Registration and event apps fully integrated into a single system are available from plenty of event technology vendors. But is an integrated system always the best option for your event? Integration On The Agenda
Your event may have specific (and different) needs for the registration and event apps. In this case you may find you need to work with different vendors for the registration and your event app. Or you may be an event planner already using a registration system you love, so when considering introducing an event app (or vice versa), integration could well be an area you need to investigate.
When Is It Important?
The importance of integration often depends on how much data your events generate. The more data you are dealing with the more the prospect of re-entering data will bring you out in a cold sweat.
How Integrations Work
The holy grail of integration is two-way communication where data entered into one piece of software automatically updates everywhere else. However, many integration platforms in the events industry are not quite there yet.
The first question you will therefore ask is whether changes made in the registration system automatically reflect in the event app? It will depend on the registration system in question, but the answer is most probably ‘yes’.
But what about in reverse? Are changes made in the event app automatically updated in your registration system? The answer to this may very well be ‘no’. So how do you deal with this and how important is it?
Managing the Attendee Experience
It often comes down to choosing the point in the attendee journey when they move from using the registration system to using the event app.
For example, attendees often choose sessions they plan to attend during the registration process. If this is the case, when you launch your event app you may tell attendees that the choices they made during registration are available in their personal schedule within the event app.
They can edit and manage them from that point on via their personal schedule in the event app.
Attendees may well add additional information that is required in the registration platform into the app. This might be flight information that they did not have at the point of registration and they are using the event app and want to enter the information via the app.
This is where your two-way integration comes into play, with the registration platform being updated from the mobile event app.
Another Option
If a fully integrated platform doesn’t deliver everything you need, consider partnership arrangements between suppliers. While CrowdComms does offer an integrated solution, we’ve also teamed up with Lil Regie (a standalone registration platform) to provide connectivity between the registration and the event app.
Customers enjoy the full benefits of two well-established (but separate) registration and event app platforms. They can easily export data from registration to the event app. Plus, the attendee experience is smooth and easy thanks to our combined approach to link access, app marketing and support.
Conclusion
Whether you opt for fully integrated, partnership or totally separate systems, the process needs to be seamless from the attendee perspective. Integrated platforms may appear the right way forward, but take the time to make sure they offer everything you need from the registration and event app process.
Dee Brannick – CrowdComms, Co-Founder
Working in Event Tech since 2003, Dee has made thousands of events shine by incorporating market leading technology into a diverse range of events. From boardroom meetings to multi-location conferences, Dee is passionate about finding the right solution for her clients. In 2011 she co-founded CrowdComms to maximise the explosion in smart phone usage at events and now works out of the UK office in sunny Dorset.
