March 2016

Before event apps changed the landscape of exhibitions and trade shows altogether, getting a satisfactory space for a stall remained the biggest concern of Event Organizers and Exhibitors. The key motivations for taking up a stall space in general were to

1. Showcase products
2. Capture leads
3. Increase brand recall

In the midst of these impediments, the real focus of evaluating ROI from an exhibition space was lost.

But what if we could flip this around and say that physical space does not necessarily amount to greater ROI? And what if there is a fair scope for every exhibitor to improve brand visibility, showcase products and carry out valuable lead generation with ease? What if you could democratise exhibition spaces?

Ambitious as it may sound, this is exactly where event apps come in and drive the desired difference.

Event apps can address not just the key motivations/ goals for an exhibitor, but also create more value and better insights into ROI.

Here are some of the key aspects to consider in event apps :

Showcase products

Creating a digital booth in your event app is the smartest way to showcase your partners, and ensure greater visibility.

Digital booths help exhibitors and sponsors to promote their brand, products, provide brochures and relevant contact details.

Capture leads

Why wait for weeks until after the event to collate, organize all the business cards you received at your stall? What if you could do that instantly through the event app, and capture details of any delegate interested in reaching out to you.

What if you could run simple fun games that capture leads and let your attendees win prizes?

Better brand recall

Can you create a unique brand recall value for your products? Is it possible to create a themed digital booth where you attendees can view and experience your brand? Can product experiences be transformed into digital content and captured instantly to provide exhibitors with a better visibility into the profile of delegates who are reaching out to them?

In addition to these, event apps combined with strategically positioned beacons can help exhibitors drive traffic into their booths. Imagine if you could send a personalised offer to an attendee who is in the proximity of your stall. All the data from number of views on your digital booth, number of leads to the profile of leads will all be available in an instant. This is the kind of actionable content that can provide measurable insights to help your event partners realize better ROI.

It’s a confluence of these smart functionalities that makes event apps an interesting possibility. For your attendees and exhibitors, event apps are the perfect companion but for you, it is a true business associate.

To know more about how you can add value to your event partners, reach out to us at [email protected] or visit our website

Quite often than not, you might have come across that uneasy feeling when you had a question to ask in a public gathering, but were too shy to speak it out? Didn’t you feel distant and left out in the crowd for the simple reason that you spoke a different language? You waited for days and months for an event which turned up as a bitter-sweet experience in the end!

In gatherings, especially in events, attendees from different backgrounds, languages, personalities bind together in the context of the theme of the event. As an event organizer, you want your event to be memorable and enjoyable. You want to create an event where your audience feel connected, carrying back with them an unforgettable experience. But, we live in a world of diversity. Diverse cultures, many languages, different personalities. How do you then create that experience where none of your audience feels left out?

The answer lies in bringing context-aware content to the platform in a language of your attendee’s choice.This is where regional players gain tremendous significance. A great amount of content is now being consumed by regional players. As per a recent survey conducted by Economic Times, about 24 million internet users consume content in vernacular languages. More engrossing is the fact that about $20 Billion worth of content is consumed by Indians in local languages.The statistics says it all. India is gaining significance as a popular new destination for MICE and attracting a global audience. It is, therefore, important for event organizers to quickly adapt to this change.

Multilingual event apps are a great channel to deliver regional language content and facilitate this disruptive change. Imagine the impact you can create with something as simple as a personalized welcome message in your attendee’s native language. You can now stay in complete control by publishing key announcements in more than 30 languages, and make sure that everyone stays tuned to your event updates irrespective of the language they speak.

Here are some of the key aspects of multilingual apps that are worth taking a look at:

Flexibility of publishing content

How quickly can multi-lingual content be published in an app? Does the app have a content management interface that can publish content seamlessly in the languages of your choice?

Carrot’s content platform powered by AIDAIO allows you to do this with a simple tap. Once your content is up and ready, publishing it is a child’s play indeed.

Don’t create different apps for each language

Your event app is a vital part of your event’s branding and brand experience. Why then do you need to have 5 different apps for each language your event supports? Why not have your attendees download a single event app, choose the language in which they want to consume content?

Carrot’s multilingual apps exactly do this by letting your attendees have complete control on how they want to view their content.

Create personalized content

You can create groups among your audience, and target specialized content for groups based on their chosen language. This can provide you with a flexibility to target exclusive content when needed.

Users can post in the language of their choice

Publishing content is not just the organizer’s prerogative anymore. Attendees can interact, share views, comment and do more through your event app. This way they can post comments and questions whenever they want to, without feeling hesitant about it.

Explore Carrot apps with Multiple language support – Get in touch with us now.

Gender inequality is a real and pressing issue that our world faces today. Bridging the gender gap at workplaces and creating opportunities for women to not just join the workforce, but to retain and propel them into leadership roles is a necessity that companies corporates are waking up to. It is one of the best times for women to prosper in their career and make a name for themselves. The increased awareness and an impetus on companies to bridge the gender gap, accompanied by supporting forums, women role models and mentors is bound to give the much-needed shot in the arm for the careers of aspiring women.

McKinsey Global Institute’s Sept 2015 report claims that women contributing “full-potential” by bridging the gender gap will add $12 trillion to the annual GDP in 2025.

Events play a great role in advocating, spreading the reach and awareness of the campaigns to encourage women, share best practices and to influence policy makers. The Event Industry itself, however, struggles to see more women in leadership roles. Recruiting a skilled woman does not seem to be an issue here. However, the same attributes that make event management appealing are what make it hard for maintaining the right balance between personal and professional lives. Family friendly work hours, creative yet highly demanding (in terms of travel, with limited remote working options) work environments are likely to impair the career progress of women beyond a certain stage.

As part of MPI EMEC 2015, Warsaw, in Feb 2015, a short survey sums this up quite well.The results included the following insights:

Our own analysis of how women are represented in events as attendees or as speakers paints an even more dismal picture. Our analysis of data from technical and business conferences, corporate events, exhibitions powered by Carrot, shows that women constitute less than 10% of attendees, and less than 8% of the speakers are women.

We believe that affirmative action to actively encourage women to attend and speak at events is the need of the hour. As women, we ourselves also need to understand the importance of networking, and aspire for leadership roles. An overall policy change in providing better, safe and dependable child care options and maternity policies will go a long way in opening up a world of opportunities for women.

Here is a Tribute to all the #WomenInEvents!

We have, in our journey with Carrot, come across many creative, competent, amazing women – entrepreneurs, event managers, leaders who are fantastic at what they do. Events are indeed a better place because of you women. We wish you all a very happy women’s day. Keep rocking, rockstar #WomenInEvents.

We are happy to announce the launch of our Multi-lingual event app in languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Spanish, French, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati, German, Dutch, Portuguese and many more… Now you can make the best use of your event app by engaging your regional and global attendees with content in the language of their choice. With over 95% of digital ad spent on English media and 200 million of the 402 million Indian users consuming internet in regional languages, there is an immense scope for regional language content in your apps.

What makes Carrot’s multilingual app unique is that you don’t need to manage or download a different app for every language. Event managers can publish content in every language they wish to activate. Attendees can download the event app, choose from the languages supported and Voila! They can view and interact in the language of their choice. As per a recent survey conducted by Economic Times, about 24 million internet users consume content in vernacular languages. More engrossing is the fact that about $20 Billion worth of content is consumed by Indians in local languages. There are more than 24 languages in Europe and there is a wide variety of languages spoken throughout Asia providing content that is relevant to the regional preference is key to reaching and engaging your audience.

By eliminating language barriers, it is evident that these multi-lingual features are of great value to delegates from across the globe. Events can now be more inclusive, and embrace the diversity of the attendees, without compromising on attendee experience or engagement. Carrot Apps leverage on this aspect and help events Go Global or Go Regional!

To know more on how to leverage multiple language support for your next event app to the best of your advantage, get in touch with us.

Did you know that Networking is one of the most important reasons to attend events ? Networking remains one of the time-tested approaches to build business contacts in a non-competitive environment. Social Communities thrive on this aspect of networking.

By curating networking events for your attendees, you can facilitate a great opportunity to make business connects, and to increase their visibility and reach in their area of expertise.

But in doing so, you face many challenges. Difficulties in co-ordinating meeting time between different people within the limited duration of an event, or in some cases, leading the right kind of audience to your exhibitors are just some of the challenges.

Bringing attendees together under one roof and staging a flawless networking experience is one of the hardest tasks for any organizer.

This being the key issue, there is still one pertinent question for any organizer!

How to make sure your attendees take back a great experience?

Can technology take care of this aspect? Here is how event apps can complement event networking

Discover Attendees – Search for attendees nearby with similar interests and exchange contact details.

Request a call back from exhibitors – Create a digital space for your exhibitors and let your attendees reach out and schedule a call back. This creates a new avenue for your exhibitors and an effortless, seamless way to capture leads.

Exchange contact details: Generally, a networking event involves sharing of personal or business contact details in the form of business cards. In events, this is quite a challenge, since there is no simple way to know how many people of interest you might meet. You may run out of business cards in the middle of an event. Even when attendees exchange business cards, it is hard to remember the context of conversations, a few weeks after the event.

Mobile apps can create QR codes with attendee contact details. Attendees can scan QR Codes to exchange contact details

One on One Chat – Send a chat request to a fellow delegate, and initiate a conversation. Let your attendees find the best time to network.

Create focus groups – You can mix and match your attendees by creating networking groups for people with similar interests. You can set sharing access levels, and manage networking groups effortlessly.

Make new friends – One key aspect you should consider in networking is the ability to share information and make new connects. Mobile apps with an interactive timeline that lets attendees share their views, pictures, or even like, share and comment on other posts is a great way to build social communities at events.

These are few of the many benefits a mobile app brings to your event. Why don’t you try an app for your next event too? And see how your attendees acknowledge you for the effortless networking.