Event Tech of the Week: @YAPPERapp

by Kelly Hoffman / Friday, 24 October 2014 / Published in Event Tech of the Week

Today, we’re talking about Yapper

Company/Tool Name: Yapper
Website: www.getyapper.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/YAPPERapp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YAPPERapp

What is the “problem” that your tool seeks to solve?

Yapper makes it easy for people to connect at conferences or events. Everyone understands the value of ‘social engagement’ at events, and Yapper is the tool that lets attendees make the most of their time by having topical conversations with the people around them. Our technology gives the event goer a way to find out what’s going on at the event, discuss the event with other attendees, and make meaningful connections with the people they meet.

What is the best audience for this tool? Corporate events? Social? Other? Large? Small?

Yapper is a phenomenal tool for large events where it is difficult to make connections with the right people due to the overwhelming size of the event.

What does your tool help event planners do better?

As an event planner — Have you ever needed to send out a message to everyone in attendance in real-time? Or, have you ever wanted timely, candid feedback from attendees so that you could make minor adjustments in order to prevent any mishaps? Would it be beneficial to be a fly on the wall and hear what people at your event were actually saying about the event so you can make improvements for future events?

Yapper helps event planners organize attendees by sending out relevant alerts and suggestions. Planners can enhance the experience of their attendees by creating and participating in localized conversations that are happening in real-time. Further, event planners can track what people are saying in real-time and receive the transcripts of all the conversations that took place (with demographic information) in order to see what people were talking about at that event. These transcripts are a great resource when discussing improvements for future events.

How is your tool different from/better than the competition?

Other conference networking apps do a great job of organizing attendees by listing a schedule, providing a map, etc., but they fail to engage their attendees through candid, social interactions. Instead of posting opinions using 140 characters and sending those opinions to an expansive ‘social network,’ Yapper allows attendees to participate in conversations that are happening around them. By creating many hyperlocal ‘chat rooms’ around the venue, Yapper encourages conversations that are relevant to the attendee’s actual location. Examples include: listening to a speaker, walking the event floor, or trying to make dinner plans at the hotel. This technology can be incorporated into any preexisting event app (think “Chat – Powered By Yapper”), and the conversations can be exported and analyzed after the event is over.

What is the single coolest feature of your product?

Our development team has spent over a year perfecting and simplifying the technology behind Yapper. We think that the coolest part about Yapper is the connection that you’ll make with real people who are experiencing the same thing as you. People are inherently social, especially at events, and Yapper was built to break the mold and be the tool that you use to create meaningful connections.

Anything else we need to know?

All messages on Yapper disappear from the user’s feed after two hours of inactivity to insure that the conversation remains relevant. Conversations taking place in “Conference Room A” for a morning session will no longer live in “Conference Room A” during an afternoon session.

If you would like to contact us about incorporating Yapper into your current event app, or would like to discuss using Yapper at your next event, please contact Justin at Justin@getyapper.com for pricing and availability.

This weekly series spotlights a new tech tool that is designed to help make planning events much more seamless. Whether it’s using event software to track every detail from start to finish or mobile apps that deliver content to attendees’ fingertips, these technologies allow planners to divert their stress to more critical issues like deciding which napkin color looks best.