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What happened when we used a Chatbot as a conference virtual host?

On 21st March 2018

Everybody seems to be pushing chatbots these days. Yes, they’re the hottest thing since augmented reality. And native advertising. And contextual advertising. And beacons. And programmatic. And live video. And influencer marketing. You get the idea.

What happens when you use a chatbot instead of a mobile app for conference navigation? Here’s what happened when we created Damotron, a virtual host for DAMconf 2017.

Virtual host for a digital conference

If you haven’t heard about the DAMconf until now (welcome back from underneath the rock), it’s the largest conference on digital advertising and marketing in south-eastern Europe.

Every November since 2014 DAMconf brings together regional digital professionals and enthusiasts for a day packed with talks from the major agency and brand reps from UK and western Europe, such as Manning Gottlieb OMD, Coca-Cola, Shazam, Viber, and others, as well as panels featuring local experts.

Direct access to the tech

The major advantage of DAMconf’s organizer, ClickAttack, is that it has at its disposal the resources of one of the most experienced development hubs in the region. This puts ClickAttack at the very source of major tech trends. So it’s easy to implement new, innovative solutions and platforms to provide proof of concept and create compelling case studies.

Hence came the birth of Damotron, a virtual host that operated from the Viber platform. Damotron had two distinctive roles:

  1. Provide information about speakers, panelists and schedule, enable the creation of a personalized schedule and notify users what’s happening and when
  2. Allow access to the prize game organized in collaboration with Viber

Direct engagement

The lifespan of Damotron correlated with the lifespan of the conference – it lived for a day. Visitors could start engagement by searching for the public profile on Viber or scanning a QR code on their conference passes. Check out the video for more details.

The results

And here’s what happened. 45% of conference visitors interacted with Damotron. The average session duration was 4 hours and 36 minutes and 64% of chatbot users participated in the prize game.

DAMconf Damotron chatbot infographic

Damotron infographic – Click for full screen

Major takeaways

In-house chatbot development provided ClickAttack with the freedom to play, customize and test new features all with the goal to provide a compelling user experience. It was certainly a smarter choice than developing an app, especially considering the lifespan of the bot, the cost of development and high engagement results the chatbot achieved.

And when we take all this into consideration and add the element of fun that the chatbot provides to the end user, you can be sure that Damotron will come alive again at DAMconf 2018, improved, well rested and definitely smarter.

Will robots take the jobs of humans?

Can the two coexist in a mutually benefitial symbiosis? Find the answers to these questions by taking one home. Contact Clickattack for more info!

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