At one time, you had to be a pretty sophisticated user (aka geek) to have a lot of cool applications at your fingertips any time any where. Today, that technology is easy to use for just about everyone. For tradeshows, tapping into mobile phone technology can lead to chance encounters with colleagues, give you a better understanding of the people around you, and help you navigate new places.
Different industries will have embraced this kind of technology more than others, but don’t undersell your colleagues. They may be more sophisticated than you think.
Here are five applications that run on an array of different phones:
Who’s there? This iPhone app lets you see who’s in your proximity. Tradeshows are really about personal interaction that are sometimes random. It’s a big part of the reason people still attend in an age of electronic connectivity.
If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it’s basically a mini-blog that anyone can have. You’re limited in the amount of text you can write, but this leads to some pretty concise information. Twinkle is an application that allows you to see the mini-blogs of people in your geographic vicinity. Since tradeshows tend to concentrate people in a limited geographic space, it’s a great chance to see what people in your industry are doing during and after the tradeshow.
Well, if you’re going to use Twinkle, you may as well have your own miniblog at the show. Let people know what you’re seeing, where you’re going, who you’re seeing. This feed can go right on your website and serve as easy, live content from the show.
This app displays information about local points of interest directly from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. If you’re in a strange city and don’t know anything about it (or in your own city, for that matter) it’s good to know a thing or two about the area.
This program updates lots of other programs as to your location. You can specify if you want it to tell people precisely where you are or give just the neighborhood or city. For many people who travel, this is a great way of staying in touch with the office or even with clients. During busy tradeshow seasons, like the fall, it’s possible to lose track of even where you are. This will help
