Evenium ConnexMe: Engage Your Corporate Event Attendees [Review]

Evenium ConnexMe is an interactive tool to stimulate engagement during presentations. Here is the review.

Evenium is a pioneer of event technology. Their offering is one of the most complete for the industry, from online to onsite registration, from event mobile apps to event websites. What I am reviewing today is their latest introduction, Evenium ConnexMe.

ConnexMe is Evenium’s engagement module. It falls within the realm of the live interaction tools. Nothing new there as live interaction has been around for a while and tools that offer polls and Q&As are becoming a commodity.

The twist is the focus on speakers. Evenium ConnexMe offers a suite of tools to empower speakers. The platform embodies one of the most powerful trends of 2015, Super Speakers. Wise event professionals are investing in those tools that help speakers to deliver better experiences.

Our two latest researches point out how engagement is the number one objective of most technology investments, whether they are social media or mobile app driven. Evenium has seized the day and with the right focus. Let’s have a look at what the tool does and if it is a good fit for your event.

Evenium ConnexMe: What Is it?

Evenium ConnexMe turns the room’s main screen into a collaborative board that displays the contributions of the attendees and the results of live polls, all merged with the presentation.

It does not require any special hardware, as participants use their smartphones, tablets or laptops, while the presenters use their laptops as usual. This makes it very easy to setup and deploy, even for simultaneous break out sessions.

Evenium offers three main categories of features:

. The engagement features of Evenium ConnexMe include the basic tools you need to stimulate audience interaction such as as live polls, Q&A and Slidesharing. The latter being one of the strongest feature of the whole offering.

2. Networking. Evenium also means event app. Some of the strongest features you would expect in networking apps are present in Evenium. Attendees social media profiles sync, one to one appointment scheduling, direct messaging, connection scraping according to a synced social graph.

3. Hybrid. The platform offers a set of tools that event professionals can use if they want to engage external audiences. Slidesharing can be opened to online audiences and attendees can easily share slides on social media.

Review

Live interaction tools are flooding the event technology market. Interaction is also becoming part of the package several event mobile apps are offering. Evenium ConnexMe has entered this crowded market with an interesting offer.

It is interesting because while it may lose the battle on the user experience side with some of its competitors, it is definitely focused on the right audience and goes to the core of the issues you will face when using technology to stimulate session engagement.

The focus of the app is helping the speaker to make the experience better for attendees, instead of empowering attendees to make the task of the speaker a nightmare. This is in fact where most live interaction apps fail. They offer great tools for attendees, but managing them is almost impossible for the speaker.

Speaking in public is not easy. When performing at events speakers are under a great deal of pressure. Adding event tech management on this heavy burden is simply asking too much. Evenium’s approach is refreshing. The slidesharing component which is usually the trickiest one is my favourite bit. Everything is managed from the presenter’s computer, no need to have the slides pre-loaded or someone else skipping them. The slidesharing component works with Macs, which is an increasingly popular option for speakers, and it also works with PCs too.

Evenium’s focus are corporate meetings and the interface reflects that audience very accurately. The user experience is not particularly shiny but very solid and it delivers on its promise.

The networking features are very complete and could be a standalone product. They blend with the interactive component very well. Whenever looking at networking tools for events I look out for two aspects, use of the existing social networking profiles and one to one interaction features. The offer is once again very solid here. I could quickly see who in my networks is attending the event and schedule one to one appointments with them, especially relevant in a corporate context.

One of the issues you will experience with these types of apps is the strong dependence on robust Wifi. Not having a reliable wireless connection will make the app unusable. Making sure that you check with your venue the wifi capacity is a requirement if planning to use Evenium ConnexMe.

Some of the wow features included SMS alert when a guest you want to meet with checks into the event and the Google Glass app that allows you to moderate questions from the app. It all may sounds very futuristic but actually just smart use of simple technology.

The trend in event mobile apps is towards of convergence of multiple tools in one solution. This is the case with Evenium.

Features

Here are the most significant features Evenium ConnexMe has to offer:

Engagement

– ​Live Polls​
– Live Questions & Opinion Buttons​
– Show Attendees Contribution on Leaderboard
– ​Live Slide Sharing with Annotations​

Networking

– SMS or Notification When a Guest you Want to Meet Checks In
– Attendee List
– Social Networking Profile Syncing and Scraping
– Private Messages
– One to One Meeting Scheduling

Agenda

– ​Personalized Agenda​: fully updatable and searchable agenda, with tracks, session descriptions, and individual registrations to sessions
– ​Interactive Map​
– Push Notifications

Hybrid, Sharing, General

– ​Live Streaming of Slides & Audio
– ​Social Sharing​: if permitted, attendees can share the meeting content on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or through email.
– Analytics​
– Multilanguage
– Web and native app

Who Is It For?

The app is best used within a corporate planning environment. If you plan meetings or events with leaders in their field and need a shake up to traditional, boring presentations, Evenium ConnexMe is the perfect choice. It delivers no frills technology you can rely on with an easy to understand interface.

Most corporate audiences will be immediately comfortable with the user experience and the set up is extremely simple.

The tool is extremely flexible and its per event pricing make it very useful for plenary or breakout sessions alike.

This is no tool for amateurs or beginners. It has a clear market and a focused offering.

Pros and Cons

Pros

– One of the best slidesharing tools out there.

– Easy to use and set up.

– Offer all the tools you expect from an event mobile app + advanced engagement options.

Cons

– You need Wifi to make it work

– User experience could be fresher, but it delivers on its audience requirement.

– Does not suit trade shows, more geared to corporate meetings

Prices and Plans

I am enthusiastic about Evenium ConnexMe’s per event pricing. Each event lives with its own budget therefore it becomes easy to see if you have the capacity to run the tool.

The price per event with less than 200 participants is $499. $2000 for meetings with 200+ attendees.

If you wish to purchase the tool on an annual basis you can still do that for $9000.

You may contact Evenium directly and quote this review to learn about their offering.

In Conclusion

It is no coincidence Evenium has been providing event technology since 2000. Their ConnexMe product is solid and delivers on its promise. It has been engineered with the user in mind, whether the speaker or the attendee.

While its reliance on wifi and user experience may be a barrier to some type of events, corporate meetings can only benefit from using such a great engagement tool.

It’s time to change the way we deliver presentation and Evenium is a strong ally in engaging your audiences on new exciting levels.

Disclosure: Startup Reviews are paid for placements. While Event Manager Blog receives a fee to extensively look at the tool and review it in detail, the content of the review is independent and by no means influenced by the startup. If you have any question please use the contact us section.