The before and after difference in attendee engagement when we stopped using paper programs

I run events for a local nonprofit in Austin, and last year we switched from printed programs to a simple event app for our annual gala. Before the change, maybe 30% of people would even glance at the program during the night. After we put everything on the app, we saw over 70% of attendees using it to check the schedule and speaker bios. The biggest change came from making the app interactive with a live Q&A and polling feature. That shift happened over just one year, and the main cause was that people already had their phones out for photos and social media anyway. Has anyone else seen a similar jump in engagement when you cut paper materials?

3 comments

3 Comments

allen.ivan10d ago

But do you think the app actually improved engagement, or did it just track it better? A paper program you glance at and set down doesn't show up in any data report, but an app logging every click makes it look like people are suddenly paying more attention. I've seen this at our church's annual dinner - we switched to an app and the numbers looked amazing, but folks were really just scrolling past the schedule to get to the polling feature, which was basically a game for them. Plus you lost the older donors who don't use apps, and they were the ones who actually read the paper programs cover to cover. That 70% might be 70% of younger people, while the key supporters who write the big checks felt left out. Sometimes paper is just more respectful and doesn't turn your event into a phone screen staring contest.

amy_foster798d ago

Actually @averywilliams you might be onto something. I used to think apps were just the natural next step, but listening to you both makes me realize we've been measuring the wrong thing this whole time.

averywilliams10d ago

Honestly I think everyone's missing the real issue here which is that paper programs actually worked fine for one specific thing nobody talks about - they forced people to put their phones down for a second. I've been to tech heavy events where by the end of the night nobody actually talked to each other because everyone was buried in the app doing polls and Q&A stuff. With paper you glance at it and then you look up and make eye contact with someone and actually have a conversation. The app might track more clicks but it also tracks more isolation and that kills the whole point of a live event. Plus the older donor thing is real but honestly its not just about age its about attention spans. Some people genuinely want to focus on the people in the room not their phone screen. We traded real human connection for better data and I don't think that was a fair trade.