British Film Institute Deploys Codegate Mobility Solution to More Effectively Capture Delegate Information
23/03/2010
The British Film Institute (BFI) has deployed Codegate’s Delegate Registration and Tracking mobility software to ensure that it accurately captures data concerning the 2,500 accredited delegates attending its British Film Festivals.
The BFI needed to upgrade its existing paper based data capture processes to deliver the required market intelligence around the delegates, who come from the international film industry and include press and filmmakers, to the BFI’s public funders and stakeholders.
Codegate’s solution accesses the BFI’s Festival management database and prints delegate name badges that include an all important individual barcode which corresponds to the delegate’s unique reference number. As each delegate enters a specific screening or one of the delegate event programmes, his or her badge is scanned by a Unitech HT630 mobile computer, also supplied by Codegate, to capture the desired delegate data.
“Codegate’s mobility solution now allows us to quickly and easily monitor which members of the press attend which press screenings and which delegates view industry screenings, enabling us to report interest to film sales agents who are looking for distribution deals,” explained Helen de Witt, British Film Institute Festivals Producer. “The delegate event programme, which runs during our Festivals, receives funding from Film London and Skillset. We have particular reporting functions against this funding and we are now able to more efficiently provide the necessary demographic data relating to participating delegates.”
Additionally, the BFI is able to monitor which members of the press attend individual press conferences and importantly, those delegates who make use of the dedicated delegate centre.
Codegate’s Delegate Registration and Tracking solution was successfully implemented during The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival which took place last October and, is being deployed again during the 24th BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival which started on 17th March and runs until the end of the month.
The BFI spoke to a number of web-based combined database and accreditation system providers who operate festivals in Europe and North America. But, on deciding not to entirely replace its existing Festival management systems, deployed Codegate’s solution as its integration capability allows the development of bespoke add-ons that improve registration and tracking efficiencies, at the same time as working with the BFI’s legacy processes.
“The beauty of the Codegate software is that we are able to work closely with Codegate’s Technical Director to develop the additional features and functionality that we require. This has enabled us to access delegate data to more efficiently meet our reporting objectives,” added Emilie Arnold, Industry Office Co-ordinator for the BFI London Film Festival. “Importantly, these reports are now more accurate and less labour intensive as several of our manual processes have been eliminated.”
“We have found the Codegate team extremely helpful and very responsive to our individual registration and tracking requirements,” concluded de Witt. “The company has a very practical approach which has enabled it to continually meet the agreed implementation and development timeframes.”
About the British Film Institute
The BFI is the UK's agency for film culture, aiming to provide people with access to the broadest choice of film, regardless of where they live or how they want to access it. We do this through preserving and curating the UK's film heritage, generating new knowledge and content through an exciting and accessible cultural programme (screenings, DVDs, festivals, theatrical distribution, publications, education, online) and reaching new audiences by inspiring and motivating people to seek out film culture.
The BFI London Film Festival is Europe's largest public film event and runs for two weeks every autumn, showcasing the best in contemporary cinema from around the world at venues across London. The BFI also runs the annual BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival each spring.