Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, MS, James Spellos, CMP, and representatives from QuickMobile announce the release of a new, free app designed to enable meeting professionals to ditch their clipboards—at least when it comes to conducting technology site inspections—at the Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress earlier this week.
Now available for both iPhone and Android smartphones, the TechSpec app is designed to enable planners to plug in the technology features of a hotel’s guest rooms, meeting rooms, and lobbies and public spaces, along with photos, general hotel information, and notes on anything else of interest to that planner’s group.
You can assign a numerical value to each feature—say, ergonomic design of the furniture, cell reception, wireless connection, room rates, and even whether or not you can fit your laptop in the in-room safes—and use the information to compare hotels. You also can export the data via e-mail to share with others on your planning team, they said.
Ball and Spellos each had been independently working on doing something about the need they perceived for an app that could help planners track key information, build detailed hotel profiles, and rate and compare properties. “As frequent travelers and as meetings professionals, it was obvious that we could use something like this,” Ball said. Once they learned about each other’s efforts, the two teamed up and worked with event mobile solutions provider QuickMobile. About six months and many iterations later, they’ve released a product they all say they are proud of.
“It’s our gift to the industry to help get the conversation going,” said Ball of the reason why they decided to provide the app for free. When asked how many had downloaded the then-two-day-old app, Spellos said he wasn’t sure, but that wasn’t really the point. “I’m not as concerned about downloads as I am about having people use it,” he said.
The developers also stressed that this is just the first version, and that they are eager to hear about users’ experiences, good and bad, so they can further refine the app. Download the TechSpec app here, and provide feedback on the app Facebook page.
More Technology Articles
Expert Advice on How to Use Facebook's New Layout for Your Events
New Mobile App Designed to Engage Members
The iPad Learning Curve for Meeting Planners: Just Play with It