If you're headed to CPAC this year, you might want to download this iPhone app when it's available. Here is a detailed overview of the application provided by the Raise Digital team...

Raise Digital and Purple Forge Announce CPAC iPhone Application

RaiseDigital is proud to sponsor the official iPhone application for CPAC 2010. In a partnership with PurpleForge, RaiseDigital has developed an iPhone application to allow attendees of the CPAC conference to stay up to date with the latest CPAC related photos, videos, news and events from the leading smartphone platform. The application is currently being reviewed by the iTunes store, and will be released before the conference.

The Application

The iPhone application is designed to fit the needs of CPAC attendees. From providing a list of events and sponsors to providing an in-app map of the conference location, the application offers an interactive experience to the conference attendees like none other.

The front page of the application also offers sponsors the opportunity to advertise their booth and location to application users. CPAC sponsors interested in buying advertisement in this space can contact us at cpac@raisedigital.com for more information.

Events List

One of the most important things for a conference is that everything happens on time. With an events schedule immediately available to attendees from their mobile devices, events are more likely to run smoothly and on time. This will significantly improve the experience for all attendees at CPAC.

The CPAC iPhone app has a live schedule of the conference events, which is featured on the home page of the application. The events will be run on an RSS feed, so changes can be made in real time and can be pushed to the users. The events list includes the locations, times and speakers for each of the events in CPAC and will be updated to reflect changes in the schedule.

The application will also allow you to add events to a Gmail calendar.

Twitter

CPAC has a strong following on Twitter, and many people enjoy tweeting from their mobile devices during the conference. One thing we wanted to do with an iPhone application was to provide an opportunity to combine the popularity of Twitter with a single location to bring it all together.

The CPAC 2010 iPhone application has a built-in Twitter function, which allows attendees to keep up with the latest Twitter trends on CPAC from a stream within the CPAC application. Users can search popular hashtags (such as #CPAC10) and see what people are saying about the conference. Also, through logging into their Twitter accounts, users can retweet other user’s tweets, reply to them, and even update their statuses with the latest news from within the application.

Map of the Conference

A common negative experience at a conference is getting lost, not knowing where to find one’s next session, or trying to find where that booth was where they wanted to meet up with a friend. This is especially important this year as CPAC has moved locations!

The CPAC app will provide users with a map of the conference area, complete with booth locations and conference locations. Navigation of the map is easy as pinch to zoom in and un-pinch to zoom out- this intuitive design allows users to quickly identify their locations and their destination. This inclusion should help significantly improve the user experience at CPAC.

Survey

Gone are the days of the sheets attendees are asked constantly to fill out- we’ve entered a new digital age, and many people already have access to their mobile phones on a constant basis, even tweeting about their experience while in the session.

We’ve taken that idea and applied it to a function within the application- instead of filling out a survey on paper, users can now fill out a survey directly from within the application while they are still in the session. Not only does this increase the chances users will provide feedback for the conference, but it brings feedback for the conference into the 21st century.

Videos and Photo

One of the most interactive parts of any conference is the pictures and videos people take while they attend- of themselves, speakers and their friends. One need we saw when developing this application was a place where users could see their content featured as well as see what other people are posting.

From within the application, users can see videos and photos from CPAC events, see interviews and more related to the event in real time. As users submit new photos and videos, their content can be seen from Flickr and YouTube and streamed to their mobile devices.

We can’t wait for the application to go live and get your feedback! Look for it soon on the iTunes Application Store.

You can view a slideshare presentation outlining all of these features in Raise Digital's full review online.

The Haiti Foundation

Justin Hart's Raise Digital team took a short break as a team yesterday to help put together some online capabilities for a legit Haiti non-profit charity struggling to get information out about the Haiti disaster.

Here's the website:
http://haitifoundation.com/

They are looking to raise $225,000 to get a hospital unit built in Haiti in the next two weeks. Can you help push them over the top?

Healing Haiti

International relief efforts are underway in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, after yesterday's devastating magnitude 7 earthquake. The atmosphere at Twitter HQ is heavy today and based on the Trending Topics an overwhelming number of Twitter users feel the same.

Easy Ways To Help:
Many of us are wondering how we can contribute to the healing process. A few simple but effective ways to help have emerged.

The Capitol Hill Twitterverse

It may have been sort of a counterintuitive thought at one time, but it’s become pretty well-established that Republicans on Capitol Hill have embraced Twitter more than Democrats.

But just how much congressional Republicans are out-Tweeting the Democrats may be a bit of a surprise. According to a new study from the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, House Republicans have pecked away on Twitter more than five times more frequently than their Democratic counterparts — sending out 29,162 tweets all told through Jan. 3, compared to 5,503 for Democrats.

Social Media Secrets and Resources Revealed

Presentation company Slideshare recently released its list of "5 Social Media Secrets for 2010". While these secrets certainly sound like great suggestions, we thought we'd connect them to some concrete tactics and resources that you can use to improve your social media strategy.

Texting: It's Not Just For Children Anymore

MediaOnline reports: The stereotypes of the teenager whose thumbs are surgically attached to his or her mobile device and the older parent who sees the same as a phone without wires are, like most stereotypes, not entirely inaccurate -- but also not very reliable either.

According to new research by mobile messaging company Tekelec, 60% of those over 45 were found to be just as likely to use SMS as they were to make voice calls from their mobile device. The survey of 500 people in North America and Europe also found that text messaging is gaining on email as the preferred means of daily international communication, with 32% of responses across all ages preferring SMS, compared to 33% for email. And nearly a third of respondents said their use of SMS would increase in 2010.

11 Mindblowing Reasons your Business Needs Facebook

Everyone seems to be using Facebook to connect with old friends, but do you realize what this huge network could mean for your business? In the past 3 years, Facebook has surged past MySpace to become our preferred online hangout.  And businesses are beginning to catch on.

Interesting research shows just how influential Facebook has become in our daily lives. Combined with several critical adjustments to how Facebook publishes “news” and intersects with other sites, the state of Facebook is mind-blowing. And that’s a big deal for your business.

Here are 11 vital reasons your business needs to be involved with Facebook...