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.

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.

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.

The post Save work and quickly share changes – the first event app of the University of the Savings Banks Finance Group first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

Our app is also used for events in scientific institutions. Julia and Patric from the TUK tell us how LineUpr was used during the open day at the TU Kaiserslautern. Among other things, they tell us how they handled the app and how they are preparing themselves for the challenges of digitalization.

LineUpr: Hello Julia and Patric. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourselves and the Open Day.

Julia: Hello. Thanks, for this opportunity. My name is Julia Väth and for the last two years, I have been responsible for marketing in the university’s communication department of the University of Kaiserslautern. And that’s Patric Kleine. He supports us as a student assistant in technical matters.

We used LineUpr for our Open Day last spring. It is designed to give students, teachers, and parents an insight into campus life. Through presentations and lectures, visitors get to know our study programme. Besides, various university groups present themselves. If you do not know what you would like to study, you can also seek personal advice on campus.

LineUpr: Who are your target groups with this event and what do you want to achieve?

Julia: We want to reach high school graduates and their parents. They should come to the campuses and get to know our study programme.

LineUpr: How much time and work do you spend on planning the event?

Patric: About half a year. We start planning the event already in late summer. From this point on, we are working on the content and organization of the event.

LineUpr: How do you reach the high school graduates and inspire them to come to the open day?

Julia / Patric: First and foremost we try to reach the students through their teachers in the schools. We send flyers and posters with all the essential information. Many schools make a trip to a university once a year. Also, the schools are obliged to visit a professional open day. Our study information day is considered to be such an event.

Last year, we also advertised on the radio and in the social media channels. Advertising also plays an important role, for example with posters in buses and in cities in the region, but also with advertisements in various magazines and school newspapers.

LineUpr: Do you also use printed products? If so, which and why?

Julia / Patric: As I said, we distribute flyers and posters in the schools and in the surrounding area. In addition, we print folded maps that serve as information material during the study information day. Thanks to the app, we were able to reduce the circulation here drastically. I think that printed products cannot be completely gotten rid of. A flyer between textbooks or a poster in the break room is often unconsciously noticed. They then contribute to a recognition effect.

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

Patric: We also used your app in 2017 and 2018, mainly during our Open Day.

Before the event, there was the planning: gathering information, entering spaces, locations and events and connecting with the map in the app, so that users do not have to search too long for the right place. We also listed the most important contacts in the app. Finally, we had to adjust the matching pictures and the design.

On the day of the event, LineUpr was a great help in presenting the wide-ranging programme in a precise manner. Mainly because we have a lot of programme points that run parallel to each other. During the event, we also informed visitors about current changes and also pointed out places for meals, etc.

After the event, we also evaluated the “likes” of the individual programme items in the app and made them available to the lecturers.

LineUpr: Was it difficult to convince the university to use an event app?

Julia: No, not at all. A student council of the TUK had already used the app for an event. That is how we learned about it. After that, we dealt with it ourselves and compared different providers. After considering the various functions and prices, no convincing was needed.

LineUpr: What do you think, how will your event change in the future through digitalization and other factors? How do you prepare for it?

Julia: The advertising possibilities are sure to change. Perhaps it will be possible in the future to record lectures from the open day and to make them available later or parallel digitally available. By and large, however, the event will continue to take place like this. This is about presenting the university life as an experience for the students and that is not possible only through digital means.

LineUpr: Finally, a personal question: What is the strangest thing you experienced as an organizer?

Patric: Once a speaker just did not come to do his presentation. Then the managing director of another department took over the lecture and really excited the audience. Maybe that was the better solution.

Thank you both for the great interview. If you want to know more about the TU Kaiserslautern, have a look at their website or their profiles on Twitter and Facebook.

We look forward to your open day next year.

The post Event Apps for the Study Information Day – The TU Kaiserslautern first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

Today we have the chairman of the Career Service Network Germany, Rouven Sperling, as a visitor on our blog. In his function, he is also active in organizing the annual convention of all Career Service Institutions at German universities. After having already tested various event-app providers, all of which proved to be unsuccessful, he finally encountered LineUpr in 2018.

In this interview, Rouven tells us what experiences he has made with previous event app providers, how they have optimized their conference communication with LineUpr and what role digitalization plays in all of this.

LineUpr: Hello Rouven. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please briefly introduce yourself and the Career Service Network Germany.

Rouven: The Career Service Network Germany (CSNG) was founded in 2003 as an umbrella organization for career services at universities. The network works closely with the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and today has nearly 200 members. Universities as institutional members and Career Service employees as individual members are involved in the foundation for the establishment and expansion of pre-vocational offers of the universities as well as for the vocational orientation and vocational preparation of students. I am working at the Technical University Wildau as the head of the local Career Service and I also volunteer as Chairman of the CSNG.

LineUpr: You used LineUpr for the annual meeting of the Career Service Network. What happens at this event and who participate in it?

Rouven: The annual conference is the overall conference of the association, in which only actors who are involved in the process of shaping the transition from studies to work participate. Every year, we focus on a new field of action – in 2018 it was digitalization – and further developing the standards for the professionalization of Career Service work and enabling task-specific qualification of its members. Furthermore, the annual conference also serves to build networks outside the regional spheres of activity of the individual universities.

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

Rouven: Due to the increased inputs and the higher costs, we have increasingly strayed from printed products and are only printing the conference brochure on paper. This is usually about 40 pages long and includes the programme as well as a short resume of the speakers and organizational advice. In the future, we would like to do this procedure more electronically, as information can change after being printed.

LineUpr: You speak to precisely one argument for event apps. Have you used event apps in the past? If so, what are your experiences with it?

Rouven: Yes, we have indeed tried several apps and tools. The beginning of 2014 we made our own programmed version, but it was not used because the porting on iOS was too complicated and the registration process for the App stores was quite cumbersome. Then we tried out some competitors, but all of them required quite a lot of preparation and had to be installed as an app. Entering the data was very cumbersome and was not very intuitive.

LineUpr: And how did you use LineUpr before, during and after the annual meeting?

Rouven: At the annual conference in 2018 we had a lot of venues spread over Bremen. Here LineUpr was a great help to find the different places. In addition to the location information, the participants mainly used the conference programme and the opportunity to quickly point out any changes was also very well received.

LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?

Rouven: The feedback was invariably positive. Even participants who had less technical affinity handled the app quickly. It was excellent that the app worked for everyone – whether Android or iPhone.

LineUpr: We saw that for the first time this year you started the conference with a BarCamp. That’s really a very creative format. Why did you decide to use a BarCamp and how did the participants receive that?

Rouven: The Barcamp was a premiere and extended the previous two-day conference scope to three days. It was definitely a very welcome addition to the usually rather rigid programme of meetings and it, above all, promoted the exchange of content between the members and also the discussion. We will continue to maintain this format as it provides a great deal of interaction.

LineUpr: Keyword digitalization. How will the Career Service Network Germany and its events change as a result of this development?

Rouven: The conference app will definitely be a solid element and we want to use more features of LineUpr in the future. For example, the survey option, which is currently also being conducted in paper form. The largely platform-independent access and scalability make LineUpr the tool of choice for us in any case.

LineUpr: That was the best final statement one could ask for. Thank you for this positive feedback. You can find more information about the CSNG on your homepage.

We are already looking forward to the next annual meeting. Until then, good luck with your events.

The post Event Apps for Annual Meetings – Experiences of the Career Service Network Germany first appeared on LineUpr Blog.