How to Create an Event App

You now have an event website tailored to your brand, with automated participant management and ready-to-go email invitation campaigns. Now, you may be wondering how to engage your participants effectively. How can you create a seamless participatory experience for your event? How do you capture and maintain guests' attention? The answers to all your questions lie in designing your event application. 📱

Indeed, successfully executing an event can be quite a challenge, especially when it comes to providing an optimal experience for participants. An event application will assist you in achieving success. Through it, you can interact and communicate more effectively with your participants while facilitating exchanges among them.

In this article, we'll explore the different steps to successfully create an application for your professional events.

Choose an Event App Provider

When considering the creation of an event app, you have several options to explore. You can opt for an app dedicated to a single event or a multi-event app, which consolidates multiple events into one platform for your participants. Additionally, you may consider a web-based event app, accessible via any browser, and/or a native event app, which must be downloaded onto a device.

In selecting the creator of your event app, you essentially have three options.

• Option 1: Firstly, an external event agency can handle the creation of your app while organizing your event. However, this option may lack flexibility when it comes to making changes to the app, similar to the second option.

• Option 2: Next, a dedicated app developer (internal or external) can take charge of creating and customizing your app exclusively for your project. In this case, you'll need to provide all necessary elements for enriching your app. However, if modifications are needed due to updates in iOS or Android operating systems, your dependency on the developer may limit your flexibility, much like with an event agency.

• Option 3: Lastly, you can opt for a specialized event technology provider. These providers often offer greater flexibility, particularly regarding last-minute changes. They may also provide you with complete autonomy in creating and managing your event app.

When deciding to create an event app, it's crucial to choose a solution that aligns with the specific needs of your business, your event strategy, and your objectives. Ensure that the offered features meet your requirements and help you achieve your goals.

Configure the App

You've chosen a provider for your event application. Now, it's time to configure it. Even if you're not the one building it, you need to set its parameters.

Firstly, you need to specify the web address of your application. This will allow participants to easily access the online version of your event application. Opt for a short and easy-to-remember link to simplify access for your participants. It's always wise to have a web version of your event application to facilitate access, in case a participant hasn't downloaded it beforehand. It would be regrettable if they felt excluded while others are interacting with you.

Next, define the access settings for your event application. Do you want it to be publicly accessible, or do you prefer to keep it private, accessible only through a tokenized link? Keep in mind that if you make it private, participants will need to create an account and password to access it. You can also restrict access by user, reserving the use of the event application only for those registered for your event.

If your event is public and you encourage participants to share their experiences on social media, establish a dedicated hashtag for your event. It's crucial to integrate this hashtag into the configuration of your event application to centralize all social media posts and display them in the news feed of your event application. This way, you can continue to collect all communications related to your event before, during, and after it.

Preparing Elements for Event App Customization  

Now that you have your application ready, let's move on to its design.

This is the stage where you can unleash your imagination and apply your event's visual identity to customize the app.

There are four essential elements to consider for customizing your event app:

• App Icon: this icon serves dual purposes. It appears when your app is downloaded on a mobile device and is displayed next to your event on a dedicated app or a multi-event app. It's also necessary for publication on the Google Play Store and the App Store, as detailed below. We recommend using an image of 1024 x 1024 pixels in .png (recommended) or .jpg format.

• The home screen or “splash screen”: this image appears when launching a native event application. The recommended image size is 2732 x 2732 pixels with a centered safety zone of 1024 x 1024 pixels (in case the image needs to be cropped to better fit the size and orientation of a horizontal or vertical device screen). You can use the .png or .jpg format.

💡 Did you know? The term “splash” originated in the comic book industry and has been around since 1940. They coined the term “Splash Page” to describe a full-page drawing often used as the first page of a story, which includes the title and credits. Today, it’s used to describe any screen that pops up at the beginning of a game while it’s loading, a website, or any other application.

• Event Logo: this logo appears at the top of the application. If you're creating a multi-event application, you can design a logo representing all of your company's events. Some Eventdrive clients simply opt for a variation of "Events" added to their company logo. The multi-event application logo isn't necessarily used for every included event. To ensure optimal display, prioritize a logo with a height of 88 pixels and a width of 460 pixels, and use the .png format to benefit from a transparent background if you wish to add color to the header containing your logo.

• Event Promotion Image: In a multi-event application, an event promotion image helps differentiate current, past, and upcoming events. It's also used in an event-dedicated application as the main menu image. We recommend using an image size of 600 x 600 pixels in .png or .jpg format.

If you're using an EMS to create your event application, you can preview it in real time. This allows you to adjust your visuals according to the rendering, ensuring a smooth and personalized publication.

Tips

Have you ever encountered a pixelated image on a website or in a mobile application? This issue is often caused by the dimensions of the image. The screens of modern computers and smartphones are often high resolution. Therefore, consider doubling the number of pixels or doubling the resolution (dpi) of the image (from 72 to 144).

Which image format to choose? For graphics and images with transparent areas, opt for the .png format. The .jpg format is more suitable for images containing photographs. By selecting the right format, you optimize the image size, resulting in faster loading of your event website.

Adding Content to the Event App  

Have you created your event website with Eventdrive and want to add the same content to your Event App? It's very simple with Eventdrive and will save you from duplicating content. Additionally, when the text of your program is modified, it will automatically update in your event app without any action required from your side. Not all content displayed on your event website needs to appear in your Event App, and vice versa: if you have content to add to your Event App but don't want to display it on your website, you can simply choose which content to enable or disable in the event app menu.

The most commonly added content in an event app includes…

General Event Information

• Program: participants have access to the event agenda as well as their own personalized agenda within your event application. This tool helps them stay on track, contributing to the adherence to session schedules. Even a slight delay can have a significant impact on the event flow. With session categories, participants can easily find a session even if they are still undecided.

• Practical Information: include the event venue address, transportation options and routes, dress code, and of course, Wi-Fi codes. A reliable internet connection is essential, especially for interactions and engagements. It's not always possible to have an optimal connection everywhere. 📶

• Maps and Plans: incorporate the location of your meeting venue and hotel. There may be an evening cocktail event in another location. Additionally, add an indoor floor plan with clearly labeled rooms to facilitate participant navigation on-site.

The Participant List

Networking is essential at a professional event. It all starts with the guest list. You should add a tab in your application menu to access this list of participants.

If you have chosen to use an event technology provider to create your application and it offers the possibility to autonomously create a list directly within its software, you can easily import your participants. Or, as mentioned earlier in the content addition section, if you use the same software to manage your event, the synchronization of your participant list with your event application is done automatically. There is no need to import this data again or create APIs to link it to your event management tool.

Some event technology providers offer both registration management solutions and event applications, but their technologies are not always integrated. Be careful when choosing your event technology provider. That's why more and more event managers are turning to all-in-one event management software. Keep in mind that the guest list is an excellent way to increase attendance. The world calls to the world.

Attendee Engagement

Your participant engagement plan should be established during the event design phase. If you're considering involving your audience, that's likely why you initially thought about using an event app. However, it's not enough to simply decide to use an app to engage your participants. You also need to determine which interactive features to employ. You can seek advice from your speakers. Ask them how they would like to engage the audience during their session, or decide on the options to offer. In any case, you should discuss this beforehand with your speakers and moderators so they know what options are available and how to use them. Integrating interactive services into your event app prevents both you and your participants from having to juggle multiple tools.

Here are the various app features we recommend having to ensure effective communication during your event:

• Satisfaction surveys: well-designed event surveys are an effective engagement tool. They give your participants a voice while collecting actionable data to enhance your future events. You can have a survey before and after the event, as well as one for each session.

• Live polls: they provide an excellent opportunity to engage participants in real-time. You can poll the audience, create quizzes to test their knowledge, or even engage them with a points system. You can also use a word cloud to ask them to summarize their day in one word, for example. Live polls transform passive participants into active ones.

• Photos: selfies and group photos are essential at events. Encourage your participants to share them via your event app. You can add them to your news feed and display them on a social wall.

• Social Media: use notifications to communicate with participants. It's important to be able to send updated information at any time. If you can schedule them in advance, even better. Ideally, use technology that allows your participants to access a specific page of your app for a smoother experience.

• Push Notifications: utilize push notifications to communicate with participants. It's crucial to send updated information at any time. If you can schedule them in advance, that's even better. Ideally, use technology that enables participants to access a specific page of your app for a smoother experience.

• Messaging: instant notifications provide a one-way communication channel. If you integrate a messaging feature into your app, you can send messages that won't disappear like notifications, allowing your guests to send messages to each other. Go even further by requesting a feature that allows them to send messages to each other and create group chats.
  
  

The advantage of activities aimed at engaging your participants is that you can track what's happening and include this data in evaluating your event's performance. Ask your provider if you can download photos to use after the event, and make sure to add them to a photo gallery on your event website.

Engagement through an event app is perfect for in-person events. If your event is hybrid, we recommend using technology that can also be used to interact with your online participants. For example, Eventdrive allows you to involve both audiences in the same space, avoiding the use of two different tools to engage your participants and inputting the same content twice.

Publishing the Event App: on the web and App Stores  

Congratulations! You've completed the configuration of your event app. Now it's time to thoroughly test it before officially publishing it. Click on each tab, link, etc., and observe how the images, documents, or texts are displayed. Be sure to do this on different devices, as not all phones and tablets are equal. 🍎🤖 Don't forget to also test the interactive services, surveys, quizzes, etc., on both the mobile and web versions of your app to avoid any surprises on the day of the event.

If you used an EMS to create your event app, it's easy to make and publish changes. If you chose another method, be sure to report any bugs to your provider well in advance to ensure that your app will be ready on time.

Publishing A Web App

The web format of your app is the easiest to publish. It's directly accessible via a URL that you configured at the beginning in your EMS or through the link provided by your agency. If you've carefully followed all the steps so far, you're ready to engage your participants via your web event app.

Publishing on the Google Play Store and App Store

Unlike a Web App, a native event app must be published on the App Store for iPhone or iPad users, or on the Google Play Store for those using the Android system.

To publish it, you'll need an Apple or Google developer account. 

Here's what you'll need when publishing your native application:

• The official name of the application on the store;

• The application's name on the mobile device. This is the name that appears under the icon of your application. Choose a short name;

• A brief description of the application to explain what it is in the list of available applications to download;

• A more detailed description of the application on the dedicated page for your Event App;

• Screenshots. These images give your participants a preview of the inside of your application. Screenshots are required, and sometimes multiple sizes must be submitted before your application can be reviewed;

• The category of your application (Event, Sports, Culture...);

• Keywords to refine user searches;

• Language: you'll need to indicate to the store the different languages ​​of your application. With Eventdrive, you can create multilingual events and therefore multilingual event applications;

• Countries: you may want to limit your application to a specific location. Stores are based on location, and not all applications are available worldwide. We recommend allowing access to your application for your events in all countries. If one of your participants has a Google or Apple account outside the country you have chosen, they will not be able to download your application for events.

Our final piece of advice is to keep in mind that last-minute changes are inevitable in the events industry. The first step in choosing your provider is of the utmost importance. A provider of event technology specializing in event applications is certainly the best solution, as no one has time to wait for their application to be updated.