Conference service management software

The challenge

Why does one moved meeting undo a whole morning of planning?

You know the morning. The board lunch moves an hour, a client meeting needs a bigger room, and a workshop doubles its headcount, all before 11:00. Each change touches the room, the setup, the catering, the AV and the guest list, and each team works from its own copy of the plan: an email, a spreadsheet, a printout on the kitchen wall.

When the plan lives in five places, every change is five updates, and the one that slips is the one the board notices. This is what one move looks like.

The five challenges behind it

Changes that cascade

One moved meeting touches the room, the setup, the catering, the AV and reception. Every one of them needs to hear about it in time.

Five copies of one plan

Outlook, the kitchen email, the AV ticket, the reception list and your own spreadsheet. They drift apart the moment anything changes.

Who ordered what, where?

Orders arrive by email, phone and in passing. Details are missing, and nobody can see at a glance what is confirmed and what is still open.

Blurred accountability

Facilities, IT, AV and catering each own a part of the meeting. When something fails between them, it lands on your desk.

Flawless, every time

Executives, clients and boards expect a perfect meeting, even when the plan changed five times before lunch.

The whole day

Every floor, every room, one grid

See the day by room and hour, across your locations. Each meeting card shows who is hosting, who is attending, what has been ordered and whether each request is accepted, readied or still pending, so you spot the gaps before the meeting does.

With the role Central Full Access Rescheduler, drag a meeting to another room or time, and the Outlook meeting and its catering are updated with it.

See Workplace Central

Every request

Every order with a status, not a thread

Catering, facilities, AV and conference teams work in the Services Portal. Each request shows the meeting, the room, the time, the requester and the notes, and moves from Pending to Accepted, Readied and Completed. The organizer is emailed when a request is accepted, readied or rejected.

Phone orders go in with the same form as Outlook, so every order ends up in the same place.

See the Services Portal

Your rules

Deadlines and rooms that protect your teams

Each service provider has its own opening days and preparation deadline, such as 12:00 the day before, and items like buffets can carry a longer one. Providers serve the rooms you choose, and buffer time can be held before and after a meeting for setup and clearing.

Orders that miss the rules never reach the kitchen as a surprise.

See booking rules and policies

When plans change

When a meeting moves, its orders move with it

Orders are tied to the meeting in Microsoft Exchange. Move it to a room and time the provider serves, and the request moves with it, the provider is emailed, and an accepted request returns to Pending so the team confirms the new plan. Cancel the meeting, and the order is canceled and the team is notified.

If a request is already readied, past its deadline, or moved to a room the provider does not serve, it is detached and the organizer is told, so a person decides.

What it's worth

What changes for you, and for the people around you

When the plan lives in one place, you stop chasing it. Here is what that is worth, for you, for the teams behind the meeting and for the people in the room.

FOR YOU

Confidence in the plan

Every meeting, order and status in one view, so you know what is ready and what is not before anyone asks.

FOR YOUR TEAMS

One version of the day

Catering, AV and facilities get their task from the meeting itself, and see changes as they happen.

FOR YOUR GUESTS

A meeting that just works

The right room, the right setup and lunch on time, even when the day moved twice before noon.

How Eversheds Sutherland's secretaries handle a bigger workload

Eversheds Sutherland, a global law practice, used to schedule a meeting in the attorney's Outlook calendar, then book the room and order services in a separate program, and type daily memos so AV and catering knew what each day needed. With AskCody, bookings, services and visitors are handled in one place across its US offices.

50%

more workload handled by the firm's secretaries, as the firm reports it

700+

guests a month across the US offices, welcomed with visitor management

171+

bookable rooms and desks, with more than 3,500 bookings a year

Read the Eversheds Sutherland story

Susann HollowayConference Services Manager

More attorneys per secretary

“Our secretaries managed two or three attorneys and partners before. Now they’re managing maybe five or six. It’s only possible to manage that increased workload, because they can handle everything in one spot with AskCody.”

Dale PollockConference Services Manager

Every request for a room, under one roof

“The fact that admins can manage each reservation for a room and each request that is needed for that event or meeting all under one roof really helped a lot with organizing... Everyone gets it, and we don’t have to have five or six different emails going back and forth for each meeting.”

Manager of Workplace Services

Catering, setup, AV and visitors together

“I don’t believe the other vendors can do the catering, the room setup, and AV requests as well as the visitor management piece altogether as seamlessly. Also, what we found was the AskCody user experience was just slicker.”

Jesper Imhof RosendahlIT Project Manager

Rooms and catering in one overview

“AskCody’s platform gives us an easy overview of available rooms, as well as quick access to book catering for our meetings. Without AskCody, booking premises is ineffective, which results in a large waste of resources.”

Henry ChaceCIO

Try it, and the time savings speak for themselves

“The pilot helped us understand just how much time we could give back to the attorneys and assistants and the price of that time... My best advice is to try it. You will see quickly that the ease of use, ease of management, and overall time savings are worth it.”

Anthony MooreIT Director

Ten bookers used to mean ten ways to book

“Ten different people booking a meeting resulted in ten different ways of creating a meeting, and everything that goes with it... With AskCody employees can now book rooms and request services themselves, and it gives them a kind of self-service aspect where they can take control of their own meetings.”

Common questions from conference service managers

What does AskCody do for conference service managers?

AskCody is meeting management software built on Microsoft 365. Conference service managers use it to see every meeting and every order in one view, give catering, AV and facilities their tasks from the meeting itself, and keep orders in step when meetings move or are canceled.

Can I see every meeting and every service request in one place?

Yes. Workplace Central shows the day by room and time, and each meeting card carries the host, the attendees, the catering and the status of every request. With the role Central Full Access Rescheduler, you can drag a meeting to another room or time, and Outlook and the catering are updated with it.

See Workplace Central

What happens to catering and AV when a meeting is moved or canceled?

When a meeting moves to a room and time the provider serves, the request moves with it, the provider is emailed and an accepted request returns to Pending. When a meeting is canceled, the order is canceled and the team is notified. A request that is already readied, past its deadline or moved to an unserved room is detached, and the organizer is told.

Read how Follow-the-Meeting works

Can we set preparation deadlines and opening days?

Yes. Each service provider has opening days and a preparation deadline, such as 12:00 the day before, and an item can carry a longer deadline of its own. Providers can be limited to the rooms they serve, and buffer time can be held before and after a meeting.

How do phone and email orders fit in?

Your team enters them in the Services Portal with New request, which uses the same form as the Outlook add-in, so every order lands in the same list with the same statuses.

Can orders carry a cost center?

Yes. Orders can carry a cost center, custom fields such as a project code, and required fields, and Finance can create CSV reports of settled requests or connect an ERP system through the Services API.

Do the people ordering need to learn a new system?

No. Employees order catering, room setups and AV in the AskCody Services add-in, inside the Outlook invite they are already writing. Your teams work in the Services Portal and Workplace Central.

Five changes before lunch. One plan that keeps up.