Using Push Notifications to Maximize Event Engagement

 Events bring people together.  Events bring ideas, opinions, and conversation together.  Events also bring together huge lines of people, confusing and ever-changing schedules, and tons of missed connections.  Communication with your attendees is key, but how can you send relevant messages to your attendees without being labeled as a spambot, doomed to dwell forever in the dark abyss that is a spam folder?

An event platform that allows organizers to send push notifications (real-time announcements) to its attendees can be extremely effective for creating a single point of contact and information for every event attendee.  Whether it’s through a mobile app, e-mail, or a dedicated website, concise, straightforward announcements from the event organizer can pierce through the noise and help connect with the event community.

A particularly effective way of sending out announcements is through push notifications that attendees can receive directly on their phone.

Your event attendees will most likely be glued to their phones-reach out to them in a place where their eyes are already looking!

Want to remind attendees to “Check-In” to the event upon arriving?  Need to notify the community of a room or schedule change?  Want to tell attendees where the after-party is and that yes, it will be open bar?  Then real-time announcements are definitely the way to go.

So when should you send out announcements and what are some effective messaging styles?  Below are some suggested messages as well as screenshots of actual messages sent through Bizzabo by event organizer Marketo, a company specializing in marketing and analytics software, during the Marketo Summit 2013.

Before the event – Create engagement with updates about sessions, speakers, and other event details and generate excitement.

• • “By popular demand, we’ve now added a session about [topic]… Check it out!”

• • “[Name of well-known speaker] just confirmed he’ll be joining us! Read the speaker’s bio here [link].”

During the event – Send out important conference updates to communicate a clear call to action.  Use these updates to be the attendees’ shared point of communication

• • “Welcome to conference! The Wi-Fi password for attendees is…”

• • “Register in the lobby to participate in the conference raffle.”

• • “Shuttle is leaving at 7pm sharp…don’t be late!”

• • “Session has moved to room C5”

After the event – Make sure to thank your attendees for coming and inform them of any other events in the future.  It’s also a great tool for collecting feedback!

• • “Thanks for coming – you made this into an awesome event!”

• • “Join our next event [Link to the event in Bizzabo]”

• • “Questions, comments and suggestions? Send us your thoughts at [email]”

Overall, real-time messaging is an effective way to directly reach your event attendees in real-time and get above the noise that often goes along with busy conferences and events.  Further, it can give your event a voice and personality while emphasizing a more human kind of interaction with event attendees.