Here is a brief overview what you can prepare to get your project started:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- General Event App Project Timeline
- For Branded apps : iOS and Google Developer account access
- Event branded images
- Home Screen for App and for Desktop Planner
- App Data (Session information, speakers, exhibitors,...)
- Floor Plans and Maps
- Speaker Photos and Exhibitor Logos
- Rotating Banner Widget (Home screen) and Sponsor Session Ad Banners
- General Event Information
General Event App Project Timeline for EventPilot Pro Projects
We typically kick off projects about 90 days before the event begins. The following is a standard timeline used for most projects.
From the event start date:
Minus 90-95 days (3 months before event start date) - Kickoff
Project kick off - a 30min meeting with your project manager to confirm the timeline, feature set, and integration setups.
Minus 80-85 days (about 11 weeks before event) - Initial Deliverables
Initial deliverables such as imagery and initial data so it's possible to build the proof version.
Minus 75 days (about 10 weeks before event) - Proof testing starts
Proof - you should now be able to see the app, web version, and planner in action. If you have a branded app or multi-event shell app, the timeline depends on your developer account setup. All policies must be approved and our team must have been invited in order to build your proof app to install.
During this time, all integrations will be set up for testing.
Finalize all general information content.
Minus 55 days (about 8 weeks before event) - Proof Approval
If you have a branded or multi-event shell app, final adjustments and proof approval.
If you are using the EventPilot conference app, you can continue using this time to make further edits.
Minus 40 days (6 weeks before event) - Branded App Store submission
If you have a branded or multi-event shell app, this is the time for App Store submission. Apps can be rejected by the stores for a variety of reasons and 2 weeks are typically sufficient to adjust the app as needed).
Minus 30 days (1 month before event) - Launch
App launch to attendees - you announce the app and planner to your attendees and distribute the attendee links.
Plus 30 days (1 month from event start date) - Hosting ends
App hosting ends. As an organizer with access to the Conference App Builder, you can continue viewing your mobile web app by accessing it from the App Builder directly, even though hosting has ended for your attendees.
For Pro projects, you can extend hosting additional months as needed. Contact your project manager to extend. The specific hosting fee depends on the number of agenda records and your locked in pricing of your Statement of Work. Ensure that your authentication setup or any other API integrations remain functional during the hosting period.
For Branded apps : iOS and Google Developer account access
For Branded and multi-event shell apps only: To digitally sign and submit your application to the Apple Store and the Google Play Store, you must invite ATIV to your developer accounts. If you do not yet have these accounts, please start the setup asap as enrollment can take several weeks to be completed.
How to enroll with the Apple Developer Program
How to set up a Google Play account
This is not required for normal EventPilot projects, where your attendees or users download the "EventPilot Conference App" that is already in the store.
Event branded images
For EventPilot Advanced, Premium, and Pro, you can upload branded graphics for some icons and banners and a splash screen.
Here is an article about required app imagery you can send to your graphic designer to follow in order to create the images.
Home Screen for App and for Desktop Planner
Use the Conference App Builder (CMS) to design your Home Screen for your app Conference App Builder > Design > Home Screens. Build your app's Home Screen and separately your Planner Home Screen.
Learn how to use the Custom View Builder.
If you like to use a background graphic as seen in the examples below, use the following specifications:
- jpg or png
- max 800px by 800px at 72dpi
- Max 100kb in file size (ensure to compress your image using https://tinypng.org before uploading)
- No gradients. Abstract line art is ideal. Avoid photos.
- Single color hue. Either extremely light to use dark text or very dark to use white text.
App Data (Session information, speakers, exhibitors,...)
EventPilot conference app content is stored in a database structure. To add the content, you can use the easy to use EventPilot Conference App Builder or import spreadsheet tables.
EventPilot Pro users can also import directly from a variety of Abstract Management Systems.
Learn more about importing different data or adding content via the video tutorials.
Floor Plans and Maps
EventPilot Premium and Pro users can upload floor plans and pin room locations for interactive maps.
EventPilot Pro users can purchase the RouteInside add-on for indoor offline navigation.
Floor plan images are preloaded into the app that is submitted to the app store so your attendees can instantly navigate without requiring WiFi. While modern mobile devices are quite powerful computers, there are some limitations when it comes to displaying large high-resolution graphics. Follow the details below to design optimized floor plan image files:
- All text must be clearly readable at 100% for each floor plan image (This means: if you look at your image at 100% and you can still read the text if you zoom out to 50%, your image is too big in width and height)
- Include the name of the map in the image "Hotel 1st floor"
- All map images must be included in the initial app store submission of the app to ensure the best user experience. Avoid having to update maps: Instead of listing exhibitor names on the image, only use booth numbers
- Do not use gradients. Ok to use small number of single colors for rooms or titles to make the image more appealing in the event app
- Size Requirements:
- Ideal image sizes: between 600 and max 1500 pixels width or height in .png format resolution.
For very large expo maps, you can use larger sizes but you must follow these specifications: - if width and height are under 2,200 pixels each: .png or .jpg file format
- if width or height is between 2,200 and 6,000 pixels: .jpg file format only (not .jpeg)
- image cannot exceed 5,000,000 pixels (multiply width and height - 600 width x 900 height = 540,000 pixels)
- .png file size must remain below 400kb; .jpg file size can be larger (max 1.25MB)
- Use an aspect ratio of 4:3
- Using Adobe Illustrator: choose "Optimize Type" and save for Web and Devices. PNG files must be further compressed via https://tinypng.org
- Save as 8 or 18 bit indexed png file to ensure smallest file size possible
- Ideal image sizes: between 600 and max 1500 pixels width or height in .png format resolution.
The file name must be in all lower case letters without spaces or symbols. Save files as:
- mapmapname1.png (replace mapname1 with floor name)
- mapmapname2.png (replace mapname2 with floor name)
- ...
Related articles:
Speaker Photos and Exhibitor Logos
You can manually add speaker photos, use links, or use a batch upload with automatic file association.
Learn more:
- What are the specifications for speaker photos, attendee pictures, or exhibitor logos?
- How do I batch upload many speaker photos or exhibitor logos and have them automatically associate with their respective record?
Rotating Banner Widget (Home screen) and Sponsor Session Ad Banners
Using EventPilot, you can display ad banners via widget on the home screen (or any custom view) and you can display ads above session detail views that are randomly pulled from a pool of images.
Learn more:
- What are the image sizes for the different ads?
- How does the Rotating Advertisement Banner Widget work? How do I add rotating banners to my home screen?
General Event Information
Add any general event information to your website and link to it.
Conference App Builder > Design > Custom Views. 3 Templates are included for you to fill in. All 3 custom views are offline searchable and are linked already as tabs via Design > Tab Layouts.
Learn more: