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Article 36

Meet @HelloApp, Making Conferences More Fun

By @ryancarson

14 August 2009 | Category: Code

Hundreds of Twitter avatars

After four tiring-exciting-stressful-fun days, we'd like to introduce you to our new little buddy, HelloApp.

The idea is simple: When you arrive at a conference, you just say where you're sitting, via Twitter. Once you do that, you can ...

  1. Search for people with a certain skill-set (ie PHP, jQuery, CSS3, marketing, etc) and see where they're sitting
  2. View the seating diagram colored based on Twitter follower count
  3. Search for a specific person in the audience and find out where they're sitting
  4. View the seating diagram colored based on whether people are Designers, Developers or Businessmen
  5. Earn badges and points by meeting people and completing tasks. If you earn a high enough rank, you'll be able to post public messages to the entire audience and win prizes.

Here's how it works ...

Check-in

The first thing you do is check-in to the conference. You can do this by tweeting:

@helloapp !dev #php #html5 #jquery

That says that you’re a Developer who is tagging themselves with PHP, HTML 5 and jQuery.

You can also check-in via the web app …

Screenshot of the form which allows you to signup to Hello
View larger

Earn Badges and Points

Bronze badgeSilver badgeGold badgeDiamond badgeHigh five badgeSmiley badge

You can earn points by meeting people and completing special tasks. Once you build up enough points you earn the right to post messages to the entire audience and win special prizes. Here’s how it works …

When you meet someone and they give you their Twitter username, just tweet:

@helloapp met @their-username

If they return the favor and tweet:

@helloapp met @your-username

You’ll then both get points for meeting each other. Both people have to do it, in order for the points to be awarded. Here’s how badges look on your profile …

Ryan's profile with badges

Grab Your Seat

Once you check-in, you say which seat your sitting in by using the passcode attached to your physical seat at the conference. This is done via Twitter like this:

@helloapp sat your-seat-passcode

Once you’ve done that, you appear in the seating chart like this …

Screenshot of the Hello Home page which shows all the conference seats filled with Twitter Gravatars, and a bubble over one user with their details displayed
View larger

Explore the Crowd

You can then browse the seating chart, click on the tag cloud or search. You’ll be able to see who is sitting around you, what their interests are, and whether you have anything in common.

In the screenshot below, we’ve searched for anyone who’s tagged themselves with ‘PHP’.

Screenshot of the Hello Home page which shows how you can search the attendees for skills or names. The search results are highlighted which you can then click on.
View larger

In the screenshot below, we’re viewing the audience based on number of Twitter followers …

Screenshot of the Hello Home page which shows how you can view the attendee seating chart like a heat map based on twitter followers
View larger

In the screenshot below, we’re viewing the audience based on whether they’re a Designer, Developer or Businessman …

Screenshot of the Hello Home page which shows how you can view the attendee seating chart like a heat map based on whether they're a designer, developer or businessman
View larger

What You Can do Right Now

Obviously HelloApp is designed to be used during a conference, so you can’t use that functionality right now. However, what you can do is Join In and tag yourself and say whether you’re a Designer, Developer or Businessman. You can also search the list of everyone who joins before the conference.

Screenshot of the Hello Home page with Twitter Gravatars displayed in a random pattern
View larger

A Big Thanks To …

It was a great experience coding it in ASP.NET MVC and we’re looking forward to possibly doing more apps in the framework.

Please Join In and let us know what you think!

Follow @thinkvitamin on Twitter Please check out Treehouse

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Comments

  • http://twitter.com/jamesproud James Proud

    Amazing, congratulations guys. Can’t wait to see this being used at FOWA!

  • http://laurakalbag.com Laura Kalbag

    I can’t wait to use this! It’s going to be so much fun.

  • http://www.flockey.com James McDonald

    Awesome, I can see myself on the last screenshot! Furthermore, absolutely gorgeous app. Carsonified do it once again :) Great job guys!! x

  • http://www.pivotgear.com Jeff Hartman

    I wonder how it feels to be a speaker at one of these conferences knowing that many/most people are not paying attention to what you are saying…

    On the other hand, what a great idea! :) Social media meets social gathering.

    I love the concept and the design.

  • http://www.onlineassociates.ae/ Fahed

    Although I can’t be there to participate, I think the people who are there would benefit from some kind of cheat-sheet they can print off. Unless, of course, you’ll be handing them out at the event.

  • kathy sierra

    OK, this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. [sitting here plotting how I could use/exploit/game that as a speaker, too... fun!]

    It would also be very fun to encourage tags NOT based on whatever drove them to be at the event in the first place. The likelihood of anyone I bump into at FOWA being interested in design/tech overlap is fairly high already — but your app might enable the FAR less likely scenario of finding people there who share an interest in non-tech activities like games, hobbies, passions, etc.

    So perhaps a way to also tag your three top not-related-to-tech-events interests. It would be nice/useful to meet people there who are also into [same language/framework that I am]. It would be delightful/exciting to meet people there into the same music (including fellow musicians), films, sports, etc.

    This is just… so… fun. And so *you* [Carsony, I mean].

  • http://simonstarr.com Simon Starr

    A great idea and another beautiful design from Mike. I’m looking forward to trying this out at FOWA :)

    Congratulations, folks!

  • http://twitter.com/johnsbeharry Johns Beharry

    Dam looks fantastic great work guys really useful for networking indeed.

  • http://ainscoe.com @_nige

    If anyone would like to look at the data model I have reverse engineered it and created some ERD diagrams in various formats. You can download them here: http://download.jackson-delaney.com/helloapp/helloappmodels.rar

    The reverse engineering was done with the HappyFish data modelling tool (http://www.polderij.nl/happyfish/index.html) a top quality data design tool at a very small price – €99 – P.s. I have no affiliation with this company I just like them.

  • Carl

    Awesome. Why lock it into Twitter?

    What if you don’t use or choose not to be a Twitter user? What if you’re a person who has better things to do than ‘twat’ about their inane life?

  • Ryan Carson

    Thanks Kathy. Glad you like the idea!

    I think you’re right about non-tech hash tags. Would make meeting people even more interesting.

  • Grant

    I think this looks fantastic and is a brilliant idea. Shame I am in Australia and therefore no chance of ever attending a FOWA or FOWD event… Adding this to other conferences too? Wish we had had something like this at conferences I have been to/

    Plus what about people like me who are Devigners? There should be an option to choose Designer AND Developer.

    Otherwise, well done! and thanks for sharing the design/build process with us.

  • Grant

    Hehe, then join Twitter for the conference, and then ignore it afterwards.

  • http://www.xdesignblog.com/best-of-the-week-78 Best of the Week #78 | X Design Blog

    [...] Meet @HelloApp, Making Conferences More Fun [...]

  • http://www.shikebali.co.cc Shikeb Ali

    “Hello” !! WoOWW a new platform for designers & developers to gather and discuss the their ideas.

    I wish I could be there on the conference.

    Congratulations “Ryan & Carsonified Team on developing such a wonderful app”

  • Ryan Carson

    Thanks Shikeb :)

  • Ben Arnold

    Awesomeness! Are we gonna see this at the FOWD Tour? Please? :-)

  • http://www.darren-ferguson.com/ Darren Ferguson

    Nice. I’d like to believe you took some inspiration from here:
    http://www.darren-ferguson.com/2009/3/15/testing-my-twitter-based-location-app-at-fowa-dublin.aspx

  • http://melissaleon.tumblr.com Melissa

    Love it!!! I had no idea about the badges and points. That is such a cool idea and a neat way to allow people to interact. Great job everyone!

  • Ryan Carson

    Hey Ben. Sadly, we’re not going to be able to use the for the FOWD tour. That might change, but for now, we’re planning on releasing it for FOWA. Sorry :(

  • http://www.timacheson.com/ Tim Acheson

    Good work! A nice, simple practical example of an ASP.NET MVC 1.0 web app.

  • http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/08/17/fowa-is-coming-lets-take-a-look-at-whos-launching-what-this-year/ FOWA is coming. Let’s take a look at who’s launching what this year

    [...] and here’s a tip: if you’re coming along to FOWA, don’t forget to check out HelloApp. It’s very cool. CrunchBase Information Carsonified Information provided by CrunchBase [...]

  • http://www.newsjacker.co.uk/media/fowa-is-coming-let%e2%80%99s-take-a-look-at-who%e2%80%99s-launching-what-this-year/ FOWA is coming. Let’s take a look at who’s launching what this year 

    [...] and here’s a tip: if you’re coming along to FOWA, don’t forget to check out HelloApp. It’s very [...]

  • http://www.kamikazemusic.com Dave Sparks

    Nice work, a shame we get to see it on the FOWD tour – fingers crossed that changes!

  • http://blogs.techsentry.org/sentinel/2009/08/19/enough-with-the-throwaway-twitter-apps/ The Sentinel | TechSentry Blogs

    [...] @HelloApp is from Ryan Carson and the Carsonified crew, aimed at making conferences more fun. The application acts as a sort of game to be played amongst attendees, but it also helps you find and connect with (in person) people you are interested in. [...]

  • http://sharpenr.net Jaan Orvet

    Interesting app, will be fun to try it at FOWA.

    The thing I’m somewhat skeptical about is the earning points and badges feature. It feels a wee bit gimmicky and out of scope.

    Curious to hear your thoughts on why it was included, and what other solutions you looked at to fulfill the “earn the right to post messages to the entire audience” credentials.

    Thanks.

  • http://carsonified.com Ryan Carson

    Hey Jaan

    It’s interesting you feel it’s “gimmicky”. We think Game Theory is quite powerful (just look at Stack Overflow) and will be a way to encourage people to meet each other at the conference.

    Don’t know if it’s going to work, but I’m excited to give it a try :)

    Best,
    Ryan

  • http://sharpenr.net Jaan Orvet

    Hi Ryan,

    Thank you for your reply.

    I have to confess that since I posted my comment I have had a change of heart. I have learned more about Game Theory and with this new found knowledge I can 1) see why you included the feature and 2) why it makes perfect sense for the app and FOWA.

    Thank you for being patient with me ;)

  • http://www.wisdump.com/web-experience/geeky-conference-ideas/ Holding a conference? Spice it up with these geeky ideas | Wisdump

    [...] A perfect blend of socializing and tweeting at the same time. Read how Carsonified created it. [...]

  • http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/more-thinkses-around-twitter-hashtag-networks-jiscri/ More Thinkses Around Twitter Hashtag Networks: #JISCRI « OUseful.Info, the blog…

    [...] See also Meet @HelloApp, Making Conferences More Fun. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Preliminary Thoughts on Visualising the OpenEd09 [...]

  • Ben Arnold

    Sad face ):

  • http://piersonthe.net/2009/09/23/daily-digest-for-september-23rd/ Daily Digest for September 23rd | piersonthe.net

    [...] Shared Carsonified » Meet @HelloApp, Making Conferences More Fun. [...]

  • http://redbitbluebit.com/ John Uhri

    It’s awesome to see great apps being written in ASP.NET MVC. This should be interesting to see in action. Now we just need to get other conferences to use this!

  • http://loogic.com/una-experiencia-en-fowa-london-2009/ Una experiencia en FOWA London 2009 | Loogic.com

    [...] herramienta basada en Twitter para promover el networking entre los asistentes a las conferencias: HelloApp. Mediante Twitter te identificabas primero seleccionando un rol (dev,design o biz) y tres tags. [...]

  • Stuart Smith

    Hi Ryan, this is my first foray into MVC and web apps in general (background is C++ and Military Apps) and your ‘Hello’ app looks like a very good intro. However, being a ‘newbie’ in this I am not too sure how I set up the database from the code in the git repository. Do I just the run sql etc in the Hello.Repo project or are there some cunning tools I should be using?

    Thanks

  • http://www.bitacoradewebmaster.com/2010/01/26/conferencia-desarrolladores-twitter-como-averiguar-contrasena/ 1º Conferencia de Desarrolladores de Twitter, cómo averiguar la contraseña – Bitácora de Webmaster

    [...] do you live in?: Bath What’s your Twitter username?: ryancarson Your Twitter app’s URL: http://carsonified.com/blog/carsonified/meet-helloapp-making-conferences-more-fun/ Soy Alfredo Artiles, Co-Fundador de equipo24 y e24Presenter. Mi pasión es el AJAX, SEO, SEM y [...]

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