re hoping for attendees to come away with some bright ideas, try one of these breakout session ideas:

Roundtable 

Roundtables are a classic breakout session. A roundtable discussion allocates time for small groups to discuss a specific topic or prompt. Generally non-hierarchical, these sessions can be a great chance to give quieter attendees dedicated space to share their thoughts. 

Case study discussions

Looking to solve a problem? Assigning a case study to your breakout sessions allows your attendees to put their heads together and focus on the solution. When you reunite as a room, you’ll have many new ideas to consider. Many hands make light work, after all!

Brainstorming and ideation

Big dreams need space to breathe! Your attendees have a lot to offer, but the conference setting doesn’t always enable collaborative ideation. Creating breakout sessions where participants can use their creativity will result in fresh suggestions and help everybody feel heard. 

Goal setting

First comes the brainstorm, then comes the plan! Whether it be to set individual, team, or organizational goals, your attendees can take a hands-on approach to the future of your event topic by participating in a breakout meeting centered on goal-setting.

Book discussion

Running an event where a key text or book is central to the attendees’ interests? It’s easy to skip over the individual reading experience when in a large group, so this is where the breakout session shines. Provide prompting questions so that each group has a place to start chatting. 

Looking for conference management software that can help you create unforgettable event experiences?

Watch the EventMobi Product Tour to learn how to effortlessly create on-brand, on-budget attendee experiences at every stage of your events.

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5 Presentation Conference Breakout Session Examples

At a busy conference, not every attendee will get the chance to speak at length to a large audience. But that’s no reason to assume your attendees can’t share knowledge in other ways! 

Here are 5 ways to offer presentation opportunities through breakout session examples:

Three minute thesis

A staple of academic conferences, three minute thesis sessions allow presenters to share their thesis in a short, concise manner. Your participants can either register and prepare their pitch beforehand, or even sign up on the day-of and deliver a quick talk. 

Demo or showcase

Sometimes the best way to understand a product or new idea is to see it in action. If you’re looking to give attendees a closer look at a product, tech solution, or another tangible item, holding breakout sessions can give better access to individual attendees and a chance to ask and answer key questions. Ultimately, this can be the difference that makes a sale! 

Debate

Common conference session formats don’t allow for much back and forth between presenters. Through breakout sessions, your presenters can have more freedom to converse on their topic of choice. Or, you can create a team-building exercise and separate attendees into groups to strategize around preset topics. Return from the breakout sessions and let the debate begin!

Lightning talks

Even the most interesting conference presentations can feel monotonous after a long day. To break up the rhythm of lengthy conference sessions, use a series of lightning talks. Invite attendees to share their expertise for 5-10 minutes each and you’ll be surprised what you learn!

AMA

Engaged attendees will always have questions that don’t get answered in a main conference session. The solution? An AMA—or Ask Me Anything—where attendees get direct access to conference speakers or other experts in a field. Relatively unstructured, these Q&A sessions allow your presenters to speak in greater detail based on the interests of attendees in the room. 

7 Skill Development Conference Breakout Session Ideas

Many attendees hope to develop professional skills when they attend a conference.

Whether they’re looking to learn something new or to brush up on old skills, here are 7 breakout session ideas to give attendees a way to improve their skills at your conference:

Workshop

Most workshops consist of facilitator(s) and attendees focused on a specific topic. With one or several experts leading, workshops can include interactive as well as presentational components. The best workshops give attendees key takeaways to apply after the session!

Worksheets

For many, the best way to remember information is to write it down! Give participants worksheets to fill out in response to prompts during the conference breakout session, or have registrants fill them out beforehand to prepare for discussion. You can pair this idea with others on this list!

Training session

Training is crucial to the operations of any organization, no matter the size. And attendees from across different organizations can benefit from learning similar skills to bring back to their teams! A group setting can provide training where attendees have time to ask questions, while also efficiently working through material. 

Roleplay

Practice makes perfect, and what better setting to practice in than during a breakout session? Get creative by presenting attendees with a hypothetical scenario they might encounter professionally. Then, invite attendees to play out those conversations! Afterwards, your attendees will feel better equipped to tackle the real thing. 

Mentorship session

There are many ways to learn, but nothing is quite like having a mentor in the field take time to speak to your specific concerns. Keep the headcount in these breakout sessions low so attendees get individual attention. You could even consider using an event app that makes booking 1-on-1 meetings easy for attendees and mentors alike! 

Skill sharing

Every attendee of your conference brings something new to the table. Create a breakout session where each participant has a chance to share their skills, perhaps around a theme or organizational need, and your attendees will empower each other with knowledge. 

Peer learning

Similar to skill sharing, some attendees will have skills that other attendees are seeking! Rather than bringing in outside experts, tap into the knowledgeable people in the room and encourage them to lead a peer learning session. This can also enhance team cohesion and help peer leaders keep their skills sharp.  

3 Networking Breakout Session Ideas

Did you know 80% of professionals consider networking to be crucial to their career success? 

Conferences are a great place to form new and lasting career connections, so breakout meetings created for networking helps make that process even easier. 

Speed networking

A bit like speed dating, speed networking sets up participants in small groups of two or three to chat and connect. After about 3-5 minutes of conversation, participants will rotate to new groups. You can provide prompts to guide conversation, or leave things open for attendees. 

Drop-in networking café

A long conference day means hungry, thirsty attendees. Why not combine refreshments with networking? Set up a seating arrangement that encourages new connections, or take an extra step and include prompts at your café tables! 

Icebreaker games

Who says networking can’t be fun? Whether during a dedicated session or at the start of each breakout group, you can introduce games that facilitate connection between participants. From two truths and a lie, to a participant bingo, there are many games that encourage conversation.

6 Casual Breakout Conference Session Ideas

Sometimes what your attendees need after information-packed conference sessions is to unwind.

As a bonus, casual sessions passively tick a lot of boxes that other kinds of breakout sessions explicitly develop!

Help your attendees recharge with these 6 conference breakout session ideas: 

Meditation

Nowadays, employee wellness is more important than ever. In a quiet space, set up your attendees with a meditation instructor to take them through a 15-minute guided meditation between sessions. The peace and quiet will refresh your attendees and they’ll emerge ready to focus on the rest of the day!

Trivia

Always a hit with a crowd, hosting a trivia game is an easy way to lighten up your breakout sessions. If you want to make things fun and educational, you could break attendees into small breakout groups to answer trivia themed around a talk they just attended. 

Game room

Set up a leisure space at your conference venue with small areas for different games, and you’ll have an easy way for attendees to relax. You can include board games like Charades or Werewolf at different stations to encourage participants to collaborate on teams.  

Creative activity

Regardless of your field, creativity is a valuable skill to cultivate. Give your attendees a way to use their creative energy by providing arts and crafts materials or a canvas and paints. Participants will have a tangible reminder of their time at your conference and get to see the creative side of their fellow attendees! 

Scavenger hunt

Send teams on a scavenger hunt throughout your event venue to get attendees moving. You can even use event tech to help gamify your conference breakout session and encourage attendee engagement! Just make sure to think up a valuable prize for your winners. 

Independent work time 

Do your attendees have work to finish even as they attend your conference? Create a space and time for coworking so that they can focus on work, then let everyone check in or share for social accountability throughout the session. Working alongside others can be very motivating!

9 Virtual Breakout Session Ideas

At your next virtual or hybrid event, try using these 10 virtual breakout session ideas to keep your breakout session attendees engaged: 

Virtual lunch & learn

Give your attendees the option to break into small groups that learn as they snack on their lunch! Introverts might spend some time to themselves, but this is a great way to let your high-energy con attendees keep engagement up through rest time.

Virtual Ask Me Anything

Honestly, a lot of the breakout session ideas we listed above can be repurposed for virtual! But expert sessions like an Ask Me Anything can sometimes be MORE valuable online…because your experts aren’t limited by geographic location.

Show & tell

Screen sharing makes showing off projects, experiences, or past events way easier than in person. Make use of the fact that your attendees have all their work at their fingertips, and create show & tell breakout rooms where they can explore real experiences together.

Interactive brainstorming

One of the best ways to drive a new strategy home is letting people put it into practice. Give your breakout rooms some time to brainstorm how they’d put their new skills to work in a sample scenario, or work towards an actual project they have on hand. Then they can present their new findings using a virtual whiteboard or similar tech!

Virtual games

Heard of scribblr? Letting attendees have a moment to break out into smaller groups focused on ridiculousness and fun can help them bond and connect, when virtual events can feel less engaging on an attendee-to-attendee level.

Script-based roleplay

Want to challenge some new skills? Give your attendees a script to walk through a scenario, and put them in breakout rooms of 2-4 individuals. One person will be on-script, one person will respond, and the others can provide feedback. Then they can swap roles!

Questions & discussion

A tried and true standby, send breakout groups off with a list of questions for them to discuss. Want to keep things moving? Make sure you get the group to assign a group leader as soon as they start, to shorten those awkward silences.

Poll-based topics

Are some participants feeling quiet? Live polls are a wonderful way to democratize session decisions and collect attendee feedback in a virtual setting. Then, once you’ve let them choose their breakout session topics, send them off to discuss and return!

Speed networking

Put groups together and let them chat for 2-5 minutes, before swapping who they’re chatting with. This works best if attendees can also book time with one another on the event platform you’re using (psst: EventMobi does this!).

Conclusion

Whether your conference is academic or professional, in-person or virtual, your breakout sessions are sure to impress attendees when you plan around your goals and structure the sessions according to their needs. 

Running virtual breakout sessions? It’s so much easier with the right technology partner. With EventMobi, you can:

Looking for the right event tech tools for every stage of your events and conferences?

Book your demo of EventMobi today to see how to effortlessly manage the entire event lifecycle with a single, powerful platform.

Book a Demo

The post 36 Conference Breakout Session Ideas & Examples appeared first on EventMobi.

With the right plan in place, you can:

But how can you come up with an effective strategy that encompasses all these different marketing channels? When should you use digital marketing and when should you go traditional? How do you make sure your association stands out from the crowd?

We’ll answer all those questions and more! Read on to learn about: 

• The type of marketing your association should do
• The 8 steps you can take to build an actionable strategy
• How to use digital & community marketing to market your membership program
• How to use event marketing for your association
• And several association marketing tools to add to your arsenal!  

What Type of Marketing Should Your Association Do?

Your association marketing strategy shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all! Focusing on every single goal possible will just spread yourself—and your team—thin. Depending on your organizational goals, your marketing strategy may differ. Here’s some priorities to explore!

Member acquisition

If your organization is in its early growth phase, this can be your marketing strategy’s main goal. If your association has already grown its membership, you might want to focus a greater percentage of your energy on retention rather than acquisition.

Make sure your acquisition marketing strategy highlights the membership value. Upon landing on your website or any other marketing materials, your target audience should immediately know:

• Who you are, and your values
• How to sign up
• What they get (member benefits!)
• What your biggest wins are (annual conference? Huge networking night? Great gala?)

Get familiar with the language (tone, voice, style) your audience uses, and meet them where they are. Find partners, run events, create a social community, leverage SEO and paid media, and create a website that is built to convert potential members.

Member retention

Retaining members is essential to your organization’s sustainability. You want to nurture the successes from your acquisition efforts!

In this case, your membership marketing strategies should focus on fostering consistent, ongoing member engagement to encourage loyalty. You can do this by:

• An easy-to-access member-exclusive content space
• Member appreciation and spotlights
• A reliable, easy-to-read newsletter (paper or digital!)
• Consistent emails advertising your programs and opportunities
• Offering ongoing networking and mentorship opportunities
• Hosting a must-see job board for members to find new opportunities
• Running certification and continuing learning programs
• Using retargeting campaigns to advertise ongoing programs to members
• Running regular member feedback surveys and sessions
• Implementing automated member renewal programs
• Tracking member engagement and behavior, and comparing that to churn

Your members’ needs are #1, and should be at the heart of your organization’s retention priorities.

Sponsor acquisition

As a crucial revenue stream for associations, sponsorships definitely deserve their own marketing strategy! An effective sponsor acquisition strategy should:

• Identify and target the right sponsors (depending on your sponsorship program)
• Have the right sponsorship packages
• Create an outreach strategy that blends your needs with your sponsors’
• Effectively manage sponsor fulfillment resourcing
• Communicate your sponsors’ wins back to them

Make sure you know your sponsors so you can provide them with the best sponsorship packages. A great way to work with their priorities is to offer different sponsorship levels (or even à-la-carte benefits!) for different sponsors.

Brand awareness

A strong brand can do wonders for both your acquisition and retention efforts. The more people know and trust your brand identity, the more likely it is for them to:

• Become a member
• Stay a member of your association
• Help attract new members (through word-of-mouth, for example!)

The right brand marketing strategy makes everything else easier. Start by establishing:

• A mission and vision statement
• Organizational values
• Your look/feel (logo, colour palette)
• Imagery style

And then roll out a consistent brand identity on all your public-facing channels. After that, it’s all about the right partners. Make sure you know how to write a press release, develop media contacts, and run awareness campaigns.

Revenue goals (dues and non-dues)

To optimize your revenue streams, you may need to choose whether you’re investing in promoting your dues or non-dues revenue growth.

Maybe you can’t increase membership cost because it’ll push away current and future members, which means you’ll need to depend more on your non-dues revenue sources.

Some ways to increase non-dues revenue include:

• Charging for exclusive content or resources
• Selling branded merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, etc.
• Getting sponsors for events
• Offering ad space on your website, mobile app, or events

You can implement your marketing efforts using digital or traditional/community channels, or both! We’ll explore this in more details in the next few sections.

How To Build an Association Marketing Strategy

Now you should know which goal(s) your marketing strategy targets. Ready to create one? 

Follow these 8 steps to build an effective marketing strategy for your association:

1. Define your mission and/or vision

Your association’s mission and vision statements help guide your strategy. This means that your marketing strategy and campaigns should strive to reflect your mission (what you are) and make your vision (your ultimate goals) come true. 

Don’t have a mission or vision statement yet? No sweat—here’s an example to get you started.

Most associations only have mission statements. The American Heart Association’s (AHA) mission is “to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.”

Of course, you could still come up with a vision for your association, and it could change over time. For example, The AHA’s 2024 vision is “to advance cardiovascular health for all, including identifying and removing barriers to health care access and quality.”

All set with your mission and vision? Now you can build your strategy!

2. Create your brand

The sooner you build your brand, the better. After all, we know that a strong brand helps immensely with getting and keeping members or sponsors.

Make sure your brand elements (logo, fonts, colors) are consistent across your marketing channels. Let’s revisit the AHA’s website:

Notice how the website strategically uses the red-black-white palette. The logo is also in those colors—plus, it’s relevant and impactful. The torch and heart not only emphasize “heart health”, but reflect how the AHA is a leader in their field. 

3. Define your member personas

You know your members best! Think about who they are and what it is they’re looking for. Take this persona, for example:

Name: Candace

Description: Candace is a 25-year-old marketer working in a SaaS company. She works from home, and goes to her local café for a change of scenery from time to time. She enjoys using her free time to learn new skills or volunteer for her local animal shelter.

Demographics:

• Gender: Woman
• Age: 25
• Location: New York, NY
• Education: Bachelor’s degree
• Job title: Social media specialist
• Income: $70,000
• Relationship: Single

Pain points:

• Needs: opportunities to improve her copywriting skills
• Motivations: results of her marketing efforts (new customer sign-ups), and acknowledgement from her boss

If you’re hosting a copywriting conference, Candace will most likely be attending.

Creating personas like these can help you understand…

• Who your members are
• What motivates them
• What they need
• And how you can give them what they need.

And: you can do the exact same thing with your sponsors!

4. Find out where your members are

Let’s revisit Candace. Where do you think we can find her?

As a social media specialist, Candace is very familiar with different social media platforms. She’ll be on major social channels the majority of the day.

Using paid social ads and creating a social media campaign on a platform relevant to late-millennials (E.G. instagram) is a surefire way to advertise your conference to Candace.

Same thing applies with your members. Being present where your members are—both online and offline—will bring them to you. This could mean social media platforms, industry forums, networking sites, or niche publications. This could also mean your local cafe, subway station, or community event.

5. Examine your competitors

Examining your competitors lets you know what they offer and how they’re marketing their products or services. That’s how you’ll know how to make your association stand out from them.

When researching your competitors, look into:

• Their products or services. In particular, the unique selling points (USP) of their offerings.
• Their target audience. Are they the same as yours, or do they differ?
• The problems that their products/services solve for their target audience. Does your audience have the same problems?
• Their marketing efforts—both online and offline. Identify what works and what doesn’t work for them.

6. Market across channels

The channels you need vary depending on your sponsor or membership marketing strategies. For example, if you’re marketing your membership program, email is a great channel to both recruit new members and keep current ones. 

According to the 2022 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report:

• 48% of associations chose email as the channel attracting the most new members
• 79% used welcome email(s) to onboard new members
• 48% used monthly email series to engage more tenured members
• 82% chose email as the channel generating the most membership renewals

In terms of member recruitment, the two most impactful channels—besides email—are association-sponsored events/meetings (30%) and member referrals (28%). But don’t forget about your website, paid media, paid social, SEO, partnerships, and PR, too. Just make sure to prioritize based on results.

Once you’ve chosen the channels and implemented the tactics, make sure you…

7. Get feedback and analyze results

Regularly check for feedback from your target audience to know if your marketing strategy works. You can:

• Monitor your social media channels
• Conduct quantitative research (e.g. surveys)
• Conduct qualitative research (e.g. focus groups, online feedback tools)

Of course, to optimize your marketing strategies, you need to analyze their results as well. Check out this section for different analytics software to use for your association marketing strategy.

8. Automate everything

Don’t stop at the analytics report. Go one step further: use marketing automation tools to streamline your processes, save time and effort, and increase the efficiency of your association marketing.

Automation can include email marketing workflows, member onboarding sequences, event registration processes, and more! If you’re organizing an event, for example, you can use lead retrieval software to make it easier for exhibitors and sponsors to collect attendee data. Those are potential members you could be following up with!

Digital Marketing for Associations: The Essentials

Plan on having a digital association marketing strategy? Consider these channels:

Website

It goes without saying: your website’s important. It’s where magic conversion happens! It’s also the first checkpoint for your brand’s visual identity.

To optimize your website, you can:

• Make sure your tagline clearly communicates what your association is
• Include clear benefits of joining your association (e.g. answer the question “what’s in it for me?”) 
• Make sure your website reflects your brand well
• Use a user-friendly CMS (e.g. WordPress, Webflow, etc.) to host your content
• Read up on UX, or user experience, design
• Incorporate analytics tools (e.g. Google Analytics) to your site to track performance
• Include clear CTAs to explore programming or sign up for a membership

For a great example, check out PCMA’s website! It’s super easy to learn, connect, sign up for events, or join the association.

Email

Email is essential for both member acquisition and retention. To have an effective email marketing strategy, you can:

• Segment your audience according to your member or sponsor personas
• Send emails regularly to keep members engaged
• Send different types of emails (e.g. newsletters, event invitations, industry updates)
• Personalize your emails (e.g. address receivers by their names)
• Create reports that let you track success against each email’s goal (e.g. member renewal emails)

Organic search (SEO)

Invest in creating high-quality, informative content that speaks to your members’ needs. This can also help position you as a thought leader in your industry.

To improve your association’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), make sure you apply SEO best practices to both your content and your website.

Social media

Organic social media is the second most popular channel to recruit new members, and for good reason. With social media, you can:

• Engage with your potential and current members
• Attract new members to your association
• Build a community
• Cross-promote different valuable content

And more! 

Paid advertising

Paid digital advertising can help with your member or sponsor acquisition. To expand your reach and drive targeted traffic to your association’s website and events, consider using:

• Paid search (e.g. Google Ads)
• Paid social media ads (e.g. Facebook Ads)
• Display ads 

Online community

With an online community, you can keep your members engaged year-round. They can connect, collaborate, share knowledge or opportunities, and more. This fosters engagement and strengthens the sense of belonging within your association.

Continuing education

Offering educational resources or certifications helps attract and retain members. In fact, 36% of associations believe members join their organization for the continuing education/professional certification!

You can also make this a non-dues revenue stream for your association.

Superpath, for example, offers Superpath Pro—a $500/year membership where you get access to:

• Structured courses on content strategy, management, reporting, hiring and more
• Exclusive content on strategy (including examples, templates, and checklists)

And tons of other perks!

Digital events

Digital events are essential to your member and sponsor acquisition strategy. These events double as networking opportunities—which is actually the most common reason members join an association! You can also establish yourself as a thought leader with these events.

Examples of digital association events include:

• Webinars
• Online networking events
• Hybrid conferences
• Virtual trade shows

Make sure you find the right event tech partner. For example, EventMobi’s platform is built to host annual conferences and become an online community center for year-round events and meetings.

Other Marketing Strategies for Associations

Digital marketing isn’t the only channel you can use to market your sponsor or membership program. Consider the following approaches for your association marketing strategy:

Referrals

Referrals or member-get-a-member remain in the top 3 channels that get the most new members. To encourage member referrals, you can offer incentives like:

• Membership dues discount for first year or multi-years
• Gift or premium
• Product discount, coupon, or voucher
• Conference or convention discount

Partnerships

Establishing partnerships is another tactic you can look into. This can help achieve your marketing goals, and offer more value to your members. You can collaborate with complementary organizations, industry influencers, media publications, or sponsors.

Merch & swag

Selling brand collaterals like merch and swag contributes to your revenue goals—and acts as marketing tools for your association. It’s a win-win!

Media sponsors

Besides traditional sponsorships, you can also look into in-kind sponsorship with media partners. Building partnerships with local newspapers or industry publications will help grow your brand visibility. This is also a great way to promote your association’s events and initiatives.

In-person events

In-person events have regained their popularity post-pandemic. No matter what industry your association is in, you can organize conferences, seminars, or networking events to:

• Bring your members together
• Foster personal connections
• And advertise your association’s brand and expertise

Member benefits

Let’s revisit Superpath and Superpath Pro. Besides the courses, Superpath Pro members also have access to monthly 1-1 calls and a private Slack channel. These benefits are clearly communicated on the Superpath Pro landing page.

Like this example, make sure the value of your membership is crystal clear on your website and other marketing materials! This could mean exclusive resources, discounts, professional development opportunities, networking opportunities, and more.

How To Use Events To Market Your Association

Events are a popular channel to engage members, attract new ones, and build brand awareness. In fact, most associations report increased attendance at virtual events over 2022! To market your association using events, consider these aspects:

Event branding

Have a solid event branding strategy to:

• Make your event memorable
• Set clear expectations for attendees
• Create meaningful connections
• Introduce new folks to your organization
• Distinguish you from competitors

Experience design

For new members, your event is their first impression of your association. For existing members, it’s a core value add for their experience. Ensure every interaction your audience has within your event is well-designed and smooth-sailing, with your members in mind.

Networking

Create networking sessions or 1-1 meetings within your event to help attendees connect, build relationships, and meet their goals.

Session value

Organize educational sessions to offer valuable insights and actionable takeaways for your attendees.

Partnerships

Collaborate with other associations to co-host sessions, take turns speaking at one another’s events, or cross-promote events.

Thought leadership

Position your association as a thought leader by featuring influential speakers and subject matter experts in your events.

Member retention

Use your event to connect with existing members and provide exclusive benefits like special discounts, early event access, VIP experiences, and more.

Member acquisition

Provide incentives to attract newcomers like a discounted membership fee or product discount.

PR

Develop press releases and reach out to journalists to generate buzz and excitement for your event. If you’re providing any community value, make sure to get in touch with local news: they’re always looking for new stories!

Word of mouth

Encourage attendees to share their experiences with a referral program or referral incentives for future events.

Ready to make your association’s next event a marketing success? EventMobi can help you attract members and sponsors alike with our event management software for associations.

Learn More !

Association Marketing Providers to Help Execute Your Marketing Strategy

To ensure the success of your strategies, here are some handy association marketing providers you can work with:

Top association branding consultant

Before diving into any software solutions, consider working with a strategic partner to define your branding and execute your strategy. Let’s explore our top branding consultant recommendation for associations.

Strategic Association Solutions (SAS)

Strategic Association Solutions (SAS) is a back-office solutions provider specifically tailored to membership-based nonprofits, including trade associations and professional societies.

In addition to accounting, strategy, technology, and human resources (HR) services, SAS helps associations transform their branding by developing a bespoke brand identity, redesigning their websites, and creating digital and printed assets, such as conference signage, membership brochures, and brand toolkits.

Pricing: Contact SAS to get a custom quote based on your association’s needs.

Analytics marketing software for associations

The upside of digital marketing for associations is that you can get a clear picture of how your marketing strategy is working, as long as you use the right tools. To ensure you’re reaching your marketing goals, track key analytics using the following software.

Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a browser add-on for Chrome & Firefox that shows search volume, CPC and competition on multiple websites.

Pricing starts at $1/month for the Bronze plan.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console helps you measure your site’s search traffic and performance, fix issues, and optimize it for Google Search results.

Pricing: Free

Google Analytics

Google Analytics helps you track and report your association’s website traffic, as well as your mobile app traffic and events.

Pricing: Free

Email marketing software for associations

As a key membership marketing strategy, email marketing is crucial to every association! Use these email marketing tools to craft attractive emails, segment your audience, and track engagement rates.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email and marketing automations platform for growing businesses and organizations. 

Pricing: Free. Paid plan starts from $13/month.

Hubspot

Hubspot is a CRM platform which offers a suite of marketing tools, including email marketing.

Pricing differs between individuals & small teams (starting at $0/month) and businesses & enterprises (starting at $800/month).

Emma

Emma is an email marketing platform for marketers with any level of technical skill. Features include analytics, email editor, automation, segmentation, user permissions, and brand controls.

Pricing starts from $99/month.

Association management software

Association management software can do more than lighten your administrative load—it can also be an excellent marketing tool! Use these tools to: 

• Collect your member information in a database for easy reference
• Monitor member behavior to inform your future strategy
• Track retention campaigns to ensure your strategy is working
• Maintain continued engagement and contact with your member base

Glue Up

Glue Up is an all-in-one engagement management platform to streamline operations for associations, event organizers, agencies, and more.

Pricing starts at $125/month.

YourMembership

YourMembership is an association management platform to help organizations manage membership activities, boost member engagement, and increase non-dues revenue.

Pricing: Contact sales

WildApricot

WildApricot is an all-in-one management solution for nonprofits and small to medium-sized associations.

Pricing starts at $60/month. Discounts available for 1-year or 2-year subscriptions.

Association Event Management Software

The right event tech partner should cut down administrative work, get you the analytics you need, and make navigating your events super easy for members. Look for:

EventMobi

EventMobi is an all-in-one event management platform that helps associations of all sizes. The platform makes easier to create, hold, and market association events. EventMobi can help you:

• Customize and automate your event email marketing
• Create branded event websites that convert
• Design a smooth attendee experience from registration to post-event surveys
• Track your event’s social media footprint to maximize your reach
• Promote you and your sponsors through banner ads and sponsored messages
• And more!

To learn more about EventMobi’s services for your association, you can request a free demo. 

Book Now

The post How To Build an Association Marketing Strategy: 8 Steps, Channels & Tools appeared first on EventMobi.

About the CMEE

For over 25 years, The Canadian Meetings + Events Expo (CMEE) has brought together meeting planners of all kinds – independent, corporate, or government – with event suppliers. As the biggest and longest-running meetings and events show in Canada, the CMEE gives event planners the chance to discover and meet with 200+ companies, gain relevant industry knowledge, and source new event ideas.

Meet the Person Behind the Magic

Melissa Arnott oversees the successful delivery of tradeshows and conferences, including the CMEE, at Newcom Media Inc. As an experienced trade and consumer show executive, Melissa has been the show manager of the CMEE for nearly 6 years.

CMEExpo 2022, Toronto, Canada, August 16-17

Event Goals and Challenges

Event Goal

To connect meeting and event professionals with new suppliers offering a range of event planning products and solutions for venue sourcing, special event and incentive travel planning, and event management-related products and services, including technology.

The Challenge

CMEE 2022 was the second event held in-person after the COVID-19 pandemic. As health and safety restrictions had eased, registrations were back to pre-2020 levels. The organizers wanted to ensure event stakeholders made the most of the show by making it easy to navigate the show floor, find educational sessions, and network with one another.

“We discovered EventMobi a few years ago and immediately found that they were just easy to work with and they also enhanced our user experience, both on the exhibitor side as well as the attendee side.”

– Melissa Arnott

How the CMEE Successfully Connected Event Planners With Suppliers

“When we’re planning the event, we plan with the attendee experience in mind all the time. So what the App does is make us very aware of what the experience is going to be. So EventMobi is really enhancing that experience, again, both on the exhibitor and the attendee side.” – Melissa Arnott

The CMEE used the following unique features offered by EventMobi’s Event App to deliver an amazing and unforgettable event experience:

Event App Highlights

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Results

1. Increased Engagement Between Event Planners and Suppliers

With 563 Challenges completed and 59,700 total points collected, the ‘Play to Win’ gamification challenges were a clear favorite among spirited attendees. These statistics, paired with anecdotal feedback collected onsite, demonstrate that this engagement feature created an exciting and memorable attendee experience while driving relevant traffic to exhibitor booths.

2. A Positive User Experience

Reactions from CMEE 2022 attendees were extremely positive.

“People are going towards technology. And as much as we used to love those big, thick show guides that we carried around and, you know, probably injured our shoulders, the Event App is right in their hand and they can use it. They can change their experience as they go.”

– Melissa Arnott

Users noted that the Event App was visually appealing, offered easy access to important information and updates, and simplified navigating the event.

“It was my first time using it actually, but I like the color way of it, and it pops where it should. So it’s been really easy and nice on the eyes.” – Olivia Popofsky

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The post Case Study: Canadian Meetings + Events Expo 2022 Uses the Mobile Event App to Drive Engagement With Exhibitors appeared first on EventMobi.

2018 has been a pretty impressive year in the world of design. Microsoft recently rolled out new logos for their Office Suite. The World Cup 2018 saw all 32 teams with new kit designs, and furniture companies such as IKEA released products introducing clever space saving designs for urban living. What’s clear is that brand recognition and simple, sophisticated product design matters more than ever across all industries, and the event technology space is no different. We asked our Customer Experience team to reflect on some of the amazing clients and app designs they’ve seen this year. Here are the top 6 best event app designs of the year.

1) 2018 OFA Annual General Meeting

Organization: Ontario Federation of Agriculture

The Design Vision

 

“When we designed this event app, we put a lot of focus on the visual aspect of the app and aimed to create an experience that was fresh and vibrant for our users. We wanted it to be eye-catching, but also work within our branding. Therefore, we made a conscious effort to select specific images that meshed well with the color scheme, showcased our industry, and highlighted the theme “Prosperity Grows Here.”

 

Overall, our favorite feature on EventMobi’s event app is the widget layout. The ability to take one photo and spread it across all six widgets really helped pull the event app together and make the selected image visually prominent.”  

 

– Tyler Brooks, Director of Digital Communications @ Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Why We Love It

 

“This app really stood out to me because of its use of our Advanced Designer product. Modifying the widgets to create an innovative menu and using the background to help match their event theme and organization really helped elevate this app’s branding.”

 

– Rebecca McDougall, Director of Customer Experience @ EventMobi

2) Love Mexico & Beyond Event

Organization: International Association of Destination Wedding Professionals

The Design Vision

 

“We loved the modular design of the event app, it gave the attendees the possibility to have all the important information accessible at the tip of their fingers.“

 

– Pilar de Alva, Marketing Manager @ IADWP

 

Why We Love It

 

“With a couple of clicks, our clients can customize their solution capturing the essence of their brand and making technology a cohesive part of their whole event concept. These events did a particularly great job at this.”

 

– Vander Guerrero, VP of Customer Experience @ EventMobi

 

3) Crisp Game Changers Summit

Organization: Crisp Video Group

The Design Vision

 

“When designing the app for our event, our goal was to create an engaging in-app experience for our attendees. We felt that by creating a design that was colorful, cohesive, and aligned with our company and event branding would help us accomplish that goal, and we were right! We received a ton of positive feedback on the event app and saw incredible engagement during our two-day conference.

 

Our favorite part about the design would probably have to be the nontraditional module backgrounds that captured the eye and generated excitement.”

 

– Hannah Doksansky, Content Strategist @ Crisp Video Group

 

Why We Love It

 

The thing that made this event app stand out to me was their bold colors and design. They did a fabulous job highlighting key components of the event app such as their gamification that was highly used as their main app icon at the top of the app! Very impactful!

 

– Dory Kashin, Manager, Event Success @ EventMobi

 

4) Health Innovation Summit

Organization: Oliver Wyman

The Design Vision

 

“What was great about the design of our event app was that it encompassed the full theme of our Summit – it was great to add the that level of detail to our app!”

 

– Ashley Cate, Senior Project Coordinator @ Oliver Wyman

 

Why We Love It

 

“Amazing use of color that captures our attention right away. It feels fresh, on trend, and invites app users to features and content that will help them engage with the event.”

 

– Caitlan Davidson, Senior Support Operations Lead @ EventMobi

 

5) Luxury Specialist Event

Organization: Christie’s International Real Estate

The Design Vision

 

“In 2018, Christie’s International Real Estate was honored to host its Luxury Specialist event in New York City. The event app design nods to the architectural significance of the iconic location, Rockefeller Center. We loved that the widgets worked together on a grid system, allowing us to puzzle together a more inspiring perspective of the area. From presenting our branding in the app store, all the way up to the post-event survey experience, Eventmobi provided an opportunity to leverage our branding from start to finish.”

 

-Sara Rutter, AVP, Creative Director at Christie’s International Real Estate

Why We Love It

 

“I love this event app design because it’s beautiful, but also because it really reflects the Christie’s brand! They did a great job at using the design capabilities in the EventMobi Experience Manager platform to reflect their style.”

 

– Michelle Ignatavicius, Event Success Manager @ EventMobi

6) XXV Congreso Centroamericano y del Caribe de Avicultura

Organization: Avicultura

The Design Vision

 

“The event app for the XXV Congreso Centroamericano y del Caribe de Avicultura (Central American and Caribbean Poultry Industry Congress) marked an important milestone for this regional event since it was the first time that a mobile technology tool was used to encourage interaction between organizers and attendees.

 

The professional and sober aspect of the widgets, including images alluding to the event, ended up being very attractive to the eye and facilitated the use of the event app. We trust that the following EventMobi event app editions will continue to be beneficial.”

 

– José Quan, CEO Eventia Honduras @ Avicultura

 

Why We Love It

 

“This event app has a clean and consistent design, aligned with the corporate image of the event. The widgets clearly highlighted the most important areas of the event”

 

– Carolina Campos, Event Success Manager @ EventMobi

Recommended Resource: We’ve put together a selection of amazing event app designs to inspire you. Check out the best event app designs we’ve created for our clients!

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For us at EventMobi, team bonding and work-life balance are the reasons why we love the culture here. Being able to rely on our colleagues,  contribute ideas and have each of our voices heard, and be proud of the great value that we’re providing to clients all coincide to build a fun and productive work environment.

Ever since the beginning of EventMobi back in 2010, we’ve packed our bags every year and headed for a Team Retreat. We have offices in Toronto and Berlin, and amongst the two, so far we’ve explored the Bahamas, Milan, Barcelona, and Iceland, just to name a few. This summer, the Berlin team went to Lisbon for five days. Two days were spent in a co-working space. After all that work, it was time for play! We picked up the cooking spoons and attended a Portuguese cooking class before heading off to the Atlantic ocean to surf.

EventMobi’s technology is all about providing the best possible event experience to both planners and attendees through event management software tools like event apps, so what better way to demonstrate how useful an event app than by using it for our own team retreat? The following blog post is going to look at how we used our event app technology to improve attendee engagement and learning, and create an overall smooth event execution.

Agenda & Categories: Always Know What’s Going On

The heart of our team retreat was the agenda. From flight details to transfers, working hours and team dinners – the diverse and numerous activities scheduled throughout the five days could be clearly sorted, thanks to the color-coded categories. The agenda could be displayed in both list and calendar formats and also worked in offline mode, which was a huge benefit because we didn’t always have access to WIFI and roaming charges in Portugal would have been a big hit to the budget!

Attendee Profiles: Mobiers Get to Know Each Other Better

One of the retreat goals was to get to know each other even better. Some Mobiers have been around since the beginning of the company while others joined just a few weeks ago. In order to provide great icebreakers and get to know each other on a more personal level, creating profiles in the event app was a real benefit. Here’s an example of the types of questions we got Mobiers to fill out:

Spotify Playlist: Music to Our Ears

For the first two days of the retreat, the team worked within a co-working space in Lisbon. The internet connection was lightning fast and the rooms were bright and well equipped. But to really make it fun and productive, we needed to tap into the music system!

Taking into account that everyone has their own taste in music, we asked for everyone to put their favorite song in their attendee profile. We then compiled all the songs into a Spotify playlist, which we integrated into the event app. Having been inspired by music festivals, we thought that by creating a playlist, we could build anticipation and keep the great memories alive for years to come.

Access to Information In One Place (Including Offline)

For a retreat experience, there are always a few more details that need to be kept on top of in order to run a smooth event. Logistics like flight information and co-ordinating meet up points can be tricky since it’s so common for things to change last minute. That’s why having all your up-to-date information within a single place that can be referenced in real-time by all organizers and attendees, like an event app, is so useful. Below is an image of what our event app home screen looked like. It included all the commonly accessed areas, especially the agenda and hotel information.

The map area in the event app showed the location of the apartments where we stayed, the co-working space, as well as the restaurants where we spent the evening dining together. We even included the nearest supermarkets and bars within walking distance. WiFi information, access codes for the apartments, and contact details of the apartment owners were also provided in the event app.

The handy Document Library also contained each person’s flight tickets. We wanted to make it as easy and convenient for Mobiers as possible. They didn’t need to sort through their emails to find their tickets or print them out because everything could be accessed through the event app, even while offline.

Recommended Resource: We’ve put together a selection of amazing event app designs to inspire you. Check out the best event app designs we’ve created for our clients!

Activity Feed: Share Photos to Keep the Memories Alive

Capturing and sharing moments is an important part of how attendees experience an event, especially when traveling. However, not every photo is suitable for sharing to the public on social media channels like Facebook and Instagram.

A great feature of EventMobi’s event app is the Activity Feed, which is an internal social network where attendees can share photos that are visible only to whoever accesses the event app.

Below is an example from our Activity Feed, which helped us create a shared photo album where employees could publish pictures and like their favorites.

Push Notifications: Keep Your Attendees Updated

Push notifications through the event app allowed us to communicate pre-scheduled and spontaneous messages to our employees. For example, we sent reminder communications 24 hours prior to departure, informed them about the airline’s carry-on regulations, and provided a link to the boarding pass. Even last-minute changes to the agenda could be easily communicated.

Playful Gamification Experiences: EventMobi Jeopardy!

The highlight of the program was our own version of “EventMobi Jeopardy!” For those of you who may not be familiar with the TV quiz show, answers from different categories are read out and the players have to formulate the appropriate question. In our version, interesting, funny, or surprising facts were given about employees. Players had to write down on a blackboard the name of the Mobier who they thought was associated with the clue.

In order to collect enough material for the quiz, a survey within the event app was created and distributed through the event app four weeks before the team retreat. Examples of questions included “What is your secret talent?” and “If you wrote a book, what would be the title?”

Document & Note Sharing: Create Memorable Workshops

Events can easily become a hectic experience for attendees, especially when there are numerous or intensive sessions and workshops throughout the day. This can make it difficult to really let all the new learnings sink in and be digested.

For our company retreat, it was important to provide as much value as possible to employees. We wanted them to effectively learn new skills and increase their knowledge in ways that would help them be more successful in their careers.

The key to enabling participants to apply the knowledge they gained was to ensure everyone had access to documents and notes taken during the workshops. This was made possible through a feature in EventMobi’s event app called Session Feedback. Notes were logged in this section that addressed who participated in the session, what were the main outcomes, and next steps that needed to be taken. The person leading the workshop would then disseminate to all participants so they had a copy of the notes.

In Conclusion

Event apps help event planners design smooth corporate retreats and incentive trips. From hotel information, agenda details, and plane tickets – attendees always have the latest information at hand, even offline. And if any last-minute changes are required to the program, an event app makes distributing communication very easy. Used to the best advantage, an event app also helps to foster a sense of community and engagement, which has the potential to create life-long bonds and motivate employees throughout the year. An event app also provides a treasure chest worth of data about your employees, of which helpful insights can be drawn and used to influence the design of your next event.

Our retreat to Lisbon would definitely not have been as smooth or interactive without the event app. The key with this type of technology is to not make it the focus of the event. Instead, it acts in a supporting role that enables planners and attendees to experience the event as seamlessly and engagingly as possible.

Interested in learning how an event app can make your next retreat or incentive trip a smooth and engaging experience? Our event tech experts are easily accessible and can answer all your questions.

Book a Demo

The post Case Study: How EventMobi Boosted Employee Learning and Engagement During Our Annual Company Retreat appeared first on EventMobi.

There were lots of concerns. How many attendees would actually use an event app? What kind of impact could an event app have in creating a better event experience? How are attendees supposed to enjoy the event if they’re looking at their smartphones the entire time?

Fast forward 10 years later and today, it’s nearly impossible to get attendees to not access their phones during live events. The proliferation of smartphones and other digital devices means engaging event attendees via social media, event apps, live polls, push notifications, and other apps available is no longer a nice-to-have for event planners. It’s a must-have.

Nowadays, the use of event technology is pretty much regarded as an industry standard and expected by event attendees. The big challenge that no one is talking about is the experience of planning events and managing the complexity of these ever-growing event management software tools, not to mention the enormous amounts of valuable event data that gets consumed and generated.

In 2009, having a website that could register attendees was really all you needed from your event management software. Now, with the popularity of event apps and their vast array of functionality, the new problem event marketers and planners have to worry about is synchronizing attendee data and event information across multiple event software tools, each built by a different vendor.  

This explosion of technology for events has now become integrated throughout every critical point within the event lifecycle, from event promotion and managing registrant information, to engaging attendees onsite and collecting feedback, as well as reporting on event analytics. According to research by Cramer and Event Marketer, the number of event technology vendors grew from 144 in 2014 to 245 in 2018 — a growth of over 70% in just four years!

Now, you may think that as the CEO of an event software company, I’d be pushing for event planners to use MORE technology. On the contrary, this event software sprawl is actually causing major problems for event planners in terms of how they’re spending time and resources—whether they know it or not.

In this article, I hope I can highlight why we need to radically change our view of event management software. The experience of an event planner as they manage the technology behind their events is as critical as the experience they are creating for attendees.

The Event Technology Breaking Point – When Tools Are Not Talking To Each Other

Let’s take an objective look at the current situation when having to build an event technology stack. You probably approach the situation by trying to procure different functionalities from different vendors depending on your needs. This could include your website platform, email marketing, registration and check-in, event app, attendee tracking, live polling, and software for your surveys and event analytics.

Generally, we tend to either purchase a “best of breed” solution that is complicated and expensive or, if the needs are simple, we go with a very basic solution that is sometimes free or low in price. Either way, planners have to deal with the following problems:

1. It takes a ton of time to research and select individual event software tools. All the research, content reading, and demos it takes to find a tool that solves a specific problem is extremely time-consuming. Not to mention, you might have different staff in different departments doing the exact same thing!
2. Less negotiating power. When buying separate tools, you can’t negotiate on price or feature bundling to save more. And if you are signing up for a basic event app, remember that you get what you pay for. Nothing is free without a reason!
3. Learning how to use all of these different event software tools is incredibly distracting and time-consuming. Many “best of breed” solutions aren’t designed to be easily used by event planners. For example, some marketing automation tools are quite complex and the setup process requires having a background in marketing operations. With that said, even basic tools take time to learn, set up, and configure.
4. Difficult event management integrations. Once you have chosen all of your event software vendors for your event tools, if you want to make your workflow easier, you have to set up automated integrations to sync the data between each tool. This can be messy work that often requires help from separate vendors and technical people who work in other departments. Some vendors also charge a lot for integrations as a way to encourage you to use their entire suite of products.
5. No unified event data center. Even after investing time in event management integrations, your event data will still be housed across multiple platforms — which makes gathering event insights and reporting a lot more tricky and time-consuming. You have to stitch together all the event data yourself to get a full view of the attendee journey. Since the event data isn’t aggregated into one easily accessible location, it is extremely difficult to gather insights and compare them year over year or event to event. To top it off, your data analysis becomes an even more cumbersome experience if you end up switching vendors the next year!

Now, this isn’t to say point solutions don’t have their place in an event planner’s workflow. Depending on your events and organizational needs, they likely do! But the experience of working with so many different products, and trying to connect them all to each other, is not ideal for planners when time and resources are constantly at risk of being cut. Very few point solutions are designed to integrate well with other technologies for event planners looking to build an event management ecosystem.

The Myth of the Integrated “All-In-One” Event Management Solution

You may be thinking, “Ok, if point solutions are so resource-intensive, then “all-in-one” software is the ultimate answer here, right?”

There are very few comprehensive and scalable all-in-one solutions currently on the market. And most of the others have been built based on technology and assumptions that are no longer valid.

1. The high cost of entry. The price of behemoth solutions that “do it all” can be quite high and inaccessible to an event planner’s budget. This makes it hard for smaller events or companies with non-consolidated budget across departments to justify the expense. Large price tags also mean larger buying teams, which increases the risk of not being able to purchase at all or within the necessary time frame. Another factor to keep in mind is that these types of solutions usually don’t allow for an a la carte feature selection — which means you’ll have to pay for tools/functionality you won’t ever use.
2. Patchworked backends and complicated systems. Many “all-in-one” event software solutions on the market today are actually groupings of separate technologies that have been acquired by a larger company and strung together with quick APIs/integration. This means you still end up needing training on every tool because of they each function separately. Plus, they’re generally old and complicated systems. There’s also inconsistency in product quality. Some products in the “all-in-one” solution will be complex, while other products will be basic and lack customization because each tool was built for different audiences.
3. Your data is taken hostage. Some solutions will have APIs that let you integrate with data and tools your business already uses. However, it’s common that even within their own conglomerated product, integrations can be choppy and limited. They also tend to penalize you for using an external vendor for any of your tools. Essentially, they charge you for access to your own data that lives in their system!

Open Event Management Platforms are the Future

The event management platform of the future is one that offers reliable and affordable options to planners of all event types and sizes. The ideal platform should be able to offer:

• • • Management of all event tools in one seamless backend. This includes registration, email invites, check-in, session tracking, lead retrieval, live streaming, event apps, networking, push notifications, gamification, live display, polls, surveys, and analytics. Even if planners want to use products outside of their platform vendors’ suite, the option should be made available.
    • Integration with other systems their organization already uses, or plans on using, to simplify how they transfer data between systems — without getting charged high fees.
    • Data unification in reporting and analytics so that planners can quickly gather insights about how attendees are interacting with each other, speakers, and sponsors before, during, and after their events.
    • Customizable event software with a la carte feature selection, flexible design, and branding options, all of which should scale based on the size of the event.
    • Security, reliability, and scalability. When a lot is at stake, it’s critical that the underlying platform is built on a reliable and scalable technology.
    • Collaboration across teams. Running events is a team sport. There are multiple people (often across different departments) that use different parts of the platform at different stages of the event. It’s critical that the event management platform allows for administration and collaboration across team members.
    • Flexibility for enterprises. Enterprise events don’t necessarily mean complex and large. Sometimes they are small but numerous. This means enterprise event management platforms need to be able to scale and adapt to a variety of event types and sizes, from small internal staff meetings to large-scale external user conferences. It’s the ability to aggregate results and information across events and over time that makes a platform enterprise-ready.

How to Know if you Need an Event Management Platform

Here’s how you know if you’re ready to move to a new event management platform:

• You’re using over 5 pieces of separate event technology to engage attendees before, during and after the event.
• You’re relying on more than one other team or department in your organization to help manage your event technology. E.g. IT, Marketing, etc.
• You can’t negotiate costs for most of the technology platforms you’re using for your events because you’re sharing licenses with other teams in your organization.
• Your event software tools are not integrated.
• You have to present multiple analytics from different tools or create your own event reporting from separate data sources to show ROI and measure success against your event goals.
• You and/or your technical team struggle to learn and configure all of the event tools you’re using to engage attendees.

The post EventMobi’s Experience Manager to End Event Software Fragmentation appeared first on EventMobi.

It’s not just the event planner who benefits from using these Professional Services. The time and effort you save allows you to have more of a focus onother aspects of the event and creating additional value for your attendees.

Here are popular Professional Services that are used by event planners who partner with EventMobi:

App Concierge

Need a dedicated support contact for your event app questions and project timelines, available throughout the entire event lifecycle? EventMobi’s App Concierge service provides you with a go-to Project Manager who will help you keep your progress on track. Additionally, we will provide expertise for a smoother and more efficient workflow.

Full Data Management

Do you already know what content you want to include in the event app but you just don’t have the time to upload it all yourself? If you’re strapped for time, our Full Data Management Service has got you covered so you can focus on the other parts of your event. Just send us your event app data and our team will load it in. Additionally, we’ll optimize the layout and design of the information in your app so that it aligns with your event brand.

If you’re just looking for a starting point and would rather tailor the design yourself or add more content in later, then our Initial Data Upload service is just for you. We put it into the app so you can build off it when you’re ready to start.

Custom App Promo Video

When our customers need an eye-catching way to promote their event app or provide instructions on how to use it, they turn to our Custom App Promo Videos. You provide us with the messaging and our team personalizes the video with your event app design. It’s a great way to get your attendees excited about your event and familiar with your app.

Customer Widget Design

For even more custom event app services, our Custom Widget Design service will create stunning graphics for your app’s home screen, resulting in a truly unique brand experience that breaks the mould.

Integration Services

If you have your data hosted on another platform or management system, our Integration Services can be a huge time-saver for you by importing the data directly into your app. It’s a great and convenient way to have your data sync across two platforms.

Onsite Event Support: The Most Popular Professional Service For Event Planners

The most popular Professional Service requested time and time again is our Onsite Support. EventMobi’s Onsite Support provides a dedicated Onsite Support Specialist at your event to help you run a smooth experience. We’ve even earned a Stevie Award two years in a row for our level of customer service and commitment.

What Makes Onsite So Great

1. Onsite Event Support Specialists Are Event App Experts

It’s not hard to imagine why this service is so popular with our customers and event planners in general. Having someone who knows the ins and outs of the app at your live event has proven time and time again to be immensely valuable for event planners.

Our specialists aren’t just knowledgeable about event apps—they’re specifically knowledgeable about YOUR event app. While all of our support staff are EventMobi platform experts, your onsite support rep will know how you want your app to work. They will help you achieve your goals with your app in the context of the event. Every event is different, so they’ll be armed with the details of what makes yours unique. The customer support you receive is just as tailored and unique as your event.

2. We’re There When You Need Us

One of the more obvious conveniences is the real-time presence whenever you need it. Rather than contact our support email or phone number, you can get in contact with your support rep right away with any on-the-fly decisions and questions. This is especially valuable for events in different time zones since you don’t have to worry about being caught outside of operating hours during your event.

3. It’s Easier to Drive Event App Adoption

Even the mere presence of an EventMobi rep is enough to promote the app on site and drive up app adoption rates. After attendees check-in or register at the event, they can be directed to the eye-catching EventMobi banner. Our  Onsite Support Specialist can help them get set up on the app if they haven’t already yet. Who better to evangelize your event app and get attendees interacting with it than an EventMobi Specialist?

4. We Do The Heavy Lifting

Speaking of interacting, your onsite support rep can also help manage many of the interactive event tech elements at your event. They’re there to not only answer questions, but also to help with troubleshooting any technical hiccups you might run into. Common issues that come about are performing timely app changes to gamification challenges, surveys, Q&A sessions, and polls.

An Onsite Success Story

Taking it Overseas

As an EventMobi Support Specialist, I was requested to go onsite for a customer’s event in Shanghai, China. Up until this point, I had only ever provided onsite support at North American events, so this would be an exciting challenge.

Barring the language barrier and any potential culture shock, the event planner who created the app content and design was based in the US and would not be attending. So, I was sent to represent the planner and connect with an entirely new local team. During the event, I was the main support for the local team on site and also needed to provide updates to the main planner in the US.

Training Day

One of my first tasks was to make sure that the local team was trained on how to use the event app. This was important for a few reasons; the most obvious being the language barrier. I needed to make sure that the translator was able to understand me and communicate to the events team about how to use the app.

This was critical because if everyone knew how to use the app and had it on their phones, it would make it easier to promote the app to attendees. Everyone on the team would be engaged as an advocate. It’s a bit like a chain reaction—the more event staff members that are on the app, the more people they can tell about the app, and it just builds from there.

Event Gamification

The event also had some unique aspects to it in terms of app use. The customer implemented an event app game where participants were awarded points for attending sessions. They could also gain points by visiting certain sponsor booths and receiving codes to get points.

Part of this involved gradually rolling out the challenges in the event app itself in order to create more anticipation. The strategy worked like a charm. Attendees soon caught on that more chances to earn points would be available over time, and it wasn’t long before the question I got asked most was, “Where do I get more points??”

Since the event planners themselves had their own main priorities to attend to during the event, it was my job to ensure a great game experience for the participants. Among other things, I scheduled the release of the challenges and promoted the event app to other attendees.

Event Analytics

Aside from helping out the local event staff, I created reports on the session attendance and game participation. These reports helped the US planner measure the amount of attendee engagement and overall success. It was also interesting to be at an event where the person who created the event app wasn’t on site. Being their eyes on the ground was something the planner really appreciated.

In Conclusion

Our entire suite of Professional Services at EventMobi can help boost your event app experience no matter whatever your situation calls for. While our award-winning customer service through phone, email, and online channels can cover any challenge that may arise, nothing can replace the value of having an actual app expert at your event. Having On-Site Support means having the peace of mind in knowing who to go to for assistance when you need it.

The post Onsite Event Support: the Secret to Running a Seamless Event Experience appeared first on EventMobi.

Mix and Mingles

I’m part of EventMobi’s Operations team and our mission is to set the tone and promote the company’s culture. We believe that one of the biggest challenges companies of any size and within any industry face is breaking down departmental silos and increasing communication and camaraderie across the company. EventMobi has grown in Mobiers, especially over the past year, and it’s important to us that we don’t feel disconnected from one another. This is the reason why we started Mix & Mingles. It provides the space and opportunity for Mobiers who wouldn’t necessarily get the chance to connect with each other to socialize and exchange ideas in a fun way.

We started Mix & Mingles in Fall of 2017 and hold an event every quarter. About 20 Mobiers are randomly selected across each departments and levels of seniority, including our CEO. We then vote on a fun, team building activity that promotes one of EventMobi’s values to “Have Fun”! Last month, the three activities we voted on were painting and wine, an Escape Room, and rock climbing. In the end, majority ruled and rock climbing won!

Rock Climbing Day

The day of the event crept upon us and it was now time to show each other what we had. I had never been rock climbing before so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. To be honest, I was a little nervous because I’m not the most athletic person, but I knew with my fellow Mobiers, I was going to be ok.

As soon as we arrived at the rock climbing gym, we signed our waivers and changed into comfortable clothes. Some in the group had rock climbed before, so they helped guide those of us who were new. We went through a quick training session with a gym instructor and then we were free to venture out.

I was one of the first to start climbing. What I didn’t realize when I started climbing was that the numbers at the bottom of each climb indicated the difficulty level. So, unknowingly, I boldy and unintentionally tackled a level seven difficulty. I only made it halfway, but nonetheless, my colleagues cheered me on the whole way through, especially during the times I struggled!

Even though I didn’t complete the climb, it felt so good to be supported by other Mobiers, and the experience was extremely motivating. It made me appreciate how genuine the relationships are at EventMobi. I only started at the company a couple of months ago, but the culture at EventMobi is so supportive, friendly, and encouraging that I already felt like part of the family.

But not only that, the culture at EventMobi is very hard-working, collaborative, and persistent. And this was definitely displayed during the Mix & Mingle rock climbing event. Some of us had never really had the chance to interact with one another, but any hesitation went right out the door once we were all focused on the same goal and working as a team to climb up those walls! We wanted our colleagues to be successful and reach the top.

The perfect example of how Mobiers worked together was when Seqouia from our Engineering department climbed. “I love that he’s relentless”, said his co-worker, Cece. “He’s very dedicated,” said Branden from our Marketing department. The entire team rallied around seeing to that he made it to the top when he climbed. He never gave up and was very methodical in how he approached his climb, but when he ran into a hurdle or got tired, other Mobiers were right there with him to give him ideas on how to overcome and continue onto the next step in the climb. As a team, we never gave up and even stunned ourselves on how much can be achieved with the right mindset and show of encouragement. These are the types of people who create the incredible EventMobi culture.

The theme for the day seemed to be challenging ourselves and being supportive of one another. No matter how high or low someone made it on the wall, we all made sure to acknowledge their hard work and effort with a cheer. I was proud to see that I work amongst people who genuinely care about seeing each other do their best.

All in all, creating serendipitous moments that enable Mobiers to foster stronger connections and exchange ideas is crucial in the culture at EventMobi. And Mix & Mingle events are the perfect way to bring people together accomplish great tasks together in a fun way.

Want to become part of the Mobier family? Check out our Careers Page for current opportunities.

Apply Now

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