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A BarCamp is a special event format: the topics of such events are decided directly on-site by all participants. Anyone who wants to can bring up a topic. The plenum decides whether the proposal is accepted or not.
This was also the case with the Financial BarCamp of comdirect bank AG. Geerd Lukaßen, the press spokesman at comdirect bank AG and this year’s organizer of the Financial BarCamp, tells you what topics were of interest to the participants and how LineUpr helped to shape the agenda of the day.
Have fun reading this great customer story. 😊
LineUpr: Hello Geerd. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and comdirect bank AG.
Geerd: I am the press spokesman for comdirect, one of the leading direct banks in Germany. Last year we were voted Germany’s best bank by the specialist magazine €uro, which of course makes us very happy!
LineUpr: You used an event app from LineUpr for the Financial BarCamp. Please tell us more about this event.
Geerd: The comdirect Financial BarCamp was held for the fifth time. Around 140 participants, including private investors and bloggers as well as representatives of banks and financial start-ups, discussed the future of investment for a whole day. The special thing about a BarCamp is that the agenda is determined by all participants directly on-site. Everyone can suggest a topic, regardless of the level of experience or professional position. The intensive and equal exchange with each other creates a special dynamic that makes this event format unique.
We asked for participant’s feedback about the event in the surveys.
LineUpr: Which target group do you want to address and what added value do you offer the participants?
Geerd: This event is for everyone who is interested in finance in general and investments in particular. This year’s topics were again very broad and ranged from the “saving money for children” and “retirement at 40” to “are ETFs a threat to the financial markets?” and “possibilities in options trading”. It is the mix of participants with very different backgrounds and experiences that makes this event so special.
LineUpr: This is your first time using LineUpr. How did you learn about LineUpr and what added value does an event app offer you?
Geerd: In the past few years, the participants of the Financial BarCamp have repeatedly asked for more networking possibilities. In addition, it was always a bit chaotic when more than 100 participants pushed their way to the analog agenda board more or less simultaneously to choose the next session they wanted to attend.
Therefore, I looked for an application that could help us with both issues and came across LineUpr. The digitization of the agenda board was a real added value.
Feedback was great! Especially the overview of the sessions was well-received.
LineUpr: How long before the event did you start creating the event app? How much time do you think it took to create the app?
Geerd: We set up the app relatively early in order to be able to include our app in our further communication (promotion). The setup itself took only a few minutes including the adjustments to our corporate design. Everything was very intuitive.
LineUpr: How have you promoted the usage of the app during the event?
Geerd: We always referred to the app and displayed a screenshot with the QR-code during the event. I also talked about the app during my presentation.
LineUpr: And now more about the usage itself. Did you also use the survey features?
Geerd: Yes, in the surveys we asked for feedback from the participants about the event. They were able to use a star rating on the one hand, and on the other hand, they could indicate in the free text field what they wish for the coming year. We exported the results as an Excel document. When the planning for the Financial BarCamp 2020 starts, we will look at the feedback again and take it into account for the organization.
LineUpr: What kind of feedback did you get for the app?
Geerd: Feedback was great! The overview of the sessions was particularly well-received. The only problem was that the participants could not enter themselves in the participant list, but instead had to send us this information via email.
LineUpr: How has your event or event organization changed by using an event app?
Geerd: The format itself has not changed because of the app, but the app is a great addition.
LineUpr: We want to grow every day and offer our customers a better experience, which functions do you want to see in the app and why?
Geerd: As I said, it would be great to have some kind of participant registration in the future – that will significantly increase positive feedback. Apart from that, you have created a great app – keep it up!
LineUpr: Our new app version with the participant login comes at just at the right point then. Next time LineUpr will take on the registration too. Thank you for the great interview.
The Financial Barcamp is part of the Fintech Week and FinanzBlog Award. If you are interested in financial topics and want to be part of this year’s event, then these pages are worth a visit. Don’t miss the registration and follow Financial Barcamp on Twitter and Facebook.
