We're really excited to announce the release of Zerista's Mobile Social Networking Appication for Events at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. What's more, not only are we releasing the application at MWC, but MWC is also using the application as the mobile version of myMWC, the event social networking portal.
The mobile application enables event managers to protect and extend their core event business by transforming attendees and sponsors into interactive mobile communities. Zerista’s mobile application provides clear benefits to the entire event ecosystem – attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and event organizers.
We’ve designed our application to be unique in its ease-of-use, the intelligence of its content-sharing and collaboration features, and the aggregation of public media in one integrated feed.
Zerista’s application provides an event feed that uniquely captures and communicates the buzz off what’s happening at the event -- in real-time. The immediate value of Zerista’s mobile application can be recognized in real-time on the show floor as attendees can read and post updates that can be shared with the event community and immediately to the broader social net.
Zerista’s event networking platform integrates web-based and mobile content, providing value through multiple touchpoints with attendees, from their desktops to their mobile handsets.
FEATURE SUMMARY
Zerista’s mobile application provides access to the My MWC portal and its features, including:
• Smart real-time mobile feed that combines filtered public social media channel with private event follower channel, with dual-publishing options
• Personalized feed that provides real-time event updates and check ins from personal contacts at the event
• Event organizer feed to provide real-time updates on schedule changes and other event-wide announcements
• Personalized messaging and networking tools
• Advanced attendee and exhibitor search
• Personalized schedule builder with public events and personal meetings
• Integration with and aggregation of popular social tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube
Many conference managers are interested in adding a virtual event to their current conference. Zerista has worked with many conference organizers to make this vision a reality. We provide an easy process that enables conferences efficiently and cost-effectively to extend their events.
The process involves three key steps:
1. Capture and digitize your conference content. Working with the conference AV company, it is relatively easy to record and digitize some or parts of your conference.
2. Publish the content (audio, video, slides ... or a combination thereof) to your servers/hosting provider. This can be a live streaming feed (if you want to provide live access) or an archived upload time-delayed during or right after your show.
3. Embed the content address within the Zerista framework. Zerista manages the virtual attendee registration, access control, and provides for a two-way communication channel. In addition, virtual attendees have access to network/chat with exhibitors, attendees, and speakers.
Example Embedded Video Feed:
Example Embedded Presentation with Synchronized Audio Feed:
"Networking is core to Enterprise 2.0, and Zerista’s solution enables our entire ecosystem – attendees, subject matter experts, exhibiting companies, and sponsors – to interact before, during and after the event.We’ve seen hundreds of members of the ecosystem using the site.What’s more, the initial feedback has been really positive. Zerista provides our core stakeholders a great way to enhance their experience at the inaugural Enterprise 2.0 Conference San Francisco."
- Alex Dunne, Executive Producer, Live Events Group, TechWeb
Many events we work with are interested in protecting -- and equally important, extending -- their core franchise. Our platform enables them to do this by providing a next generation platform that integrates and aggregates the most relevant attendee, subject matter expert, exhibitor and sponsor in one easy-to-access place. The conference networking represents a highly interactive node within the broader social network. This enables key event stakeholders to get more value from the event, leading to increased event satisfaction, attendance, and loyalty.
Conference Social Networking Site Homepage:
Exhibiting Company Profile with Embedded Slide Presentation:
Exhibiting Company Profile with Real-Time Twitter Aggregation
Given the significant enviornmental impact of in-person events, many of the clients we work with are actively looking for ways to make their events more sustainable. One of the underappreciated aspects of a next generation event software platform like Zerista is that the software helps make events greener.
The Zerista platform enables a number of enviornmental benefits. First of all, our software reduces event-related printing. Attendees can request, download, and share session content and exhibitor collateral online. As a result, exhibitors can significantly reduce the amount of printed material that they need to have on-hand. Moreover, by providing access to presentations and handouts in one easy-to-access online repository, events can reduce the number of presentations and handouts that need to be provided on-site. An added benefit to attendees is that they have less information to haul around in totebags.
In addition, we've recently taken the step to move Zerista's servers to a completely green data center. Our data center partner is 100% wind energy powered. As a result, our clients can rest assured that the enviornmental benefits of reduced printing are not being offset elsewhere. Our clients benefit from a greener, more sustainble event.
"The finished product looks fantastic, and the best part is people are already using it. We're really excited and hope that this rubs off on the membership and makes the event that much better." -Conference & Trade Show Organizer
We recently completed a successful project for a leading financial services conference and trade show. Given the turmoil in the financial services industry and resulting cutbacks in event attendance at financial services events, this client was focused on differentiating their event vs. competing events. Since attendees and exhibitors are reducing the number of events they attend, this client wanted to make sure that their event stands out and, as a result, remains the preferred event within their industry niche for attendees and exhibitors.
The client perceived the use of social networking as a key point for differentiation. This client took a multi-platform strategy that includes both general purpose social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) and event-specific social networks (Zerista). They decided to use Zerista to meet a significant functionality gap within the general purpose platforms: in-depth event-specific social networking and scheduling functionality.
Key functionality provided by Zerista included the capabilities to:
Search a complete attendee directory
Schedule 1:1 meetings with other attendees
See who else is attending specific sessions, keynotes, and workshops
Build and export a personalized schedule and itinerary
The solution had a significant impact on the conference experience:
More than 3,000 messages, contacts, and meetings were created within the solution
More than 475 attendees created event-specific profiles to share with other attendees
