Before finalising the programme for the conference and opening registration, the PAC team imported their database of almost 1,000 targets into the Eventznet system. They then sent an e-mail to their database of potential delegates announcing the conference dates and venue. At this point, they also integrated a function to capture the data from those interested in hearing more about the conference.
When the conference programme was finalised and PAC were ready to open registration, they then sent e-mail invitations to register to their guests. 30% of the guests clicked through to the event site, and a total of 217 people registered online. Although only 43 guests declined the invitation, it meant that the PAC team had a good record of these people who were not interested in attending or were unable to attend.
Most delegates had to pay a fee to attend, and there was an additional cost for attending the conference dinner. Delegates were asked to order their preferences for the 8 workshops on each day of the conference. The majority of the registration forms were pre-filled, making the process simpler for the delegates. They just had to choose their workshop sessions, check the conference dinner box if they were attending the dinner, and click the submit button.
The delegate was then presented with a proforma invoice, which they printed out and sent with their payment or purchase order number to PAC. As soon as payment was received, the PAC team logged into the system and pressed a button to acknowledge receipt of payment. This, according to the PAC team, was the biggest time and cost saver for them. "For previous conferences we had to process each registration form as it arrived with a payment and then create an invoice and post it to the delegate." Says Deirdre Rooney, conference organiser with PAC. "Eventznet saved us a huge amount of time on processing registrations and administering the invoices".
The conference was fully subscribed by late September, and the PAC team were able to implement a waiting list facility. This saved both the delegate the cost of posting in a registration form for an event that was already fully booked, and the PAC team the time and cost of sending back the registration to the delegate. It also allowed them to quickly contact those on the waiting list when places opened up.
After the event, the PAC team sent e-mails through the Eventznet system thanking delegates for attending, and referring them to the conference presentations on the web site.
Deirdre and her team at PAC will be using Eventznet for their next conference, and hope that the combination of online registration and faxback forms will cover the needs of all their delegates. The faxback form content can be used to create a registration in Eventznet without the delegate having to have an e-mail address, and the invoice can be automatically produced and faxed to the delegate.
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