You published the guide, and the room will be full anyway. That is not the same as people opening it. This plan is for the person running a conference or a campus event who already has the event app built and now needs downloads, repeat visits, and something real to send a sponsor.

Bookmark this page if you need it open while you work through the lists.

The work starts four weeks out, tightens in the last week, and changes again once people are in the building. The lists below are tappable. Tick a row as you finish it.

What to turn on before you ask for a download

A guide with an empty menu gives people nothing to come back for. Turn on the pieces you will actually use, and promote those pieces by name.

Interact, live polls, banners, and push notifications are on the Engage plan. Check pricing before you promise any of them in a sponsor conversation. People can read Interact without an account. Posting, liking, and joining the thread requires a login. If you want photos in that feed, add a photo album and allow uploads.

Louisiana Tech's orientation menu is that list in one place: notifications, the handbook, the schedule, to-do lists, and campus maps.

While the event is on, set Interact as the home screen so the feed is what they see first. A fuller walk-through of that feed is in how to build an engaging event app with Interact. Before the doors open, the schedule is often the better first screen, because that is the reason to download early. Put Connect and messaging next to each other in the menu. Leave the Notifications module on the main menu. A folder hides unread alerts, and the module needs to sit on that menu for the sends to work.

Four weeks out

This is the stretch where you fill the guide and tell people why it is worth opening before they travel. The invite email already carries the download steps and sets up an account. Your own posts still have to say what they get: a plan for the day, a way to meet people, or something they will not find in the inbox.

Bowdoin's homecoming guide puts the schedule and My Schedule on the same menu. The welcome screen says schedule changes are updated in the app, which is the reason to download before the weekend starts.

A notification that only says "download the app" disappears. One that asks what they are looking forward to, and points at the feed, gives the first posts something to answer. You can schedule those ahead of time, and you can send them to a group. More on how those messages behave is in push notifications in event apps.

One week out

By now the guide should be full enough to open. The job is the people who were invited and still have not logged in. Audience Management shows who was created, who was invited, and who has logged in, so the second invite can go to that gap.

On the day

Phones will be out in the session. The signs, the holding slide, and the person at the door are what point that phone at the guide.

A live poll only works if the room can open it before the speaker moves on. How to build that question is in enhancing event engagement with live polls. A scavenger hunt is one game, useful when you want people at sponsor booths. A longer menu of things to run in the room is in 25 in-person event engagement ideas.

The University of Kentucky's Big Blue Open House puts the timed main schedule next to a short guest survey. That is the length of form people will finish between sessions.

What you can offer a sponsor

The hallway conversation is the part Connect is for. Checking in makes a profile visible, and from there people can connect and message. Those messages still work after the event, until someone deletes the guide. Sponsors want a piece of that attention. Offer a few distinct placements, each with a name, so the package is easy to explain.

A banner sits at the bottom of the menu, so it is on screen whenever someone is browsing. A tap can open more about that sponsor in the guide, or it can open their site. A session, a form, or a list item can carry a sponsor as well. An Interact sponsor card can be scheduled for a time, such as just before their session, and your own team can comment so the post has a reply waiting.

A push on a sponsor's behalf is the placement to ration. You can schedule it, and you can limit it to a group. One clear message can point people at a booth or a session. When you write the recap, send the sponsor the figures you actually have: who opened the guide, and which of their sessions, banners, or list items people used.

After the room empties

The guide can stay useful for a few days. Slides, photos, and a thank-you are the reasons to open it again. Then you read what happened.

If your plan includes an account manager, set next year's targets with them from this event's numbers. If it does not, write the targets down yourself. A useful one is a larger share of the invited list logging in next time.

Set the home screen, then send the invites

Do those two things before the first promotional email. Interact is the home screen for the days of the event. The invite goes to the list, the event site points at the same guide page, and every post says why someone would open it tonight. If you want a walk-through of that setup before the email goes out, book a demo.

Frequently asked questions