Japan Center for International Exchange

Learn how JCIE streamlined their registration process for their VIP event.

Trilateral Commission Annual Plenary Meeting 2023 in New Delhi with stage, speakers, and audience.
50%

time saved

Less Staff

required to manage registrations

BACKGROUND

Based in Tokyo, the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE) is one of Japan’s leading nonprofit, nonpartisan foreign affairs institutes that organises legislative exchanges, and policy research and dialogues that bring together key figures from diverse sectors of society, both in Japan and overseas. JCIE also acts as a secretariat for various private groups, and operates in close partnership with its American counterpart, JCIE/USA in New York.

The organisation's event planning team is in charge of organising its annual Asia Pacific Division meeting, which is attended by politicians, government leaders, opinion leaders, and thought leaders.

GOALS

JCIE’s annual meeting was set to be a 3-day affair held in Delhi, India, in March 2023. Patrick Ishiyama, the team’s event technologist, was responsible for handling and tracking the registrations for the event. “I had three main goals: streamline the registration process and keep track of participants, save time and manpower in managing event registrations, and improve the registration experience for attendees,” says Patrick.

Previously, the events team was managing the registrations manually using either email, fax or phone, and then entering that information manually into a worksheet. But this process took a lot of time. JCIE's event planning team was introduced to Cvent’s solutions at one of their North American counterparts' events, where they experienced the ease of online registration. As their three-person team was pressed for time and resources while planning their annual meeting, they decided to get Cvent on board based on its extensive features and reliable support. The fact that Cvent fit within the team’s limited budget was also a factor. JCIE also wanted to go paperless and consolidate their event solutions, and partnering with Cvent aligned with those goals.

A large meeting hall with a stage and large screens with an audience and a speaker.

APPROACH

Since the 3-day event was expected to host VIP guests, including senior government ministers from India and other countries, JCIE’s event planning team was keen on planning every aspect of the event, right down to the last detail.

Now that they had an easy-to-use registration system on board, the team was able to build a flexible registration path that gave guests the ability to build a fully customisable agenda by choosing which sessions they wanted to attend on which day. The team also used Cvent system to send out the email communication and closed the registrations a week before the event. This meant the events team could track the exact count of registrants for each of the sessions, which helped inform their other event planning decisions like seating, catering, room size etc. And having a versatile registration process allowed them to avoid double booking on Day 3, which had concurrent breakout sessions planned.

A panel of five experts sits on stage at the 50th Annual Plenary Meeting of the Trilateral Commission.

RESULTS

By using Cvent, JCIE's event planning team saved up to 50% of their time on registration, allowing them to focus on other aspects of the event. The streamlined registration process allowed the event planning team to be more productive and less stressed. The team also required fewer members to oversee registration, freeing them up to focus on other important tasks.

At the end of it all, the team was able to register a total of 269 attendees for their annual meet. The easy-to-use system was especially beneficial for the older, less tech-savvy attendees, and the entire process was handled smoothly without a single complaint from any attendee.

JCIE's team sang high praises about Cvent's support team, who helped them quickly resolve any teething issues and speedily implement necessary changes to their registration website.

JCIE's experience with Cvent demonstrates the benefits of implementing event technology to streamline the registration process and save time and manpower. The organisation is now considering utilising more features of Cvent for future events, showcasing their satisfaction with the platform.

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