Introducing a new Omnience/IBM solution for private social networking at events

Events excel by combining learning with networking. That’s why event sponsors look for ways to encourage attendee engagement - with the event sponsor’s team and with other attendees.

Event managers tell us they have lacked collaboration technology to encourage private social networking before, during and after major conferences and events. Typically, their existing networking tools do not integrate well with event management software and can only link to personal networking sites.

True, you’ll find plenty of mobile apps for event attendees on the market, and many claim to have great social networking capabilities. But most apps suffer from two pitfalls:

1. The apps are designed just for attendees. Guess who’s left out? The event team—especially event planners, event managers, product managers, and speakers.
2. The apps’ social networking is tied to behemoth “personal” networks, such as Facebook, that cater to mass audiences. Few attendees, though, will really want to expose their friends and family members to business buzz from the meeting venue.

So much for setting up the problem.  Now, as reported by Meetings & Conventions, there’s a solution!

Omnience is a long-time supplier of technology and event services for IBM, which annually hosts dozens of huge events.  IBM asked Omnience to help market IBM Event Connect, its cutting-edge, cloud-based mobile app for increasing attendee engagement at key meetings.  IBM tailors IBM Event Connect for a specific event, enabling the event sponsor to maximize opportunities for social networking experiences before, during and after the event.

Why IBM developed IBM Event Connect

You might be interested in how IBM Event Connect was born.  For one of its largest marketing events of 2014, IBM created a special mobile app to facilitate private networking by attendees, speakers and IBM participants.  The app itself was based on a customized version of IBM Connections, a sophisticated platform for empowering collaboration among individuals with a common interest. The app was a huge hit—and to IBM’s surprise, many attendees asked how they could get a similar app tailored for their organizations’ events. IBM responded quickly to this need—and approached Omnience to help bring it to market.

Three things to know about the Omnience-IBM relationship

1. IBM has long relied on Omnience for development of many event management tools and assistance with real-time check-in/registration, reporting, feedback analytics, attendee scoring, event planning and management services, and onsite event staffing.
2. Omnience’s technology leadership in this market segment gives IBM an avenue for delivering IBM Event Connect capabilities on a stand-alone basis or integrated with Omnience’s Ontrac event management software, which has modules for planning, registration, attendee scoring, event analytics, and more.
3. IBM experts can tailor IBM Event Connect to a client’s specific event in about one week.

Do you have a big event coming up where you want to maximize attendee engagement?  If so, check out the key features of IBM Event Connect here, and then let’s connect with IBM to learn more about your event’s requirements.

Casey Cote

Casey Cote is the Chief Executive Officer for Omnience. Joining the company in 1995, Casey established its strategic direction as the industry leader in marketing event management and a technology innovator. He launched initiatives that made the company a pioneer in applying technology to the challenges of managing a large portfolio of events. Casey is also actively involved in managing customer relationships, seeking out partners and acquisitions, and directing the company’s expansion into new markets. Previously, Casey managed forecasting and budgets at Sprint.

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