ShowSDRGuide
How do you message attendees on Whova?
Whova gives every attendee a directory and one to one messaging. Open a profile, tap Message, and the thread exists immediately; no connection request is needed. That makes it the easiest conference app for pre show outreach, and the easiest to overdo: on the two days we sent 149 and 137 messages, 97 came back marked "Failed to send, touch to retry" under our own bubble, with no warning anywhere else.
What can an exhibitor do inside Whova?
- Attendee directory. Name, title, company, and whatever the attendee filled in. It opens weeks before the show and grows until the show ends (371 to 818 people in eleven days at Contact.io 2026).
- Direct messages. One to one threads from any profile. Whova offers message templates; do not use them, the template reply rate was half the custom rate.
- Meeting scheduler. The in app "Book a Meeting" offers on site slots during show days. Useful once you are talking; useless as a first touch.
- Exhibitor messages and Outreach Campaigns. A broadcast channel from the exhibitor profile, and, in Whova's newer exhibitor tools, an official "Outreach Campaign" feature that lets exhibitors send templated messages to attendee segments (see Whova's exhibitor help center). Broadcasts landed in system threads, not replies, in our campaign; a one to one message written for the person is what got answered.
- Web version. Whova's web app is available around the event dates and shows the same directory and threads.
What reply rate should you expect?
26% of attendees replied to a pre show cold message (139 of 543); 68 asked for a meeting and 15 agreed. Attendees are slow: the median first reply took 2.9 days and 48% arrived after three days. Do not judge a message in 24 hours.
What is Whova's sending limit?
Whova never displayed a rate limit. Instead, above roughly 80 to 140 direct messages per account per day, messages started failing silently. 117 of 598 people (20%) never received the message the send log recorded, and their reply rate was 6% against 30% for everyone else. Two rules follow: keep to a human pace across the whole pre show window, and read the thread after each send to confirm the bubble has no failure marker.
How should you keep track?
The chat list shows only the last message per thread, so a thread where the attendee replied and you never answered looks the same as one you finished. At freeze, 89 of 181 active threads in our campaign ended on the attendee's unanswered message. Track who wrote last per thread and answer within hours; conversations answered within 6 hours continued 67% of the time.
Does automation violate Whova's terms?
Whova's terms restrict some automated use. ShowSDR operates on the exhibitor's own account with their authorisation, at a human cadence, and says so before a campaign starts. Whether that is acceptable for your company is a decision to make knowingly, not one to discover later.
Questions
Can exhibitors message any attendee on Whova?
Yes. Any attendee with a profile in the directory can receive a direct message; there is no connection request step.
How many messages can you send on Whova per day?
There is no published limit. In our 2026 campaign messages began failing silently above roughly 80 to 140 per account per day. Stay well under that and verify each send inside the thread.
Do Whova message templates work?
Poorly. Template messages kept 24% of conversations going; replies written for the person kept 52%.
Does ShowSDR work with Whova?
Yes. Whova is one of the two conference apps ShowSDR runs on today, from the client's own account, with every send verified inside the thread.
Source: ShowSDR campaign ledgers, Contact.io 2026 (Whova, Denver, August 23 to 25) and Affiliate World Americas 2026 (iStack, Cancún, September 7 to 8), reconciled against the apps' own thread history after each campaign. Full tables and method: Conference outreach benchmarks 2026. Last reviewed 20 September 2026.