Eternal Gift Industry Card a Winner

The annual giftware shows are integral in the retail industry’s events calendar generating millions of dollars nationally.  The shows are held in Brisbane Sydney and Melbourne, with a new event to be launched in Adelaide next year.

Well over 100,000 trade visitors attend the shows and one of the major challenges for the organisers is ensuring that everyone who attends is a legitimate buyer or senior representative of their company.

With multiple shows by the two main players in the gift and homewares sector, re-registering visitors on a regular basis has previously proved costly and time consuming.

An initiative by Info Salons has brought together the gift show organisers, Reed Exhibitions and the Gift & Homewares Association, to distribute a permanent membership card called the Gift Industry Card (GIC). Each visitor need simply scan their GIC on arrival at any Giftware show nationally, and their show badge is automatically printed containing all their correct details instantly.

“Managing our database and maintaining its integrity is an enormous task and we believe the generic gift industry card being sent to all visitors is going to go a long way to keep our database clean and relevant,” says Debbie Evans, who in 2006 will be running six major shows around the country for Reed Exhibitions.

“The system saves our visitors from having to resubmit their application to attend every year and we’re able to put a stop on people using their cards after they’ve left a company. We’re able to advise them that they are no longer registered and we do this in a very polite and non-confrontational manner.”

Linda Haughton, the Administration Manager of Info Salons, has played an integral part in the development of the new GIC process. “We are pleased the organisers of the gift shows have come together in this way to simplify the admission process thereby ensuring that the databases are accurate, reliable and have enhanced integrity,” she says. “If a client’s details change, they can be immediately updated without the costly expense of re-issuing a new GIC.”  This system also gives the organiser the ability to target particular groups at each fair.  Messages can be attached to these groups when they scan their bar code on arrival.

Gift & Homewares Australia’s Susan Mahony says a lot of time and effort has gone into the re-registration project and she’s “ecstatic” with the outcome.

“The process has been streamlined with the barcode to ensure the admission process is absolutely painless. Having happy visitors can only be of benefit to our clients and their exhibitors.”

The gift shows are held on the following dates next year:

GHA Sydney 25-28 February 2006

GHA Melbourne 5-9 August 2006

GHA Sydney 23-26 September 2006

Reed Gift Melbourne 21 -24 January 2006

Reed Gift Sydney 25 Feb - 1 March 2006

Reed Gift Adelaide 6 - 8 May 2006

Reed Gift Brisbane 8-11 July 2006

Reed Gift Melbourne 5-9 August 2006

>top

Education Matters with CPA Australia

As is the case with many professions these days, education and training is an ongoing necessity and nowhere is this more evident than with CPA Australia.

Info Salons has worked closely with the CPA Australia to devise a system whereby delegates attending a CPA Congress have their name badges scanned each time they enter a session and Continuing Professional Development (CDP) are awarded to the delegate.

This information is recorded and collated and CPD hours are awarded for completion of CDP mandated courses.

Capturing the information and recording who attended which session can be a challenge when one considers there are some 5,000 delegates attending CPA Congress over a three week period in Victoria alone. Conferences typically attract 1,000 – 1,500 attendees and the scanning system is most useful for crowd control, as Carolyn Morfitt, CPD Manager Events for CPA Australia explains.

“In addition to gaining a record of who has attended a session, we also know in advance through the registration process how many delegates intend to attend a particular session. This helps us allocate the right size room to cater for the demand to attend the presentation.”

If a delegates wishes to switch sessions, he or she simply visits the registration desk to change their badge. The operator can at a glance confirm whether there is available space to accommodate another attendee. The delegate’s badge is then reissued to reflect the revised program and CPD hours are calculated once the badge’s barcode is scanned on arrival to the session.

“The streamlined, barcode scanning process has enabled us to provide a cost effective and time saving solution for the CPA Australia delegates and organisers alike,” said Nick Savage, Info Salons Client Manager, committed to CPA events. “CPD point allocations and scanning delegates into individual sessions has never been easier”.

Attending events that attract CPD hours keeps CPA Australia members up to date and provides them with valuable knowledge and the skills necessary to succeed in the fields of business and finance.

PD activities include congresses, conventions, lectures, seminars, workshops, videoconferences, online learning, in-house company training and other forms of face-to-face and distance learning programs.

>top