Conference planning used to be about the venue, the catering, the printed program, and maybe a catchy lanyard. Today, those things still matter, but they’re not what attendees remember. The real differentiator in 2025 is how connected, personalized, and effortless the experience feels from the moment someone registers to the follow-ups weeks later. That’s where the best event apps for conferences come in.
These apps are infrastructure. They’re the central nervous system for everything happening before, during, and after your event. They connect attendees with the right people, sponsors with the right leads, and organizers with the right data.
Most “best apps” lists just throw features at you without explaining why they matter, or which kinds of events they’re suited for. We’ll start with the one platform that checks all the boxes for member-based organizations and then explore other strong options for different use cases.
Key Takeaways
Unlike most apps that focus only on the event itself, Glue Up integrates conferences, memberships, payments, CRM, and community engagement into one ecosystem, ensuring year-round value.
The biggest drop-off happens after the event, and Glue Up addresses this with continuous networking spaces, instant CRM sync for follow-ups, and actionable sponsor analytics.
Integration with membership systems, effective networking tools, measurable sponsor ROI, multi-event management, and post-event analytics are the true deciding factors.
Pre-event group building, in-event engagement tracking, and post-event activities keep attendees active, help sponsors convert leads, and encourage early registration for future events.
AI personalization, AR navigation, sustainability dashboards, and predictive engagement are becoming standard, and organizations that adapt will deliver more connected, efficient, and memorable conferences.
Quick Reads
The Best Event Apps for Conferences In 2025
Glue Up – The Association-Centric Leader
If your conference is part of a bigger mission, building strong member relationships, generating sponsor ROI, driving year-round engagement, then Glue Up deserves the top spot. It’s an extension of your membership management, payments, and CRM tools.
Most event apps focus on the “day of” experience. Glue Up extends that timeline, turning conferences into year-round engagement drivers. Attendees register in the app, network before they arrive, connect with sponsors digitally, and keep engaging in community spaces after the closing keynote.
Why It Leads This List:
One Ecosystem – Conferences, memberships, payments, and CRM are all in one platform.
Engagement That Lasts – Built-in community spaces keep attendees talking months after the event ends.
Sponsor ROI at Scale – Digital sponsor profiles, lead capture, and analytics make exhibitor value measurable.
Automation Everywhere – Invitations, reminders, surveys, and follow-ups run on workflows—so staff time is spent on strategy, not manual tasks.
Best for:
Member-based organizations hosting multiple events per year.
Planners who need event success translate into retention and non-dues revenue.
Apple Invites – The Design-First Newcomer
Apple’s February 2025 release of Apple Invites introduced a sleek, intuitive experience for smaller events. It handles invitations, RSVPs, weather updates, location sharing, and even collaborative playlists or photo albums, accessible to non-iPhone users via web.
Best for:
High-touch events where design and user experience are paramount.
Organizers who value deep iOS integration.
Drawback:
Not designed for multi-day conferences with complex schedules or sponsor requirements.
Ex Ordo – The Academic Powerhouse
Academic and research-focused conferences come with unique demands: abstract submissions, peer reviews, and multi-track programming. Ex Ordo was built to handle all of it.
Best for:
Research symposiums, academic congresses, and technical conferences.
Events where scholarly content management is as critical as the attendee experience.
Drawback:
Too specialized for general business or association events without research-heavy agendas.
Guidebook – Branding Meets Flexibility
Guidebook makes it easy to create a branded mobile guide with schedules, maps, and updates. It’s clean, customizable, and works well for hybrid events.
Best for:
Organizations wanting a visually branded app for both in-person and virtual audiences.
Planners who prioritize quick setup with solid attendee navigation.
Drawback:
Lacks native CRM or membership database integration for ongoing engagement.
EventMobi – Engagement Without Limits
EventMobi is known for its robust engagement toolkit—live polls, gamification, maps, Q&A, surveys, and even on-site digital signage.
Best for:
Conferences where participation is a core goal.
Events needing strong sponsor branding and lead capture.
Drawback:
Requires staff to manage its many configurations and features.
Wild Apricot – Small Nonprofit Ally
Wild Apricot is an affordable option for small nonprofits and local groups. It offers basic event registration, payment processing, and member management.
Best for:
Budget-conscious community organizations.
Events with simpler agendas and fewer moving parts.
Drawback:
Limited scalability for larger conferences.
Mobilizon – The Ethical Open Source Choice
Mobilizon is an open-source platform that emphasizes privacy and decentralization. It’s more niche but appeals to organizations with strong values around data control.
Best for:
Privacy-conscious or grassroots organizers.
Tech teams comfortable with custom setups.
Drawback:
Less polished than commercial platforms and requires more setup.
What To Look for In a Conference Event App
When you’re narrowing down the best event apps for conferences, resist the urge to just tick feature boxes. Instead, ask: will this app help my event meet its strategic goals?
Integration With Membership or CRM Systems – Without this, you’ll be left doing manual exports and imports after every event.
Networking That Works – AI matchmaking, attendee search, and chat features to reduce networking friction.
Sponsor ROI – Opportunities for sponsors to be visible before, during, and after, with measurable engagement.
Multi-Event Management – Essential for organizations hosting more than one major event annually.
Post-Event Analytics – Data that tells you which sessions worked, who connected, and where to improve.
Why Glue Up Goes Beyond the Day of The Event
Most drop-offs happen after the applause. Attendees fly home, chats stall, and sponsor leads sit untouched. That’s exactly where Glue Up does its best work: it turns your conference from a three-day experience into a 365-day engagement cycle, using the same data, the same app, and the same profiles your team already manages.
What The Data Says About the Post-Event Window
Attendees expect tech that reduces friction. In the Freeman Trends Report (Q1 2024), 44% of attendees said technology that makes consuming events easier is a top need. Mobile is now the default interface for schedules, connections, and content.
Mobile event apps are now standard practice. Industry roundups in 2024–2025 show rapid adoption: American Express M&E projected 60% app usage, and recent primers report most planners now plan to use an app for conferences.
Follow-up affects satisfaction and retention. Post-event outreach improves perceived value and repeats attendance, which directly supports membership renewal efforts in associations.
Sponsors need verifiable ROI, not just booth traffic. Lead capture and real-time engagement data help exhibitors prove outcomes, score leads and decide on future spend.
How Glue Up Extends Value After the Event
Glue Up connects registration, onsite engagement, and follow-ups in one place. That matters because every hand-off you remove increases your odds of timely outreach, sponsor conversions, and member renewals.
Instant CRM Sync for Follow-Ups
Contacts, sessions attended, polls answered, and meetings booked flow into your CRM the moment the event ends. Your team can trigger segmented thank-yous, content recaps, and next-event recommendations within hours when attention is highest. (This aligns with best-practice guidance that timely post-event communication boosts satisfaction and return intent.)
Sponsor Intelligence Your Sales Team Can Use
Exhibitors get more than badge scans. They see who visited, what content those contacts consumed, and which sessions they attended. Sales teams can score leads by intent signals, share content, and book next steps while brand recall is fresh, an approach sponsors increasingly expect to justify spend.
Communities That Keep Conversations Alive
Attendees move from session chat to ongoing groups without switching platforms. That continuity supports peer networking, sponsor offers, and committee recruitment long after the closing keynote, an approach tied to stronger member retention for associations that keep value visible between events.
A Simple Timeline Your Team Can Run
Think of your conference as a 60-day cycle. Glue Up makes each phase easy to execute inside one system.
T-14 To T-1: Prime the Network
Auto-enroll registrants in topical groups, and suggest meetings based on profile interests.
Push “know before you go” updates, sponsor spotlights, and session saves to the mobile agenda.
Goal: raise pre-event opt-ins to groups and meetings; higher pre-commitment predicts higher participation.
Event Days: Capture More Than Attendance
Encourage in-app check-ins, Q&A, and polls to build usable engagement trails.
Give sponsors lead capture plus content slots tied to sessions your audience cares about.
Goal: maximize quality signals you can act on later: session interest, topic affinity, and buying intent.
T+1 To T+7: Act While Interest Is High
Trigger segmented thank-you emails with session recaps saved to the app, not a PDF.
Route hot leads to sponsors with notes and next-step prompts inside the platform.
Invite attendees to persistent community groups for ongoing discussion.
Goal: faster follow-ups are linked to higher satisfaction and repeat attendance.
T+8 To T+30: Turn Momentum into Membership Value
Run two short member-only activities—an expert AMA and a micro-roundtable, inside the app.
Surface the next relevant event and let people register in two taps from their profile.
Share sponsor offers targeted by session behavior to keep partners visible.
Goal: tie event energy to clear next steps, which supports renewal intent and non-dues revenue.
Metrics That Prove It Worked
Track the few numbers that matter and report them side-by-side for events and membership.
Engagement Carry-Over: % of attendees active in communities at T+30, and average posts or reactions per user.
Sponsor Pipeline Health: leads per exhibitor, conversion to meeting, and influenced revenue logged by sponsors, supported by real-time lead data.
Next-Event Lift: % of this event’s attendees who register for the next program within 30 days.
Renewal Correlation: renewal rate for attendees vs. non-attendees, using your CRM segments; pair with retention best practices to show impact.
Bottom Line for Associations
For member-based organizations, this is turning one event into a steady drumbeat of interactions that people feel, remember, and renew around. Industry research shows attendees want tech that reduces friction, sponsors want data they can act on, and associations retain more members when value shows up between events. Glue Up ties those needs together in one platform, so the story does not end when the lights go out.
Future Trends in Event Apps
AI Personalization – Custom schedules, networking recommendations, and content feeds tailored to each attendee.
AR Navigation – Augmented reality to guide attendees to sessions, exhibitors, and amenities in large venues.
Sustainability Dashboards – Real-time metrics showing environmental savings from going digital.
Predictive Engagement – Systems that flag attendees are likely to disengage so you can intervene mid-event.
Choosing the wrong event app in 2025 is like renting a venue without Wi-Fi. Your attendees expect instant updates, seamless networking, and a polished digital experience from start to finish.
The best event apps for conferences create connections, capture opportunities, and extend your event’s impact far beyond the closing remarks.
For member-based organizations, that’s where Glue Up proves its value. It’s the platform that ties your events into your broader mission, making every conference a springboard for year-round engagement and growth.
