Maximise Potential & Lower Costs
In today’s world, you can position yourself in front of a wider audience and uncover critical data that enables you to understand and target your ideal customer. This is where the uber-rich qualities of conference management software rise to the surface.
Moreover, event management software and automated solutions eliminate unnecessary costs and time-consuming admin duties associated with organising, planning and managing events using old-school methods. Conference management software conveniently pulls everything into a single source and automates processes that would otherwise erode your ROI.
That said, not all conference management software platforms are made equal. Some event planning tools are only designed to distribute tickets and register sales. People expect more these days. They demand an end-to-end experience. If you don’t have an Event Management System (EMS) that can simplify event planning, automate ticket distribution and messaging, deliver reporting, and manage and track participants, you are paying for software that is not maximising your potential or lowering your costs of hosting a successful event.
More Than Just Registration
Thanks to mobile technologies and wifi-connectivity, the registration process is automated and can be conducted anywhere. Interested parties can buy event tickets at a time that is most convenient for them – whilst commuting, sipping on a coffee, or watching TV. Selling tickets online is really the only way to go these days.
You probably know from experience how delighted your delegates were the first time they did not have to attend your ticket office during lunch hour or call a hotline to request a refund in the case of a cancellation. Digital QR codes and e-tickets are sent directly to a delegate’s mobile device offer convenience and easy access.
From the perspective of an event organiser, event management software provides you with a ready-made list of delegates without you having to lift a pen or constantly check on their status. “Thank you emails” with pre-arrival instructions and information are sent automatically, based on your preferred time schedule or after the delegate completes a certain action. All without you even having to open your email account.
Attendee Tracking And Participant Management
Do not underestimate Event Management Systems with a built-in attendee tracker. It does not only enable you to quickly identify individuals in your system, but it also automatically stores all relevant data about them prior, during and after the event. Whilst this may initially sound like a draconian “big brother” solution, participant management is designed to help event organisers manage events and their delegates more smoothly. Imagine you are hosting a multi-day conference and you want to send out surveys to the people who have joined certain sessions. Participant management allows you to see which sessions they signed up for.
Through lead retrieval you keep track of who actually attended on the day, if there were any unexpected walk-in’s, and which part of your audience sat through the whole session. Lead retrieval can be done through a simple check-in app on your device by scanning your participants’ badges. You can send delegates reminder notifications about bookmarked sessions that are starting, check session popularity, identify no-shows, and automatically send out the right survey to the right person.
For general events, readable QR codes and check-in apps help to speed up the entry process and confirm whether the ticket is valid or fake. But with Covid-19 having a huge impact on capacity and venue planning, it’s increasingly important to have a 360 degree overview of who is present and how many attendees are still expected. Participant management and lead retrieval are purpose-designed for smart information sharing and protecting the safety and interests of delegates.
Read More: Participant Management
Scalable Solutions Capitalise Event Revenue
If you are investing in an event, a flexible EMS tool is critical to ensure you can capitalise on revenue opportunities. One of the key benefits of conference planning software is the amount of valuable customer data you can collect.
When delegates register for an event they are usually asked to enter a telephone number, email address or both. Modern conference management software makes it extremely easy to include any type of additional details such as age, travel information, dinner preferences and other information that is relevant to building a customer profile. This data is crucial for improving the promotion of future events, distributing newsletters and delivery of the right collateral or services. A flexible EMS also helps you to adhere to relevant email marketing laws in the jurisdiction of the customer.
At the actual event, EMS technologies can also be integrated with Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology which enables delegates to make cashless payments directly from their mobile devices. All in-event purchases will be recorded in the software and will help you build stronger customer profiles and targeted email lists. Apart from this, it gives you a highly accurate participant ROI, which leads us to the next paragraph.
Tracking Event ROI
Conference management software is designed to save conference organisers and event planners significant cost that boosts their event ROI. In the initial stages, these cost-savings are earned through online ticketing, registering and email confirmation, which after the initial set-up is all automated. And you’re not only saving costs on administration duties here either. There are no costs for printing paper tickets, or employee wages to handle sales and accounting costs for calculating revenue and expenditure.
An Event Management Solutions should allow you to create detailed reports in just a few clicks. Choose to analyse your overall Event ROI, the return on investment for each participant, analytics per event-, or participant type or marketing campaign. You can even track the number of tickets sold per day and popular purchasing times. This data helps you determine whether you need to open more marketing channels or when to push the event through your existing networks again. By tracking this, you gather valuable data to tweak your advertising strategy.
In addition, integrating event software gives you the opportunity to gauge the thoughts and reactions of your attendees. Emailing a survey, a special requests list or even an NPS enthusiasm index, shows participants that you care about their thoughts and wellbeing, that they will be well catered for, and it stokes their excitement prior to the event.
Drive Conference Communication And Event Growth
For companies who rely on conferences as their flagship event, conference management software is essential for achieving their business growth strategy.
Conference Management Software is critical to your internal marketing and sales teams as a driver for communication and cost-saving solutions. In addition you gain access to top-level data, which enables decision-makers to devise informed and calculated strategies.
Which Conference Management Software Is Right For You?
The benefits offered by conference management software outlined above are clear, but these promises are only telling when the benefits outweigh the cost of the purchasing the licence. To calculate this, you should take into account the perceived expectations of your attendees.
How do you intend to use the information you receive from delegates? Are the estimated cost margins you save by eliminating traditional methods justifiable? Are your competitors enhancing the customer experience by leveraging additional EMS tools?
It’s worth bearing in mind that there is a pressing need for companies to become more adept when organising and managing events. Especially looking at event success measurement. Investing in conference management software may be a simple decision for most event organisers. But the real difficulty lies in choosing the right platform for your team and business goals.
Some conference management software serves as a comprehensive toolkit for events of all sizes. Others are limited to relatively small events whilst a handful are more suitable for corporate events and large-scale conferences or seminars, expecting thousands of delegates.
Platform Sourcing Checklist:
Conference Management Solutions consisting of an advanced and robust tool stack hold amazing potential to surpass customer expectations. It has got everything to enhance your current and future marketing efforts and cultivate your event ROI. With this simple checklist you decide which tools you need to deliver holistic solutions from the planning stage, to the execution and event reporting.
- Write down your most time-consuming processes
- Write down your most repeated / mundane tasks
- Estimate how much time you can potentially save
- Sketch your preferred workflows for your ideal event plan
- Compare your foolproof plan to your current setup
- Identify the needed improvements in your current setup
- Compile a list of must-have and nice-to-have features and automations
- Translate this into a clear requirement list
- Calculate your preferred-, and maximum investment
- Send your list to a selection of potential vendors
- Have you taken all the steps above and are you ready to talk to one of our sales consultants? Azavista is ready to skyrocket your event planning and tell you all about our all-in-one software platform.