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.

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.

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.

The post Event Apps for BarCamps – Interview with Geerd Lukaßen from the comdirect bank AG first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

The focus of this interview is the HR Innovation Day. This interactive event is organized and presented every year by Prof. M. Peter Wald of the HTWK Leipzig.

Peter shares his concept of success with us, why this event is so well received and how he used an event app for the first time for organizing and communicating on site. Have fun while reading. ?

LineUpr: Hello Peter. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the HR Innovation Day.

Peter: My name is Peter M. Wald. I am a professor of Human Resources Management at the Faculty of Economics and Industrial Engineering of HTWK Leipzig. At the age of 58, I do not necessarily count myself among the HR youngsters – but I am convinced of the need for innovation and new ways of working in human resources management. This is also the reason why I launched the HR Innovation Day in 2012. Initially, it was intended as an extended course for students with a focus on staff – but also for the representatives of the HR community. In this context, “leadership and collaboration with digital media” is a significant topic for me, which is why I am also active as a blogger and Twitterati myself. This allows me to live up to my chosen role as a “Connected Professor”.

LineUpr: How much time and work do you spend on average in planning the HR Innovation Day?

Peter: The preparation has no definite beginning but a fixed end. Since almost all contact with the speakers, workshop providers and also the participants (apart from my students and alumni) have been created via social media, the (most constant) contact is also done through these media. The hot preparation phase starts about three months before the event, in addition to the organizational questions, I want to introduce all contributors to the event through detailed interviews in my blog. Otherwise, both the staff of my university and the respective current students with the focus on “Personnel” help me.

LineUpr: How did you come up with this idea and what motivates you to organize this event in your free time?

Peter: The original idea was to give my students a broad overview of the latest news in the HR scene on a Saturday as part of a somewhat “relaxed” course. New approaches and technologies in HR and leadership should be presented and discussed as controversially as possible. All this in a more familiar atmosphere with extensive networking opportunities. Logically, I also invite my HR alumni to enable HR students and HR experts to exchange ideas. That’s how I get to know what’s new with them and in the business.

LineUpr: Clever. You can network old and new students with each other. Who is the typical target audience of your event and how do you reach them? What channels and tools do you use for marketing and presentation?

Peter: On one hand, it’s about the mix between students and alumni and on the other, HR professionals and executives. In recent years, it has also been possible to increase the proportion of “non-university” participants to almost two-thirds. In the meantime, the participants come from all over Germany, from all areas of personnel management but also consultants and executives take part.

It may seem surprising but in the meantime, we don’t even need to advertise anymore. For capacity reasons, we even had to cancel more than 30 people this year. The information about the event runs on the Leipzig HRM blog, on Twitter, and XING. We use XING events for the invitation management. I got to know many of the speakers through social media and won them for the event. The first “real” meeting usually takes place on the eve of the HR Innovation Day.

LineUpr: In comparison to many other organizers you have a luxurious problem. ?

Do you also use printed products to market the event or to distribute information locally? If so, which and why?

Peter: On site, there is only one printed programme and the obligatory feedback sheets.

LineUpr: You’ve used LineUpr now for the first time. How did you learn about LineUpr and what was the decisive argument for you to use an event app?

Peter: I came across your app through internet research. I was quite happy to find an easy-to-use mobile solution for communicating content and organizational details. I was particularly pleased that you are from Saxony. Then I contacted you by phone and it went very quickly.

LineUpr: How did you use the app before, during and after the HR Innovation Day?

Peter: We mainly used the app for communication shortly before and during the event. For reasons of resources, the documents are distributed at the HR Innovation Day only after the event. First of all, we wanted to gain experience with a mobile solution to use it selectively in the coming years.

LineUpr: Then we can probably look forward to even more use from you next year. How did the visitors react to the app?

Peter: The visitors reacted very positively to the app. Since we have many mobile-oriented participants, who are also very active on Twitter, the acceptance of a mobile solution is quite high.

LineUpr: Such conditions speed up the launch of an app, of course. Is there an interesting/crazy story about the HR Innovation Day that you would like to share with us?

Peter: For me, the history of the HR Innovation Day is exciting. I didn’t think that a regional and partly international event with over 160 participants would develop from an extended teaching course. This year we even had two international keynote speakers (Tom Haak from the Netherlands and Rebecca Lundin from a Swedish start-up) and an international workshop (Andras Viczek from Hungary) on the programme. With the topics Corporate Learning and Artificial Intelligence (Kai Liebert / Siemens) as well as People Analytics and Employee Experience (Daniel Mühlbauer / functionHR) we were able to set current and far-reaching accents. And then there is the circle of long-time supporters from the national HR scene. The German “Sourcing Queen” Barbara Braehmer and Christoph Athanas (metaHR) are especially to be mentioned. In recent years, our event has also been supported by recruiting philosopher Henrik Zaborowski and by Jo Diercks (Cyquest GmbH). And not to forget Martin Gaedt, who spoke in 2014 shortly about the “myth of the shortage of skilled workers” and has this year inspired the audience with his keynote about “Innovations in recruiting”.

LineUpr: Thank you for the great interview, Peter. This allowed us all to gain a deeper insight into your special event. If you want to know more about the HR Innovation Day, then Peter has prepared the perfect review for you. Always up-to-date information is also available on Twitter.

We look forward to supporting you again next year with an event app.

The post Event Apps for Information Events – How the HR Innovation Day Implemented an Event App first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

Digital First! That’s one of our corporate mottos. Fittingly, today we have Christian Simon from the Media Lab Bavaria as a guest on our blog. He was one of the organizers of digitalmediacamp this year. It is one of the leading BarCamps on digitalization in Germany. Christian tells us a bit more about the content of the BarCamp, why and how they used the event app, and what organizers should be aware of when dealing with an event app. Have fun while reading.

LineUpr: Hello Christian. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the digitalmediacamp.

Christian: I’m Christian, I work at the Media Lab Bayern as an innovation editor with content, research, and social media. The #dmcmuc is our BarCamp, which we organized this year for the third time. Since the first camp in 2016, the DMC has grown steadily, and this year we were able to welcome nearly 300 visitors in the foyer of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. An enormous organizational effort with session plans, catering and a bouncy castle. But what can I can say, it was worth it!

LineUpr: That sounds exciting. Who is the typical target audience of this BarCamp and how do you reach them?

Christian: We are the Media Lab Bayern, so we are also trying to target a group that is not entirely uninterested in digital media issues. Within this, the DMC BarCamp is typically very open – from podcasts to blockchain to picture rights, we represented many topics. Accordingly, we had many journalists as guests, but also coders, marketers, and media lawyers. But as I said, a reference to media and digitalization can probably be found by almost every guest.

Since we have a media-affiliated target group, we reach our people well on the traditional social networks, especially on Facebook. We have had good experiences with direct posts on Facebook Events. Twitter also plays a big role, especially with the journalists. Otherwise, we have our general newsletter and also send event-specific e-mails. However, the extensive network of friends and supporters that the Media Lab has and those we can reach directly are also important.

LineUpr: Which of these channels, in your opinion, is the strongest or the most efficient?

Christian: The most efficient way to reach our target group is by directly tapping into our network and spreading our content from there. Media Lab’s boss Lina is exceptionally well connected in the digital media scene, and via her Facebook profile or her Twitter account, we quickly reach important and relevant multipliers. In general, the direct communication with the target group, as it is possible through social media, works best for the marketing and presentation of our events. If I had to choose a “most important” channel, I would say Facebook because of the broader reach. Twitter also works pretty well in our niche, but it restricts the target group a bit more.

LineUpr: Direct personal contact is unbeatable. We hear that very often from other organizers.

You have now used LineUpr for the event for the first time. What are, for you, the decisive advantages of using an event app?

Christian: The easy availability, the “Plug & Play” model and the fact that at least 99% of our participants already have a smartphone with them and use it regularly. We want our participants to feel well informed throughout the event and to have access to all relevant information – app alternatives, such as a website which is wholly dedicated to the event or a slack channel, would either be too time-consuming for our small team or too confusing during the event itself. An app, especially one that we did not have to programme ourselves, was the ideal solution.

LineUpr: You explained our advantages perfectly ?.

Have you already used event apps before and if so, what are your experiences with it?

Christian: We already had an app last year, but with a completely different focus. At that time it was not so much about event information as it was about matching – this was about bringing together participants with the same interests. This sometimes led to amusing situations, but as I said, it was a very different goal that we pursued there.

LineUpr: That’s right, matching apps are just as popular, but let’s get back to LineUpr. How did you use the app before, during and after the BarCamp?

Christian: We wanted to rethink “BarCamp” a bit this year and so we created the session plan for the first day in advance of the event. Participants were able to submit topics and vote on all other participants – so we were able to set up a session plan democratically in advance and save time on the first day. On the second day, the sessions were then awarded in the very typical BarCamp spot. We were mainly concerned with keeping the session plan up to date in one central location so that the participants do not lose track of the parallel sessions in the seven different rooms, LineUpr was ideal for that.

LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?

Christian: We are here in Bavaria, so it also goes for our guests: “No complains is a compliment.” But seriously: Our information policy was praised again and again, without explicity mentioning LineUpr – we were also personally there as an on-site contact person, and notices and room plans were also there. But of course, the app was an important part of it. What I noticed, however: If the info in the app was incorrect, or I did not follow up with the entry of new sessions, we were immediately addressed. So I assume that LineUpr was, of course, used by our participants.

LineUpr: Since one of our founders is from Swabia, we know a variation of the saying only too well ?

Of course, now everything is never perfect, what features do you still want for the app and why?

Christian: In the front end it would be nice to have more filters and display options both for the programme and for the participants. To be able to quickly and easily say “Show me all the sessions in this room”, “Show me all sessions at 15:00” or “Show me the sessions in a timetable.

In the backend, everything is clear and self-explanatory. One possibility that I did not find was the ability to create templates for events where, for example, space and various labels are already given and you just have to change the title. Since we still had a manageable amount of rooms and labels, I got along well with the “Duplicate” function – but I could imagine that the more labels and categories you want to insert, the more complicated it gets.

LineUpr: Thanks for your feedback. We will take these suggestions to our product meetings. Do you have three tips for other organizers for using LineUpr?

Christian: Firstly, take some time to look at everything and familiarise yourself with the backend. Since we had our session plan before the event and we registered there, it came naturally to us. It saved us a lot of fuss during the event itself.

Secondly, commitment. If you offer an app to your participants, there is a chance that they will use it. Wrong or incomplete information will be noticed immediately. So if you choose LineUpr, you should use it seriously.

Thirdly, errors and misunderstandings occur when several employees are fussing around the app at the same time. Specify one employee who will be the sole administrator during the event.

LineUpr: Thank you very much for the great and detailed interview, Christian. One can see that you are fully immersed in the subject of digitalization and have already built up some expertise on the organization of BarCamps. If you want to know more about Christian, have a look at Twitter or write an e-mail to christian@media-lab.de. Further information about the Media Lab is also available on Twitter, Facebook or on the homepage.

We look forward to supporting you again next year at your BarCamp.

The post Digital Event App for the Digitalmediacamp – The Media Lab Bavaria first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

We love BarCamps! Therefore, we are always happy to support such an event. We think that such a young and innovative event format deserves all the help it can get.

We are often asked if there are any other good, and most importantly, free tools that are suitable for hosting BarCamps. In addition, we have been to some Barcamps and want to show you what the organisers use there.

The planning: Exchanges among Organisers

Everything starts with an idea. So that it doesn’t just end in talk, you should hold on to everything that comes to mind or is talked about. For this reason, it is important to have the simplest possible solution. That’s exactly what the initiators of Etherpad, an open-source tool allowing the simultaneous editing of notes, thought.

The inviting user can decide whether the invitees are allowed to edit, comment or just read. The functionality is good, and the app can be downloaded for Windows, Mac and Linux.

At http://etherpad.org/ you can get an overview of the functions. If you like it and you maybe still have a little money lying around, then the developers would certainly be happy about a small donation.

The Promotion: Everyone needs to know about it

In addition to the well-trodden paths such as Facebook, Eventbrite and XING Events, there are also providers who put the interaction of the guests at the centre of attention even after the event. And since the BarCamp format lives on year-round networking, you should use exactly such a tool. So instead of looking for new guests every time, just keep the already existing ones. Of course, content input is needed here, but if you organise a BarCamp for any of your favourite topics, the effort should be kept in check.

An example of such a platform is Meetup. At https://www.meetup.com/en-US/ you can register and start filling your group first with people and then with content. What we liked best: You don’t need to register if you want to look at a group. For those interested, you can also present content.

In general, we would not recommend you to just rely on one platform for the promotion. That is why the BarCamp list should also be mentioned here. Under http://www.barcamp-liste.de/ you can get in touch with the operators and get your BarCamp listed. There are a lot of camps listed in the DACH area and the site is ranked well on Google, which increases its findability.

Make a Buzz at Camp!

A BarCamp thrives on interaction with social media! So, ask your guests to post properly and to stream. This works even better if the participants can follow what the others are saying on a large screen. So-called social walls are perfect for this! A provider who uses a freemium model is walls.io and they even make a positive exception for BarCamps! Just contact the team and you will get free premium access from them.

Why walls.io? The social network options which can be tapped are endless. In addition, the surfaces can be adapted to your corporate design.

To get a better picture, just check out https://walls.io/

Before, during and after: Event App!

In case you didn’t now as yet: LineUpr gives, without exception, every BarCamp a free event app with our maximum range of functions. All you have to do is contact us. Email us at team@lineupr.com, call +49 351 32111650 or post a message to @teamlineupr on Twitter – any way works. We will then get back to you with a coupon code.

So, if you just want to digitalise your session board, conduct polls, and get feedback then get in touch with us!

Your solution was not included? Just ask!

If you have already chosen a special software that you would like to use, then don’t hesitate to pick up the phone! If there are people on your BarCamp that match the vendor’s product then the chances of sponsoring are good. Of course, you can help out with that. And even if you don’t get the solution for free, you can certainly talk about a decent discount.

Summary

In this text we have shown you a collection of tools and platforms that aren’t allowed to be missing from any BarCamp. They all have in common that they are either completely or exclusively for Barcamps free.

What is your feedback on Tools for BarCamps? What did we forget? What are your experiences with the tools we researched? Let us know in the comments.

Do you know someone who is organising a BarCamp? Then we would be happy if you share our article. You can find other helpful articles in our blog under the keyword “BarCamp”

The post Working with a tight budget – Free Tools for BarCamps first appeared on LineUpr Blog.