Following the recent acquisition of Eventbookings Ltd, IML have added online delegate and event management software & services to its growing product portfolio.  See how IML's innovative event technology, the IML Communicator and Eventbookings.com was used at the Jeddah Economic Forum

How do you cope when conference registrations double for a high-profile international conference on the day the event starts? For IML’s eventbookings.com software this is no problem!

This leading edge software enabled delegates, sponsors and special guests from around the world to pay and register online for the Jeddah Economic Forum. Registration was launched at the end of January, reaching 500 a week before, and quickly leapt to 2,500 the day before the event.

No one could have predicted what came next.  There was an influx of a further 2,000 delegates on-site with the final total hitting 5,500. The ability to deal with such a sudden increase is testament to the rock solid eventbookings.com system.

The Forum, described as the Think Tank of the Middle East, was established in 2000 by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Its objective is to address current economic and social challenges from regional and global perspectives. The forum draws CEOs and Chairmen, from public and private sectors in the Kingdom and internationally.

During the Forum an integrated bar code scanning solution to track delegate movements between the exhibition and the conference was also provided and the IML communicator keypads were used to enhance stimulation and interaction between delegates, speakers, members of the press.

A key part of the forum was the 'Parkinson’ Style interviews conducted by Sue MacGregor of the BBC and Alastair Stewart of the Independent Television News.
 
During these sections the audience was invited to ‘text’ comments or questions using the IML Communicator. These messages were collated behind the scenes and then key comments or recurring themes were then sent electronically, in real time, directly to the chairperson to put to the panel members.
 
This IML system was invaluable for a number of reasons; primarily it made sure that the discussions on the stage were conducted in the areas that were of most concern to the audience. And importantly, the system removed the cultural reticence that may have prevented the audience from voicing their opinions using a conventional microphone and enabled them to express their honest thoughts.

Conference producer Harvey Thomas said: "It was a pleasure working with IML and Eventbookings at the Jeddah Economic Forum.  They certainly had the capability, skill and enthusiasm for this large, high profile project."  On IML’s recent acquisition Harvey Thomas commented: “IML have always had an excellent reputation for their products and service and it’s fantastic that such a range of high quality event technologies are now available from one company.” 
 

Click here to find out more about our eventbookings.com software

Click here to find out more about the Communicator keypad