AlonLearn / Congress and conference
Programme, sign-up and attendance
all connected.
For those of you running conferences with many participants and parallel tracks — and tired of gluing Eventbrite, Mailchimp and a giant Excel together by hand. Participants get their own agenda on their phone; you get concrete no-show figures after the conference. Used by the Norwegian Optometric Association and the Norwegian Petroleum Society — with a new sign-up every minute on the platform.
«Today, event managers juggle Eventbrite for sign-ups, Mailchimp for emails and an Excel file for the programme itself — and use paper signs on the doors as backup when participants wonder where the next session is.»
AlonLearn brings sign-up, programme, check-in and after-report into the same system.
ONE WORKFLOW
From four systems to one.
What event managers complain about most: Eventbrite to take sign-ups, Mailchimp for categorised emails, a large Excel file for the programme and paper lists at reception to check who actually shows up. AlonLearn brings the entire conference lifecycle into one interface — you log in once.
Sign-up
Participant and price variants per category, Stripe payment, invoice on request.
Replaces EventbriteProgramme and agenda
Timeline with parallel sessions, one-click selection and "My agenda" on the phone.
Replaces ExcelCheck-in and attendance
QR scanning on arrival, volunteers use their own phones.
Replaces paper listsAfter-report
No-show numbers per session, certificates issued, Excel for the board.
Replaces manual workHow it looks
From programme to My agenda to participant list.
You build the programme in the course editor. The participant picks sessions with one click and gets their personal agenda on their phone — no printout, no rummaging through a 40-page programme booklet. You see the whole participant list with session selections, category and custom fields in the same interface.
The programme in a timeline
Sessions shown chronologically with parallel tracks side by side, keynotes marked, hours categories as coloured badges and capacity indicator per session. Clickable titles lead to the full description.
"My agenda" on the phone
The participant's personal overview — only the sessions they\'ve chosen, in chronological order. Available on My page on the phone and as an iCal file to Outlook or Google Calendar.
The participant list with everything on
Registrants, category, chosen sessions, custom fields like allergies and diet, payment status and attendance — all on one page. Filter, search and export to Excel without going through Mailchimp or Eventbrite exports first.
PROGRAMME AND SESSIONS
Timeline, parallel tracks and 'My agenda'
The conference is one course in AlonLearn with multiple sessions attached. Each session is its own sub-course with its own capacity, time and speaker — and the participant picks themselves with one click per time slot.
Timeline with parallel tracks
The entire conference programme shown chronologically — keynotes, parallel sessions and mandatory activities side by side. Participants see immediately what happens when, and what clashes with what.
Sessions with their own capacity
Each session is its own course under the conference — with its own time, venue, description, speaker and max capacity. When a session is full it is full, and the waitlist kicks in automatically.
One-click session selection
After sign-up, participants pick sessions with one click per time slot. If they choose a new session in the same slot, the previous one is swapped out automatically — no risk of double-booking.
"My agenda" on the phone
Participants see their own programme on their phone during the conference — only sessions they've chosen, in chronological order with room name, speaker and directions. No paper printouts, no rummaging through a 40-page programme booklet.
iCal export
Download the whole programme or just your own agenda to Outlook, Google Calendar or Apple Calendar. Sessions appear in the calendar with the right time, venue and room.
Self-service swaps before the deadline
Participants can change session selections freely until a configurable deadline you set — after that, the request lands with the organiser. Less back-and-forth on email with 300 participants who've changed their minds.
LIVE DEMO
How participants pick their break-out sessions
An interactive demo of the participant experience — browse the programme, click into a session and add it to 'My agenda' with one click per time slot. Just like a conference attendee does it on their phone.
LIVE DEMO
How the organiser builds the programme on the admin side
An interactive demo of the admin experience — create sessions, set capacity per time slot and watch the programme take shape.
Admin interface shown on larger screens only.
PARTICIPANTS AND CATEGORIES
Speaker, volunteer, sponsor, press — the right rule per group
Not all participants are the same. Speakers shouldn't pay, exhibitors shouldn't sign up to sessions, and custom fields capture allergies, hotel needs and professional tracks without cluttering forms on other courses.
Participant categories
Speaker, volunteer, attendee, exhibitor, press, VIP — set the role at sign-up or manually on the admin page. Exhibitors get an entry pass but not session access; speakers can sign up for sessions they're not running themselves.
Category-dependent pricing
Set different prices per participant category — member price, non-member, student, sponsor, free for speakers. The price is decided at sign-up based on the category the participant belongs to.
Custom fields in the sign-up form
Allergies, diet, t-shirt size, hotel preference, transport needs, professional track — add the fields this specific conference needs, without cluttering the forms on other courses.
Auto sign-up for keynotes
Keynotes and mandatory activities aren't selected — participants are signed up automatically at conference registration. No "forgot to tick the box" surprises when the room is full.
Cascade cancellation
If a participant cancels the conference, they're automatically removed from all sessions. Seats are freed, waitlists move up, and you don't do 25 manual updates.
Waitlist with auto-promotion
When a session is full, participants go on the waitlist. If someone cancels, the first person waiting moves up automatically and gets a notification — without you monitoring anything.
CHECK-IN AND ATTENDANCE
QR check-in — so you know who was actually there
Every participant has their personal QR code from the sign-up confirmation. Volunteers scan on arrival to each session — one scan registers the participant as present and gives concrete no-show numbers afterwards. Volunteers use their own smartphones — for a typical professional day with 500 participants and 4 parallel tracks, 6–8 volunteers are plenty.
QR scanning at check-in
Every participant has their own personal QR code from the sign-up confirmation. Volunteers scan on arrival — one scan registers the participant as present and triggers automatic hours allocation and certificate based on actual attendance.
Ordinary phones — no extra kit
The scanner app runs in the browser on a phone. No rented hardware, no vendor-built scanner stands, no "where's the charging cable?". Volunteers use their own smartphones.
Name and photo shown on scan
The volunteer sees the participant's name, photo and status ("Checked in 09:01") on every scan — physical verification to catch swapped QR codes or other irregularities.
Attendance mode per session
Choose what suits per session: No attendance recording (manual status) or QR scanning on arrival (one scan = present). Strict professional days use scanning, casual breakfasts don't need any.
Live overview during the conference
The admin dashboard shows in real time how many are inside each session, how many are expected, and which sessions are overbooked. You spot the problem before the room empties.
Dedicated role for volunteers
Volunteers get limited access — only the scanner app and the attendance log for their session. They don't see participant lists, payment status or admin functions. Safe to grant access to people who are only there on Saturday.
«The paper signs on the doors still hanging there the day after the conference are the most visible part of an event system that doesn't hang together.»
In AlonLearn the participant sees the next session in their pocket. You see who was inside the room.
14 manual steps in typical conference administration — how many can you cut?
Get a short checklist by email: 14 typical manual steps (from invitation to after-report), how long they take on average, and how many AlonLearn automates for you. Concrete, not generic — and no sales call.
Get the checklist by email →COMMUNICATION
The right message to the right category, on the right channel
Confirmation via email, reminder via SMS the day before, thank-you email after the conference — all templates tied to the same conference with their own triggers. Filter by category, session or custom field and send to the filtered group.
Multiple email templates per conference
Confirmation on sign-up, practical info a week before, programme changes the day before, thank-you email after — all templates tied to the same conference with their own triggers. No separate Mailchimp run on the side.
SMS reminders via Strex
Send SMS to everyone registered the day before the conference or right before a specific session starts. The Strex integration handles delivery on Norwegian numbers — you edit the text, AlonLearn sends.
Target per category
Send an email only to speakers with green-room access, or just to exhibitors with set-up info. Filter the participant list by category, session or custom field, and send to the filtered group.
Session feedback with stars
After each session, participants can give 1–5 stars and an optional comment. Results are aggregated per speaker and per session — exposed in the admin report the same day.
AFTER THE CONFERENCE
Certificates, hours allocation and concrete no-show numbers
When the QR check-in log tells you who actually was in the room, certificates are issued and hours allocated automatically — based on attendance, not sign-up. The participant list with custom fields is exported to Excel for catering, security or the board meeting.
Certificates per session and combined
Issue certificates per session for those who were actually present (based on QR check-in), or one combined certificate for the entire conference. Templates and signatures are pulled from the organisation's existing certificate setup.
Hours allocated automatically
The hours-award logic allocates hours automatically when the participant is registered as present via QR check-in. Audit and accounting hours are set as a coloured badge on each session and reported correctly per participant.
Registered vs attended
Concrete no-show figures per session — not estimates from paper lists. Compare against last year's figures and size rooms correctly next time. Export the report to the board the same week.
Excel export of participant list
A full participant list with session selections, contact info, category and custom fields (allergies, diet, hotel) is exported to Excel with one click — for catering, security or the invoicing team in finance.
Want to share this page internally?
Get a 2-page overview of conference support in AlonLearn — as a PDF you can share with the communications team, the subject committee or the board before you pick a new platform.
Get the 1-pager (PDF) by email →Integrations
Connects to the tools you already use.
Stripe for payments, Strex for SMS reminders, SparkPost for email, iCal for calendar sync, Entra ID for SSO where desired. Vimeo Live to stream keynotes to those who couldn't travel.
BLENDED LEARNING
The conference as one step in a larger professional path
Pre-reading via eLearning, the conference in a physical hall with a streamed keynote, post-event evaluation and certificate — every format is administered from the same interface, with a shared participant list and certificate template.
eLearning
Preparation courses participants take before the conference — tracked via SCORM so you know who has actually done the reading.
Webinar and streaming
Stream keynotes and selected sessions to those who couldn't travel — shared participant list across hall and stream.
Physical courses
Professional days and smaller gatherings that don't need full conference structure — same tools, simpler setup.
Learning paths
Slot the conference in as one step in a larger professional path — pre-reading, conference, post-event task, certificate.
GO DEEPER
The whole learning stack in AlonLearn.
Conference support builds on AlonLearn's general course administration and links onwards to streaming, learning paths and certificates. Explore the other parts here.
Webinar and streaming →
Stream the main stage via Vimeo Live to those who couldn't travel — chat, Q&A and polls in the same interface, recording ready right after broadcast.
Course administration →
The general framework for courses, participants, certificates and reports — conference support builds on this and adds timeline, sessions and QR check-in.
Learning paths →
Slot the conference in as one step in a larger professional path with pre-reading, physical conference and follow-up — shared certificate on top.