The State of Mobile Event Technology Report 2014
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The 2014 annual report by Guidebook highlights trends in mobile event app usage among event professionals, revealing that event apps significantly enhance attendee satisfaction and provide a positive return on investment for 91% of respondents. The average cost of an event app is only 1.2% of the attendee budget, making it a more economical option than traditional paper programs. Planners also expressed a strong commitment to eco-friendly practices, with a focus on reducing printing and shipping through the use of mobile technology.
The State of Mobile Event Technology Report 2014
- 1. Annual Report 2014 Presented by Guidebook
- 2. Event app benefits ! !
- 3. What we did ! ! In the summer of 2014, Guidebook surveyed hundreds of event professionals who use event apps year-round for many kinds of events: ranging from 10-person meetings to 130,000-attendee conventions. ! Over 500 event app administrators, primarily based in the U.S. and U.K., completed this in-depth survey. The results illuminate broad and industry-specific trends in app ROI, event pros’ priorities and goals, the emergence of new tech, app promotion methodology, and the true costs of moving to mobile.
- 4. Key findings ! O! n average, the real cost of an event app is 1.2% of the budget for each attendee. Paper printing is twice as expensive. ! Event apps are making planners better at their jobs. The #1 most important success metric for event planners – attendee satisfaction - is also the #1 value event apps deliver. ! Planners are getting a return from event apps. Of respondents to whom the question applied, 91% said that their adoption of mobile event apps has produced a positive return on investment. ! Eco-friendly events are a focus for most planners, and cutting back on printing and shipping is the best way to ‘go green’. 70% of respondents said it’s important for their organization to go green. 82% of those said the #1 way to go green is by reducing printing and shipping.
- 5. Successful events ! ! Event apps are making planners better at their jobs. Attendee satisfaction tops the list of metrics event organizers use to gauge the success of an event, with 86% of respondents choosing it as a ‘top three’. ! And that success is directly tied to having an event app: Attendee satisfaction is the #1 element most-reported as being positively affected by a mobile event app.
- 6. positive return on investment. When first considering a mobile event app, planners may have trouble securing budget (see page 30), but they are finding that the cost is minimal compared to the old-school techniques of designing, printing, and shipping paper programs. Event app ROI ! ! Planners are getting a return from event apps: 91% said that their adoption of mobile event apps has produced a positive return on investment. ! When first considering a mobile event app, planners may have trouble securing budget, but they are finding that the cost is minimal compared to the old-school techniques of designing, printing, and shipping paper programs. ! Once the app has been adopted, event organizers see a dramatic return on the investment and overwhelming positive response from attendees and team members alike. Once the app has been adopted, event organizers see a dramatic return on the investment and overwhelming positive response from attendees and team members alike. 91% Event app produced positive ROI
- 7. Why an app? ! !
- 8. Event app cost ! We asked event app adm! inistrators to state their most recent event size, cost-per-attendee, their app costs, and their printing costs – the amount they would spend on printing if they weren’t using an app at all.
- 9. How much does an event app cost? ! On average, an app costs only 1.2% of the average budget for a single attendee. ! In contrast, printed programs are more than twice as expensive.
- 10. By event type ! ! Fan conventions, trade shows and education industry events have the largest disparity between app and printing costs, per-attendee.
- 11. By event size ! !Larger events saw a lower per-attendee cost for mobile apps. The disparity between app and printing costs increases as the event size grows.
- 12. Mobile event tech and going green ! !
- 13. Planners are considering environmental impact ! ! 70% of respondents said going green is important. The best way to make events more eco-friendly? Cutting back on printing and shipping.
- 14. Cut out printing ! !Event apps allow you to reduce and remove printing. If you’re looking to cut back on printing, talk to the 82% of respondents who were able to do so by moving to mobile!
- 15. By event size ! !Smaller events are more likely to be able to reduce or remove printing entirely.
- 16. By event type ! !91% of internal corporate meetings report being able to reduce or entirely remove printing. Small personal events, user conferences, education industry events and customer-facing corporate events are above average in printing reduction.
- 17. New event technologies ! !
- 18. Securing tech budget ! !Planners are finding it difficult to secure budget for new technologies.
- 19. For-profit vs. non-profit budgets ! ! Ability to secure tech budget is minimally more difficult in the non-profit world, and the majority of entities still need to fight for budget.
- 20. Event tech trends ! !1/3 of planners are using cloud-based presentation tools, badge scanning and phone charging stations. ! Smart walls, RFID tech, NFC and beacons are still under the radar in 2014 for most planners.
- 21. Get the skinny ! Planners are primarily looking at industry blogs and publications for info about new event technologies – and they learn from colleagues and other events, too.
- 22. Moving to mobile ! The majority of event app administrators began using event guides in 2012 and 2013.
- 23. Event app user adoption ! !
- 24. App guide promotion More than half of mobile event app administrators know they’re not doing enough to promote their guides. !
- 25. Downloads and ROI We asked event app administrators: how many attendee downloads do you need in order for an app to be a good investment? !
- 26. Adoption rate and event size Smaller events tend to require a higher adoption rate to get a return. This graph shows the average adoption rate (percent of total attendees who used the mobile app) planners say is required to get a positive ROI.
- 27. App promotion methods Email marketing and on-site signage rank as the most effective ways to increase app downloads.
- 28. More ways to drive downloads
- 29. Event planner concerns ! !
- 30. Competitors We asked event planners to enter a free response to this question: If you have event "competitors", what are they doing that worries you?
- 31. Biggest planner challenges 2014