Case study: VII ABSL Conference
7th ABSL Conference, Katowice, 2016. It was a huge international event attended by nearly 1,000 attendees and accompanied by sky-high expectations. How did we handle such an event?
7th ABSL Conference, Katowice, 2016. It was a huge international event attended by nearly 1,000 attendees and accompanied by sky-high expectations. How did we handle such an event?
Before answering the question above, let's take a closer look at a very basic aspect – the profile of the organizer. The ABSL acronym stands for the Association of Business Service Leaders in Poland. It is a leading industry organization representing the sector of modern services for Polish businesses.
Currently, ABSL is a union of 170 global investors, including Accenture, Arvato Services, Capgemini, Carlsberg, Geoban, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Infosys, JLL, Luxoft, MAN, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Shell, Sony, Thomson Reuters, UBS, and Xerox.
You will find information about ABSL here: absl.pl.
Choosing CONREGO software was not a coincidence. Our cooperation with ABSL started in 2013, when we worked on the 4th edition of the conference, and it has lasted to this very day. However, it has never before been done on such a big scale. In 2016, for the very first time in our history, we implemented the system on a global scale:
CONREGO system was implemented to support the 7th ABSL Conference in its entirety. Needless to say, it was a big challenge for us. And there was no room for even the slightest of mistakes.
How did we approach the challenge? We used the same strategy as always. The first step when handling an event with CONREGO event management software is activating the module responsible for attendee registration. The level of automation offered by the software makes our work efficient from the very start. The software has many advantages but the fact that the system sets a path along which we move is certainly its supreme advantage that cannot be overestimated. In other words, it becomes a template that we apply to a particular event. This way, even the people who are not familiar with the art of organizing events can rest assured that they will know what to do.
As for the 7th ABSL Conference, we assisted in handling the event that was – in fact – organized with the system. Our efforts were appreciated with the words that every organizer would love to hear. But let us not be too hasty!
The registration process was divided into two segments: paid and free. And since the system supports discounts, accompanying events, and booking accommodation, they were quickly included in the event in a fast and efficient manner. This way, each attendee is just a few clicks away from choosing the appropriate price option, additional events, and also a place to stay. When registration was complete, it was automatically confirmed by a message. The first phase was carried out smoothly and as planned. However, that was just the beginning.
Each event organizer knows that communication is extremely important in the process of organizing a conference. That is one of the most important aspects, which takes place long before the event actually starts. We used CONREGO to send mailings and text messages to registered attendees. With that module, we knew there would be no surprises in store for us. We sent to each attendee a message containing essential information, and if they had any doubts or questions – we had an information center ready to assist them. We left nothing to chance. Phase two was a total success.
There was little time left before the start of the 7th ABSL Conference. The atmosphere of excitement and anticipation clearly affected us, and we considered ourselves veterans of event organisation, after all. As assistants to that unique conference, we still had many things to do. Nothing escaped our control, though. Our software created personalized tickets and sent them to attendees, as it supports barcodes and QR codes by default. Thanks to that simple and at the same time very efficient solution, attendee check-in was much faster than it would have been if we employed manual data verification.
What’s important, the system also made it possible to create ID badges that we could use to provide additional information, including the name of the company each attendee represented. CONREGO created reports at all phases of the registration process, strictly following the criteria required by organizers. Again, there was nothing that took us by surprise. CONREGO did its job with flying colors. But that was not the end of our work.
The long-awaited conference finally started. Everybody was more than ready. All reception desks were handled by hostesses trained by the CONREGO team. Attendees were checked in with lightning speed by scanning QR codes, and the system automatically reported that a particular person attended the event.
The module used for controlling access to selected events was another component of CONREGO software that passed the test with flying colors. The reception areas supported by hostesses needed only a few seconds to verify whether a particular attendee had been registered for the event, in other words – whether they were authorized to participate. In the case of this conference, we did not come across any falsified passes but our software would display an appropriate warning message if we did.
CONREGO not only provides a template to support events, it is much more – a modifiable template. So it was all the easier for us to use the access control function for a different, non-standard purpose: to issue simultaneous interpretation sets. Hostesses scanned codes placed on ID badges, while the system reported the time when the set was handed out. That way, hostesses knew exactly who they were supposed to take the packages back from at the end of the conference. If any person failed to return their package, such information remained in the system next to contact details so it was possible to contact the attendee at any time.
What else can we say about the organization of the 7th ABSL Conference? The best answer is to let the ABSL Management speak for themselves:
"We are very grateful for (…) the flexibility and willingness to help that made the cooperation with you pure pleasure. Had it not been for you, our Conference would not have been so magnificent.”
And we are very grateful too!
Tomasz Chrościechowski