The challenge: ConSozial is much more than just a trade fair
ConSozial is organised by the Bavarian State Ministry for Family Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs, while NürnbergMesse GmbH keeps an eye on the actual trade fair events and takes care of the organisation and programme together with the Landes-Caritasverband Bayern e.V. (Bavarian Caritas Association).
And this is quite complex: while the planning process for a single trade fair already involves a long list of tasks, ConSozial is on a level of difficulty that is quite a bit higher. In addition to the trade fair, the ConSozial Congress, the KITA Congress and the Management Symposium also take place every year.
Over the years, ConSozial has thus earned a strong reputation, attracting more than 4,800 visitors annually. With expectations higher than ever, the organizing team was determined not only to maintain the status as the leading event in the social sector but also to streamline operations eliminating inefficiencies before the next edition.
Photo: ©NürnbergMesse / Heiko Stahl
The previous solution could not cover all tasks
The procedure for evaluating the submitted papers was a particular source of dissatisfaction. There was no central location where all information on topics, speakers and reviewers could be gathered.
The time the team needed to review the submissions was missing which became obvious when it came to finalizing the program and getting an overview.
These were good reasons for parting ways with the internal solution previously used at ConSozial for the first time and starting a test run with Converia instead.
A step-by-step approach
For ConSozial 2023, NürnbergMesse GmbH initially used Converia to optimize the laborious evaluation process.
Everything before that remained unchanged for the time being: From December 2022, authors were able to submit their papers for 2023 via an online form. After importing them into Converia, the organization team used the new software for the first time.
The congress organizers first reviewed the approximately 180 submissions and assigned each paper to one of the nine working groups that had previously been set up in Converia. Next, these groups looked at the contributions in their topic area individually and reviewed the content. This also took place entirely in Converia, where the team maintained an overview at all times: Who was responsible for which papers? Which reviews were still missing?
Once all papers had been reviewed, the final vote took place between the head of the program committee and the heads of the working groups. Together, they decided which of the accepted submissions should be included in the program.
It was also helpful when compiling the program that each speaker was able to independently fill out their own speaker profile in Converia. ConSozial determined in advance what data they needed for the profiles. The speakers provided this by uploading a photo of themselves in Converia and adding a CV – another time-saving innovation in the process.
Help getting started from Converia
With such far-reaching changes to the usual processes, the organization team naturally wanted to make sure that everything worked. For the software debut, Converia therefore also took care of the system setup. NürnbergMesse GmbH was thus able to start working with Converia straight away without having to deal with the configuration settings.
To make the team’s work even easier, Converia’s support team also answered all questions related to the software by phone and email.
This paid off. In addition to another successful ConSozial, NürnbergMesse GmbH was also pleased with the success of its contribution management and streamlined processes. Event manager Beate Fischer sums it up like this:
“Since this year, we have been using Converia for the organization of our congress at the ConSozial trade fair. Converia has made the entire congress organization, including the submission of contributions, much easier. Thanks to the user-friendly interface and customization options, we can seamlessly manage all aspects of our congress. Converia enables us to implement quickly and plan efficiently. A software solution that we enjoy working with.”
ConSozial 2024: It will be even more seamless
Converia will be back for the next ConSozial. Because the kick-off went so well, the software will even be able to support the congress organizers with a further step: The Converia team has registered an own domain people will use to submit their papers directly with the help of Converia. This means that the online form previously used is no longer necessary. The to-do list is even shorter, as the submissions are already in the Converia system, so there is no longer any need to import them. After the submission deadline, the team can go straight to the review stage.
When the review is done, the Converia support team imports the accepted papers as blocks into the program plan, saving NürnbergMesse GmbH further working hours.
As some of the data from the previous year stay the same, ConSozial 2024 doesn’t have to be completely set up again in Converia. For example, the topic areas are taken directly from the previous year when the new event is created. If new topics are added, the team can enter them in Converia. This proves: The longer event organizers work with Converia, the less effort is required.
The example of ConSozial shows very well how Converia can help the organization team with further tasks since the initial test proved to be a success. The approach was exactly right because it gave the team the opportunity to get to know the software without having to change all processes immediately.