Why flocking to digital eventing platforms is a good idea

7 Nov 2017

The MTN App of the Year awards were a success a few weeks ago, but have you ever wondered about the tech-savvy system behind the awards? Mike Lysko, CEO and founder of Flock Eventing Platform explains the connectivity, convenience and entertainment opportunity of the delivery mechanism.

Signage for the Flock eventing platform at the MTN App of the Year Awards.

Getting your head around the logistics of event management is no easy task – and it’s a whole new digital ballgame when the bulk of the event organisation takes place online. Done right, it’s the perfect opportunity to get your attendees to connect with each other and align with the event long before the kick-off time and beyond just those with tickets.

That’s exactly what the Flock Eventing Platform did for the recent MTN Business App of Year Awards, for the fourth year straight.

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By their own definition, the MTN App of the Year Awards are there to: “champion app development by celebrating local home-grown talent, the out-of-the-box thinkers that drive disruption and change, and the genius light bulb ideas that soon become indispensable to everyday life.”

The Flock eventing platform itself served as an example of how this is brought to life, as anyone interested in the awards was able to download and access the app, which meant that the message reached a far larger audience.

The fact that over 48,000 votes were cast in the 'People’s Choice' category of the awards for South Africa’s favourite app is proof of this.

Mike Lysko, CEO and founder of Flock Eventing Platform.

And while Flock was responsible for the success of this voting mechanism, which allowed for far greater participation, their fittingly app-based overall digital solution also included information on the event, judges, sponsors, past winners and attendees through a search facility, activity and highlight feed.

The addition of a QR scanner facilitated access, with maps of the venue and seating as well as of the surrounding areas and access routes and a quick link to Uber adding to the convenience aspect, while an in-app game for the awards also upped overall engagement and entertainment factors.

So the beauty of the solution lay not only in its logistics-support functionality but also in its ability to add value for the competition in different ways.

Here, Lysko shares how the various online aspects of eventing platforms like this tie in with the live or physical aspect of industry events, with the added bonus of post-event analytics and how these help the client…

What exactly is an online eventing platform?

The Flock Eventing Platform was developed in South Africa but is currently in use in 23 countries worldwide. It provides event organisers with an online, easy-to-use interface to build event emails, websites and registrations for mobile devices in just minutes, which seamlessly integrate with event mobile apps. The platform allows for attendee management and tracks analytics.

Sounds like a must. How does this tie in with the live/physical aspect of industry events?

The solution complements the live event as attendees access the event content ahead of time and, with the social buzz created in the app, there is a level of excitement created ahead of time. Once at the event, the attendees’ experience is crucial to the success of the event, from the point of registration to planning personal agendas, getting all the event-related content from presentations to brochures, being able to network with other attendees via the app and take part in live interactive sessions such as live polling and Q and A sessions with speakers.

For the App of the Year Awards, MTN was looking for a mobile solution that streamlined the logisitics of putting together such an event while also providing attendees, participants, sponsors and exhibitors alike with the opportunity to connect with each other and add a fun element to the event. They were able to better communicate and engage with their nominees, sponsors and guests before, during and after the awards evening, thereby facilitating more meaningful – and hopefully more profitable for all – connections and communication, the core of their business.

Being able to make real-time changes was vital, as sessions and some information was changed last minute, meaning participants needed the latest, breaking content.

So the tech really enables a seamless event experience for the attendee and the event organiser. In particular for the latter, being able to update the app in real-time and understanding the analytics and trends post event is priceless.

For sure! Let us in on what user feedback is like after such an event and how those post-event analytics benefit the client.

It’s interesting to see the analytics across various types of events and what features are being used more and which ones aren’t. For example, networking via in-app messaging and swapping contact details is quite popular, along with social media posts about the event and engaging with live polls.

Once the event came to a close, the Flock team’s event breakdown and analytics was useful to client MTN as they could now see how attendees benefitted from the event app, as well as the interaction that took place with each element of the app, along with all social media activity that boosted brand awareness, and the networking amongst attendees and their engagement with the event content.

The MTN team then incorporated those learnings into the app, and used the analytics in planning for future events to show that attendees’ feedback was heard and to provide for a better event experience going forward.

Sounds like a must in today’s customer experience-centric world. Watch the video below and click here for more on Flock, here for more on the MTN App of the Year Awards and be sure to follow the Flock Eventing Platform on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. The MTN App of the Year Awards app can be downloaded here for Android and here for iOS.

Leigh Andrews

About Leigh Andrews

Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.