IPSA Digital: A New Service for National Associations and Research Committees

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional academic meetings and conferences worldwide. In a matter of months, the pandemic shifted almost all onsite events to virtual. However, organizing a virtual event comes with organizational challenges and various costs, including event software, licensing, technical support, registration, ticketing, attendee management, and promotion.

Unfortunately, not every academic institution or association in our field has access to event management expertise, software or up-to-date technical experience to manage virtual events. In light of the cancellation of onsite events and requests from our members from different parts of the world, IPSA developed a concrete solution to facilitate organizing virtual events for Collective Members (National Associations) and IPSA Research Committees (RCs).

What is IPSA Digital?

IPSA Digital offers our Collective Members and RCs free and privileged event planning and technical consultation with a professional event planner from the IPSA Secretariat. The service also gives access to virtual meetings and webinar rooms for hosting conferences, research meetings and other activities held in a virtual format. The online service also aims to create an innovative platform for dialogue and networking for the political science community.

Collective Members and RCs can enjoy this service to organize their annual meetings, workshops, or conferences (up to 100 participants). The platform is user and mobile-friendly and accessible on all devices, including tablets, smartphones and internet browsers.

 Services Offered

• Event planning and technical consultation with a professional event planner from the IPSA Secretariat;
• Zoom webinar and/or meeting room license;
• Technical Zoom instructional guidelines and reminder templates for participants and speakers;
• Assistance with registration programming through Zoom or Eventbrite (only free events);
• Promotional support via IPSA’s social media accounts, website and newsletter;
• Targeted technical support during the event (dependent on time zone, duration and complexity of event);
• Video recording of the conference provided after the event.

How to Apply
We invite our Collective Members and Research Committees to fill out the application form. The application will be reviewed by the Secretariat team and evaluated on the basis of criteria such as content, dates and objectives of the activity. Once approved, a member of our team will contact the organizers to provide technical and event-planning support.

For more information, please visit the IPSA Digital page.