The Backstory
With a thriving search business and lovable products like Gmail and Hangouts, Google holds numerous events worldwide aimed at helping online businesses open new horizons and promote their products in foreign markets.
One of these events is Export@Google, which brought together 360 employees in Dublin, Ireland, to learn techniques for boosting international sales. When it came time for Mike Emling, Executive Summit Manager at Google, to plan the event, he wanted everything to be best-in-class. With extensive experience hosting a number of successful events, Emling knew that he wanted an app that would help foster connections among attendees.
The Goal
Emling and his team felt they needed an event app that could serve up every bit of info to attendees. “We wanted the app to be the one-stop shop for our attendees — the one place they could turn for logistics, the agenda, speaker information, and most of all, to connect with other attendees,” said Emling.
Bringing people together for networking was a top priority, especially since attendees came to Dublin from all over Europe.
“Since our events usually include attendees from many verticals across all of Europe, the networking potential is enormous,” said Emling. “We needed a digital way to make that networking happen.”
The hunt began. Emling and his team searched for a solution, reaching out to other teams internally at Google and looking at various event app providers externally. Emling and his team found Attendify, and quickly realized it was the perfect solution.
When Emling began building the app, he realized how much time he saved.
The Solution
Before the event began, Emling and team began promoting the app to attendees. They promoted the app through emails to the attendees leading up to the event, and saw many downloads as a result. When the two-day event arrived, they made several announcements reminding attendees to download the app.
The app helped connect attendees, especially those who had come to the event by themselves, or with just one colleague. “Attendees could see each other’s profiles and connect directly with other attendees at the event, which was a huge plus,” said Emling.
The social content helped the team as well.
Not only was the app downloaded by 100% of the 360 attendees, but the Google team also saw a lot of engagement. The app saw 25,000 sessions over the course of the event.
What's Next
“The app only reinforced our realization that attendees truly want to connect with others and be heard,” said Emling. “If a speaker wasn’t up to snuff, we heard about it. If someone was looking to meet a peer from a particular country or from a certain industry, they put out a call. It was great to see these voices being heard through the app.”
The event got rave reviews, and Emling was able to pass on her success to others.
