apreet vs conference apps: one event, or every trip

Quick answer. A conference app helps you work one event while it is happening: its schedule, its attendee directory, and the strangers it can introduce you to. apreet overlays your calendar against your own address book to tell you which of the people you already know will be in the city you are travelling to, for the dates you overlap, the conference being just one of those trips. One is event-scoped and stranger-friendly; the other is travel-wide and works only from contacts you already have. They complement each other.

What conference apps are best at

A good event app (Whova, Brella, Swapcard, and the like) is the operating system for a single conference. It holds the agenda, lets you build a personal schedule, runs in-event matchmaking against the full attendee list, and helps you discover and message people you have never met but should. If your goal is to navigate one event and meet new people inside it, that is exactly the right tool, and apreet does not try to replace it.

What apreet is best at

apreet is not scoped to an event and never introduces strangers. In one sentence: apreet reads the date and location of your trips from your calendar and overlays them against the contacts in your address book, so you see which people you already know will be in the same city, for the dates you overlap, before you arrive. You can read the full mechanism on how apreet works. Its strength is continuity: the same logic that surfaces a contact at your conference also surfaces one on next month's sales trip, with no roster to join.

Use them together

At the event, lean on the conference app for the agenda and for meeting people you do not yet know. Let apreet run quietly alongside it on the people you already know, so the trip also becomes a chance to see existing contacts who happen to be in town for the same dates. The conference app handles the room; apreet handles your relationships, during the event and on every trip after it.

Is apreet a conference networking app?

Not exactly. A conference app is scoped to one event: its agenda, its attendee list, and the days it runs. apreet is scoped to your travel. It overlays your calendar against the contacts you already have, so it surfaces who you can meet in person on any trip, including the city you are in for a conference, but also every other trip on your calendar. The two overlap at an event, but apreet keeps working after the badge comes off.

Can I use apreet alongside a conference app?

Yes. During an event, the conference app is best for the agenda, the in-event matchmaking, and meeting people you do not yet know. apreet runs in parallel on the people you already know: it tells you which of your existing contacts are in the same city for the same dates, so you also keep the relationships you already have warm while you are there.

How is apreet different from event matchmaking?

Event matchmaking introduces you to strangers from an attendee list inside one app, for one event. apreet never introduces you to strangers. It only ever surfaces an overlap between two people who already have each other in their address book, using the date and location of your trips. It works from your own contacts and your own calendar, not from an event roster.