Meet Ella, she’s a happy, motivated event manager. Her company organises over 30 large conferences and exhibitions every year. A lot of these are annual, but many are one off events. Either way, Ella is able to organise them with ease, control and efficiency.
Ella’s company recently installed evocos event software to help manage their events. evocos lets them create branded microsites or web pages to take bookings and payment online (via a secure payment portal). These come with custom forms so Ella can make sure she requests all the information she needs from delegates, which often changes from event to event. She is able to select a targeted list of delegates from her CRM system and can send a branded, personalised email invitation to them. evocos also sends out automatic email reminders, confirmations and event updates (saving Ella huge amounts of time!). Delegates can click on a link on the email which takes them to the microsite or webpage. Since evocos is integrated with Ella’s CRM and finance system, their CRM record is automatically updated when they register, and the finance system is automatically updated to recognise that payment has been made – receipts (or invoices if required) are automatically sent out (saving both Ella and the finance department huge amounts of time!).
For certain events, Ella can create a delegate self service portal – this means that delegates can log in and manage their own profile – updating their own contact details, event requirements and more. This saves Ella a huge amount of time, and provides additional value to her delegates. They can specify how they’d like to receive their event communication, can request to attend certain presentations, and can also make event related purchases online. Since this portal is online, they can access this 24/7 from any location.
Ella doesn’t need to rely on spreadsheets to manage her events. All the information is automatically populated in evocos. The Resource Management module lets her control everything from the venue booking, supplier management, equipment and more. She can even give access to her suppliers and sponsors so they can log in and view information that pertains to them (such as delegate numbers and their dietary requirements). This cuts the amount of communication Ella needs to make to her suppliers, and vastly reduces the amount of mistakes made. Speakers and presenters can also log in and upload their presentations, abstracts and bios. Having all this information in one area makes it a lot easier to manage and control.
Ella’s company is planning to organise a large conference where they will match up suppliers and delegates for custom 1-2-1 meetings. There will be hundreds of individual meetings and Ella needs to match these up and allocate meeting rooms/spaces. The suppliers can add weightings to their delegate choices, and Ella needs to make sure the Gold suppliers receive all their top three meeting requests. There’s a lot to take into account and this is something that could take a lot of time and effort.
However, since Ella uses evocos, she isn’t worried! She can select the suppliers and delegates from the evocos database (or from her CRM), can add the rules she needs to adhere to (such as the Gold supplier meeting getting priority), add her meeting rooms/spaces and click ‘Go’. Five minutes later she’s presented with a list of meetings. She can manually override certain meetings if she wants – changing their times and locations, or if she’s not happy with this first version, she can save it, and run evocos another time. If she prefers the second version of meeting she can save and select this one. Alternatively version 1 is still available if she wants.
As the event is drawing closer, Ella decides to print off the delegate badges. She’s also going to add barcodes so that can track delegates on the day with ease. She goes to the Badge & Barcode module in evocos, selects the event she’s working on and processes and prints the badges. Since evocos is an online solution, she can also access this module on the day and print of the badges at the event if she needs.
During the event, Ella can access all of the information relating to her event. In the run up to the event, she’s been communicating with delegates via social networking sites. She set up a dedicated Twitter and Facebook account and has been updating delegates with event information via that. Using evocos, she can access and update all her social accounts from one central platform. On the day of the event, she’s been using it to communicate last minute changes, popular presentation topics and more. She’s been getting lots of direct messages from delegates at the event and she’s able to respond to all of these using evocos.
Once the event is over, evocos automatically sends out a delegate survey. This email directs people to an online survey form, which is linked to evocos. Ella waits for her delegates to complete these and then runs a set of standard reports to help her understand the performance of her event. At a click of a mouse she can drill down to the detail she needs and can pass this information onto senior management. If needed, she can create bespoke reports – not all her events are the same and sometimes she need to understand a particular occurrence or trend.
Since a lot of the tedious, manual tasks are now automated and managed by evocos, Ella is able to focus on more strategic tasks. She’s been able to identify how they could improve their events to provide more value to delegates. She’s also been able to negotiate better supplier contracts, saving the company vast sums each year. They’ve seen a steady increase in delegate attendance, and they’re getting more repeat business than ever.
Ella is a motivated, happy event manager. Her company is thriving, even though many in their industry are struggling. The evocos event software solution has already paid for itself many times over, and they have extensive growth plans for the future. With the improved visibility, control and efficiency they’re able to understand where their company should expand and how it can make its move to greater market share.
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