Symphony

NHS Modernisation Agency Coronary Heart Disease National Conference 2004

Background: ExCel London Docklands, 1,250 attendees

How Symphony helped:

• Was easy to use for both delegates and the Events Team
• Could provide accurate and live reports on delegate numbers and information
• Allowed delegates to access their booking and make any changes they required
• Allowed the Events Team to allocate and manage accommodation across nine different hotels
• Enabled speakers to attach biography's and presentations to their booking

Symphony's easy to use interface made sure that delegates were able to book when they wanted and return to their record if necessary to make changes, providing flexibility that many delegates benefited from.

The Events Team staff also benefited from having access to a live Web based system and as such could keep a constant check on the demand for all aspects of the conference. This enabled them to be pro-active rather than re-active when dealing with any logistical issues.

With a view to holding similar size events in the future the Coronary Heart Disease Programme were also keen for a simple but effective method of collating delegate responses to the event both in terms of content and of the administration.

In conjunction with the Events Team a questionnaire was designed and e-mailed to all delegates who attended the event. The Coronary Heart Disease Programme is currently in the process of evaluating the responses and aiming to make next year's event an even greater success.

"We organised the largest ever NHS Modernisation Agency conference using Symphony in March 2004; everything went very smoothly and the whole booking process contributed greatly to the success and professionalism of our event. Symphony is a fantastic event management tool, that I hope to be using on many more events in the future."