Testimonials: |
| ...We are quite happy with the site, and have received lots of kudos from our membership, which has been a nice surprise. |
| We are also happy with the service and support from StarChapter. They are... |
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Case Study #1:
Streamlining the Registration Process |
The problem
Almost as soon as one meeting ended, the registration process would begin for the next. This 75-person organization held 12 meetings per year and the registration process was probably the most time- and labor-intensive part of the meeting planning process.
Registration lists were kept in Excel and copied from one spreadsheet to the next. Inevitably names would get left off in the transfer, or columns of information would be transposed. Mistakes would happen. It was only when invitations would come back in the mail as undeliverable would board members realize there was a problem.
Assuming invitations were sent to the correct individual at the right address, responses came back in a variety of ways - email, mail, and phone. One individual would be responsible for receiving email RSVPs, while someone else handled those that came by mail and phone. This was yet another bottleneck in the process, as the two would need to compare lists to ensure that no attendee had responded more than once.
Finally, name badges needed to be printed. At this point in the process there could be up to three different registration spreadsheets that would be combined to one. From there the names would need to be cut and pasted from Excel to Word before they could be printed.
From start to finish this process could take several individuals six to eight hours to complete. Board members began to realize that they couldn't be the only organization going through this. In addition, each one held fulltime jobs and this process wasn't always their top priority. Sometimes this would finish at the very last minute.
The solution
It took longer for the board to go through one round of "manual" meeting planning than it did for them to learn how to use the StarChapter meeting registration module. Since making the switch, they've never looked back.
As members and guests register their information goes into one central database. From this list invitations are automatically sent via email at a pre-set date, and reminder emails are sent easily through the Email Center. Responses come in via the web- to a central location; only one person reviews responses.
There is no need to create a separate list for name badges. Badges are automatically printed from the meeting registration list. The time savings for this piece of the process is huge - what used to take 45 minutes now takes about a minute.
The client loves the simplicity, easy of use and reliability of the StarChapter program. A calm has come to the meeting registration process that didn't exist before.
Another added benefit - registration costs are much easier to estimate. Other companies charge a monthly fee, plus several dollars per registration to assist with the process. StarChapter charges a flat monthly fee, no matter how many people register.
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Case Study #2:
Managing a Membership Mess |
The Problem
This local chapter of a medical membership organization had over 150 members - managing their membership information was almost a full-time job. But having one person manage the process wasn't an option, so multiple individuals were involved in the process, which added to the confusion.
There were several versions of the membership list; no one was ever sure who had the master copy. Depending on who was managing the list that month, the information collected might actually be different from what was collected the month before.
The process had been running like this for years - it was surprising that there hadn't been more problems. A new board was elected, and having recently seen an online demo, the president made a strong case for StarChapter.
The solution
The order that has been brought to the chaos is immeasurable, return on their initial investment too big to quantify. No longer is there a need to contact the webmaster to make changes to the online membership list. Members have the ability and responsibility for making changes to the single directory that now exists and update their information via a secure, password protected area, using their organizational Member ID as their logon.
A level of anti-spam protection is attached to the email addresses in the membership directory. The list is public, however, members have the ability to opt out, so their email addresses do not show on the web site. They are listed in the directory so they can be used by the organization, but they are not available to the public, blocking the efforts of spammers to lift members email addresses.
One additional benefit of the online membership list - extra marketing for members. The list contains basic company information and business URL, giving additional business exposure and a direct link to their company web site.
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