By thoughtfully making use of the technology infrastructure provided to the CFA Society® community by CFA Institute, CFA Society New York has streamlined event processes and improved its customer service to key stakeholders locally.
In partnership with CFA Institute, CFA Society New York developed easy-to-manage, automated processes on the Cvent platform. Event automation helped to free up volunteer leaders’ time, enabling them to focus their energy on the quality of content and speakers for events. The system also provided event speakers with a straightforward process to upload their biographies, photos and sign their release consent forms. This reduced the amount of time that speakers and staff spent on preparing for CFA Society New York events and consolidated documents for staff to promote events and confirm speaker policy compliance.
Perhaps the most instructive CFA Society New York innovation of FY22 concerned the foundational steps the local society took toward a limited return to in-person events – particularly those related to strict compliance with all federal, state, and local Covid requirements. These innovations vastly mitigated the impact of a set of time-consuming, pre-event waivers and attestations that all prospective guests would have otherwise been tasked with completing as part of the day-of check-in process for key CFA Society New York events: October’s 2021 Annual Dinner and December’s Asset Owner Series events.
Instead, through Cvent data-tags and the clever leveraging of internal workflow-automation tools, CFA Society New York was able to collect the data it needed in advance of event day via a web-based submission form. This minimized the need for manual staff intervention and mitigated the likelihood of confusion and delays for attendees. Indeed, the automated Covid-related protocols and data collection ensured a safe and efficient process for event guests, while also complying with public safety guidelines and regulations.
Effective data management provides a strong foundation for the local society and its use of Cvent. Members joining or renewing are updated in Cvent by a Salesforce integration. As candidates register for, or take exams, their status is also sent. During registration, single sign-on (SSO) is used to verify the registrant’s status. The data on members and candidates, and verification from SSO is used by Cvent to provide appropriate pricing for events. Innovations centred on the event-proposal process enhanced operational efficiency for the local society by automating the submission, voting, approval, and feedback loop for the volunteers appointed by the board to analyse all programming proposals. Cvent facilitates a feedback archive and has served to better ensure the quality of the content provided.
These digital and automation-focused innovations have enabled CFA Society New York to make their processes more efficient, given members an improved level of customer service, and helped the local society to thoroughly document compliance with federal, state, and local governments.
Each of the local society initiatives used a combination of web-based forms and automation tools to dynamically populate an Excel spreadsheet, which incorporates crucial Cvent registration and membership data. Going forward, CFA Society New York is developing a new initiative to offer premium, access-controlled content to the local society membership community. This could result in more candid speaker commentary and, through the offering of member-only content, further increase the value of membership.
“CFA Society New York is always learning, and always seeking to innovate in the name of operational efficiency and the membership experience – which very often go hand-in-hand,” said Thomas Brigandi, CFA, Chair of the CFA Society New York Board of Directors. “As long as there’s room for improvement, there’s room to innovate.”
Should your local society wish to explore the feasibility of using the technology to improve customer service and streamline processes, please contact Moe Khuen, Director, Society Technology (moe.khuen@cfainstitute.org).
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