Conferences and other large-scale events are among the best opportunities for engaging your association’s members throughout the year. However, your events will only reach their full engagement potential if you 1) use the right technology to support your processes and 2) cater to your audience’s preferences.
Mobile event apps check both of these boxes for your association. The global event app market is projected to grow to $54.9 billion by 2035 as more organizations realize these platforms’ value in planning, executing, and communicating about their events. Plus, the report linked above also explains that more than 90% of event attendees prefer using mobile apps for event-related activities like scheduling and networking over websites or printed materials.
In this guide, we’ll help your association get started with a mobile event app by covering the following topics:
As you explore these questions and options for event apps, keep in mind that events aren’t the only situations in which a mobile app could be useful for your association. In fact, some apps can boost membership value and involvement all year long. That being said, let’s dive in!
A mobile event app is a digital, member-facing event command center that attendees access from their smartphones or tablets. It centralizes all important documentation, communications, and activities related to a specific conference or similar gathering in one place for easy reference and engagement.
There are essentially two types of event apps: mobile platforms that are designed specifically for boosting event involvement, and year-round membership apps that have event functionalities built in alongside other ongoing engagement capabilities. Which one your association chooses depends on member preferences, your ability to manage an app-based community, and your emphasis on events for engagement (i.e., how much member involvement is event-based compared to other activities like online courses or job searching?).
No matter which kind of event app your association chooses to use, there are many benefits to leveraging these platforms, including that they streamline:
Mobile apps are also useful for all event formats—in-person, virtual, and hybrid—although you’ll likely tweak how you use the app in each context (e.g., whether you include room numbers, links to online meeting spaces, or both alongside each session on your agenda).
The exact features your association needs in its mobile event app will depend on your unique needs, preferred event format, and whether you’d like a conference-specific or a year-round platform. However, some capabilities you should always consider in potential platforms include:
Remember to also check that each solution you’re considering is user-friendly for members and administrators, offers comprehensive customer support, integrates with other tools in your tech stack like your association management system (AMS) and marketing platforms, and falls within your desired price range. Browse each potential vendor’s website, read on-site and off-site client reviews, and schedule demos of your top picks to make an informed decision.
Now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s look more closely at the top mobile event apps on the market today that work well for associations and similar membership-based organizations. Feel free to browse the entire list or use the table below to jump to specific solutions.
| Clowder | iMIS | OpenWater | Whova |
| Cvent | vFairs | Mosaic Apps | MobileUp |
| Hivebrite | eShow | PheedLoop | Webex by Cisco |
Clowder is the #1 mobile engagement solution for professional communities, trusted by more than 150 associations worldwide. With Clowder, your organization can build a custom app for iOS and Android that not only enhances unlimited event experiences but also keeps members connected in a private social network-style environment all year long.
Some of Clowder’s key event features include:
Associations that use Clowder see an average return of four times their investment in the platform, along with significant upfront cost and time savings. If you want to see how that’s possible in practice, check out the many available case studies that show how Clowder has worked for associations like yours, both during events and year-round!
If you’re in the market for a new AMS while planning a large-scale event, iMIS is a top option to consider. iMIS is purpose-built for member engagement—in fact, it’s technically classified as an engagement management system—and its mobile-friendly interface makes it perfect for busy event planning teams. Here are just a few of iMIS’s event-specific features (on top of its general robust member database and breadth of integrations):
Abstract management is one of the most notoriously difficult aspects of conference planning because it has many moving parts, not to mention that choosing the right speakers can make or break your attendees’ experience. If you want to present awards during your conference to members who have gone above and beyond, that also requires significant administrative work. Enter OpenWater, a mobile-responsive application and review platform that streamlines abstract and awards management with features like:
With more than 15 million global app users, Whova has supported large-scale events of almost every type, from corporate and academic conferences to trade shows and art festivals. This platform focuses on providing the best possible attendee experience while saving upfront time and money. Its most distinctive features include:
Cvent is a big name in the event management software industry, and the larger your organization’s event planning operation is, the more likely this heavy-duty platform will be the right fit for you. Cvent has managed more than seven million events in the past 25 years, many of which were for organizations with a multi-national presence, many local chapters under one umbrella, or multiple major conferences on their annual calendars. The features that make it possible for Cvent to handle these needs include:
vFairs got its start with hosting immersive 3-D virtual trade shows, but it has since grown into a full-service platform that supports all aspects of virtual events, as well as many in-person event needs. Among the many features its 1,400-plus customers enjoy, these mobile app capabilities stand out:
The Mosaic Apps platform essentially has two parts: a robust event engagement app and a year-round online community. Users can access both functionalities from either desktop or mobile, meaning they can take advantage of these distinctive features on their preferred device:
MobileUp also provides mobile member engagement capabilities for events and year-round benefits. However, this platform has a separate Event App and Member App that organizations control from a central web-based interface, meaning your association can choose to leverage one or both functions at any given time. Other distinguishing features of the MobileUp Event App include:
Hivebrite focuses heavily on preserving the community aspect of association engagement during events and beyond. This platform aims to unify associations and nurture relationships among members with features like:
eShow is primarily designed for managing in-person and hybrid trade shows. It’s a modular platform that allows you to focus on the functionalities you need the most—managing conference sessions, exhibitors, registration, and/or mobile app engagement. To that final point, some standout features of the eShow mobile app include:
PheedLoop is all about continuous innovation, agile design, and modern user experiences. Its all-in-one event and community management platform includes various desktop and mobile-based components that you can leverage separately or together. For mobile event management, some of PheedLoop’s distinctive features include:
Originally an online meeting app, Webex by Cisco is now the gold standard for information security in livestreamed event management. In addition to ensuring your virtual and hybrid events align with your organization’s security standards (and branding!), Webex’s event app features include:
The features, benefits, and platforms described in this guide should provide a solid foundation for your association to choose a mobile app to support its next large-scale event. Just remember that events aren’t the only time when mobile-first member engagement can benefit your association, and a year-round community app (like Clowder!) may be a better long-term investment for keeping your members satisfied and involved with everything you have to offer.
For more information on association apps and event planning, check out these resources: