Today, we once again find ourselves in the public sector. We have Nicole Osman from the State Gazette of Baden-Württemberg as a guest. She is responsible for conducting the annual symposium on digitalization in public administration.

She tells you more about the first steps with an event app and what difficulties you can expect. Have fun while reading. ?

LineUpr: Hello Nicole. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the State Gazette of Baden-Württemberg. What are your goals and what role do events play in achieving them?

Nicole: Hello, I’m Nicole. In our congresses department, I am responsible for the organization, the participant management and the on-site implementation of our training and congress offers. The State Gazette is very diverse and sees itself primarily as an all-round service provider for public administration. Since 2009 we have our congress area, which does both the symposium, as well as staff fairs in Ludwigsburg, Kehl and Speyer and offers specially tailored training for local councils in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

LineUpr: Let’s get to your event “#Amt @SocialMedia”. What is this about? Which target group did you want to reach with it?

Nicole: Our event “#Amt @SocialMedia” was aimed primarily at all press spokespersons in public administration. The highlight of this year was certainly the presence of Mayor Boris Palmer, who used the example of his own person to explain how to deal with a “shit storm” in social media. The topic of social media is fast-paced, explosive and highly interesting, especially for press relations. Our symposium is an annual event. It always offers current topics and their handling in practice. It is a very popular event with nice returning participants.

LineUpr: Which channels and tools do you use for marketing and presentation?

Nicole: We advertise all our events through as many channels as possible. From classic letter mailing to Facebook, Twitter, and Xing. Of course not to forget our homepage and newspaper. This is how we reach the target group to whom we offer our program.

LineUpr: How did you learn about LineUpr and what was the decisive argument for you to use an event app?

Nicole: The special social media topic at this year’s symposium literally screamed for a digital accompaniment. To which topic can you otherwise “try out”, whether your audience is ready for the digital world and can save time by not having to pack folders because everything is digitally available? So in the vast expanses of the internet, we went in search of something suitable and met you. Trying out the creation of pages was a joy because it is self-explanatory and simply structured. If you are looking for a quick digital accompaniment to your event, then this is the place for you!

LineUpr: Have you already used event apps? If so, what are your experiences and why did you choose LineUpr for this event? If not, what has been against it so far?

Nicole: No, so far we did not use an event app because it did not fit.

LineUpr: How did you use the app before, during and after the event?

Nicole: We inserted the entire event, as seen on our website, into the app. Location including directions, speaker presentation with short CV and contact information, daily routine, etc. There are no limits to your own design options here. I really liked the pop-up news feature. This was also filled in advance by us.

We changed the visibility of each message during the day as needed. This feature was especially great as a reminder of the lectures parallel to the press kit check which we were offering at the symposium or to wish the participants a good meal shortly before the meal.

Of course, we have also linked the lectures of our speakers and referred to them.

LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?

Nicole: In an information e-mail shortly before the event, we made our participants aware of the app and explained the usage to them a bit. By having selectable forums, everyone could save their chosen favorites and view them in the app. Anyone who registered was also asked if he needed paper documents. In advance, there were just a few. Unfortunately, you cannot write notes on a program point within the app, which is why some persons wanted to have the document folders again. Maybe a small suggestion for you? The response to the app was still low, but it’s usually so in most first attempts. Sometimes it takes a while to get established. But the participants who used the app found it to be excellent.

LineUpr: We will take this suggestion with us. Promised. ? You also used surveys about the app during the event. What did you want to achieve and how did you convince your guests to participate in these surveys?

Nicole: First of all, we wanted to find out how many people are using the app at all. Since we want to work more sustainably, we also consider how we can save paper. We hope that our participants will use the app even more actively in the future so that we can get rid of paper and still be able to communicate all the information about the events.

With a nice pop-up notification, we asked our participants to rate their impressions with the simple star system fresh after the program points!

LineUpr: Thank you for the lovely interview, Nicole. We always find it very interesting to be at the forefront of digitalizing events. We see that there is still much to learn about the digital hurdles in the transition from analog to digital.

We are looking forward to helping you again. ?

The post Event Apps for Symposia – Experiences from the State Gazette for Baden-Württemberg first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

Today it is about prevention in the workplace. We welcome Dorothea Kraft of the Berufsgenossenschaft Handel und Warenlogistik (BGHW) to our blog. Through symposia, the BGHW regularly informs about research projects in the area of occupational safety and health protection.

And what is one of the best preventions for bad participant communication at events? Right, the use of an event app! Dorothea shares with us her experiences with LineUpr and why an event app is a useful tool for subscriber communication. A great customer story for organizers of symposia. Have fun while reading. ?

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

Dorothea: We work for safe and healthy jobs for approximately 5.3 million insured in approximately 378 000 companies in the retail and logistics sector. The employers’ liability insurance association for trade and goods logistics (BGHW) is a carrier of legal accident insurance. Through targeted prevention, we support entrepreneurs in the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases. In the event of damage, we ensure the best possible rehabilitation and ensure the livelihood of the insured and their families through cash benefits. My field of activity is in prevention; in the trade and logistics department, I advise companies that, for example, want to implement a novel work process in their intralogistics, also in close cooperation with the respective manufacturer, so that safe work equipment and workplaces are in operation.

LineUpr: What events do you organize for the BGHW? What added value do you offer participants at these events?

Dorothea: The symposium “Safety and Health in Commodity Logistics” provide information on innovations and current research projects in the area of occupational safety and health protection. Expert lectures – in plenary and in specialist forums – answer questions from the participants and a marketplace with an exhibition invites you to participate. The public – entrepreneurs, occupational safety specialists, works councils, company doctors, and also manufacturers of logistics products – gets into conversation, discusses and exchanges experiences. For example, the BGHW also offers this type of symposium to health managers or company doctors.

LineUpr: Do you also use printed products to market the event or distribute information on-site? If so, for which information and which areas and why?

Dorothea: We also use printed flyers to promote the symposium “Safety and Health in Commodity Logistics”. If colleagues out in the field of prevention or at a trade fair find themselves in a personal conversation, then handing over a flyer is a gesture that, in my opinion, underlines the warm invitation towards the interested party. We have also made the event programme available as a printed version on one page; some participants like to leave their smartphones in their pockets for the duration of the event.

LineUpr: You have already used LineUpr for several events. What was the decisive argument for you to use an event app?

Dorothea: The programme of our event consists of lectures in plenary, several forums in different rooms and an exhibition, which in turn is displayed in a separate location. The whole thing takes place sometimes simultaneously, so we want to support the participants in the best possible way in putting together their individual programmes based on their favorites. And the event app comfortably offers precisely this function.

LineUpr: Have you used event apps in the past? If so, what are your experiences with it? If not, why not?

Dorothea: For our department, it was the first time using an event app. At a similar event, I had seen an event app for the first time and also used it as a participant. I was immediately thrilled with the idea and the possibilities offered by an event app. Therefore, the idea of providing an event app in the role of the organizer was not far away.

LineUpr: Back to the last event. How did you use the app before, during and after the symposium?

Dorothea: We made the participants aware of the app upon arrival. In particular, we campaigned for the function that allows everyone to put together their personal professional programme. The entire organization team was there – everyone had already downloaded the app in advance and were well-prepared – to help with the questions and problems of the participants. We reminded participants of the evening event or drew attention to changes in the programme through posts. We also posted that another forum would be offered because of the great demand and the additional offer was booked out in an instant.

LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?

Dorothea: The response of the participants to the app was consistently positive. There was still a classically printed questionnaire for the participants. But already in the course of the event, individual participants repeatedly came to colleagues from our organizing team and praised the app in personal conversations.

LineUpr: How and at which events can employers’ liability insurance associations benefit in general from an event app?

Dorothea: The symposium is over, the conference folders are in the closet or disposed of. With an event app, the contents of the event are always at hand on your smartphone, even after the end of the symposium. What was the name of the speaker from Forum XY or the exhibitor with the interesting product XY? A quick glance at the app quickly provides the answer.

Sharing the lectures through links in the app is a feature which we have not used this time. But we really want to use it next time. Because, I also see an added value in this function when compared to the classic method – and paper is also reduced.

LineUpr: Which three top tips would you like to give other organizers for the use of LineUpr?

Dorothea: 1. You do not need skills in programming or other specialized IT skills to fill the app with content and get it up and running. 2. If a question should arise, the chat function is a great function and always promptly helped me. 3. Making changes to the content is also possible if the event is already running because they go live immediately; a smartphone is all you need.

LineUpr: Thank you, Dorothea, for the great interview. It is always very exciting to get directly into the practical experience of our organizers. At the same time, we can still learn a lot. To learn more, information about the BGHW can be found on their website and on social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

We are already looking forward to the next symposia and your experiences with LineUpr.

The post Event Apps for Symposia – Experiences of the BGHW first appeared on LineUpr Blog.