Features
Click on the points below for more details.
Schedule
Depending on an attendee's needs, there are 3 distinct ways to explore the schedule:- Schedule browser, allowing categorized display of sessions, with the ability to display by day, and the ability to search for sessions
- What's On screen that has an optimized display of only current sessions, also allowing the user to select another time (such as the next-session time) to see what's on then
- Personal Schedule screen that displays the sessions, posters and exhibitors the user has selected, with the ability to view all items or only sessions for the current day
All schedule information is stored on the device, but kept up-to-date, so that users can work without network access.
Schedule Browser
The schedule browser is the best way to plan out the conference in advance, browse sessions, and to search for sessions.The schedule can be arranged into logical groupings and sub-groupings as desired, and navigation works using standard iPhone-style "drill-down". The conference staff will be able to specify the groupings and sub-groupings as desired so that all program info is organized as attendees will expect it.
The schedule can be browsed as a whole, or the attendee can restrict browsing to a single day at a time. Category and keyword searching allow the attendee to find exactly the sessions that they are looking for.
Sessions are displayed in a convenient full-screen display, with description, speakers, time, date, room and other information displayed in a handy scrollable form. From the session, the user can touch a button to see the appropriate map highlighting the room for the session. Another button allows the session to be added to the personal schedule. The attendee can also touch the name of any speaker/presenter to go to their bio, and also see what other sessions that speaker is presenting.
The schedule accommodates the inclusion of meeting events that are not strictly scheduled by time. This includes both presentations that are included inside a larger overall session where the presentations are not individually scheduled, as well as posters or kiosks that may be available for viewing in the conference centre but may be available for the whole duration of the meeting. Unscheduled items can still be selected as "favorites" and can include the same descriptions and attachments as described in the previous section. This allows the personal schedule to act as a convenient reminder of all the attendee's activities.
The What's On screen shows all current sessions in a single list for quick access -- the list displays extended details about each session, since the list will likely be fairly short. The user can quickly select any session to view the session details.
The personal schedule can be viewed either for the whole duration of the meeting, or as an optimized view that shows only the sessions coming up for the current day.
Add your own items (dinner meetings, side trips, to dos) to your personal schedule.
The personal schedule screen can be a powerful assistant to the busy attendee in guiding them directly to where they want to go and reminding them of interesting activities. Integrating unscheduled items like exhibitor booths and posters can increase the visibility of other aspects of the meeting.
What's On
The What's On screen gives a quick overview of the current sessions going on. This allows the user to quickly find a session to attend right now. The user can also select an alternate time (such as the next session time slot) and view what will be on at that time.The What's On screen shows all current sessions in a single list for quick access -- the list displays extended details about each session, since the list will likely be fairly short. The user can quickly select any session to view the session details.
Personal Schedule
The personal schedule provides attendees with a view of their personal schedule of activities, including any sessions they selected as favorites, as well as any trade show exhibitors, posters, or other unscheduled events they may have selected. The attendee is free to mark any sessions of interest for their personal schedule.The personal schedule can be viewed either for the whole duration of the meeting, or as an optimized view that shows only the sessions coming up for the current day.
Add your own items (dinner meetings, side trips, to dos) to your personal schedule.
The personal schedule screen can be a powerful assistant to the busy attendee in guiding them directly to where they want to go and reminding them of interesting activities. Integrating unscheduled items like exhibitor booths and posters can increase the visibility of other aspects of the meeting.
Maps
Parliant's Conference Companion application includes a feature that can display maps of the conference centre facilities, and other locations such as hotels where scheduled events may occur. Even maps of the streets surrounding the conference can be included as desired. The map display will allow the user to pan and zoom the map using your mobile devices intuitive features.
For ease of use on a small screen such as a mobile phone users are initially shown one of a set of overview maps -- the user can select a map from a list, or one will be selected automatically if the user selects a particular room or touches through from the program or exhibitor listing.
Several features in Parliant's Conference Companion application will link to a map directly, such as the meeting schedule, exhibitor list, etc.. Most features link to a specific room or area on a given map that is highlighted. Since the maps are stored on the handheld device they continue to be available wherever the attendee goes.
Information
The paper-based attendee package of previous years probably contained many different types of non-program information, all of which will improve the experience of conference attendees and facilitate taking full advantage of the conference. Conference Companion is well placed to include all these materials, in a logical sequence.
You can provide information about conference center facilities, travel information, shuttle schedules, food service, local restaurants, and information about your association, group or industry.
The Conference Companion system groups conference information into a hierarchical design that allows attendees to drill down in the application to the desired information. At each level of the hierarchy additional sub-categories can appear beside documents that may be accessed directly from the current level. Once selected, documents can display in graphical, textual, PDF or video based formats, as appropriate. The hierarchies are configurable, and the exact hierarchies will be determined by discussion with the customer to ensure that the information displayed is accurate for the year.
The ancillary conference information is stored in the on-device database and can be viewed at any time, even away from the conference center.
To enhance the value to the exhibitor of their participation in your trade show, Conference Companion can provide access to exhibit information directly from the main menu. Attendees can navigate this information either by exhibitor name, or through a categorized list of exhibitors. Vendor information can include both on-site exhibitors, as well as other vendors who want a presence on the device.
The exhibitor information screen contains the exhibitor's name, category and a link to the exhibit hall map. Additionally, a description is provided, as is the exhibitor's contact information. Exhibitors can provide web sites, documents or videos that are linked to from their exhibitor information screen.
The exhibitor information screen contains the exhibitor's name, category and a link to the exhibit hall map. Additionally, a description is provided, as is the exhibitor's contact information. Exhibitors can provide web sites, documents or videos that are linked to from their exhibitor information screen.
Quality web and/or video content can enhance the exhibitor's listing and drive extra traffic to their booth during the tradeshow, and could be monetized by a conference in the exhibitor package.
Exhibitor booths can be added as favorites to the attendee's personal schedule, and the favorite exhibitors are listed along with all other items on the personal schedule.
Exhibitor booths can be added as favorites to the attendee's personal schedule, and the favorite exhibitors are listed along with all other items on the personal schedule.
The Conference Companion is built with an understanding that advertising can be key to funding conferences. In replacing printed conference material with an electronic system, these advertising options need to be replaced. Fortunately, the electronic system affords improved options over paper advertisements, as electronic advertising can be tastefully integrated into the regular operation of the application.
There are two kinds of advertising available within the Conference Companion system:
Ads link to additional materials provided by the vendors -- if the user touches any ad, an advertising viewer appears "above" the screen they were viewing and displays the vendor's content. Importantly, the ad viewer does not interfere with the user's place in the application -- once the user presses "Done" to close the ad viewer, they are returned to the exact screen they were on, so that viewing does not conflict with the user's navigation of the app.
Data is collected on how often exhibitors and advertisers material is used by attendees.
There are two kinds of advertising available within the Conference Companion system:
- Interstitial advertising: Full-screen advertising that appears whenever the application is launched, when the application becomes active after the device has been asleep, or (optionally) as the user navigates between features. These ads disappear after a set time, or can be dismissed with a touch.
- Banner ads: These advertisements are placed on screen above, beside or beneath regular conference program or other content. Exact sizing and placement is custom to each conference, to provide a strong user experience without detracting from the main application content.
Ads link to additional materials provided by the vendors -- if the user touches any ad, an advertising viewer appears "above" the screen they were viewing and displays the vendor's content. Importantly, the ad viewer does not interfere with the user's place in the application -- once the user presses "Done" to close the ad viewer, they are returned to the exact screen they were on, so that viewing does not conflict with the user's navigation of the app.
Data is collected on how often exhibitors and advertisers material is used by attendees.
Vendor content linked to from ads can be web, video or other document content, or a mix of these. A well-made vendor web site incorporating strong graphical elements and linking to white papers and other documents or videos can be a very compelling experience for the device user. When done right, this kind of auxiliary material can be more compelling to the attendee than any paper brochure or booklet handout.
Conference Companion supports a highly configurable ad rotation system, allowing different groups of ads on different screens, and the ability to weight ads so that some show more often than others, based on sponsorship levels.
In addition to the ads, the advertiser's information can be placed within an advertiser index. This will allow attendees to easily return to an advertiser's information for later reference, or to share this information with others.
All advertising materials (ad graphics and all extra materials) are stored in the on-device database. All advertising continues to function when the attendee is off-site, including the ability to view and interact with all advertiser-provided content. Advertisers are able to link to live Internet web sites from within their content, as desired, but such links will only work when the user has Internet access.
News is posted on every device by event organizers through a simple powerful web page. Now pictures from receptions, major industry announcements, press releases or other newsworthy multimedia postings can be in everyone's hands in minutes. Meeting planners might choose to increase advertising revenue by intermixing real news with paid announcements ensuring regular readership by your attendees.
Conference Companion supports a highly configurable ad rotation system, allowing different groups of ads on different screens, and the ability to weight ads so that some show more often than others, based on sponsorship levels.
In addition to the ads, the advertiser's information can be placed within an advertiser index. This will allow attendees to easily return to an advertiser's information for later reference, or to share this information with others.
All advertising materials (ad graphics and all extra materials) are stored in the on-device database. All advertising continues to function when the attendee is off-site, including the ability to view and interact with all advertiser-provided content. Advertisers are able to link to live Internet web sites from within their content, as desired, but such links will only work when the user has Internet access.
News is posted on every device by event organizers through a simple powerful web page. Now pictures from receptions, major industry announcements, press releases or other newsworthy multimedia postings can be in everyone's hands in minutes. Meeting planners might choose to increase advertising revenue by intermixing real news with paid announcements ensuring regular readership by your attendees.
A busy conference is both a challenge and an opportunity for attendees to network. Travelling to a conference can enhance professional ties, but only if attendees can find each other and get into contact. A key aspect of the Conference Companion system is that it addresses this problem by integrating social functions throughout the system as appropriate.
Social networking takes multiple forms. The core feature of Conference Companion is the private social messaging system -- allowing registered attendees, staff and speakers/presenters to find and message each other, without having to know each others' contact information. This messaging system works similarly to email, but with no configuration required by users. Conference Companion also optionally includes integration with Facebook, Twitter and Internet photo sharing.
Each attendee can be listed with a customizable set of fields about the person, including photo, title and company, bio, and whatever contact information the conference wants to publish about attendees.
For conference presenters, their information includes links to all sessions that they are presenting, with one-touch access to each session's details. For exhibitors, a link to their company's exhibitor listing is included, allowing fast access to their corporate information and booth map.
Social Messaging allows people to send textual messages (including a subject and body text) to one or more registered recipients, similar to email. Messages can be sent whenever the attendee is at the conference site, and even over the Internet from away if the conference server is configured with Internet service. Upon receiving a message, the user can reply to the message and to all recipients of the original message with ease.
Social networking takes multiple forms. The core feature of Conference Companion is the private social messaging system -- allowing registered attendees, staff and speakers/presenters to find and message each other, without having to know each others' contact information. This messaging system works similarly to email, but with no configuration required by users. Conference Companion also optionally includes integration with Facebook, Twitter and Internet photo sharing.
People List
The people list is the entry point for social messaging and finding people at the conference. The list includes all registered attendees, speakers, moderators, and other presenters. The list can also include all the conference staff and representatives of trade show exhibitors.Each attendee can be listed with a customizable set of fields about the person, including photo, title and company, bio, and whatever contact information the conference wants to publish about attendees.
For conference presenters, their information includes links to all sessions that they are presenting, with one-touch access to each session's details. For exhibitors, a link to their company's exhibitor listing is included, allowing fast access to their corporate information and booth map.
Social Messaging
The attendee list can be used to find people who are attending the conference so that attendees can message them. This can resolve the difficult problem of attendees finding colleagues at a large event where they may otherwise never cross paths. Once a person's information is on-screen, message composition is a touch away.Social Messaging allows people to send textual messages (including a subject and body text) to one or more registered recipients, similar to email. Messages can be sent whenever the attendee is at the conference site, and even over the Internet from away if the conference server is configured with Internet service. Upon receiving a message, the user can reply to the message and to all recipients of the original message with ease.
Conference Mass Messaging
Authorized conference staff are able to send messages to individual recipients, groups of attendees, or even the entire attendee list using a handy web form. This mass-messaging feature can make it easy to update attendees on conference news, changes to the program, to highlight special events and also to deliver suitable marketing messages. Messages sent by the conference to attendees can include a banner ad that can link to an advertiser's provided information, similar to ad banners placed in other areas of the app. This allows messages to be "sponsored" by an advertiser or exhibitor.Attendees are restricted in the number of recipients they can message, and most Conference Companion customers opt for a limit of 5 recipients per message to prevent attendees "spamming" each other. In contrast, selected conference staff may send any number of messages, as is considered suitable to the conference and attendees.
Social Networking Integration
If a conference or association makes use of Facebook pages and/or Twitter feeds to communicate with attendees and members, then Conference Companion can help make those social interaction features available to attendees from within the application. These new social networks allow attendees and even industry members who are not attending the conference to engage with your conference and interact with each other in new ways. This can also provide a new way for associations and conference organizers to communicate with attendees in ways that were never possible before.Reading people's free-form responses and opinions about presentations and the conference as a whole can give conference managers new insight into how best to serve their attendees. Catching people's immediate responses using simple social features can provide a new dimension of information, different from the hard-to-get responses to attendee surveys after an event. In addition Attendees can vote using a 5 star rating system for each session.
Twitter integration will allow attendees to read your Twitter feed either as a focussed view of only your official postings, or as a conversation view including responses from followers of your feed. For attendees who have Twitter accounts, the Conference Companion will allow users to log in within the application and post their own questions, comments or responses to your conference/association feed. Facebook integration will allow users to post to their own Wall as well as making Wall posts on your conference or association page.
If desired by the conference, integration with popular Internet photo sharing services is possible. Using the cameras built into all iPhone and the latest iPod Touch devices, photo sharing can be a great way to create new social interaction between attendees. This feature allows both viewing of shared photos taken by fellow attendees (or published by conference staff), as well as allowing attendees to upload the photos they have taken on their own devices.