Does your conference have an app?

I'm about to head off for a national conference, and this particular conference (which heavily involves technology) has released a conference app for iOS.  It got me to thinking why more of our large librarian conferences don't do this.  Here are some of the typical things the app could do:

The app would provide a way to set a personal schedule, allowing one to add events (lectures, meetings, special events) from a list.  Because most of the conferences I attend don't have this, I use TripIt instead.

The app would provide maps of the conference venue and more specifically its exhibitor hall.

The app would provide a calendar of all events (imagine not having to lug around a large book with all of this info), and clicking on an icon next to the event would add it to the personal calendar.  The event list, of course, would be searchable.

The app would provide an alphabetical list of speakers together with the events they are speaking at, a bio, and a head-shot photo.  Clicking on the event would take one to more details on the event (and again, allow one to add it to the personal calendar).

The app would allow one to make notes on each event and to rate it after the fact, providing instant feedback to conference organizers.

The app would provide general information about the conference (not unlike all that front matter in our typical printed conference books). The app would also provide news and updates during the conference (not unlike those daily newspapers we get at some national conferences). 

The app would provide access to searching social media for mentions of the conference (probably using the official conference hashtag).

The app would facilitate making contact with others at the same conference using the same app.

Did I leave anything important out?

Best Timer: It's About Time, It's About ... Focus

I've recently begun reading Clay Johnson's new book, The Information Diet.  Johnson addresses that problem that we all face, namely, our tendency to interrupt ourselves far too often in order to look at email.  He believes that we aren't focusing on the things we need to be focusing on.  If he's right, then we might want to follow his prescription for increasing our ability to focus on the task at hand.

Johnson suggests starting with a timer set for 5 minutes (working on something other than email).  When I thought I would try out Johnson's idea, I realized that I didn't have a good timer that would always be with me.  So I looked around and discovered Best Timer, an iOS app from Smartphoneware.  It's inexpensive, it has a great design, and it does the basic timing functions.  The main screen is a clock, and you can choose from turquoise or red (or spend a little extra to get green, amber, or pink).  You can have your timer look like an hourglass with falling sand, a circular timer, a simple countdown timer, or a stopwatch. 

The alarm itself can be set for a number of pleasing or interesting sounds, with a range of musical types from techno to jazz to heavy metal to acoustic guitar to...well, you get the idea.  By choosing the right sound (and keeping the volume down), you're unlikely to bother your colleagues too much.

Does it work?  Well, I'll let you know as soon as I tend to this backlog of email.