Today we have the honor of welcoming Sequoyha Pelletier as an interview partner on our blog. He is the head of the internal training team for the DataStax Engineering Group. DataStax’s core business is cloud technology and what works well with cloud solutions? Exactly, event apps.

In an interview, Sequoyha tells us how he used the LineUpr app for their Worldwide Support Summit. With LineUpr, the feedback of the participants could be used live on-site to adjust the Summit. A great example of adapting event formats live according to the wishes of the participants. Have fun. ?

LineUpr: Hello Sequoyha. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the DataStax.

Sequoyha: My name is Sequoyha Pelletier. I handle the internal training team for the DataStax Engineering group. We handle all onboarding training as well as ongoing training. Part of this charter includes organizing the annual Worldwide Support Summit for our Worldwide Support Group.

DataStax delivers the always-on, active everywhere distributed hybrid cloud database built on Apache Cassandra. The foundation for personalized, real-time applications at scale, DataStax Enterprise makes it easy for enterprises to exploit hybrid and multi-cloud environments via a seamless data layer that eliminates the issues that typically come with deploying applications across multiple on-premises data centers and/or multiple public clouds.

Our product also gives businesses full data visibility, portability, and control, allowing them to retain strategic ownership of their most valuable asset in a hybrid/multi-cloud world. We help many of the world’s leading brands across industries transform their businesses through an enterprise data layer that eliminates data silos and cloud vendor lock-in while powering modern, mission-critical applications.

LineUpr: You’ve used LineUpr for the Support Summit 2019. What is this for an event? Which target group did you want to address?

Sequoyha: We used LineUpr for our annual Worldwide Support Summit. This is an event where we gather our technical support team together for team building, education, and team meetings. This is the one event per year where the support engineers can gather together as one without having to work on customer issues. We hand over coverage to our development teams for the week and our team takes a collective deep breath. This year we decided to go the conference route since our team has been expanding. This allowed us to run multiple tracks for training, and also for people to choose the talks that interested them the most for personal development.

LineUpr: How did you learn about LineUpr and what was the decisive argument for you to use an event app?

Sequoyha: We needed a way to keep people up to date on the agenda that a spreadsheet just wouldn’t cover. Scheduling had to be very flexible for teams and venues.  Any changes need to be available to our engineers quickly, and in an easy to consume format. A mobile app was going to be absolutely vital. I began an extensive search to find the best option for our needs. Several recommendation sites were consulted, as well as vetting internal recommendations. I looked into Open Source options, as well as a few other vendors, but ultimately landed on LineUpr.

LineUpr: Do you also use printed products to market the event or distribute information on-site? If so, which and why?

Sequoyha: We didn’t use any printed material for our events, aside from the badges. All communication was handled through the LineUpr app or Slack.

LineUpr: Back to LineUpr. How long before the event do you start creating the event app? How much time do you invest in the app?

Sequoyha: We started beta testing the app approximately 90 days before the event. After about a week, we determined that LineUpr was definitely the best option for our needs. We transitioned to an actual build phase about 60 days from the event. The build wasn’t complete until the event was finished.

This was by design. We added speakers and topics up until about a week before the event, and we shuffled talks around to different times and locations based on feedback that we were getting from the teams prior to the event. We also left a time slot open on the last day to allow repeats of popular talks that people did not get a chance to see. Those slots were filled based on surveys that we sent out with the app at the end of each day.

So, we spent 61 days working on that app. But if you want to break that down into hours, it was probably between 40-60 hours total.

LineUpr: When and how do you inform the participants of the event about the event app?

Sequoyha:We have regular bi-weekly meetings where we discuss topics related to the team and company. An announcement was made during these meetings with an email announcement that followed.

LineUpr: Do you also use the survey features in the app? If so, for what kind of questions and how was the response?

Sequoyha: Yes, we did use the survey feature. At the end of each day, we sent out a survey to determine which of the sessions from that day were the most popular. We waited until the evenings to allow the different engineers to talk with each other and stir up interests further. The information that we received from the surveys helped us with scheduling repeat sessions on the last day of our event.

LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?

Sequoyha: Every comment that we had on the app was wonderful! Our engineers were impressed with how professional it looked and how well it functioned. Honestly, the app was probably one of the most popular things during our conference!

LineUpr: Which top three tips would you like to give to other organizers when using LineUpr?

Sequoyha: 1. You can save time if you gather all of your pictures and upload at once. That wasn’t always an option for us. Our speaker list and schedule were in flux quite a bit. We ended up uploading head shots one at a time quite a bit. But when we had a group of speakers to add, the bulk upload saves a considerable amount of time that you can use in other areas.

2. Add a floorplan to the app, it makes a big difference.

3. Use it! Our broader engineering team used a different app for their summit. It was free, and you could see a clear difference! Our app had clear pagination and separation of schedule, speakers, locations, etc. Theirs, well…did I mention it was free? You really can’t find a better option per capita than LineUpr! I’ll be using it again next year. That’s a guarantee.

LineUpr: Thank you for the great interview Sequoyha. We were able to gain a deep insight into your event and the planning. The idea to use the survey for the event planning is terrific and a great example of using the feedback of the participants immediately and positively for the event.

More information about DataStax can be found here on their website or on Twitter. If you want to get in touch, feel free to contact him here on LinkedIn.

We are already looking forward to next year.

The post Event Apps for Conferences – Sequoyha Pelletier from DataStax first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

Our interviewee today is an expert in affiliate marketing. With more than 20,000 advertisers and 200,000 active publishers, Awin is the largest affiliate network in the world. Events play a significant role at Awin in bringing their customers together regularly to provide them with current trends and information.

Alexandra Bietz tells you how exactly an event app at AWIN AG helps to connect their customers better and to optimize their events. She is the senior marketing manager for the DACH region and a real event app expert. Have fun. ?

LineUpr: Hello Alexandra. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and AWIN AG.

Alexandra: Hello everybody. I have been working at AWIN for almost four years. I started as an account manager in the advertising team and have been working in Marketing for two years as the marketing manager for the DACH region. I organize our networking events and look after our website. AWIN is the world’s largest affiliate network with 13,000 advertisers and 100,000 active publishers. More than 1,000 colleagues work at 15 locations in Europe, America, and South America.

LineUpr: What role do events play in achieving your business goals?

Alexandra: Events play a significant role for us. We are present at major industry events to try to reach new customers, but we also organize our events to bring existing customers together. I coordinate our so-called AWIN Days, where we take our business model “network” very literally. We want to create a platform and opportunity for our advertisers and publishers to get to know each other personally and to discuss co-operation. As affiliate marketing becomes more and more international, it is more and more difficult to meet in person. Here we want to start and create an appealing supporting program based around a valuable day.

LineUpr: Who is the typical target audience of your event and how do you reach them? What channels and tools do you use for marketing and presentation?

Alexandra: Since our events are geared towards existing customers, we only want to reach them. Advertisers appear as sponsors with an exhibitor stand – here we mainly go for personal communication with our customers. The publishers can participate as participants for free. We use all channels that we can think of: newsletters, social media and banner placements on our own platform. Besides, we book occasional banner or newsletter placements with our advertising partners.

LineUpr: You’ve already used LineUpr for two events. What added value do you expect from an event app?

Alexandra: Our customers and thus our target group are clearly online-affine. We noticed that it is difficult to bring our printed materials directly to the people. What’s more, our customers are particularly interested in one thing: who can I meet? That’s why we were looking for a way to publish a list of participants. LineUpr also offers the option of displaying all the information we otherwise publish in the booklet in the same way in the app. In our booklet, our sponsors are introduced, and we print the agenda and publish statistics. That’s exactly what’s possible with LineUpr.

At the first event, it was still a test run to possibly, in the long run, completely get rid of printed materials. This was further confirmed at the second event – more than half of all booklets remained untouched. I have not finally decided on the future, but in the long run, I could well imagine that we will refrain entirely from using printed materials.

LineUpr: Have you used event apps in the past? If so, what are your experiences?

Alexandra: We have not used any event app yet. LineUpr was our first attempt.

LineUpr: How did you use the app before, during and after the Awin Telco & Services Day?

Alexandra: We communicated the app via our confirmation email and reminder mail to the participants and linked it directly. On the day of the event, our moderators once again presented the app and promoted it at small stands on site. We used almost all of the functions: agenda, participant list, sponsor presentation, location including room plan and posts. Unfortunately, the survey tool did not function at our first event, since the participants probably did not look at the app after the event. That’s why we created the survey for the second event externally via another tool and sent it by e-mail.

We used Google Analytics to evaluate the app afterward. The values for the first event were more than good: On the actual day, each guest checked the list of participants at least three times on average. Also in the previous week, to inform themselves. The agenda was the second most popular page. We saw similar results at the second event. This time, however, the guests were more informed in advance and used the app less on the day itself.

LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?

Alexandra: We received positive feedback in direct talks and the numbers from Google Analytics speak for themselves. We clearly see the trend at our events that guests forget the booklet and get all the info from the app.

LineUpr: Which top three tips would you like to give other organizers for the use of LineUpr?

Alexandra: I definitely recommend that you first communicate the app via email so that guests only have to follow the link. Communicating about the app on-site via a QR code did not work for us – QR codes are now really dead. Besides, I would use Google Analytics again and again to identify the most popular page. As a last point (and I will write this down for myself as well) I would use the posts more. There is real potential here, which I took for granted.

LineUpr: Thank you, Alexandra, for the great interview. It is always fascinating for us to find out why and how our organizers use an event app.

If you are interested in advertising and affiliate marketing, then have a look at the homepage of Awin.

We are already looking forward to your next events and to many post notifications with LineUpr.

The post Event Apps for Customer Days – How AWIN AG Uses Event Apps for Their Events first appeared on LineUpr Blog.