On Tuesday night, the second New York PlannerTech drew a crowd to the Heartland Brewery inside the Empire State Building. In-house meeting and event planners packed the room for the Internet Week-related technology showcase—hosted by Liz King Events and venue booking site Imbookin—to learn about the latest services and tools, from registration to networking apps. Here's a look at some products discussed:
1. Kojami
Based on his own experience as an event attendee, Randall Olade created Kojami, a free mobile app that allows smartphone users to find and share information about any event. The marketing tool is designed to tackle the repetitiveness of posting events on social media, while also looking to give guests the ability to purchase tickets and R.S.V.P. directly through the app. There's also a post-event report feature, which breaks down analytics—from attendance to survey results. It can also be used to check in guests at the door and devise table placements.
2. Qrious
Aside from attendance numbers, ensuring guest, exhibitor, and sponsor satisfaction can be just as important to the success of an event. Web-based mobile app Qrious is a free social discovery platform that helps guests connect with people that are important to them at business functions and conferences. "We present matches using a 100-point professional compatibility index that we call the Qrious score, in rank order so that [guests] can prioritize their time and efforts while they're at an event," said co-founder John Federico.
3. OneLobby
OneLobby is another service that allows attendees, organizers, and exhibitors to socialize before, during, and long after an event is over. "This is the pain that we're trying to solve," said founder Jordan Smith, pointing to a picture showing a crowd of dumbfounded event guests. To build the buzz before an event takes place, planners can link to OneLobby to create an e-community, which enables participants to network, plan business meetings or informal get-togethers, or discuss a particular session.
4. Maestro Market
Maestro Market is an online marketplace that connects users to experts, including speakers. In addition to finding new voices to add value to an event, the tool gives users an opportunity to engage with authors, songwriters, stylists, and others in additional ways, such as one-on-one Skype-based conversations or Twitter chats.
5. P&V's Webcasting Tool
To extend the reach of an event, P&V Enterprises partner Pat Ahaesy presented the company's Webcasting tool, which is available both live and on demand. Planners can use this service to capture and add production value to their event, as well as to live streams.
6. Yapp
If you're lacking technical or design knowledge, but want to create a customized mobile app for your event quickly, there's Yapp. Currently invite-only, Yapp is a WYSIWIG-type editor, which allows users to create apps that can be downloaded, viewed, and interacted with on iPhones.
Other companies that presented at last year's PlannerTech in New York and D.C., including Event Farm and Social Tables, returned this year to show off updates and upgrades for their products.
