Reef, powered by Totem, the audience engagement platform, has published new findings revealing what event attendees expect to be able to use on the event’s app, and how it is actually being used.
Previously, traditional networking at an event involved walking around, seeing badges and organising a way to speak about potential deals. However, networking in the digital era has seen a shift to a more direct approach as Reef reported an average 30 per cent increase of in-event app messaging. But users aren’t stopping at messaging. They also expect to be able to send:
text, voice and video messages
make voice and video calls
share images, documents, reports, PDF’s, location meetings
Matt Ryan, chief transformation officer at Reef
Matt Ryan, chief transformation officer at Reef, commented: “The critical nature of financial services means there is more pressure to get deals signed and transactions completed. That means attendees are demanding more from their event experiences which means more features and capabilities from event apps. They expect to communicate through chats, react to and edit their comments in real-time so they don’t miss the chance to engage and conduct business.”
Breaking the ice
The insights have been generated across three events where Totem’s technology has been deployed, including private capital’s most senior gathering SuperReturn International, SuperInvestor, where meetings become investments and The Network Forum, the pre-eminent resource for the network management, custody and post-trade community.
The findings provide a clear picture of how attendees now expect to be able to send text, voice and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, reports, PDFs, location meetings, and other content through their event app.
The data reported strong increases in app adoption – up from 78 per cent to 91 per cent from 2022 to 2024 at The Network Forum. Increases of eight per cent and seven per cent were also seen for SuperReturn and SuperInvestor, respectively. Usage of features within the app saw an exponential increase in the number of people using the messaging feature.
At SuperReturn International, the number of messages sent via the app increased by 39 per cent in its second year, from nearly 50,000 in 2023 to nearly 70,000 in 2024. While SuperInvestor reported over 12,000 messages sent in its first year.
Completing business
Meetings overall play the most crucial of roles at events and are where the most business is completed.
Reef’s data from The Network Forum, reported an increase of over 14,000 per cent in meetings booked through the app in the first year of enhanced functionality. That number rose a further 15 per cent in 2024.
Similar exponential growth took place at SuperReturn with over a 6,000 per cent rise in the number of meetings booked in 2024 from 2023.
Ryan adds: “By moving beyond just virtual meeting functionality and offering more flexibility to attendees of these events to book them through in-person, virtual and video calls we’re seeing a rising trend of interpersonal WhatsApp-style engagement that we only expect to grow further into 2025.”
Growth of events
These numbers play into the overall growth that the events space has seen in 2024. Center Parcs Conferences & Events is experiencing its best-ever year for corporate bookings at its dedicated events venue in Woburn Forest. The company has already posted £2million more in confirmed revenue for The Venue than for its previous best year in 2019-20.
Red Bull Technology has seen huge growth in its corporate events business as it continues to evolve its offering. Meanwhile, Dubai won a record 349 bids to host international conferences, congresses, meetings, and incentive travel programmes in 2023. Corporate hospitality is on the up globally – with one firm in the financial services sector reported to have spent over £100million in a single 12-month period.
Technology is at the heart of this and is playing a central role in breaking down the digital/physical divide. This analysis provides a clear picture of significant change in how attendees are using apps from previous years: at SuperReturn International in 2022 and 2023 the app was used mainly to login to the event’s various stages and view sessions. Interactive polls were also popular, with 34 interactive polls on offer at SuperReturn International, garnering 1,805 live answers.
Ryan concluded: “The data is clear and the trends are already in motion. It now means that any financial organisation running an event has a new opportunity to leverage data that will allow them to curate groups and offer hosted buyers networking options.
“Their challenge lies in finding the right balance between sellers and buyers, identifying and offering the right information to create small target groups that will benefit from being part of that small curated group and ensuring they continue to offer the features that attendees now come to expect.”
The post Digital Networking Gains Momentum at Finance Events with 30% More Messaging appeared first on The Fintech Times.
