At the same time as we are writing this blogpost, our team of developers, designers and QA testers is putting the finishing touches on our latest project – iOS and Android mobile event app for Web Summit 2015!
Web Summit is the largest technology conference in Europe, annually held in Dublin, Ireland since 2010. Today Web Summit is an influential gathering of CEOs and founders of tech startups, designers and developers, as well as industry experts from all over the world.
Redesigning the event experience
So designing and developing an app that would provide ultimate mobile event experience for users that are very keen on mobile technology hasn’t been a walk in the park. Luckily, it was a successful partnership and collaboration with Web Summit engineers and designers. Even during initial talks and first UX/UI workshops with key stakeholders held in our Zagreb office, we’ve all been well aware that we are building an app which is far beyond just being a list of talks, speaker and attendee profiles.
Another challenge, as well as an opportunity, for us was to develop an app that can be easily adjusted for other Ci conferences they organize around the world. So to make things even more interesting, a simple project goal has been set: we are not building a beautiful to look at and easy to use app just for Web Summit – we are building an app which is also configurable and can be easily adjusted for 5 other conferences that are happening in 2016: SURGE in Bengaluru, RISE in Hong Kong, Collision in New Orleans, MoneyConf in Belfast and F.ounders in Dublin.
30.000
When Web Summit announced they are expecting 30.000 attendees at the conference, it was clear what should we focus on: regular attendee database update, offline support, and support for social interaction between attendees, a key for a successful conference. That’s why we all go there, right? To meet new people and create connections.
Every attendee of the conference can update his personal profile, add interests and connect with his social networks in order to become more visible and get specific recommendations of other attendees, investors, startups and talks not to miss. All attendees can explore others’ profiles before the event to plan meetings ahead of time.
When all these actions are performed by attendees very frequently during the 3-day conference attendee database update should work like a clock. That’s where the seamless integration with Web Summit backend services came into play.
Web Summit attendees will be able to check everything regarding talks schedule on more than 20 stages as well as attendee and speaker profiles, wherever they are, even if no or poor internet connection is available, which tends to happen on big events.
Create an agenda of your own
Attendees can create their personal agenda with the app by favoriting, both when online and offline, the most relevant talks and panels to have them always at hand during the event.
The truth behind every event or conference is that people are expecting more than just great talks. People attend events also to meet new people and find business opportunities. Web Summit attendees are encouraged to be very active in networking, so the app is equipped with chat feature to facilitate their networking needs and establish professional contacts.
And these are just basic features that we have been working on for the last couple of weeks.
Beside the features we have for attendees, Web Summit provides the recommendation lists by following a digital trail of attendees’ interests and behaviors in the app. And that’s where things get personal – when attendees interact with the app, it automatically provides a personalized experience just for them. Future of conferencing in your hands, by Web Summit and Five.
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