Planners Conflicted Over Mobile Technology as Tool or Distraction
Photo Credit: Attendees at TED2018 The Age of Amazement in Brooklyn, N.Y. Planners are figuring out novel ways to use apps without distraction from the actual event they're putting on. Flickr / Dian Lofton / TED
Skift Take
The growth of mobile meeting apps presents planners with a dilemma filled with irony. Are the apps — aimed at facilitating and enhancing the meeting experience — actually diminishing the kind of face-to-face interactions that are the very purpose of on-site events?
It’s now the most familiar of sights: Heads down—staring at their devices—just about everyone is talking, texting, emailing, or posting online countless times a day.
It’s no different at meetings and conferences. At events, personal devices combine with ubiquitous meeting apps to siphon off attendee engagement and impact their face-to-face interactions.
Or do they? The answer from meeting planners and tech providers is a definite...maybe.
Some view meeting apps and personal devices as distractions that defeat the very purpose of on-site meetings. Others say that they can be a force for promoting engagement and networking.
Jared Bodnar, vice president of marketing for Attendify, thinks mobile event apps can actually increase face-to-face interactions if promoted and used correctly.
“The reason is simple; people are accustomed to using the
