Margeret Reid has been independently planning world-class events all over the world for over 40 years now. From the Congress of Haematology & Blood Transfusion in Sydney, to events in remote Papua New Guinea, Margaret has seen it all. Read this to learn how Certain Events has been a tremendous help in advancing her career.
Read the Case Study
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Situation
There are few conference organizers anywhere who can match the broad range of experience of Margaret Reid, a Sydney conference organizer who uses Certain Software to manage her meetings and exhibitions.
In her career, Ms. Reid has organized conferences and trade exhibitions in most areas including medical, finance, cultural, education, government, associations, mining and community issues. She has organized many conferences in remote areas, like Papua New Guinea, along with conferences in Thailand and China. She has worked with a great variety of people from Prime Ministers to disadvantaged communities, and has honed the ability to be culturally sensitive and also aware of the politics within the countries she has worked.
The XIth Congress of the Societies of Haematology & Blood Transfusion held at Sydney University in 2006, marked the 40th year that Ms. Reid had been working the conference.
“It was one of the biggest international meetings held in 1966 and the organizers were all housed in the attic of a beautiful old colonial building at 1 York Street - since demolished. The six permanent staff members, plus doctors´ wives and visiting committee members made working conditions very cramped. I was fortunate to be positioned in front of the stove in the kitchen nook, a prime position as no one could get around me,” says Ms. Reid.
“Organizing an international conference in those days was no mean feat. We relied on stencil confirmation letters and telegram correspondence to speakers. We couldn´t afford to make long distance telephone calls and if we did we shouted at both ends, thinking our voices needed to travel over water. Even local telephone calls were limited, as they were too costly. We had no computers and all registrations were done manually."
Solution
According to Ms. Reid, “If I didn´t have Certain Events, I wouldn´t be able to handle the conferences and exhibitions I do. I also use Certain Events for the membership records for organizations I´m associated with.'
‘I have seen other software options, and I don´t think they come anywhere near to Certain Events' sophistication. My clients are very impressed both by the software and by the choice I made to purchase a quality product necessary to produce a great result. The software compliments the organizing company.”
Results
‘The most abstracts I´ve handled was 240 over 14 concurrent sessions. This was prior to Certain Events' speakers module, which I certainly would have used.’
‘I value the Exhibition module and use it whenever I have an exhibition component to my meetings. The best is the online registration as it has helped me reduce time and staff costs. It takes a while to get it right in the beginning, but its great once it´s up and running.’
‘The reports the system churns out are fabulous, as is the statistical information it provides. I can use accurate information with hotels when re-booking an event and it´s useful to get the real uptake on accommodation, rather than taking a guess.
It also assists with what numbers of rooms are expected on either side of a conference - giving me buying power when negotiating with hotels.’
‘I am looking forward to using memberConnect, which has great potential to further eliminate duplication of data entry.”
