Client background

 

Attracting more than 3,000 delegates over four days, RCN annual congress is an opportunity for nurses to influence decision makers and express their views and opinions on the issues that affect them at work.

 

Challenge

 

In the past, the RCN captured member's votes using a time consuming and costly show of hands system. This system was prone to human error and could never guarantee that the outcome of a vote was 100% accurate.

 

A complete overhaul was also needed in the way that members addressed conference. The roving microphone system previously employed by the RCN proved to be disorganised and unfair, as the system was unable to provide all members wanting their say with equal access to the microphone.

 

Solution

 

The RCN contacted IML in need of a system that would transform their inefficient voting, registration and debating methods into a faster, fairer and more democratic process.

 

IML prescribed their Meetings Manager system and Microphone Queuing software as a complete solution to the RCN’s requirements.

 

Registration and Smartcards

 

Prior to the event, all members attending congress were sent a bar-coded attendance card, onto which their personal details had been stored.

 

On arrival at congress, RCN staff simply scanned each member’s barcode, confirming and registering their attendance in under ten seconds. The rapidity of IML’s Smartcard registration system eliminated the lengthy registration queues of past congress and made the RCN real cost savings due to the drastic cut in administrative staff required on site.

 

Smartcards were also used to distinguish between voting and non-voting members. Voting members received a Smartcard allowing them access to the voting system and microphone queue, whereas non-voting members received a Smartcard allowing them access to only the microphone queue.

 

Each Smartcard is unique to the individual to whom it is issued and, when activated is immediately recognised by a central computer. Smartcards ensure that only voting members can access a vote and are a fast and easy way for members to gain access to the voting and microphone queuing systems.

 

Once a Smartcard has been inserted into the Communicator, the handset is live and access to the voting and Microphone Queuing system remains activated until the card is removed.

 

Voting

 

An outdated show of hands and polling card system had rendered the RCN’s voting practices expensive and slow. This often meant that important issues did not receive full review at congress, as valuable time was wasted on casting, collecting and counting votes. These voting methods also generated high levels of administration and incurred excessive staffing costs, due to the extra administration staff required on-site.

 

IML’s interactive Communicator keypads were able to transform The RCN’s entire voting practice into a simple, efficient and cost effective process.

 

"IML’s keypads revolutionised our business and made congress far more democratic, as they sped-up the entire voting process, granting more time for members to interact and debate important issues. We used to have a situation where voting took hours and held everything up. This was not ideal, as annual congress is an expensive event and the one chance in the year that we can get everyone together. Too much valuable time was being spent on things that weren’t the main issue."

Brian French, RCN Conference and Events Manager.

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