9 Engagement Ideas for Your Free Event Conference App 2024

Nobody likes a boring event. And if you’re planning a conference event, this is exactly what you want to avoid. The formula for exciting events? Event engagement. 

While there are plenty of ideas to boost engagement, today, we are bringing you 9 event engagement ideas to make your conference enjoyable and memorable.

What is Event Engagement?

Before we dive into the ideas, let’s cover a few basics.

When thinking about event engagement, many organizers limit its scope to event duration. But that’s not true. Event engagement matters pre-, during, and after. To measure event engagement, you need to look at how many attendees participate in and engage with your event through all the phases. As such, it is important to give more thought to how you will encourage attendees to actively participate in and engage with your event throughout its lifecycle rather than just focusing on engagement during the event days.

9 Ideas for Your Free Event Conference App

Event organizers are constantly seeking innovative ways to captivate and engage their attendees, and to activate engagement at their events, event apps are a critical part of the event ecosystem typically leveraged by organizers. 

As a critical component of any successful event strategy, event apps have become indispensable in driving attendee engagement, enhancing networking opportunities, and streamlining event logistics. By leveraging the power of technology, event apps empower organizers to create immersive, interactive, and memorable events that leave a lasting impact on attendees.

In this article, we’ll explore 9 ideas you can implement for your conference event app. Organizers can adapt many of these ideas to match the size and scope of their event. Planning your event with engagement in mind is the key to achieving the best impression of your organization.

Find out how you can boost attendee engagement by understanding preferences, capturing their interest, and nurturing meaningful connections with your free event conference app. 

1. Event Networking 

Networking is essential in today’s events industry because it allows attendees to make valuable connections quickly and easily. 

Through networking, conference organizers can expand their reach, share knowledge, discover new opportunities, and establish meaningful connections with attendees. 

Why event networking matters

Attendees can browse profiles, identify relevant contacts, and initiate conversations, fostering meaningful connections that go beyond physical events.

How to activate event networking

Provide tools for connecting, messaging, and scheduling meetings among event attendees. 

Find out how The Global Leadership Conference (GLC), the flagship annual event for the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), facilitated 30000+ connections at the event — making it a true networking conference success story!

2. Personalized Recommendations

AI-driven algorithms provide personalized session recommendations and networking connections based on attendees' interests, behavior, and profile information to create meaningful connections. 

Why personalized recommendations matter

Attendees can join these groups within the event app, connect with like-minded peers, and engage in targeted discussions or networking activities, fostering meaningful connections beyond the event.

How you can implement personalized recommendations

Features like matchmaking algorithms can provide relevant connections, which allow attendees to connect based on shared interests, job roles, or session topics.

Find out how The Step Conference, the largest experiential tech festival in the Middle East, offered its attendees a personalized event experience.  

3. Event Agenda

Designing the perfect event space is key, especially when you’re aiming to create the most customizable, adaptable, and unique experience possible. Conference organizers can easily offer the attendees a wide variety of content and interaction while attendees are looking for more control over their schedules.

Why event agenda matters 

The conference organizers can offer attendees personalized agendas based on their interests, preferences, and schedule. This tailored approach ensures that participants can easily navigate through the event program, access relevant sessions, and optimize their experience by attending sessions aligned with their professional objectives.

How to use the event agenda 

A mobile app specially developed for your conference event can be a way to keep people engaged. Attendees can use the app to keep track of the event schedule and important announcements and interact with speakers and sessions. 

4. Interactive Engagement

Make your event interactive with attendees interacting and communicating with them. Interactive features such as live polling, surveys, and Q&A sessions enhance attendee engagement. 

Why interactive engagement matters

Interactive features such as live polling, surveys, and Q&A sessions not only make conference sessions more dynamic and engaging but also encourage active participation from attendees, fostering a sense of community and enhancing the overall event experience. 

How to activate interactive engagement

Implement real-time polling and surveys to gather session feedback, gauge audience sentiment, and encourage participation. Displaying results can instantly spark discussions and increase event engagement. For example, attendees could use the event app to take part in a quiz or contribute to a poll.

Find out how The Singapore Maritime Week, the annual gathering of the international maritime community, created 3600+ discussions at the event — making it a truly interactive engagement conference success story! 

5. Expert Q&A Sessions

Expert Q&A sessions are an effective way to share knowledge, insights, and expertise with your audience. By hosting sessions with industry experts, speakers, or thought leaders in the conference event app, you encourage interactivity and provide value to your audience. 

Why expert sessions matter

Attendees can submit questions before or during the session. This allows moderators to lead the discussion and ensure that panelists share tailored advice and insights to answer attendee challenges.

How to turn expert sessions interactive

Incorporate live Q&A sessions during presentations or panels where attendees can submit questions through the event app to foster engagement and encourage active participation. 

6. In-App Notifications and Reminders

In-app notifications and reminders play a crucial role in keeping attendees informed, engaged, and connected. As a conference organizer, it is essential to ensure that attendees remain up-to-date on important event information and do not miss any key updates throughout your conference event.

Why keeping attendees informed matter 

By utilizing the event app, attendees can stay informed about upcoming sessions, explore networking opportunities, and receive timely notifications. This helps enhance attendee experience and engagement throughout the event.

How to send notifications and reminders

Organizers can effectively communicate announcements and important updates directly to attendees through in-app notifications or reminders.  

These notifications can include reminders to join a session, prompt you to join in polls, surveys, or live discussions, and update you on any changes to the event agenda.

7. Exclusive Content Access

To incentivize attendees to stay engaged and return for more, offer exclusive content that is only accessible through the event app. Use conference sessions to build an on-demand library that is regularly updated with new content. 

Why exclusive content matters

Enrich attendee experience, engagement, and learning by making relevant materials easily accessible and categorizing content by topic or session.

How to host exclusive content

Provide bonus sessions, downloadable resources, behind-the-scenes interviews, or a library of resources within the event app that allows attendees to discuss, interact, and connect throughout the year. 

8. Sponsor Visibility

Another fantastic way to boost engagement and participation is to facilitate meaningful connections between attendees and sponsors. This can increase sponsors' exposure. 

Why sponsor visibility matters

Providing customizable profiles and interactive features, such as live chat, product demos, and downloadable resources, enhances the exhibitor-attendee interaction and drives engagement.

How to ensure sponsor visibility 

Conference organizers can customize the free event conference app to showcase sponsor logos, branding materials, and promotional messages. Within the event app, sponsors can provide detailed information about their company, products, and services. Attendees can easily access sponsor profiles to learn more and connect with sponsors.

9. Data-driven Insights

Data analytics and metrics help you gain deeper insights into event performance and make informed decisions. Recognizing the importance of data-driven decision-making helps you streamline event data and extract valuable insights. 

Why data insights matter

With data-backed insights, organizers can refine their event strategy, assess the success of their events, and ultimately enhance the attendee experience.

How to activate data insights

Study attendee personas to better understand behaviors, motivations, and interests. Use this information to deliver the most relevant content to your audience. 

Find out how The Game Developers Conference (GDC), a renowned event empowering game developers and their craft, attracted 32000+ users at the event — making it a true data-driven conference success story!
         

Conclusion 

By applying these strategies and making adjustments based on feedback and how attendees use the app, you can increase engagement and make the free event conference app's experience more lively and interactive.

If finding innovative and unique ways to engage attendees is challenging, we're here to help! Try Swapcard at your next conference event to deliver a digitally-powered, highly engaging, and enriching event experience.