Socio's Platform is the Ultimate Engagement Tool

From start to finish, we were well taken care of--from contract phase to event day. Again, we had the Orange Glove service so we had several trainings (staff, speakers, sponsors) and brainstorm sessions to help teach us about ways to maximize features and build an engaging virtual conference agenda. Lots of great trainings and idea shares!

Pros

This platform is so versatile for streaming options--you can use a variety of streaming options or use the one they offer. It also keeps your audience's attention with incredibly engaging features and a great variety of them--from gamification, a social wall, integration with the virtual lounge of your choice (same for a virtual photobooth) to the chat, polling and q&a offerings, attendees are enthralled and truly participate. Additionally, having the mobile app complementing the web app means if an attendee needs to step away from their desk during a virtual event, they never miss a minute of content.

Cons

While the initial buildout felt daunting (we bought the Orange Glove service so did not have to do this ourselves)--once the hand off from the Socio team to our team was done and we were trained, it was fairly easy and intuitive. Now that we've done it once, we'd likely be able to do our own event builds in the future if we have the time/bandwidth--but truly, it's a fantastic option to be able to have the Socio team perform the buildouts.

Great Option for Virtual Events

We looked at a lot of software for our virtual event, and Socio lays everything out for attendees in a very intuitive way (we have members from 21 to 85, and had no complaints!). It is clean and professional looking, doesn't overload the platform with things you don't need (every element is very customizable, so you can choose every piece to add), and while it was time consuming to build out, it was not hard to do and support was always there to help. For us, it really kept our attendees engaged, offered us the chance to share resources, have live and recorded content, and lots of options for sponsor engagement. Plus, their game option is great for building engagement.

Pros

My favorite element of this software is that you can pick and choose the elements you want as a part of your event--if you need to have a virtual trade show, there is an element that can do that; if you need to list your speakers, you can add that. It made the whole presentation on the user side look very customized and clean. There was nothing there you didn't want.

Cons

We used the add-on broadcast studio, Streamyard. If I had to say I wished for anything more than I got with Socio, it would be to be able to interact more with attendees in Streamyard....but that is a very small con. The broadcast studio was so easy to learn, and looked very professional.

Great event app

Pros

Socio was very easy to use and to set up. The Customer service is probably one of their biggest strengths , super helpful and reactive. There is a wide range of options available to create an event app / web platform

Cons

We would have loved to be able to customize a few more details. The metrics you receive after the event are quite basic, but they are currently improving this point.

SOCIO - Perfect for Virtual Conferences

The product is sturdy, robust and has never failed us. As a company we continue to look at other products, but have not yet found one worth shifting to. The support team is excellent and adds great value to my experience.

Pros

Socio has all the features as most applications of this type, with some excellent new additions and they continue to improve on the product by seriously listening to their clients. We are very excited about the video rooms, and upgraded areas for sponsors and the excellent data dashboard. Being able to offer our sponsors more has always been one of our main aims. The product truly shines with its ease of use! Even our most technically challenged team members are able to successfully build our platforms. It is easy to grasp how it all works, from selecting features to uploading media, to launching, it is all very sleek and simple form start to finish. I particular like the knowledge base, which is vast and covers every aspect of the product with detailed explanations supported by excellent (and short!) instructional videos. In addition the online support provided is of the best I have encountered, any questions or problems that arise I am able to get almost immediate help. The support team feels like an extension of my own team, where they are as invested in the query as I am.

Cons

In all honesty, the software does exactly what it promises it will do. Where they lack a feature we may need, they are always open to considering upgrades, this may take some time to implement but we understand that upgrades need to be tested. I have experienced an issue where the download template for adding content was slightly out of date as per recent updates and this made uploading problematic. That being said, when I flagged it for the support team they were on top of it and could fix it pretty quickly.

Pivot to virtual and pivot back to hybrid

Before 2020, we have used Socio for our in-person events. Throughout 2020, we have used Socio to pivot our events program to be 100% virtual. 2021 and beyond, we will be using them for our hybrid events.

Pros

We have been a Socio customer since late 2017. From 2017 until our April 2020 event, they have been powering our live/in-person events. Throughout 2020, we have used their software and their amazing support team (shout out to [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] for keeping up with me ) to pivot our events program to be 100% virtual and doubled the number of events we hold with them. After running RFPs with 6 virtual platforms, Socio was the clear winner with their virtual event platform as well. Looking into our 2021 events program, our plan is to start executing a hybrid (mix of virtual and in-person) strategy, and we are confident that Socio will deliver as they have been experts in the in-person events prior to virtual events even existing for our organization (unlike some other providers that are just virtual or in-person oriented)

Cons

No downsides at the moment. Their 24/5 support was extremely helpful, and we really wanted it to cover the weekend hours as well (since a few of our events happen on the weekends). Recently we have been notified by our customer success manager that they have expanded their support to include weekend hours as well. So, I can't complain.

College student leadership conference!

Overall, it was good. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] was there when we had questions. However, I wish the training/onboarding was a little more robust. It was a lot of trail and error on our part trying to figure everything out. The platform was very easy to use for our attendees and overall they really enjoyed using something other than Zoom.

Pros

We used this for a college student leadership conference. The live-stream option with the chat, Q&A and polling was very professional. The integration of the wonder.me rooms for networking was a great tool for breakout (and the ability to have a breakout within a breakout. Having everything in one engaging platform was something that our attendees really enjoyed.

Cons

The integration of the wonder.me rooms was a little tough at the beginning. There were also issues within the conference that people who get dropped from the room and had to get back in. Overall, it ended up fine but just had a few glitches.

Amazing Features. Easy Integration. Responsive Staff.

Pros

Integration of Socio into our organization has been so smooth. From our sales contact, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN], to our CSM, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN], every person I come into contact with at Socio is so eager to help with our needs and strategize for the best way to incorporate Socio features into our programs.

Cons

Nothing negative to say at this moment! It would be great to see the agenda and speaker pages from the Socio platform be incorporated into the registration page.

First Time Socio User

All in all, socio was a great platform to use for our largest ever educational program in our organization's history! The customer support staff was great and responsive and all users enjoyed the platform. Looking forward to using it again!

Pros

Socio is a very user-friendly program on both the front end and back end for both users and administrators. It was very easy to add our organization's branding to everything on the platform. The live streaming service was easy to navigate and manage. They have a wide range of accessibility features to make the platform accessible to a wide variety of users.

Cons

I think going into our sales pitch we were under an impression that the breakout rooms feature would be an already integrated program incorporated into socio. However, we were redirected to a third party wonder.me to satisfy that need. Wonder.me is a fairly new program that has incredible potential but there is still a lot to be desired and took some time getting used to. Another piece that I wish would have been included is an included push notification or email function to send users emails who had not registered their account yet. Socio does have a registration platform however if you do your registration through your own CRM database or a third party you have to export a list and email them personally rather than having it baked all in one.

Ready for our Event!

Pros

We are pleased with the ability to tailor the event to the structure of our event. We are able to feature our sponsors, without whom our event would not be possible! The entering of agenda, presentations and presenters is user friendly to add via spreadsheet or one at a time. Honestly we are all volunteering to put on this conference and we don't have a great deal of time to explore and research every last function option. The Socio team has been great at listening to what we want and offering suggestions.

Cons

We would have liked to be able to use wonder a bit differently. We wanted the capacity to have round tables, use wonder to offer them, limit the amount of people and pre-register ahead of the conference. We don't really want people in one Round Table to jump to another one. Some of that was possible, but not all of it and in the end we went another route, just adding the Round Tables to the agenda.

You Can't Go Wrong with Socio!

Pros

For the cost compared to competitors teamed with their AMAZING tech support, you absolutely can't go wrong with Socio!

Cons

It is a newer platform so there were some (tiny) bugs throughout BUT their team is quick to resolve the "bugs"... furthermore, the "bugs" are only small things that we as administrators can see - our attendees were none the wiser!

Originally a Conference App, and now a full Virtual Conference Platform

We first used Socio as a conference app at our conference in 2019, after selecting it from a list of 20+ options we'd tested. Our attendees loved it, and while there were some hiccups on site with managing customer service and notifications not always being real time, we were overall very impressed. For our 2020 conference we again looked at dozens of competing conference apps, but in the end Socio remained the best fit for our specific needs. Due to Covid we ended up having to cancel our 2020 conference, and Socio was gracious enough to credit our purchase for use at our 2021 conference. As the pandemic went on though, we made the decision to switch our 2021 conference to a virtual conference, so started the process of reviewing virtual conference platforms. After looking at dozens of these, we finally came back to Socio and demoed their version. We were very impressed with the production quality they offered for our sessions and keynotes, and the networking opportunities they'd built into their platform. Only one other conference platform was close to their level, but Socio was a better fit for us all around so we are moving forward with them for our conference next March.

Pros

The software had all the features we were looking for, and implemented in a way that was easy for admins and users alike to use. Socio is also always improving their platform and adding, new useful features. I'm also really impressed with how well they were able to transition from a conference app to a full virtual conference platform, especially their implementation of the live video sessions and the networking opportunities.

Cons

The sponsor and exhibitor listings could be better. The logos are small and only allow square formatting, and the listings are functional, but nothing fancy compared to what I've seen in other conference apps and virtual conference platforms. I was also disappointed that they don't support live captioning for their new conference video solution.

Excellent Communication Tool

We have been incredibly pleased. The product is solid and performs incredibly well. But the product is only as good as the support and the support team beats anything I've experienced. They are timely, witty, knowledgable, and engaging. It is never transactional. They even follow up on things I've commented about doing. They are quick to offer solutions for creative solutions to ideas we have to leverage the app. All around impeccable online/virtually instant service.

Pros

We use the Socio product for our church members. It is an incredibly simple, convenient, and secure way to share information and keep everyone updated on events/activities. It is a very easy to use app for the user. The administrative process is also incredibly intuitive. It has worked flawlessly for our needs. And the instantly available support team is better than any on-line support I have ever received. This is a hallmark of distinction and sets them head and shoulders above other SaaS products I have used.

Cons

The only drawback we've had is the need to refresh the app. Users who are not as tech savvy may not recognize the need to update (a circle arrow icon in the top right of the app) the content from time to time. It is a very minor issue we've been able to educate around. On a scale of minor to major scale, this is an incredibly minor issue for us.

Great Experience with Socio

The entire experience, from the initial sales demo to the post-event wrap-up was superb. Again, the support was outstanding, and the personal service made us feel valued as customers.

Pros

We used Socio as the platform for our annual national conference when the pandemic forced us to transform our in-person event into a virtual one. We sought a solution that would work seamlessly with Zoom, allow for replay of our sessions, and drive networking (something very important to our attendee base). Socio met our needs very well. It was intuitive on the admin end to set up and flexible enough to accommodate some of the peculiar needs of our program. The gamification feature proved to be very popular with our attendees, despite our initial hesitation. The best part of working with Socio was their customer support. The support team responded to questions quickly and professionally. It gave us great confidence to know they were available, and they seemed genuinely interested in our success.

Cons

The issues we had with the software have mostly been addressed in recent releases. In the version of the software we used, it was not possible for attendees to network via their desktops or tablets -- they had to use these features on their mobile devices; however, the latest version allows for networking on both types of devices. We were disappointed that it was not possible to embed Zoom livestreams but Socio has now created their own integrated streaming solution that we will solve this for us in the future.

You're in good hands with the Socio Team

While we initially planned to use Socio solely for our major annual patient/medical professional gathering, we were so pleased with their quality of customer support and our audience's reaction to our first-ever smartphone/web app, that it was an easy decision to continue our relationship with the Socio team to implement year-long engagement opportunities for our rare disease community. Socio Registration/Community is a GREAT way to advertise, educate, and communicate with your target audience.

Pros

Socio allowed my organization (Alport Syndrome Foundation, non-profit, rare disease) the ability to successfully pivot from a canceled in-person event (due to COVID) to an immersive and inclusive virtual event. We more than tripled our expected attendance and our event sponors were very pleased, as was our patient community, with the final product. My staff was thrilled, as there's only two of us, to be in good hands so we could focus on the meeting content while they handled all other logistics. Their customer service and tech support is incredible! They always got back to me and my colleagues so quickly and customized the experience exactly as we wanted it.

Cons

The worst feature is the fact that seemingly everything can be customized. There's almost too many great ways to edit things to your liking, so we had to draw a line and stick to simple color schemes in the interest of timing. When they say they care about your company and its branding, they aren't kidding!

Everyone Should Use This!

The team that supports me is amazing! I have LOVED using this and tell everyone I know that this is the best! It is truly worth it. The support staff quickly responds to any question I have and the team offers fun and exciting suggestions and advice to help me make the most of my event.

Pros

I love that this software allows me to keep all the pieces of the virtual event in one place, also allowing me to keep my attendees in one place. It's truly a virtual venue. I coordinate events for a wide range of attendees, some less comfortable with technology than others. Using SOCIO allowed me to meet everyone's needs with simple each to follow instructions. I love the announcements let me send out information quickly to everyone or select groups of attendees without clogging their inbox with multiple messages. I also love that the platform is quick and easy to update and make changes on the fly. I could easily add areas to meet the needs of speakers, attendees, and sponsors. My sponsors loved being able to engage and share with attendees.

Cons

We used Zoom for the video broadcast which provided some limitations and glitches, on the Zoom end. Some guests love the Scavenger Hunt, but others found it challenging to understand. I also had some guests complain that they did not know to swipe on the screen to see more options, adding something to the software to make this more apparent would be helpful.

Fantastic Service Makes The Product Worth Every Dollar

Overall our experience with Socio was fantastic. We really appreciated their customer and technical support's availability to chat, their friendliness and their willingness to help guide us through the development of our event by using the product.

Pros

The software was intuitive and easy to use. The aesthetics were simple and pleasant. I appreciated that is was easy to read both by destop and handheld device.

Cons

There were a few features from the event planning perspective that could be enhanced - the Sposnor banners and chat functionality on the desktop application.

Conference Planner Approved!

Their customer service is fabulous, they are really innovative in thinking ahead and really give their best efforts to meet the clients needs. They are a solid tech company to purchase from.

Pros

Socio has so many incredible features. The thing I love most about this software is the integration and communication across subjects. i.e. If you create a conference agenda, you can link a speaker profile to that agenda. Additionally, if the speaker is a sponsor, you can link them to their sponsor profile and in all three places that information is available to list and tag. It is relatively simple to create and navigate and the final product once programmed is really incredible for attendees.

Cons

For the App icons, there were not a huge variety of well-designed options, however you can upload your own designs if preferred. I also which there were a few more integrations with gamification allowing for more templated options.

Hands Down the BEST Event Software platform out there

I would 100% recommend Socio - whether you have a small event, big event, virtual event, hybrid event or totally in person. The features and functionality they offer and continue to develop will help add value to your event for attendees, organizers and sponsors. We were able to boost our attendance by almost 500% for our annual conference that is normally in person by leveraging the Socio platform and taking our event completely virtual.

Pros

Being able to easily use the system and understand how it works is something I always look for when implementing a new solution. The Socio platform is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to be creative without the complexities and turn your vision for the event into reality. Everything within the platform ecosystem links very well together and it is very clear that there was lot of time thinking about how this platform would make our events better, both for the organizers and the attendees. The user interface is sleek, modern and consistent through the entire platform making it easy to make changes and updates. In addition, the Socio team has continued to develop new features and functionality at light-speed and are staying ahead of the curve.

Cons

I would have liked to see a more robust reporting and analytics tool to review our event once it had finished, which I know that is something the Socio team is working on right now! Another area that I think could use some improvements is the ability to add videos and more customization to sponsor pages or even having one of the features be a landing page that allows you to add buttons, videos and other items.

Excellent Virtual Conference Platform

Our overall experience was wonderful. The training, support, building, and deployment worked extremely well with just the minor glitch of getting people into the app. We will continue to use Socio for the virtual aspect of our future events.

Pros

It was extremely easy to build our virtual event on this platform. It was easy, once participants had joined the event, to navigate and use. The support from Socio staff was great. This was our first virtual event and using Socio made it so easy. The feedback from our speakers, sponsors, and participants was all very positive. Those who had used other platforms said they thought Socio was better than the products they were familiar with.

Cons

One challenge we had was when participants were first joining the event. Even though we had encouraged and incentivized people to download the app early, we had many participants who waited until the conference was beginning to try to join and because it didn't always go perfectly, there was some added stress right at the beginning of the event. The other minor issue we has was that we would have liked to purchase a higher level of support and service but Socio did not have the staff available. They were up front about it though and did not sell us a product they could not support. And as it turned out, we didn't actually need all the support we initially thought we would. So in the end, it wasn't really a problem at all.

Package Deal - More improvements coming

Pros

We got the Orange Glove package that allowed Socio staff to walk us through every step of the planning and setup process. Even though we were delayed in the timeline they gave us, they still supported us each step of the way. The software is easy to use.

Cons

Our workshop moderators were really nervous about the chat and Q&A feature during sessions. Socio was new to most of our attendees, but we were offered numerous opportunities to practice and become comfortable before our event. Additionally, Socio has not yet integrated Closed Captioning within StreamYard. Due to this we had to use Zoom with CC for some of our larger sessions. Looking forward to that additional feature in the future.

Socio made our move to Virtual a home run!

Our experience with Socio was outstanding! Our attendance increased from 300 to over 500 people, we had excellent engagement in the Chat and the gamification, and our sponsors were as happy as they could be since we could not be in-person. Our big fear was that people would not network, but they did network with each other in Socio!

Pros

Socio had what we needed to upgrade our in-person conference app, then when COVID-19 hit they were there with support, suggestions, and training as we transitioned to fully virtual. Socio was the backbone of our conference, our attendees loved it , the gamification was a hit, and their Orange Glove service helped us make sure the technical portion of our conference ran smoothly. Now they are helping us transition yet again to a Hybrid conference!

Cons

It was difficult to figure out how the in-session streaming would work best, so we wound up using both Streamyard and Zoom. However, Socio has already fixed this "con" by developing an easier way to work streaming/embedding video into sessions.

Awesome app for an audience with high expectations

Our experience with Socio was amazing. It streamlined the event process and experience for us as well as for our attendees. Our audience is comprised of busy executives and tech professionals who are not always easy to please, but the integrations, ease-of-use, and engagement features were a perfect storm that could not have been a better fit.

Pros

Our entire event process was simplified by using Socio. They were able to integrate with our registration system and it worked flawlessly, transferring our attendees from registration to the app while keeping them segmented as we needed. The feature set within the app covered all of our needs. We especially liked the digital guide in combination with the preset agendas - they allowed us to set each attendee's itinerary before they even downloaded the app, while still allowing them to view the entire agenda if they chose to do so. The gamification feature was also a huge hit that pleased our top sponsors and our attendees. What more can you ask for? The ratings, reviews, and surveys in the app provided us with the most comprehensive feedback we have ever received from our event, and on top of that, the feedback was the best yet!

Cons

The process of setting up the Apple Developer account is a bit cumbersome but is seemingly unavoidable in order to have a white label app. Socio has helpful documentation and support for this process but it was still tedious.

A grade above the rest

Pretty superb honestly. I wasn't expecting much from an event management software, but was really (i mean really) appreciative of the customer support, the Live stream features, and the ability to customize everything. The feedback from users was really positive.

Pros

First off, the customer support is truly off the charts. Although there is a ~8 hour time difference between Socio and myself, they were super reactive each time I had a small question. Second, the product works as advertised, and is a great way to avoid zoom fatigue when hosting online events over several days. I particularly appreciated the Streamyard integration, while the gamification process was a massive hit with attendees. RTMP integration was also a great value add. In ~3 days, the platform was fully populated, customized, and ready for our 500+ person event.

Cons

Setting up the various pieces of content (users, speakers, sessions, etc) requires a bit of focus and some manual work, but overall the end result is worth it. One element that attendees mentioned was that the video size relative to the whole window was a bit small, if there was a way to reduce the left-hand side menu and/or chat, without going into full-screen mode, that would be great. Finally, raisin the limit to video sizes would help insulate organizers against internet outages.

Great solution for our event's needs

If you’re going to invest in an event app, Socio should be that investment! Be sure to take advantage of the onboarding meeting that they set up when you first come on as a customer. It was a huge help that set us up for success using the product.

Pros

I loved the customizable aspect of the app. There were so many different things I could do to personalize our app so it would look “on brand” for our event! Socio did a great job creating a workspace that was easy to understand and navigate. Our attendees had a blast using the “Shake to Connect” feature when at the event! The app made it very easy for our attendees connect with each other. Our attendees have expressed how easy it was to download their list of connections after the event was over so they could continue chatting with those they met at the event. The app made it easy for us to notify attendees when something in the schedule changed by sending out a push notification! The customer support we got from the Socio team was also amazing. They were very helpful and had great suggestions regarding how to get the most out of the app!

Cons

The app worked really well so I have nothing to complain about. A lot more people downloaded it than anticipated!

Easy to use!

We loved working with Socio. Our account manager, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN], was excellent at communicating with us and answering questions quickly. Her advice helped us make the experience the best we could and we received a number of compliments on the quality of each event and experience.

Pros

My organization was in need of a virtual platform for two very different events in 2020 - the first was an annual awards celebration and the second was a half day conference with two tracks of content. We found Socio perfect for both uses. The ability to have a custom app design allowed us to craft a perfectly customized experience that felt aligned with the overall quality level the event attendees were used to getting in person. For the half day conference, the agenda feature was KEY to helping us organize attendees and speakers and allowing the attendees to move seamlessly from session to session. The different widgets within each event were great to provide a “program” where we could highlight sponsors, speakers and sessions. It was super intuitive to make changes, and the ability to create hidden tracks that are only visible to certain types of attendees was amazing for test runs leading up to the day of the events.

Cons

Looking back, the major issues that we ran into were instances of user error rather than software errors. We waited a bit too long to take certain steps which caused a time crunch and our attendees did not follow instructions which also led to the need for improvisation.

One of, if not the best, option on the market

Socio was an excellent way to create a virtual event feel like a live event. They put a high priority on networking tools, including all the fun! Our attendees loved the contest and social media aspects. We have had zero issues during our live events, and it has been easy for our attendees to learn how to use the platform and dive right into the content.

Pros

Socio is the perfect hybrid of do-it-yourself, but get as much support as you would like, option out there. It is very easy to build events and they give you all the support you need to be successful. The final result is a highly professional, easy to use, virtual event platform. We received nothing but compliments from our attendees and have done 2 events now with this platform.

Cons

The market demand during this time is driving prices up across all companies who do virtual event platforms. Socio is one of the more reasonably priced when you compare to others for sure, especially if you go with the do-it-yourself approach, but even with that, soon non-profits my size may be priced out if the trend continues.

Worth it!

Exceptional!

Pros

There are probably 25 good to great conference software platforms out there - We picked Socio after having demo's with 4 of the top vendors. There were several reasons why: The support is outstanding, the actual software is intuitive. Easy to move through the different areas.

Cons

There are a few areas in the software that, if I hadn't of had assistance, I would of not known about.

Easy to use behind-the-scenes platform to create something great.

Socio was new for my company and we were given little time to learn and onboard admins and users. Even though we had little time, one of our team members was able to spend enough time and teach me (and share recordings from time with Socio's onboarding team, which was awesome) and because the platform is very easy to use, I was able to learn what I needed to and use the knowledge docs to find answers quickly. Along with that, whenever I had a question, help was just a click away and were enjoyable to work with providing quick answers, tips, and solutions with fun and engaging attitudes.

Pros

I love Socio's ease of use from a backend standpoint. Compared to another company we used in the past for some similar features, Socio's platform was intuitive, fun, and expansive. I was able to accomplish all that I and my design team wanted and the ability to upload content from a spreadsheet was a huge timesaver. This was a great product that allowed me to set up something great for our attendees to experience our event well.

Cons

The thing that was frustrating about the software was during events. Having to navigate between multiple windows / screens to find problems or glitches and then solve them on the backend was a bit cumbersome. I'm not sure how to go about resolving that as the views are quite different, but it was most helpful to have multiple screens to relieve any friction my users experienced.

Socio Events App and Webapp

Overall our client and sponsor experience with the Socio app was excellent. All of the Socio Team are excellent to deal with and they are open to customer feedback to further develop the platform.

Pros

We like the ease of use and customisation that you can get in Socio. Our users liked the straight forward interface that was easy to navigate. Technical support is fast and friendly and Socio have frequent online events to showcase product updates and allow users to share experiences.

Cons

Webapp interface is not as aesthetically pleasing and sponsors area graphics could be larger in this format.

Very highly recommended!

Socio has been fantastic! Their customer service is top notch, they answer emails promptly, and answer the chat within a reasonable time. The back end set up is easy to use and very customizable, our attendees have been very impressed with the app!

Pros

The software is very user friendly and easy to customize

Cons

There were some minor issues in using Zoom with the software but they figured out an easy work around and the users don't notice a difference.

Amazing platform which hosts our customer community and annual conference event!

I love working with the Socio team! They are focused on partnership and support and put the customer first. I really appreciate them always being open to ideas and feedback on their product as well, and taking a human approach to managing their customers.

Pros

I love how easy this product is to use as an admin and an end-user. It was so easy to implement, and the support team and account team was with me every step of the way to help answer any questions. It also provided all of the flexibility we were looking for to brand our experiences.

Cons

I know the team is working on it but would love it if the wall feature could support tagging other members/attendees to help with engagement and various types of media as well on the wall feature.

You should use Socio for your next event!

Pros

The product is easily understandable. It might be because I am a 22 year old with a lot of experience on computers, although the on-boarding videos explain detailed step-by-step processes. I am a great fan of their customer support team as they are always available to answer my questions.

Cons

I was confused as to why we needed to "Publish" the event before creating the checkout forms and promo codes. It felt like I should have to press publish before being completely ready for registrants to register.

Easy to set and to use. Versatile platform

My experience with Socio is great. The support team is always kind and willing to help me. The support through the chat is always quick, and they always give me a reply. The participants of our events have shown satisfaction by attending a virtual event into Socio's platform.

Pros

Socio is a very versatile and intuitive platform. Its features are easily adaptable for different types of events, and its usage is very intuitive. Templates to import information makes my job easier.

Cons

The reports could be more complete, by showing who attend each session or visited each virtual booth, for example.

Great for interactive, engaging virtual and hybrid events

I am really glad I chose Socio as our virtual events platform this year. I've used it for 3 events, and received positive feedback from attendees each time. It made our virtual events feel like actual experiences, which was exactly what we were trying to do.

Pros

The virtual wall, the ability to make networking connections/send messages, plus the event game allowed us to interact and engage with attendees even though our event was virtual. The ability to brand the app by choosing colors, graphics, etc. made it feel like a "virtual venue" that attendees were joining, rather than just a video stream. Event sponsors really appreciated their sponsor profiles where attendees could read about the sponsor, visit their website, and follow up directly with them. The administrator end of the app was super intuitive - setting everything up was very easy. Anytime I had questions Socio's support team could be reached via chat almost immediately, and they were always able to help me out.

Cons

When I initially used the software for events in October of 2020, I had a few technical issues with people not being able to log in to our app, even though they were all set up correctly. However, they must have fixed this bug because when I used the software for an event in December 2020 I had zero issues with that. (Also the Socio support team fixed the issue for each attendee with login issues in October, it was just cumbersome to deal with on event week.)

Socio Review

We are able to really engaged our attendees during our meetings and communicate with them quickly.

Pros

Socio is easy to use and easy to navigate as an attendee. As a developer, it is relatively easy and any additional questions are quickly answered buy the support team. We have only used Socio's mobile app so far but are looking into using the other products they offer.

Cons

I would like some ability to post the web app to our website while still restricting some things. We restrict our mobile app to our attendees but would love to use the web app for our speakers and agenda

Socio's App Platform

Overall, Socio has been the most flexible App platform provider to work within. My Association has a limited budget, and providers must have the ability to adjust services and features to allow my current budgets to be met. I had found Socio to be among the leaders in providing quality and relevant services during the challenging times of 2020 when we had to pivot to online events quickly.

Pros

I love this software because it is easy to use and can easily be customized to fit my Associations needs. The sales team is great. They are thorough, flexible and are willing to work within my budget. The technical support team is phenomenal. They offer what seems like 24-hours customer support service because someone is always available online to assist me our our registrants when needed.

Cons

One feature could be approved upon: the ability to hide items that have been created or copied from another event in the speaker, agenda or sponsor icons/fields so that they can be published when and if needed.

Great Product and Great Service

Socio helped us to convert to a virtual platform using the product our attendees were used to and liked. This meant we were able to continue to hold revenue generating meetings and keep the Association in business and relevant.

Pros

Socio was an incredible asset when we had to convert from live to virtual meetings. They quickly adapted their mobile app to an online platform that was not only easy to use but also to implement/administer. The Socio helpdesk is brilliant! They are quick to respond with user friendly terminology. The platform can be adjusted to highlight what is important to your attendees so you get what YOU want not what the company says you need.

Cons

After 3 meetings on Socio, anything that was a challenge in the beginning has been updated. I don't have any 'cons' or issues with the product.

Five Star Software and Company

We have used this platform to run our conference events, internal team building, and also marketing. We have been extremely pleased with Socio and plan to use the app again at our large conference in 2021.

Pros

I have been using this platform for a few years and had many successful events with it. I have enjoyed watching the new features come online. The team at Socio is top-notch and always willing to assist me in whatever I need. I love that it is reliable, easy to set up and deploy, and affordable.

Cons

I can't really say anything bad about it. The only thing would have been that my registration app was not connected to the Socio app, but they have now released a registration feature so that takes care of duplication.

Excellent and Easy to Use

Overall, I would highly recommend using the socio app for both in person and online events. It is a fabulous one stop landing point to house all important information. It is also extremely convenient for contacting all participants at once and updating ever-changing information like times, links, and room numbers.

Pros

The app was extremely easy to use from the back end. I was able to easily import all event information and apply customizations without prior coding experience. Students also found it easy to use and the agenda feature to be helpful for keeping track of event information. I also liked being able to send out push notifications and schedule announcements. The tech support was also unbeatable!

Cons

I occasionally had a few technical glitches. I wish there was a short demo video to be able to share with participants about how to use the application. I wish there were a few hours of tech support available on the weekends.

Very simple to use platform and Word-class support

It was a brilliant experience. We experience some small bugs but support is given by chat in real-time. It was really world-class support.

Pros

The easy to use and the embedded player can bring a very smooth user experience.

Cons

Statistics are poor (they're currently working on that).

Great UX. Intuitive backend. Responsive customer service.

Overall, this app gets 10 out of 10 for me. If you're looking for a quick way to get your organization up and running with a beautiful and intuitive app, Socio is for you.

Pros

This app looks great! The users of our events loved it. I don't see us ever going back to the way things were ever again. Also very notable is the customer service. The chat feature is amazing! I get answers to my questions within minutes. Everyone is very knowledgeable and very professional.

Cons

It's not really a con for me, but some may find 3 layouts limiting. I prefer to keep things simple and don't mind having the app look the same for every event. I believe this creates familiarity and I always ensure that the icons are customized to the theme of our event for a little flair of customization.

Socio worked well. Great support to fix a bug during our event

Overall was a good experience. The platform worked well and their support team was great.

Pros

It has a simple interface that's easy for anyone to understand and doesn't need a lot of training. The cost was actually fairly reasonable compared to many other virtual event platforms out there. Their support team was quick to act when a bug arose in their system and got it resolved as quick as possible.

Cons

It's missing some features that I have seen in other platforms. There really weren't any analytics for Exhibitors or Sponsors (profile views, document views, other clicks). In addition, we had to use Zoom for most of everything which was a bit of a hassle since it wasn't as seamless with the system as it could be. Nothing for exhibitors to easy video conference with attendees.

Did a great job for our conference

My department at the college was very impressed with Socio, and our attendees raved about it. They were really impressed with the quality of the interface and with the ease of being able to interact with our moderators and presenters.

Pros

Being able to host and manage virtual sessions inside our hosted event was incredible. StreamYard was easy to use. I'm looking forward to seeing the analytics that were generated by the Socio software. Great feature having the sessions be recorded automatically.

Cons

There are a LOT of features in Socio. There were a handful I don't think we got the best use of, but I'm looking forward to learning more for future events.

Great value, great product!

We were thrilled with the value and end-product that we were able to provide our virtual conference attendees with Socio!

Pros

Setting up our virtual conference was easy and intuitive with Socio. Whenever we had questions, they were answered quickly and sent us on the road to success. From an "attendee" standpoint, Socio was seamless, professional, and super user-friendly!

Cons

Our presenters wished that they could see the Polling responses and show them as part of their presentation. Because it was a little awkward for them, some of our presenters decided to go without a Poll.

Socio is all you need

Pros

Socio allowed us to incorporate the organic attendee engagement we have at our live events. Each feature and functionality is very carefully thought out. The support is also unlike anything I've experienced. The team is fun to interact with, quick to respond, and thorough.

Cons

For me, there are just two things that could be improved. Everything else is already being worked on or the improvements have already been rolled out. It'd be nice if the Wall feature populated posts faster. I'm not sure if you can tag people yet, but that would be a great feature to add if it's not there already. Also, for messages, it'd be so much easier if you could type in the person's name instead of scrolling through your connections or going into the attendees feature to find them and message through there.

Fun way to host a virtual event

Pros

This software allowed us to make our virtual event much more interactive. People didn't feel like they were just attending another webinar. It also helped make the event look much more polished and professional. It was great to have one platform to host the entire event along with all the features.

Cons

It is very expensive. I would love to use it for our event in the future, but I don't think the cost is sustainable with the price point we are trying to offer our attendees since most of them are in college.

Great Product, Good Transition to Virtual

The team is really responsive and great to work with. The product is easy to use and navigate.

Pros

We used socio for the event app only (before COVID) and our attendees found the product so easy to use. It was easy to upload our information (as compared to our previous vendor) and the customer service was so helpful when we had a question.

Cons

I can only imagine how hard it must have been to transition a mobile product into a full desktop version. Socio did a great job, but was missing some of the analytics for us. HOWEVER, we just heard they are releasing a new dashboard that has this functionality and we are excited about this

Digital strategist perspective

My experience with Socio was fantastic and I recommend exploring alternative use cases where Social Mobile Event app can be applied outside of the traditional event use case.

Pros

Ease of use which expedited our launch and time to market.

Cons

At the time there was limited analytics but now that's been addressed.

Socio, a User-friendly Event App

As one of the event organizers of the ICAO Global Aviation Training and TRAINAIR PLUS Symposium in Doha, Qatar, the entire process of developing an app for our event went seamlessly, thanks to the team at Socio. They were extremely professional, courteous and always available to support or answer any questions. The app provided a wonderful user experience for our delegates to participate in live polls and Q&As during presentations, connect with other people, and be informed about event logistics. Overall, the feedback from speakers and participants was extremely positive and the functionality and user-friendliness of the Socio app contributed to the success of our event. I would definitely recommend the Socio app for future ICAO events!

Pros

The Socio event app is very user-friendly. The customized features and functionality made it very easy to navigate for a first-time user like myself. The app was well-received by participants, specifically the audience engagement during the live polling and Q&A. They provided exceptional customer service and support! We will definitely work with them again for our next Global Symposium.

Cons

The use of a separate platform to operate the live polling and Q&A seemed confusing at the beginning, but became clear once I got the hang of it.

Great app for internal events

Socio's flexibility and customization make the product work with a lot of different types of events. I was not sold initially on the fit for internal events like ours, but I was completely wrong! Socio has made the sync between our different internal events better than ever before. It has saved us time, money, and resources that even I didn't expect when I decided to use the product.

Pros

Socio was a great fit for our organization's internal events around the world. Our administrators were able to collaborate and share their work to maximize efficiency and compile feedback from our employees. Their admin platform is intuitive and easy to use, and the support was excellent in the times it was needed!

Cons

Nothing! Our experience was extremely stable and any minor confusion was taken care of almost immediately.