There is an old Tom Stoppard film called “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”. It comes from the equally entertaining play of the same name, in which the two characters, childhood friends of Hamlet, are called to entertain him at the Danish court, where they arrive together with a troupe of actors performing, of course, Hamlet.
The film is surreal and deeply ironic, and one of its most memorable parts is the “question game”: a strange tennis match that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play with rhetoric, serving negations, attacking with statements and smashing rhetorical questions, winning or losing points. Exactly the kind of point — at least one, for sure — that we would lose for the rhetorical question in the title of this article.
Because everything we write from here on will of course go in the opposite direction, with the aim of showing — assuming there is any real need, given that we are talking to event professionals — that event apps are not just gadgets or branding tools, but a great deal more. And that, precisely because of what they can do, they belong in the toolbox of any professional who wants to run events that are well managed and practical, but above all interesting, engaging and able to produce concrete results for everyone taking part.
So let us start by dispelling a couple of myths about this tool.
1. Event apps are only for the people attending the event
The event app is a tool as much for attendees as for everyone with a financial interest in the event. Organisers, investors, sponsors and exhibitors come to events with a very specific perspective, with expectations and goals they can reach more easily if they have a set of tools to help them manage activities, spaces and procedures. Naturally, those tools also have to be convenient, reliable and always available: otherwise, in the daily chaos of an event, it is as if they were not there at all. This is where an event app designed as a working tool and not just as a web showcase can become a real asset, and it is why we built ours exactly that way.
2. Event apps are an extra cost for the event
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Event apps — when they are well designed and they work, of course — are among the most effective tools for saving money, time and energy both when organising and when running the event.
Some examples?
They can replace turnstiles and check-in desks with tools that floor and welcome staff carry conveniently in their pocket, such as a smartphone, for fast, practical and secure access control. If you want, apps can even replace check-in staff altogether when they are paired with QR code readers and wireless printers that attendees can use on their own, safely, to manage their entry to the venue and to each room and to print tickets and badges in seconds.
An event app that accompanies attendees throughout their time at the event (both in person and online) also means saving time, money and often trouble, because people are always informed and up to date: they have documents, data and news to hand quickly and easily, and they can make the best use of their own time and everyone else’s, so that everyone can take full advantage of what the event offers. This means not only that staff dealing with information and attendee support can be allocated better, but also that their stress levels will drop, because the information people are looking for is available directly on their devices.
Printing and production costs for materials will also fall, making the event not only cheaper but also more sustainable and greener.
Add to that:
3. Event apps are tools for data-driven marketing
Thanks to their versatility — that is, to the many things you can do and let others do through an event app — you can collect data that is useful for marketing before, during and after the event. By encouraging networking, gathering views and opinions through surveys and polls or creating games linked to the event or to the initiatives of individual investors and exhibitors, you can acquire a great deal of data that both organisers and exhibitors can use to improve what they are doing now or to plan it better in future. A win-win system that produces value immediately and over time.
Thinking of event apps as simple tools for making your event prettier, more pleasant and more intriguing would therefore be not only reductive but actually limiting, given the value of the experience and the satisfaction you could create instead. Not a very appealing idea, is it?
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