This series is dedicated to learning from event experts on various topics. We cover event technology, meeting design, and much, more more! Today, we are pleased to interview Lucian Beebe, VP of Product at DoubleDutch.

We’ll cut right to the chase – I hear there are a lot of new exciting things happening at DoubleDutch. What should our readers know about the new features?

DoubleDutch just launched three new and exciting features that have a little something for every event stakeholder. Location-Based Messages allows organizers to communicate directly with attendees in a nuanced and tailored way based on their proximity to beacons placed strategically throughout your event. Lead Retrieval with Notes helps exhibitors capture important prospect information without ever having to leave the app by scanning attendees’ badges and taking notes instantly. And the Personalized Activity Feed greatly enhances the attendee experience at events by reminding them about upcoming sessions and providing them with important, relevant information.

What do you think planners should know about privacy related to beacons and location-based alerts?
Planners can be confident that the iBeacon technologies won’t violate their attendee’s privacy because there are several layers of protection built right into mobile devices. Attendees must turn on Bluetooth and must grant access to the app for it to work. This was carefully built by Apple and Google to protect attendees from unwittingly receiving location based services. But beyond that, each planner should consider their audience’s specific perspectives on this and their receptiveness to receiving location-based notifications.

When you’re developing new features, how do you know what planners really want vs. a great idea that’s not priority?
With the overwhelming vote of confidence DoubleDutch has been given by planners, we have had the opportunity to work with events in every category, whether corporate internal or customer or marketing roadshows, large and small, trade shows, associations and everything in between. And through getting to deeply know and understand our customers, we have been able to build a product roadmap that is closely correlated with their needs and pain points. In addition to the core functionality of all of our features, we also look at their utility through a data-driven lens. We believe that every tap, every action, every status posted inside the app provides valuable insight to planners about what is working – and what isn’t. Stay tuned for upcoming features that will further enable event planners to harness and use this data to improve event ROI.

What are some keys to successfully deploying features to your audience?
Whenever we launch a new feature, we got through a multi-stage process to ensure it is deployed seamlessly and effectively. We educate our entire company internally – from the engineers to the sales reps to the marketing team – about the new features. We create new sales collateral that illustrate their utility at live events. We beta-test them on some of our veteran and adventurous customers. By the time our features are out in the wild, we are confident that their deployment will be a success.

Finally, what is your favorite app?
Well, other than DoubleDutch, I would have to say that Shyp is the coolest app I have recently used. It’s like Uber for shipping things. You use the mobile app to take a picture of what you need to ship, and you can watch on a map as your “shypper” approaches your current location to grab your items. They take care of packaging your items and find the cheapest shipping method. You basically never need to go to the post office again!