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Today, we have a Swiss guest on our blog for the first time. Philipp Muster from the Swiss Shippers’ Council tells us how he came across LineUpr and why an event app is an excellent tool for digitalizing seminars.
LineUpr: Hello Philipp. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the Swiss Shippers’ Council. What are your goals and what role do events play in achieving them?
Philipp: The Swiss Shippers’ Council (SSC) is the shipping organization in Switzerland. Importers, exporters or, in general, shippers are active in international freight traffic. The SSC is thus the first point of contact for its members for problems or the exchange of experience in many important topics of foreign trade. But we also take care of the permanent education and training and organize annually recurring seminars on various issues in international trade. With the app, we were finally able to provide the seminar documents to the participants without paper.
LineUpr: How much time and work do you invest on average in planning these seminars?
Philipp: We have one person involved in the planning and execution of the events.
LineUpr: Who is the typical target group of your events and how do you reach them? Which channels and tools do you use for marketing and presentation?
Philipp: Our target groups are the export and import managers, as well as logistics or supply chain managers in the member companies. These are informed either via email or on our website about the upcoming training and seminars. We also inform the members in a timely manner via our newsletter, “Xplorer”.
LineUpr: You used LineUpr for the 18th Sea Freight Conference. Have you already used event apps before? If so, what was your experience? If not, what was against this?
Philipp: We were provided with an in-house event app at a seminar hotel. This was enough for the beginning. Now we were looking for an independent app that we could use at other locations.
LineUpr: To our delight, you opted for LineUpr and you have also already properly advertised for us in Switzerland. How did you first come across LineUpr and what convinced you to use the app?
The simplicity and ease of use [of the app] convinced us immediately and then we used it right away.
Philipp: Through word of mouth advertising, we came across it and just tried it out. The simplicity and ease of use convinced us immediately and then we used it right away.
LineUpr: You have perfectly described our deciding strength over the competition.
So how did you use LineUpr before, during and after the conference?
Philipp: We informed the participants by email 2 days before the event and gave them the opportunity to watch the presentations. At the event itself, of course, the integrated program and hotel plan was an important feature.
LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?
Philipp: We got excellent feedback. Of the 130 participants, only one person requested a printout of the presentations. The evaluation of the lectures and the surveys were not so actively used.
LineUpr: Completely without paper is, unfortunately, rare. When evaluating individual lectures, some motivation must be conveyed during the first rounds by the moderators. But once it has settled in, the feedback rates are very good.
What are currently the three biggest challenges you face in planning, marketing, and running events?
Philipp: A data transfer. Here it would be great if the registered participants, the speakers, and the whole program could be uploaded to the app via data transfer.
With the participant data, one should also be able to generate a personal login immediately and restrict access to the presentations.
Also re-typing the program with the times should be simplified or eliminated.
Just get started and test it out.
LineUpr: We have already heard this from our customers many times and we are working on a meaningful concept to make this possible.
Which three tips for using LineUpr would you like to give other organizers along the way?
Philipp: Just get started and test it out.
LineUpr: Thank you, Philipp, for the great interview. Our readers could certainly gain a little insight into your events and the use of LineUpr. More information about the Swiss Shippers’ Council is also available on their homepage.
