Event Management Overview
IRM Events supports a wide range of different types of events. Different levels of automation are provided for different types of events in the current release of HQi, and in future releases, more features and automation will be provided for the more complex event types.
For all different types of events, you can provide a full explanation of the event on the website in an Event Detail page, and s]indicate the schedule of all events in one or more Event List pages. The Event Detail page contains the full promotional information about the event to encourage people to register.
Also, for all different types of events, you can send email invitations to various subscriber groups of your Email Alerts subscriber database inviting registration for the event. You can also see the progress of invitations and registrations in the Event statu=istics.
The first decision for an Event Manager is to decide whether there is either a physical component of the event, or an online component, or both.
For all Event Types
On the corporate website, you can provide a full explanation of the event in an Event Detail page, and indicate the schedule of all events in one or more Event List pages. The Event Detail page contains the full promotional information about the event to encourage people to register.
You will use the Invitations capability of IRM Events to recruit registrations for all different types of events by sending out one or more Invitation emails.
Set up the lists of email addresses in the HQi Email Subscribers list (using the upload process to add new ones where needed) and create on or more Email Subscriber Groups for the people you want to invite. (You may, of course, choose to invite all our subscribers).
The process for managing registrations and attendees will vary depending on the type of event and the online software used. If necessary, use the upload/download capabilities of IRM Events to synchronise registrations and attendees across the two platforms. (Later, IRM Events will assist this with some automation.)
After the Event, use IRM Events to follow up by email the Attendees with post-event information, and an updated IRM Events Detail page on the website. Likewise, you may choose to follow up people who registered and did not attend.
Physical Events
For those events which have a physical component, IRM Events will provide the following main functionality:
Specify the location of the physical event in the Location field, to show on the website and to be included in the invitation emails.
You will most likely choose to use IRM Events to manage the registration process. The registration link will be to the Event's registration page. People can register using IRM Events, which will also manage the process of reminding registrants by email about the upcoming event.
When the physical event date arrives, the Event Manager can download an Excel file of the list of registrants to prepare name tags and other collateral for the event and to be able to mark off attendees as they arrive.
Managing the Attendance process at the event will be manual, and after the event, a spreadsheet of Attendees can be uploaded to IRM Events to record the Attendees.
Online Events
Events which have an online component will need to be supported by your choice of an online service provider.
Initially, the Event Organiser will need to manually set up the Event Page in the online services provider system, as well as the Event Detail page in IRM Events for the corporate website. In future releases, we will provide automatic creation and updating of Event pages in Zoom and later in other meeting provider sites, depending on demand.
The setup of the Online Event will determine whether it is an online meeting (all can contribute) or a webinar (speakers can contribute, guests can ask questions etc) as provided by the online meeting software.
For Online Events, the Event Manager can choose whether to use IRM Events to manage the registration process (by providing a link to the IRM Events registration page) or whether to let the online meeting provider manage the registration process (by linking to the online event provider's register button).
If the online event software will be providing individual, separate links for each registrant, it will be best to let that software manage the registration process, including the issuing of reminder emails to people already registered. This may mean setting up email formats or schedules depending on the services offered by that software.
If there is a common registration link for all registrants, that link can be entered into RM Events and IRM Events can manage the registration process. Your IRM Events registration confirmation email will still need to provide a unique link to registrants to actually attend the meeting.
If registrations are managed by the third-party software, then before sending out second or subsequent invitations through IRM Events, you should use the upload/download facilities of both systems to ensure that IRM Events has the details of people who have registered so it doesn't annoy them with confusing additional email invitations.
The online event software should always be used to record the email addresses of people who actually attended. After the event has been completed, download the list of Attendees from the online event software, and upload it to IRM events so it has the attendance information needed for follow-up.
Hybrid Events
For an event that is occurring both physically and online at the same time, the Event Manager will need to do both the physical and online processing. mentioned above.
People will register for either the physical or online event There will be two registration buttons. Think of these as two separate (but linked) Events in the IRM Events list. You will probably do single Event Detail page with two registration buttons for each event type. See the description of the processing of Related Events for how to set up two separate but linked events where people register for just one.
Some events (for example AGM events with a separate link for the voting process) will offer the voting registration capability separately, or manually combined using upload/download until a future release provides better integration.
Repeating Events
You might choose to run your event multiple times. For example, for physical events, you might run it on different dates in different states. For Online Events, you might choose to run it multiple times in different timezones to accommodate people from different parts of the world, or just re-run a previous event at a later date for people who missed the first event.
IRM Events support repeating events. Set up a "master" event with the details of the whole program, and a separate "slave' event for each of the instances of the event. Show both the master and slave events on the Events List and Calendar, or just show the master event. Allow people to register once for the series, or separately for each slave event, by giving a single registration link for the master event or one for each slave event through clever design of the Event Detail pages.
Send invitations to the series of events from the master event, with appropriate explanations in the Description of the event(s). Send follow-ups from the master event.
IRM Events will record details of invitations at the master level, and details of registrations/attendees at the slave level.
Multi-company investor conferences
Investor relations consultants or conference organisers can use IRM Events to provide a multi-company event. These are like repeating events, but each individual slave event can use the special features of IRM Events to send invitations to the mailing lists of the individual company instances of IRM Events - so confidentiality of mailing lists can be maintained between the Event organiser and the presenting companies. You will need to set up Invitation Email templates in the "slave" instances as well as in the master instance and provide a registration page in both.
If the speaking company is also a user of IRM Events, the attendees' information will be captured in the IRM Events instance belonging to the presenting company, giving them the opportunity to recruit subscribers to their email lists.
The IRM Keep In Touch program operates for multi-company events through conference organisers. with Keep In Touch, the conference organised can send ASX Announcement news to event attendees even if the presenting companies are not IRM Newsroom clients.