It’s hard to believe that NERGC is less than a week away! This year there is a conference app. It’s AttendeeHub and all attendees received an email yesterday with a link to download the app to an iOS or Android device. There is also a mobile web version for those without an iOS or Android device. I love a good app, so I was excited to download it to my phone. Here’s a look at the main screen.
The activity feed is a place for people to post things like they would on other forms of social media. Schedule shows the full conference schedule (excluding workshops and meals). Each lecture you have chosen will have a check mark next to it. Have you changed your mind since choosing your lectures when you registered? I change mine at least 2 or 3 times during every conference… You can uncheck the circle and choose another option.
Speakers has a list of all the scheduled speakers and you can click on each for a brief bio and a listing of their scheduled presentations. Sponsors is a place you can learn more about each sponsor of the conference. If you tap the name of the sponsor, the app will take you to a map of the exhibit hall and you can see their exact location so you can go visit them and have a chat with their representatives.
As you may have guessed, Exhibitors takes you to lists of the exhibitors. Like the Sponsors option, tapping each exhibitor’s name will take you to the map and show you their location in the exhibit hall.
One of my favorite features of the app is Maps. There are maps of the exhibit hall, the hotel, and also a map of the city of Manchester! I’m expecting this feature to be invaluable. In years past, I’ve wandered around lost, looking for the location of a particular presentation. Having a schedule that lists a presentation as being held in Ballroom B isn’t particularly helpful if you’ve never been to the venue and have no idea of what rooms are located where. With the hotel map, if I’m scheduled to be in the Piscataquag Room, I can easily locate it! The city map will come in handy for when we venture out into Manchester. Although most people have map apps on their phones, it’ll be handy to have it right in the conference app.
Another favorite feature is Attendees. This is a searchable, alphabetical list of all attendees. You can search using either first or last name. Once you locate the person you are looking for, you can message them, send them a meeting invite, make a note, or add them as a contact so you can share your contact details with each other. Not everyone has activated their profile, so the app warns that if a person is not active that messages may be delayed. I think this feature will be quite useful for contacting other attendees during the conference. You can choose how much information to share with others and can even add a profile picture if you want.
The rest of the features are pretty self explanatory. I’m already super excited about this year’s conference, and I can tell that this app is really going to enhance the experience.
So, if you’re attending, download the app! If you haven’t registered for the conference, there is still time. I’m registered for most of the luncheons and banquets, but as there’s no banquet Thursday night, I’ve decided to try one of the area restaurants and get a taste of the host city. Using the conference app, I sent a message to one of my genie friends and invited her to come along. If you’ve got any recommendations for us or want to join us, use the app and send me a message! See you in Manchester! 🙂
Gnarls and Knots 