International Fertilizer Association

Introduction
Mainstreaming Events
Going International
Growth Goals

Introduction to the International Fertilizer Association

The International Fertilizer Association is a global association with memberships of over 500 entities in 80 countries – from producers to service providers, their mission is to promote efficient and responsible distribution of plant nutrients and educate the world on sustainability.

Kate Ashby, Conference Planner at the Association supports the member events. There are around 6 member events each year that range from small-scale, up to 1,500 attendees. These events aim to welcome new members, connect the community and provide vital updates for the industry and the future of food.

Four men and a woman are seated on chairs on a stage with a large screen behind them.

Mainstreaming the events programme

Kate tells us how the IFA had a shift in strategy towards events about 10 years ago, and selected Cvent to power them, “We use Cvent to essentially have a one-stop-shop for our events. We use it across registration, the website, the entire exhibitor management process, speaker resources and onsite”, Kate explains.

With 10 years of Cvent experience under their belts, the IFA have crafted their events down to an art. “We are able to just literally clone our events and have them run similarly” Kate tells us, “Our biggest teething issue now is just trying to stay up to date with new product updates”.

Cvent CONNECT Europe is the best place to stay in-the-loop with the latest product updates and roadmaps. “I’ve been to a couple of sessions at CONNECT which showed all the new product releases, I am personally very excited about it”.

A front desk with staff and guests at the Mandarin Oriental, Singapore.

Navigating international events with OnArrival

The IFA’s event, Asia Pacific Crossroads is the latest success in the portfolio. This was a 3-day conference in Honk Kong, hosting in-depth sessions on regional agriculture and agronomic matters. It welcomes over 380 attendees.

“We thought there were going to be challenges hosting in Hong Kong, particularly as people have different cell phones and might not be able to download the Attendee Hub App without an Android or an Apple”, Kate explains, “But it went really well, very smooth and everyone was happy!”.

Connectivity issues can have a huge impact on attendee experience, especially at check-in. OnArrival has a handy offline feature, where you can pre-download all your badges in case of poor connection or your venue can’t offer a mainline. “It was very easy and very accessible”, Kate describes the event, “Feedback was very positive, we want to consider doing another event in Hong Kong”.

The IFA relies heavily on OnArrival to streamline the onsite experience. OnArrival is Cvent’s onsite check-in and badging software that tracks the physical footprint of your event and makes understanding how attendees are engaging with your brand a breeze.

“I love OnArrival because I don’t have to integrate anything,” Kate explains, “The hardware is very succinct and easy to manage with the software”.

The IFA also utilise Cvent’s integration with Google Analytics, allowing them to track traffic on their registration pages.

Growth Goals

The IFA manages their event invites through Cvent, which allows them to provide extra personalisation for returning attendees. By using Cvent as one source of data for all invitees, when they register the form will be pre-populated with their latest details. “We often have repeat members, they come back and will be able to register for the next conference without having to put their details in, which is fabulous for them”, Kate explains how easy Cvent makes the process for repeat attendees. This is an area of growth for the IFA, they hope to move more marketing communications onto Cvent to further take advantage of possible synergies.

Products Used

Onsite Solutions

Streamline the experience

Attendee Hub

Accelerate engagement across virtual, hybrid, and in-person events