Reading time: 5 Minutes
Monday is interview day! Today we are pleased that Stefanie Kracht from the University of the Savings Banks Finance Group has taken time for us. In the following lines, she will tell us how she found out about LineUpr, what she wants to achieve with the apps and how she did it. She also shows us how she used the app for her event.
LineUpr: Hello Stefanie. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and your university. What are your goals and what role do events play in achieving them?
Stefanie: My name is Stefanie Kracht and I work in the field of “Communication and Marketing” at the University of the Savings Banks Finance Group in Bonn, a private university that offers internationally accredited study and training courses. Our mission is to train high-performance junior staff in the financial sector, in particular the Savings Bank Finance Group, by closely linking teaching, studying, professional practice and research to highly qualified specialists and executives. In addition, we offer a variety of event formats for continuing education in order to update and deepen specialized and methodological knowledge. We use the event app to support the event organization.
Changes of program items or speakers, among others, can now be easily and quickly updated in the app and made available to the participants.
LineUpr: That sounds very exciting! So you work at a university. As a secondary education institution, you certainly must try to address multiple audiences with your events. Can you tell us which events you host and for which target group you host them? And how have you presented or marketed these events so far?
Stefanie: Our symposia focus on a current banking practice and highlight this topic from the point of view of financial practice, financial services policy and science. The events are aimed at interested board members, executives and experienced practitioners from these areas, who want to refresh their expertise and knowledge in a targeted way. We mainly have a solid customer base in the Savings Bank Finance Group. We present and market our study and further education offers partially by post, via our Newsletter, through regional events on site or in our house, through webinars and on our website.
LineUpr: Sounds like a very diverse audience of different age groups. Interesting! Speaking of age groups: Do you also use “classic” printed products to market the events or to distribute information on site? If so, which and why?
Stefanie: Brochures, flyers and all information about our study and further education offers are available as a printed product, as PDF documents and, of course, on our website. The selection and respective communication is individually tailored to the target group.
LineUpr: You have created your first event app with LineUpr for the Symposium Growth Market Insurance. Our colleague Philip approached you and suggested the use at your university. Which arguments ultimately led you using the app and why exactly at this event?
Stefanie: The functions and features of your web app currently fit to our goals and needs. Price and performance were just right.
LineUpr: So a purely fact-based decision. Very good! An event app should never be an end in itself. Let’s start with the reasons for using the app: How did you use the app before, during and after the event?
Stefanie: As a rule, the participants were sent the access data to the app via e-mail 2 days before the event. In this way, the participants could be informed and get in the right mood for the program, the speakers, the location, etc. in advance. As part of the VA, the participants are informed with “posts” about processes or news. Additionally, access data were also communicated through a link to our website in order to make the presentations of our speakers available for download. Subsequently feedback could have been given.
LineUpr: That sounds like a very good use of the app in all three phases! As you know, an app is only as good as its acceptance by the participants. How did your visitors respond to the app?
Stefanie: So far, the response of the participants has been very positive. We actively ask for feedback personally at the end of the event, via “posts” in the event app and subsequently via e-mail.
LineUpr: That’s great to hear. It’s great when the acceptance from the participants is so good. Have you ever done this event in the same way or in a similar form? If so, how has the event changed through the use of an event app?
Stefanie: The course of the event is usually very similar. The elimination of handouts, participant lists, program line-up, among others, has relieved copiers and human hands. Short-term changes to program items, speakers or similar things can now be easily and quickly updated in the app and made available to the participants.
LineUpr: We want to constantly improve and offer our customers a better experience. What features do you wish the app would have and why?
Stefanie: When “posts” are activated, only one red dot appears to the participant. Here we want a different appearance (push messages), so that the “post” is easily noticed.
More participant management is desired: Is not feasible in this form of web app, but participants want to edit their own profile (and upload a photo).
The app is rated by some users as very powerful.
The response of the participants has been very positive so far.
LineUpr: Thank you, we will gladly take these topics into consideration! Let’s talk a bit about some event management challenges. How do you deal with the trend of digitalization? How will this development change your event in the future? Are you trying to take a look at other events? Are you proactively looking for trends or are you looking at what works elsewhere?
Stefanie: We have decided to work completely without printed products. The event app is a step in that direction. When it comes to trends, we like to make our own experiences and communicate with other organizers with whom we discuss trends and new solutions.
LineUpr: Stefanie, thank you very much for this great interview! We are pleased that our event apps can help you so much in the organization, implementation and follow-up. It was very interesting to have a look behind the scenes. We are looking forward to your next events and are excited to see how we can support them with LineUpr.
If you are also interested in the work of the University of the Savings Banks Finance Group, just take a look at the range of events they have. Under https://www.s-hochschule.de/weiterbildung.html you can see for yourself. There are many interesting event formats to discover here.
