.png)
DAKON 2026
How BNI switched providers for DAKON 2026 and brought a networking community together in its own app.
Kunde:
BNI: DAKON
Event:
Speed dating
Ausrichtung:
DACH
Häufigkeit:
Once a year
Lösungen:
- 1,560 registrations
- 36,654 chats exchanged
- 2,546 scheduled 1:1 meetings
- 62 sessions with 26 speakers
Starting point
A conference by networkers for networkers
BNI is an international business network in which entrepreneurs refer business to one another. With DAKON, BNI brings its community from Germany and Austria together once a year, as one of the top addresses for professional networking in both countries. On 12 and 13 June 2026, around 1,500 networkers came to Mainz, with speakers including Mary Kennedy Thompson, CEO of BNI Global. Anyone who attends wants one thing above all: to meet the right people.
For the 2026 edition, BNI decided to make a change. The previous networking provider was replaced by talque, with a branded app of its own.
Challenge
Networking is not an add-on here, it is the core
At a conference for entrepreneurs, networking decides whether the event succeeds. The matchmaking had to fit, meetings had to be easy to arrange and the meeting points on site had to be clearly organised.
On top of that came clear requirements from the organisers: participant data from their own participant management system had to be imported, groups had to be reachable with targeted push notifications, and all of it in an app with BNI's own look. At the same time, a very small team looked after the content largely on its own.
The goals:
- Bring the right people together through matchmaking
- Make 1:1 meetings easy to plan, with fixed meeting points on site
- Reach participant groups with targeted push notifications
- Offer an app in BNI's own look
- Import participant data from the organiser's own system
Solution
A branded app, targeted matchmaking and meetings in 15-minute slots
Branded app
DAKON got its own app in BNI's look. The app and the web platform can be styled independently of each other.
Matchmaking that works on a smartphone
A few clearly worded questions instead of endless lists. The suggestions of who is worth talking to are based on them. Meetings are set to 15 minutes, and dedicated networking areas with fixed capacities were set up as meeting points on site.
Targeted communication
Participants were assigned to private groups, such as the roughly 700 guests at the evening event. This way, push notifications reached exactly the people they were meant for. Participant data was imported from the organiser's own system.
Results
A community that really uses the app
1,560 people were registered for DAKON 2026. Together they exchanged 36,654 chats and scheduled 2,546 1:1 meetings. That works out at more than 23 chats and over one and a half meetings per registered person.
The programme ran on the platform, too: 62 sessions with 26 speakers were available in the app.
Why talque
When networking takes centre stage, you need the right platform
We are already looking forward to the next DAKON, this time in Berlin.
- For organisers of networking events: Matchmaking and meetings that people actually use, instead of a list of participants.
- For small teams: A platform that is easy to maintain and appears under your own brand.
- For participants: The right message and the right conversation at the right time.
Planning an event where encounters take centre stage? Let's talk.
