From disconnected tools to a single story: what event teams gain from connected data

Every edition brings a new destination, yet the same members and delegates. That is exactly why connecting event data pays off for associations. Alda Egurrola-Wienke of Cvent explains what leading teams do differently – and how to start tomorrow.

Registration in one system, check-in in another, the CRM somewhere else again: many event teams work with a patchwork of tools. According to Alda Egurrola-Wienke, Regional Sales Director at event technology company Cvent, the real problem is not the number of tools, but the connections between them. Teams that bring their data together gain time, insight and a better delegate experience. And the first step can be taken tomorrow, without a new platform.

The biggest gaps, says Egurrola-Wienke, lie between moments and between teams. Registration, on-site check-in and CRM or marketing systems do not always talk to each other or fail to synchronise reliably. They often use different fields or definitions for the same person or activity, so the data does not line up neatly.

The result: teams export data, clean it, match it and re-enter it, just to get a usable overview. “That manual stitching costs planner time and creates more chances for missing, duplicated or out-of-date records,” says Egurrola-Wienke. Follow-up can be delayed, and it becomes harder to understand what an event has contributed.

Delegates notice it too. They sometimes have to enter the same information several times, or juggle different logins for different platforms. “The real cost isn’t the number of tools,” she says. “It’s the work and lost context created when systems and experiences stay disconnected.”

What leading teams do differently

High-performing event teams do not just collect data; they make it usable. They bring together signals on registration, attendance, engagement and follow-up, agree on what those metrics mean, and connect event activity to the wider customer or business context. That way they see not only who registered, but also who actively took part, what resonated and which follow-up makes sense.

Their starting point is the question of what they want to learn from their event data as a team. They then make sure the right data reaches the people who can act on it. “The difference isn’t how much data they collect,” says Egurrola-Wienke. “It’s whether they turn it into better follow-up, clearer insight and smarter decisions for the next event.”

In practice: St. James’s Place

UK wealth management company St. James’s Place shows how this works out. Before adopting Cvent, its event team relied heavily on manual work. Registrations ran through Microsoft Forms, attendee lists sat in ever-expanding spreadsheets and badges were printed by hand the night before.

For a new series of flagship events, the team brought registration, communications, check-in and session attendance tracking together in a single connected workflow. RFID technology recorded attendance automatically.

Automatic capture of attendance for continuing professional development (CPD) eliminated manual tracking altogether. The team also gained visibility of which sessions drew the largest audiences, while surveys broken down by job role showed which content was preferred. Attendees rated every element, from the communications and the app to the event team itself, and awarded five stars across the board.

“Capturing all the data in one holistic place enabled the team to work smarter, not harder,” says Egurrola-Wienke.

St. James’s Place in figures

• Registrations                                            2,600

• Attendance rate                                        94%

• Event app usage                                      95%

• CPD attendance captured via RFID       100%

• Attendee rating                                         5 stars across all elements

 

Corporate team, event agency or PCO

The underlying challenge is similar everywhere, but day-to-day practice differs. A corporate event team tries to connect activity across its own business units, regions and internal systems, and wants to show how events contribute to wider business objectives.

An event agency or PCO has to do that work all over again for each client, each time with different tools, approval processes, data requirements and success criteria. “They need a reusable way of working that can flex to each client,” Egurrola-Wienke explains, “without forcing everyone into the same setup or rebuilding the process from scratch each time.”

For associations with rotating congresses, that second scenario will be familiar. Every edition means a new destination, a new venue and often new local partners, while data on members and delegates needs to carry over from one edition to the next.

Getting started tomorrow

Taking a first step does not require a new platform. Egurrola-Wienke recommends starting with one decision you want to make with your event data: which sessions to repeat, who needs follow-up or which audience to target next.

Then work backwards. Agree on what evidence supports that decision, which fields you need to capture for it and where: at registration, in surveys, at session check-in or elsewhere. Use the tools you already have to capture that data consistently.

Afterwards, review the results with the people who will act on them. Then make one concrete change.

 

---