With plans to welcome 40,000+ to re:Invent, its flagship user conference, AWS recognized the importance of having a powerful mobile app to engage attendees throughout the event experience. Especially given the increasing size of the event – expanding to 6 venues with hundreds of added sessions – AWS sought to launch a bespoke mobile app showcasing its own technologies that could scale to support this year’s demand.
AWS had countless ideas - and a hard launch deadline to meet - so we started with a requirements gathering session to quickly prioritize features. We decided on a custom mobile app that would serve as attendees’ personal assistant in navigating the event experience. Attendees could use the app before and during re:Invent to browse the session catalog and easily find sessions through filter options. They could also add sessions to their planners and reserve a seat as well as explore the various venues around the re:Invent campus.
During the event, they could also use the app to participate in a campus-wide game and explore just added sessions.
To bring the app to life, we proposed and delivered a custom design and build for iOS and Android. We also recommended a DevOps approach leveraging continuous integration, continuous delivery, and a serverless infrastructure, which we designed.
The design of the app relied heavily on 13+ AWS services, as they would not only provide the scalability and reliability needed but also provide AWS an opportunity to showcase its own technology and drive attendee engagement. Key services used include Amazon API Gateway and AWS Lambda, which supported processing logic. Amazon DynamoDB served as the data store for the in-app game, and Amazon S3 was used to store static content. Amazon Pinpoint enabled push notifications that were sent to various audience segments.
With Mobiquity’s help, AWS successfully launched its custom re:Invent app and engaged attendees before and during the event. Now that AWS owns the code – and its experience – it can use the app as a foundation for building upon, expanding and enhancing it in future years to meet its ever-changing needs.
