Since the COVID-19 pandemic, anyone searching for "conference software" gets one main result: comparisons of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. For those organizing a professional symposium, an annual meeting, or a scientific congress, this is only half the truth—and often the less important half. The term actually covers two product categories that solve completely different problems. This article will help you determine which one you need—and why it is often both.
One term, two categories
Video conferencing software brings people together online: video, audio, chat, and screen sharing. It is designed for the moment when the talking happens.
Conference management software organizes everything that happens before, during, and after that moment: collecting and reviewing submissions, planning the program, managing registrations and fees, issuing invoices, checking in attendees on-site, and sending out certificates of attendance at the end.
You can find a detailed comparison of both categories in our glossary entry on conference software. Here, we focus on the practical question: What does your event need?
Five questions to clarify your decision
Answer the following questions for your next event. Even a single "yes" is a clear sign that a video conferencing tool alone is not enough.
- Are contributions being submitted and reviewed? As soon as there is a call for papers, you need a system for submission, reviewer assignment, and evaluation—including notifications for those submitting.
- Are there registration fees? Different pricing for members, students, and early birds, discount codes, cancellations, and legally compliant invoicing cannot be handled by a video tool.
- Does the program span multiple days or feature parallel sessions? Then you need a program planning tool that coordinates rooms, time slots, and speakers while identifying conflicts.
- Does the event take place regularly? For an annual conference, it pays to reuse forms, pricing structures, and contacts from the previous year instead of starting from scratch every time.
- Are people meeting on-site? Name badges, check-in, and walk-in registrations are also not part of a video tool's feature set.
If the answer to all these is "no"—for example, in the case of an internal online meeting without fees or submissions—a video conferencing tool combined with a simple registration form is usually sufficient.
Three typical scenarios
The internal online forum
A network hosts a two-hour online exchange twice a year. No fees, no submissions, just a handful of presentations. A video conferencing tool is the right choice here. Conference management software would be overkill for this purpose.
The professional conference with a call for papers
An institute is organizing a two-day in-person conference for 300 attendees. There is a call for papers, a program committee, tiered fees, and invoices for universities and companies. Video plays almost no role here—the effort lies in submission, review, registration, and billing. This is the classic case for conference management software.
The hybrid congress
A professional society is holding its annual meeting on-site while streaming selected sessions online. Both categories are needed here: the conference management software handles registration, the program, and access permissions, while the streaming or video tool provides the broadcast. The key is that both worlds are based on the same data—more on that below.
The hidden cost of a patchwork of tools
Many organizers start with what is already available: a video tool, a form service, a spreadsheet, a payment provider, and an email inbox. This works—until the event grows. Then, the costs that don't appear on any invoice become apparent:
- Duplicate data entry: Every change to an attendee's details, every program update, and every cancellation must be updated across multiple systems.
- Manual billing: Payments are manually reconciled with registrations, and invoices are created individually. By the time you are required to provide e-invoices for corporate clients, this becomes a significant risk.
- Error-prone communication: Who has paid, who gets the access link, who is on the check-in list? The answer is scattered across different spreadsheets.
- Data protection: Every additional tool processes personal data and requires its own data processing agreement.
We show how far you can get with spreadsheets – and where their limits lie – in our article Organizing a conference with Excel?
How video tools and conference management work together
For online and hybrid formats, the question isn't "either-or," but "who does what." A clear division of labor has proven effective:
- Conference management software is the central data source. This is where registrations, payment status, the program, and permissions are stored.
- The video or streaming tool handles the broadcast. It only receives the information it needs to do so – such as which sessions are being broadcast and who has access.
- Access follows the booking. Anyone who has booked and paid for an online ticket receives access to the appropriate sessions – without anyone having to send links manually.
This keeps the program up to date in one place, and changes automatically appear where participants can see them. You can find more practical tips in our articles on hybrid conferences and livestreams at conferences.
What to look for when choosing
If your answers to the five questions above point toward conference management software, these criteria will help you choose:
- The entire process in one system: From submission to invoicing, without exporting between individual tools.
- Pricing and tax logic without workarounds: Early-bird rates, member discounts, mixed tax rates and reverse charge should be standard.
- Legal compliance: Hosting in the EU, GDPR compliance, and correct invoices for consumers and businesses. Read about which requirements are often overlooked in Buying conference software and risking fines?
- Reusability: Templates for recurring events save time for every annual conference.
- Interfaces: A documented API and exports for accounting and other systems.
A more detailed checklist can be found in our article Conference software check: 9 criteria for selection.
Conclusion: The task comes first, then the tool
The question "Which conference software do we need?" doesn't start with product names, but with the event itself. A video tool is sufficient for an online meeting. For a conference with submissions, fees, and a program, you need conference management software – and for hybrid formats, you need both, seamlessly connected.
Converia is conference management software for professional congresses, scientific meetings, and medical training: abstracts, programs, participants, and invoices all come together in one system. We don't replace Zoom or Teams – for online and hybrid formats, our Virtual Venue provides an integrated virtual congress platform.
