Are you hesitating to create a fully digital agenda because there might be that one attendee who vehemently wants a paper agenda?
Choosing to go fully paperless, even beyond a guest list app, has alleviated a lot of stress when I plan meetings and conferences.At a recent conference the general session was running late by around 15 minutes. As a planner, how many times have you scrambled to figure out how to get back the time or worried about communicating to everyone with a paper agenda how to adjust the time? Speakers stress that they won’t get their full block, and attendees are confused by adjustments when their paper agendas say otherwise.Luckily, I had the ability to change the schedule immediately with my digital agenda. Before anyone realized the timeline was off, I grabbed my computer and updated the app in real time. The event survey (if you don't take advantage of these, start at your next event!) confirmed the success of ditching the paper because no one felt that the schedule got off track, and everything ran smoothly.This was a win-win for the conference both from a technology standpoint as well as the cost-savings spent on an app delivering a digital meeting agenda versus the cost of printing paper agendas.It’s time to go 100 percent paperless and try a digital agenda with an event app. Your attendees will be fine.
Making the switch to a digital agenda
I’ll admit, my first couple of conferences I was that planner who printed a special consolidated version ("just in case"). And after using my first event app with a digital agenda, I was disappointed to see a lousy engagement rate, and almost let the idea go then and there.But then I realized that if I needed to convince executives to approve an app for the first time I also needed to be 100 percent into it myself.I needed to stop printing extra agendas, and stop giving attendees an easy excuse to avoid the digital agenda. Buy-in is crucial for your digital agenda to work well.I had to really believe in and use the advantages of an event app and digital agenda: increasing attendee interactions at the meeting with each other through the social feed, allowing note-taking directly in the session, and digital handouts the attendees could reference in the future.Believing in the switch to digital, and really taking advantage of what an event app could offer in concert with a digital agenda, made the difference for my events. Sometimes it just takes pushing yourself past your comfort zone, and sticking with an idea to make it work.Now fully committed, I communicate in advance through the strategic communication plan that the conference will be paperless. My attendees need to download the app to learn about meeting sessions and know which to attend, to read information about the speakers, and get their copy of the slides (another big win, because everyone wants a copy of the deck).For your next conference or meeting, decide to go all in on digital.Commit to a digital agenda to boost your guests' experience on-site.
BY CHRISTINA DEVORE
Christina DeVore is an event marketing professional based in Salt Lake City with over 13 years of experience. Her experience spans many industries including nonprofit, auto, and corporate event management. She has a master's degree in professional communication and is passionate about studying the latest trends.