Non Dues-a-Palooza Hitchin’ Post Meeting App
Non Dues-a-Palooza Hitchin' Post Meeting App
Conventional wisdom says you don’t need a meeting app when your meeting is small (100-200 people) and the schedule is relatively simple (no breakouts, everyone in the same room). But does conventional wisdom really hold true? Teri Carden, CEO & Founder of 100Reviews, decided to find out by using BeSpeake as the meeting app for the signature Non Dues-A-Palooza event, which was held in Nashville in September 2022.
CLIENT
100Reviews
EVENT TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
BeSpeake
SERVICES
Meeting App Design
User Experience
Development
The Goal
Non Dues-A-Palooza (NDaP) is a conference devoted to, as the same suggests, to helping associations generate non-dues revenue. Held for the first time in 2021 in Nashville, this event brings together association executives, consultants, and industry partners. What makes NDaP different from your standard association conference is that there’s a tradeshow, there are no colored badges indicating your role (association or vendor), and all of the sessions are case studies about successful non-dues revenue initiatives.
The 2021 meeting was a big success. Yet, in true Teri Carden fashion, she wanted to create something different in 2022. She wants NDaP to be different each year to keep the energy alive and entice attendees to keep coming back year after year.
The Solution
So in 2022, NDaP was held in a non-traditional location: City Winery in Nashville. The program was revamped and Teri brought in a speaker coach to work with each of the speakers. Teri also invited her sponsors to submit short reel videos that could be played during the breaks. Finally, the closing session featured an original song that was essentially a madlibs exercise that summarized the sessions of the day.
Another change was the new Hitchin’ Post, powered by BeSpeake, which served as the meeting app. The Hitchin’ Post featured the schedule, an attendee search, and a message center. It also featured several welcome videos by Teri, welcoming attendees, and giving them guidance on how to make the most of NDaP.
Finally, Teri created something called Question of the Moment, which was also powered by BeSpeake in the Hitchin’ Post. Sponsors got to submit questions they wanted to ask the attendees, e.g., Are you thinking of starting a podcast in 2023? Throughout the day, Teri, as emcee of the meeting, would say, “the question of the moment is…” which would encourage attendees to go to the Hitchin’ Post and respond to the question.
The Result
By all metrics, the 2022 Non Dues-A-Palooza was a smashing success. Evaluations were off the charts, attendance was strong, sponsors were happy, and use of the Hitchin’ Post was high. Here are a few statistics:
- During the conference, 81% of registered attendees logged in to the Hitchin’ Post.
- 67% of registered attendees logged into the Hitchin’ Post ahead of the event; the Hitchin’ Post opened early so attendees could review the schedule and send messages to each other.
- A total of 115 messages were sent.
“A remarkably clever app for a remarkably clever community deserves a clever name like The Hitchin Post, don’t you think? We really had a lot of fun with it -- several of us even added childhood photos of ourselves as our profiles. Knowing that so many attendees used the message center and snooped around at the schedule and sponsors pages made it the well-rounded guide the attendees needed. The real magic came in seeing real-time answers unfold to the Questions of the Moment. Adding The Hitchin Post to our event not only made us look like a full production event but the setup and management was seamless and required very little time from our team. It’s a no-brainer for next year!”
— Teri Carden, CEO & Founder, 100Reviews
