What makes it different?
Go all the way
If your objective is to stop handing out documents all together then ALL of what you do with paper should be replaced, not just the easy bits. Parliant's Conference Companion is a premiere product whose feature list is so extensive meeting planners stop handing out paper all together. Then we add attendee-only social networking, audience response system, personal schedules, etc. providing all the information and social platform for attendees to engage with meetings at a new level.If you go only part way with your mobile offering, then you will continue to have your existing costs of layout and printing plus whatever costs are associated with a partial electronic solution. With a partial solution, where is the saving?
Full-featured Application
Conference Companion is unique in that it is a complete standalone application. Unlike web browser-based solutions, Conference Companion is designed exclusively for the portable hand-held device market. Our solution provides all content in a format ideally suited to the portable device's screen size, and the simple yet powerful touch controls making use of best practices for presenting information, maps, documents and even advertising. Even attendees with little technical ability will be working effectively in minutes getting the most out of your event.Field Proven
We have customers who are into their 3rd year of using our application to operate their conference. We are aware of no other handheld solution that can make that claim.Offline Use
Application data is stored locally on the attendee device for maximum performance. Even when accessing detailed maps, watching video or reading documents, all content is available for instance viewing -- no waiting for downloads. This ensures the application is fully useful to help attendees plan, get around, and see what they want to see, even where wireless networking is not available, such as out on the street, in their hotel rooms, elevators, restaurants, etc..Active networking is only required to make use of social networking features -- sending/receiving new private messages and accessing the Facebook, Twitter and photo sharing features.
Automatic Sync
Conference Companion does not trade off up-to-date information for offline use. Conference Companion keeps the device's information up-to-date using an automated sync system whenever networking is available at the conference center (or over the Internet). This means that your event gets all the benefits of up-to-date information like an Internet-based solution, but with the knowledge that your attendees can always get at the information 24/7, no matter where they go.Sync is made invisible to the attendee -- it simply happens while the application is in use on a wireless network -- the application downloads all changes and new content and installs all updates quietly. As the user interacts with the application, the latest information is shown automatically. Users never have to wait for downloads or installs when starting the app or going onto any screen.
Audience Response system built in
Speakers can poll their audience and display results immediately. This is a low incremental cost option because attendees enter responses from within our application. No extra hardware. No extra logins. No double voting.Fault Tolerant
If you move to an entirely electronic meeting, with another vendor's browser based system, what happens when the connection between those mobile devices and the server is severed, for any reason? With no data stored on the mobile device, do you still have a meeting?With Conference Companion the application and data are stored on the local device. If the network goes down, you lose none of the capabilities you have today. Without a network, you can't distribute updates or send social messages, which are features did not have in previous years anyway. With Conference Companion, you lose nothing compared to previous years, even if the network collapses.
If you like, we can put a server onsite, plus send backups to a remote site during the meeting. Should the local server die, the remote server can take over. Should the internet die, the local server has you covered. Should you local WiFi die, all data is stored on the device. We pack parachutes for our clients.