One of the most arduous and time-consuming tasks a planner faces is putting together the conference schedule. Vast amounts of data have to be collected and processed. The data ranges from session information, speaker information and bios, travel needs, A/V needs and so forth. Ultimately, all this information needs to be organized into the conference schedule and then made available to the attendee.
Traditional methods of managing speakers and the schedule have focused on dozens of huge spreadsheets and uncountable amounts of data copying. Call for Papers and Speaker Management software slashes the amount of time spent in this process by letting other people do the data entry (namely the speakers and their assistants) and eliminating copying of data.
The process of saving time usually works as follows:
• Prospective or invited speakers enter their contact information, bio, and session information through an online speaker portal. This may be as part of a general Call for Papers. By going online, the speakers do the data entry, not you.
• You can assign reviewers to score the speaker submissions and state their preference of who should speak. Reviewers work on their own portal page, so they do the entering of data.
• Accepted speakers go back to their portal to add further information such as travel needs, A/V requirements, Power Point files and so forth.
• Using easy, run-time reports and setup screens you put the conference schedule together by creating the various session and workshop time slots and adding the corresponding speakers.
• The final schedule can be made available online to attendees. A Word document of the schedule can also be sent to the printer.
• At all times you can quickly and easily communicate via Email with the submitters, presenters, and reviewers.
Programs like EventRebels’ ERSpeaker can save meeting planners time and money. Contact us if you’d like a personalized demo. You can also view our webinar online.
