Here’s a quick example.

While I was searching for a new house, I would drive through different neighborhoods to see if I liked the area. Then, I used a mobile app to help me find homes that were available nearby.

The app displayed homes that were for sale on a Google map interface that included a “you are here dot”. This location based feature allowed me to quickly see what was for sale nearby AND do a quick check for “curb appeal.”

If the home passed this first test, I would tap on the screen and the app showed me 10 photos of the inside. If I liked the home, I would forward the MLS number to my real estate agent and ask him to arrange an appointment. I could do all of that sitting in my car with a few taps.

This single app brought together my location, a map, a searchable database of the homes for sale on the market AND the photos of those homes. The information was available at my fingertips, when I needed it and where I needed it AND it was easy to use.

What Could this Mean for Events?

Think about the possibilities in the context of a large meeting, conference or festival.

What kind of information would be useful to have in the palm of your hand at an event? Think about standing on a tradeshow floor looking for other attendees, or booths. Think about sitting in the conference room with 800 people listening to someone rattle off out of date statistics – that you know are wrong. Think about being at a festival and figuring out how you get to the next venue. Or think about being at the State Fair — where is that Deep-Fried-Snickers-bar-on-a-stick vendor?

The possibilities for attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and organizers at events are numerous.

What is Your Favorite Event App?

Mike McAllen and I are collecting a list of event apps for the next episode of our Going Digital podcast. If you have any meetings or event based mobile applications that you would like to share with others – please send us an email at meetingspodcast at gmail.com or leave a comment below.

We would be happy to talk about your favorite apps on our show AND give you all of the credit!!

The post Mobile: What is Your Favorite Event App? appeared first on Interactive Meeting Technology.

While I haven’t found any “event” app that seems to pull everything together in “just the right way” – I have found several event apps that are worth checking out. In fact, if you could mash the best elements of these apps together – you could have an awesome event app. Today, I want to share a few of these apps with you.

Without further ado, here are five event apps. that I hope provide you a little inspiration.

Vancouver Olympics 2010

> Which Event: 2010 Vancouver Olympics

> What does it do: This app was designed to be an Olympics guide that fit into the palm of your hand. It provided a real time schedule of events that was searchable and sortable by venue, date, event type, etc. It used the phone’s geo-position capability to help users find their way to venues, etc. Finally, there was a live Medal scoreboard and news stream that helped you stay on top of the latest news.

> Why is it a source of inspiration: I thought the user interface was innovative and well done on this application. While I was writing this post, I learned that if you shake the phone while the app is on – it will show you different videos. Cool. (Don’t ask me why I was shaking my iphone!)

Meet Different 2010

> Which Event: Meeting Professionals Internationl’s North American Education Conference (called Meet Different)

> What does it do: This app provided a real time schedule, links to social tools, speaker profiles, etc. Some of the same stuff as above.

> Why is it a source of inspiration: I liked how this application bridged the social applications (Twitter, Pathable community, etc.) into the application.

March Madness on Demand

> Which Event: 2010 NCAA College Basketball Tournament

> What does it do: This app provided a status update on all games, streamed the radio broadcasts and live video broadcasts from the games. Also, it linked personalized content just for me on the NCAA hoops website. Finally, the application sent me notifications that told me when games were close OR when a potential upset was about to happen.

> Why is it a source of inspiration: The live video and alerts (also called push notifications) were awesome here! You could select different types of alerts that you wanted to receive. Then the application would send you these little “heads up messages.” I think this could be a useful way to send attendees special update messages like “You better get to the lobby! The bus is leaving in 10 minutes.”

MTO Summit Chicago

> Which Event: Meeting TechOnline Summit Chicago

> What does it do: This app provided a schedule for the event, personalized schedule, link to speaker profiles, exhibitor information, session feedback forms, twitter stream and the exhibitor guide.

> Why is it a source of inspiration: The personalized schedule was very useful. I could select different sessions from the event and include them in my schedule. It was very easy to do and I could see how it would simplify life at larger, more complex events. Also, this application had surveys and feedback forms embedded in the schedule. Having paperless feedback forms rather than paper made it easy to complete the forms and submit them – like 1-2-3.

Digital Now

> Which Event: Digital Now Conference

> What does it do: This app provided an agenda, speaker profiles, video case studies, partner information, linkedin and twitter integration, ability to send feedback to organizer and the ability to record audio notes.

> Why is it a source of inspiration: I really enjoyed the video case studies. It seemed that the videos were embedded in the application when I downloaded it. I didn’t have to connect to some other place etc. This was a great thing. Also, the links to the social sites (twitter and linkedin) allowed me to engage right away from the application.

Bottom Line

Hopefully this post gives you a good idea of some of the creative things that other events are doing with their smart phone apps. I am sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg. I imagine that there are many more interesting ideas out there as well.

What other “event focused apps” would you recommend event organizers consider for inspiration? What other features would you like to see in these apps?

(PS – For those of you that would like to debate the validity of smart phone apps vs handheld devices for events — hold your horses — that will be another post. Save your ammunition and check back in a few days.)

The post Inspiration for Your Shiny New Event App appeared first on Interactive Meeting Technology.

This new mobile platform is a mashup of Ning, Eventbrite, Twitter and Foursquare for small groups. Plus, it has a self-service setup AND they are making it free for groups with less than 250 people.

Said another way: Zerista can do schedules, messaging, backchannel, take payments, support checkin, send invites, maps and browse member lists and probably other stuff, too.

Watch the video from the DEMO Conference last week to get an overview:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.931373&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Here is What I Like About Zerista:

When I think about what Zerista brings to small events, I see much more than a mobile social network. I see a mobile communication system for small groups. To me, most event social network’s seem to be fancy delegate lists. (Someone take me to task on that statement, please.) Zerista has created a mobile communication platform that gives attendees several different types of communication tools. Here are a couple of things that I think are worth your attention:

> No-Web-Enabled Phone Left Behind: Unlike iphone applications that only work on one mobile phone – the Zerista system will work on any web-enabled phone. While that limits some functionality in the short run (like uploading mobile pictures), it does ensure that everyone can participate and use the solution.

> Backchannel Capability: I like that the backchannel can be private or sent out on Twitter. In some cases, you will want to share things with everyone. But, you might only want to post GOOOOOAAAALLL! to the other parents. The only other company that I have seen with a similar backchannel capability is EventVue.

> Checkin Capability: When I went to Event Camp in February, most attendees tweeted that they had arrived at the hotel. If we would have had the Zerista platform, we could have “checked-in” and told other community members that we had arrived. Hitting a checkin button is easy. I think we are going to see more applications for “checkin” capability at events, because it could be used to tell people that you have arrived on-site, arrived at the plenary session, arrived at lunch or at a satellite event.

> Payment Processing: This might be the killer feature. How great would it be for a small event to collect payments for “add-on” items that are purchased onsite during the event? Or what if attendees asked the organizer to throw together a last minute dinner for 40 people. You could sell tickets to that dinner and collect payments online. It would be so easy to collect money and distribute tickets online.

> Freemium Pricing: The pricing model is free for small groups, but you can purchase add-on services to make your event community a little bit better than the basic format. I like this model because it allows event organizers to try out the basic version, see what works and then upgrade or customize as required.

A Word of Caution

> This product has not launched, yet: Until I get to play with the system, I am making assumptions about how it will work based on my previous experiences with similar tech tools. (Like I did with the iPad)

> Clash of the Non-Joiners: I can see the baby-boomers cringing at the thought of joining a bunch of micro-communities. My response to them is that these “disposable communities” are temporary communication platforms that should make it easier for them to be a part of an event. Also, I imagine that Zerista will use Facebook Connect or Twitter Login to reduce the number of logins/passwords.

Bottom Line

When it comes down to it – the Zerista mobile community is more of a communication platform than a private social network. It allows you to form “disposable communities” and help them communicate, collaborate and share – while they are on the go.

What do you think? Will this Zerista mobile platform be a game changer for small events?  What additional strengths or shortcomings do you see with this idea?

Note: I don’t accept any money, gifts or commissions for writing product reviews.

The post Game Changer For Small Events: Zerista’s Mobile Community Platform appeared first on Interactive Meeting Technology.