Online Event Registration
Online event registration enables meeting planners to easily track attendance, streamline communication with attendees, and run detailed reports. Developing a custom platform enables you to offer your clients a proprietary online event registration solution that meets the strict regulatory requirements of the life science industry while accommodating the individualized needs of each client. If the idea of building an event registration website from the ground up seems out of intimidating, there are ways to streamline the process.
Ask your web vendor if they have a pre-existing framework you can start with. You would want a platform that is unique to your brand and sets you apart from your competitors. But certain features, such as: editable forms, email notifications and surveys are standard to online life science event registration. A pre-existing framework gives you a solid foundation to build on that can be fully modified to meet your exact specifications. Why not leverage the experience of previous users to work faster and more efficiently?
When people think of pre-existing frameworks for web development, they often think of WordPress or SharePoint. Although a content management system can be a great place to start for most custom web development, when it comes to event registration, many of the themes we see are geared toward the public entertainment industry. The additional programming needed to tune the features to the unique specifications of a life science event can raise the costs to a point where you lose the benefits of leveraging a pre-existing framework in the first place.
Working with a web vendor who specializes in life sciences to customize your own proprietary platform ensures that you are getting all of the features you need that are specific to your unique workflow.
- Ask about the cost of customization up front. You should be able to “re-skin” forms and emails to accommodate most of your clients’ needs. Forms should also be editable so you can add or remove fields as necessary based on the nuances of each of your clients’ varying workflows.
- Identify “plug-and-play” features that enable you to do as much as you can on your own. You don’t want to have to call your web vendor every time you need to add or remove an attendee, schedule an event, or send an email.
- Reports should be in user-friendly formats, like Excel for easy export and import into other project management or financial software that is part of your workflow. When it comes to platform implementation, compatibility is key.
Using pre-existing frameworks not only lowers costs and reduces development time, it also enables you to leverage previous testing and refinement to develop a better user experience and overall design. Be sure to work with a vendor who will proactively identify opportunities to cut costs and reduce development time. You want a partner who is going to think of your bottom line—not theirs.
Creative MediaWorks offers custom web development, graphic design and print solutions to the Life Science industry and their agencies with a focus on quality, deadline and accuracy. We achieve our quality standards through defined workflow processes direct access to on-staff project talent, proofreading and quality assurance expertise backed by an uncompromising commitment to the most responsive customer service in the business.
