Key Figures

Context

Founded in 2007, First Connection is a French company specializing in the organization of professional in-person events in the industrial sector.

Each year, First Connection manages 3 major events focussed on innovation and research in 3 distinct industrial sectors:

• Médi’Nov Connection : France’s benchmark event for MedTech professionals,
• Trans’Rail Connection : the international meeting place for rail and urban mobility,
• MecaPlasTronic Connection : the gathering dedicated to Mechatronics, Plastics and Printed Electronics.

These 3 annual events all follow the same format:

• 2 days of in-person events
• An exhibition hall with sponsors
• A congress punctuated by thematic conferences and round tables about technological innovation.

The aim of these mid-sized events, which bring together between 300 and 1,000 participants, is to encourage networking and exchanges between industry professionals who come to meet potential technology suppliers, but also to showcase the latest market developments.

This dual proposition is of great interest to our audiences: the presentation of information on new products and developments in the sector through round tables and conferences, and at the same time providing the trade show highlighting exhibitors offering innovative products and services.

Objectives

With the growing success of Médi’Nov, and an exponential number of participants year after year, it became complicated for the First Connection teams to continue managing the event using multiple independent third-party tools.

Historically, online registration, event website management and badge generation, in particular, were handled by separate, non-centralized tools.

The First Connection teams therefore looked for a solution that would centralize event management on a single platform and turned to inwink.

At a certain point, you just can’t do it yourself anymore. We can no longer afford to do things by hand. Médi’Nov has become a benchmark event in the market over the years, thanks to this technological leap enabled by inwink and its teams.

Strategy

How do you industrialize all your events?

Initially, the inwink platform was chosen to organize Medi’Nov, First Connection’s largest event.

Medi’Nov was the trigger because it was the event that took the lead over our product family in terms of audience size and that forced us to look for a different solution. 

The First Connection teams decided to switch their 2 other events – Trans’Rail Connection and MecaPlasTronic Connection – to inwink as well.

Once we start working with a tool and become familiar with it, there’s no reason why we can’t pass on the added value of this tool to our other events. 

How to harmonize all event communications

As event organization is First Connection’s core business, it was very important for the teams to maintain consistency and harmony in terms of communication tools around their events.

To do this, an event template was created in inwink and used for First Connection’s 3 major events.

This template ensures continuity in the brand’s communications, but also offers the same experience to participants and partners, who may be present at one or more of the events organized by First Connection.

The aim is for our visitors and partners not to have a disconcerting user experience. With inwink, we familiarize them with a single tool, whether they visit one or several of our event websites. 

Why centralize event management on a single platform?

inwink has become the central management tool for First Connection’s 3 in-person events.

For each edition, the website generated by inwink hosts online registration forms, programmes, and provides the ability to bookmark sessions.

All of this helps participants prepare their visits ahead of time.

The solution is also used by the organizing teams during the event, using the inwink OnSite module for badge generation and on-site sign-in.

Where before we worked with several tools to manage an event: one for online registrations, another to format the programs, one for badges, plus another for the event website… Now we can do it all in a single tool. The biggest advantage of inwink is the centralization of all these elements. 

We also use inwink to send out on-the-spot satisfaction questionnaires after each event, to obtain feedback on the Top Sessions, the general atmosphere, and areas for improvement for future editions.

How can we offer the best event experience and encourage exchanges between participants and partners?

During these 2 days of face-to-face meetings, First Connection does everything in its power to ensure an unforgettable experience for participants and exhibiting partners.

For our visitors, our aim is to create value through the conferences and the topics presented: new technologies, industry news and developments… and to create value with exhibitors who sell grey matter and disruptive technologies. 

To accomplish this, networking events are scheduled throughout the 2 days, including coffee breaks, lunches, and a cocktail reception and dinner on the evening of Day 1.

All this ensures a seamless experience: participants don’t have to go out for lunch or coffee. All they need to do is let themselves be guided throughout their visit.

When you create the right environment for people, they exchange more, and that multiplies the opportunities for exhibitors. We have to use the tools at our disposal to make it easy for participants -ahead of time with the inwink platform and on site – so that they can concentrate on their objectives for attending the event.

Results

First Connection teams are now autonomous in their day-to-day operational use of inwink.

The solution contributes to the growing success of the company’s 3 events, whose participation figures continue to rise year after year:

• Médi’Nov Connection 2022 :
  • 1,000 participants
  • 150 exhibitors
  • 26 conferences
  • 2 round tables

• Trans’Rail Connection 2022 :
  • 600 participants
  • 70 exhibitors
  • 25 conferences

• MecaPlasTronic Connection2022 :
  • 380 participants
  • 45 exhibitors
  • 21 conferences