At the Clemson University conference I am speaking at today, and at the National Speakers Association conference I attended recently, nearly everyone used an app to find out what was going on. NSA printed a standard program but people soon gave that up for the app. At Clemson, the app was the only game in town.
It is easy to see why.

The app had everything the program guide had – and more. Things like:
·      Create your own schedule with the sessions you want to see
·      An alarm to remind you when a session was starting. You can set the number of minutes ahead you want to be notified.
·      Full descriptions of each session
·      Bio of speakers
·      Metrics showing how many people accessed your session and bio.
·      Collect reviews and comments
·      And probably much, much more but that’s all I remember.

The conference I’m speaking at today also has an app – and no printed program.

What does this mean for speakers?

1.     You can tell you story. But you will be restricted by space. How much space does the conference give you to tell your story? That’s true for print also, but remember that on an iPhone, people don’t want to read long items. You need to write for the screen.
2.     You can create relationships. Put in your email address and social media addresses on your bio and program description so people can link to you quickly. This can be a great benefit for speakers.
3.     Sponsorships (also known as ads) will be sold. See you can buy prominent ad space or barter for that space so all attendees can see your message.
4.     Each program has to load. Usually, a sponsor’s ad is featured on this loading screen. If that’s the case, you’ll have 100 percent penetration of your message. However, these programs can load quickly, so be sure to find out how long (or short) the ad will display. By “ad” I mean “logo.” I’m not sure there’s enough time to read more than a few words in the time it takes to load the program.

My conference is listed at http://www.EventMobi.com/clemson2013

Have you been to a conference that used an app? What did you learn from that experience?