Large online-conferencing on a new level!
November 09, 2021

Large online-conferencing on a new level!

Claudia Hentschel, Prof. Dr.-Ing. | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Whova

The software was provided by the FTC2021 conference organizers for an entirely online conference during the corona pandemic to link >300 participants from different types of organizations, altogether from 60 countries. As in-person meetings were not possible, this was the way to perform the conference online - with a much better experience than expected before!

Pros

  • Organization and display of the conference's agenda with multiple parallel sessions and talks
  • Meet-ups between participants (many), but also spontaneously with additional video call support between smaller groups
  • Chat, question and commentary functions parallel to session talks, to be answered right away by session leader or speaker
  • Scorings for activities (e.g. participation, photo upload, ...)

Cons

  • If chat is used, one should be able to comment on other people's chat by an answer function (as in WhatsApp, Signal, ...). With the chat function as it is, there is no direct answer possibility or it is difficult to comment a chat contribution, when the thread had proceeded.
  • The video-call function was a little tricky, as both persons have to give allowance for the other to call. This is good, but it should be explained when one is sending a video call invitation. I (personally) was a little lost shortly, the other person as well, but we finally managed.
  • Clear view on long conference agenda with many parallel tracks and sessions and other, additional functions; intuitive to use
  • Switching between days and being able to create one's own agenda
  • Getting to know other people directly online, but also remotely (by emailing them later)
  • Getting a quick overview of other people's background; getting connected even beforehand by ice-breaker questions and other meet-ups and topics one can organize
  • The scoring table was funny (best photo upload; ...), very individual, personalized exchange of experience during the conference
  • As to ROI, I cannot tell, as Whova platform was provided by the conference organizers
  • For me personally, at least one project and many personal links were formed, that otherwise would not have been possible (and even not been possible in a personal face-to-face conference). The direkt link to people of same interest was amazing.
  • Also, coincidential meetings were possible, which, I thought would only be possible in on-site-conferences. But quick, random netoworking sessions also provided to "run" into somebody, one would not have met by same interest only.
Way many more functions (as described earlier) related to a large-conference set-up, rather than smaller meeting set-ups.

Do you think Whova delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Whova's feature set?

Yes

Did Whova live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Whova go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Whova again?

Yes

Next time, I am co-organizing a conference, I will suggest it to my colleagues for a better experience esp. during online conferences, but also as back-up in a hybrid conference. The good thing is, that you can provide session recordings for later access, or that people, who are not able to travel to the conference destination, can join as well, e.g. students with low budget, or persons who are not able to travel for whatever other reason.

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