Created in 1986, the French Open Badminton is one of the 12 tournaments of the international circuit, renamed the 2018 HSBC BWF World Tour. For the French Badminton Federation (FFB), it is a flagship event. First, because it represents France abroad, secondly, because this moment is highly anticipated by the amateurs and enthusiasts of this sport. On this occasion, the FFB uses Digitevent to invite its adherents and partners to the event.

Initial stakes ...

For the FFB, the goal is to make its partners and their guests benefit from this unique annual event on French soil. Nevertheless, access passes are precious and daily invitations quotas must be respected in order to accommodate all guests. Below are the prerequisites :

  • Management of invitations on behalf of the Federation and partners,
  • Registration of guests to different days of the tournament taking quotas into account,
  • Registration of accompanying persons by participants authorized to come in groups,
  • Sending of PDF access badges and registration confirmations,
  • Control of participants' access to each day of the tournament,
  • Restricting access to VIP zones and sending messages to partners to let them know when important guests arrive,
  • Sharing acknowledgments and highlights of the event.

Management of invitations on behalf of the Federation and partners

Before the event, the FFB collects the guestlist for each of its partners and sets the participation rights of each of them. Some are only allowed to attend the qualifying phases, others may also get invited to the final. Some are allowed to come for several days, others only once. Finally, some have the right to come accompanied, especially for the qualifying phases and during weekdays.

Registration of guests to different days of the tournament taking quotas into account

A save-the-date and an invitation email campaign are sent to the different guests. Thanks to the customization of the messages, everyone receives an invitation email with the name and logo of the partner inviting entity, usually a sponsor of the event.

After clicking on their nominative invitation email, future participants enter the website created via Digitevent. For this large event, a dedicated domain name and sending email address have been set up to offer a completely transparent experience with regard to the FFB and the tournament. Guests only have to confirm their attendance and to indicate their preferred days of participation. Quotas are set up for different days, avoiding the risk to register more people than it is possible to accommodate.

Registration of accompanying persons by participants authorized to come in groups

Once registrations are completed, participants can add accompanying persons. The number of accompanying people (as well as the right to come accompanied) depends on the typology of the participant. In a transparent way for the attendee, the FFB determined the number of authorized extras for each type of participant. The typologies are dynamically defined by creating segments via Digitevent, which are filtering contacts that match certain conditions (ex: attendees coming on Thursday and invited by Yonex).

Sending of PDF access badges and registration confirmations

After each registration, a PDF access badge is automatically sent out to the participant (for them and their accompanying persons). The information and the access plan are summarized in this confirmation email. The badge mentions the name of the attendee, their allowed days of participation at the tournament, and a secure QR code to be scanned upon arrival.

Control of participants' access to each day of the tournament

During the event, safety is essential and we must ensure that each attendee is correctly registered. For this purpose, hosts and hostesses check the participants at the entrance using connected tablets. They search each attendee by name or via the QR code of their confirmation email. In seconds, they make sure that the person is allowed to access the event. Arrivals are synchronized in real-time on all devices. This digital check-in is repeated every day of the tournament. Day by day detailed statistics and times of arrival can be viewed in the Digitevent account of the organizers.

Restricting access to VIP zones and sending messages to partners to let them know when important guests arrive

In addition to attending games, VIP lounges are open to specific guests. These areas are ideal for interacting with inviting partners and discussing various collaborations. In order to warn the partner of the arrival of his guests, an SMS alert is set up. Thus, as soon as the attendee is scanned at the entrance of the VIP area, an SMS is automatically sent to the inviter to notify the arrival.

Sharing acknowledgments and highlights of the event

After the event, the organizers and the FFB sent thank-you email campaigns to the participants. Thanks to digital access control and the segmentation of contacts, they sent a specific message targeting only those who actually attended. This campaign was an opportunity to send a summary of the highlights as well as information on the practice of Badminton. A photo album has also been uploaded to the dedicated event website.