How the Denver-based TEDx organization sparked new levels of engagement while saving thousands on printing costs The Denver-based TEDx organization, TEDxMileHigh, brings audiences together throughout the year to spread big ideas and elevate inspired citizenship in Colorado. Connecting a community of thinkers and doers, ideators and creators, activists and enthusiasts, TEDxMileHigh showcases innovative Coloradans who each give the ‘talk of their life’ around the power of ideas. TEDxMileHigh aims to accelerate innovation and social impact through the power of big ideas and live events. To support its mission, the independent TEDx organization moved to mobile, partnering with Guidebook, to create a custom branded app for TEDxMileHigh: Reset, a daylong event which featured a series of talks and performances.

Opportunity

How to increase audience engagement and decrease paper waste?

TEDxMileHigh sought a mobile event app for its daylong event, TEDxMileHigh: Reset, to achieve two main objectives – to increase engagement and strengthen connections within its community, as well as to reduce paper consumption and waste. 

Solution

Adopt mobile app for TEDxMileHigh: Reset Conference

The organization implemented a mobile app ahead of Reset, promoted the app in the days leading up to the event, and provided attendees with an engaging solution when navigating the event. For attendees, the TEDxMileHigh: Reset app was a one-stop destination for all event-related information, including:

• The event agenda
• Speaker bios
• A live social media feed
• An event map
• Interact, an attendee chat
• Sponsor and exhibitor information
• + More!

Results

Mobile app leads to significant cost savings and a boost in engagement

Leveraging mobile, TEDxMileHigh is changing how attendees experience TEDx events. The organization debuted the app for the TEDxMileHigh: Reset, providing attendees with a single touchpoint for the event. Consolidating information, attendees turned to the app for the event schedule, speaker bios, a site map, an engaging chat feed, and more.

Streamlined communication

Changing how they communicate with attendees, TEDxMileHigh leaned on its app to communicate the agenda, on-site activations, and site maps; drastically reducing the organization’s dependency on paper. Rather than handing attendees a paper map, attendees had the power to navigate the event with the app.

Increased engagement

The Guidebook app was a powerful tool to advance our mission. It increased community engagement, speaker connections, and partner relationships. – Jeremy Duhon, Founder and Curator

Adopting an event app enabled TEDxMileHigh to provide more information to attendees and additional opportunities for engagement. The information available in the app – speaker bios, background information on activations, and speaking sessions additional detail on session– gave attendees new levels of access to the event’s content. Interact, the social feed within Guidebook apps, was the most launched items within the TEDxMileHigh: Reset app. One attendee noted, “I was able to use the app to meet and connect with my favorite speaker!”

Big savings on printing

Moving to a Guidebook powered app had another benefit – TEDxMileHigh saved over $7,000 on printing for the first of its events with an app. By leveraging the app, TEDxMileHigh, reduced printing maps, session brochures, signage, and more. While they still offered a limited amount of paper materials to attendees who preferred, TEDxMileHigh plans to further migrate away from paper to increase their savings. “We expect to see a savings of $14,000 once we fully migrate to mobile,” said Cate Croft, Adventures Director, TEDxMileHigh. 

New technology to solve age-old challenges

With Guidebook, TEDxMileHigh improved its processes by eliminating print deadlines and the stress that comes with dealing with the inevitable post-deadline changes. Rather than scrambling to ensure print-ready materials, the team managed changes as they came, making updates to the app in minutes. Moving to mobile helped TEDxMileHigh tackle another common challenge for events, how to keep audiences engaged after the event is over? Utilizing Guidebook’s push notifications functionality, TEDxMileHigh delivered important updates to attendees’ home screens following the event. 

A solution attendees love

Moving to an event app was a hit with TEDxMileHigh: Reset Attendees, too. Following Reset, TEDxMileHigh received one of their highest net promoter scores! Post-event surveys showed attendees found the app to be highly user-friendly and helpful when navigating the many event details and venue. Curious to learn how mobile technology can help power your event? Click the button below to get in contact with our team!