1. Verify the Support Team’s Reliability
Imagine the following scenario: It’s the evening before your event and you’ve got an urgent question. Now it’s crucial to know if there’s any competent contact person to quickly turn to – even on a Friday night at 10 pm.
Some companies that offer event management software only consist of one or two people. If that’s the case, the service potential often is limited which means a competent replacement is hardly available due to illness, vacation or a heavy workload.
2. Always ensure to manage all Data in your Event Management Software
Sometimes conference organizers choose to use a different software for the attendees’ registration than for managing paper submissions. Maybe there’s even a third software for mailings while time scheduling is done with a spreadsheet program.
However a lot of conference organizers quickly regret their decision to do so. Why?
Whether authors, attendees, reviewers or email recipients – in the end, your work revolves around the same people, as most authors and reviewers are also attendees. So if you’re using 4 different kinds of event management software for different tasks, it’s highly likely that you have to edit the same personal details 4 times.
In addition to that, answering questions like “Which authors that were accepted after reviewing have yet to pay?” may prove difficult when the required data are dispersed among different event management software applications.
Therefore: Try to find one event management software that covers your complete workflow.
3. Define your Requirements for the Event Management Software early on
Do you have complex conditions for cancellation, intricately structured offers or a special reviewing procedure for abstracts? Try to formulate them as early as possible and bring them into agreement with eligible providers.
This allows you and your team to become aware of all pending questions. Then you can start to specifically look for event management systems that meet your requirements as accurately as possible.
4. Ask for an in-depth Preliminary Talk, preferably on-site
Examine eligible event management software providers thoroughly by trying to find an answer for the following questions:
- What experience does the provider have in regards to similar events?
- Do they cater to your needs and requirements?
- Does the provider strike you as serious and reliable?
5. Consider whether the Event Management Software should operate In-House or as an External Service (SaaS/ASP)
Many event management systems are saving your conference data only at the provider’s location which means you don’t have any full and direct access to the entire data pool.
Check with your organization’s privacy policy if this storage method of personal data is legitimate.
Other event management software providers issue invoices for your attendees and distribute the collected fees to you after having deducted their commission.
Possibly there are internal guidelines to prohibit that as well.
6. Make sure if other Software Systems should be connected to the Event Management Software
Few event management software providers offer the possibility of further individual development or a connection to external software. If you like to connect existing in-house address management systems, it’s important to be aware of existing interfaces as well as the expandability of the event management software you want to use.
7. Do you like to use the Event Management Software for a single Conference, a Conference Series or many different Conferences?
Most kinds of event management software will charge you with usage-based fees, for instance per attendee, per event or based on the duration.
If you’d like to organize several events and want to use one event management software, choose a system that offers licenses for you to purchase. That comes in handy: You’ll only pay a one-off license fee and are able to use the event management system for as many events as you like!
8. Internet Connection is essential
Imagine you have to type out every single email or fax registration you receive. Every attendee also gets an email from you in which you confirm the registration. If you’re planning a medium-sized conference, you’ll need an employee in order to fulfill these tasks.
An online event management software contributes to reducing the effort to a minimum. Online registration and online paper submission save you and your attendees a lot of work.
9. Don’t let Money be the deciding Factor
Good service isn’t free. Your attendees will get over a slightly increased participation fee that helps you to cover the extra costs that come with a good software. In fact, they’ll get over that a lot easier than over glitches, delays, and communicating in a non-professional way.
We are happy to help you and can also check if Converia could be a suitable software for your next conference. Just get in touch with us.