Solution · Conference managementConference management software: one attendee, one agenda across every day

What is conference management software?

Conference management software handles attendee management for conferences, summits and congresses: registration with session selection, hotel and travel, communication, an event app with the program and a personal agenda, check-in with name badges, attendance per session and reporting. It is not the same as video conferencing software, which transmits calls: conference management software in the event sense organizes people in one place over several days, with many agenda items and limited seats.

In AirLST, this is not a separate application but the event platform configured for the conference: sessions as time slots with capacity, hotel and travel as fields and room blocks, networking as bookable meetings, the event app as the home of the personal agenda, and the badge as the key to days, rooms and tables.

Conference management software organizes people in one place over several days, with many agenda items and limited seats.

How does a conference run in AirLST?

1. Build the program. Days, time slots, sessions with rooms and seats, workshops, evening program; hotels with room blocks, shuttles as time slots.
2. Invite and register. Personal invitation or public website; registration with days, sessions, hotel, travel, meals and payment (registration).
3. Inform. Confirmation with ticket and calendar file, reminders, event app with the program and personal agenda, push on changes (event app).
4. Connect. Networking suggestions and meetings as time slots, confirmed in the app (Attendee Matching).
5. Check in. Badge on day one, scan per day, per session, per table; rooming and driver lists for hotel and shuttle (check-in).
6. Report. Attendance per day and session, no-shows, survey feedback, contacts in the event CRM.

Which data and building blocks does a conference need?

Per attendee: name, organization, job title, contact details, group (attendee, speaker, sponsor, press, VIP), days, sessions and workshops per time slot, hotel with room type and nights, arrival and departure with shuttle, meals and dietary restrictions, plus-ones, networking profile, payment status, ticket, attendance per day and session, feedback. Per session: time, room, speaker, seats, waitlist, attendance.

The building blocks are standard in AirLST: online registration with capacities and conditional logic, guest list, invitation management, event websites, event app, QR tickets, check-in app with badge printing, surveys, event reporting and the event CRM. Special configurations add Hotel and Travel, Attendee Matching, Booking Calendar and Catering Manager.

Which formats does it fit?

Any format with several agenda items and limited seats: the company conference for employees and leadership, the industry conference with sessions and speakers, the congress with an exhibition and overnight stay, the symposium with an invited expert audience, the customer summit with networking and hospitality, and the hybrid edition with access links from the same registration.

• Manufacturing: customer and user conferences across many locations
• Public sector (Europe): industry conferences for the public sector and business
• Retail and consumer brands: partner and dealer days in your brand design
• Corporate events: internal conferences, kickoffs, leadership meetings
• Trade show management: when an exhibition runs alongside the program
• Corporate hospitality: VIP program and hospitality next to regular registration
• Training management: when the conference turns into a series of dates

How do you plan a conference with software?

By setting up the conference as a data model before you invite anyone: days and time slots, sessions with rooms and seats, hotels with room blocks, shuttles with capacity, groups with their own rules. After that, the conference organizes itself through registration: attendees choose, capacities update, waitlists catch overflow, the app shows the agenda, the badge opens the rooms, and every change reaches the people affected. What your team still does is decide: move a room, shift a session, confirm who moves up from the waitlist. What it no longer does is reconcile lists. At the end, reporting per session shows which agenda items carried the event and which rooms were too small, the basis for the next edition.