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Professional Association Management System
A website, convention system and CE accreditation platform that cut a dental association's convention registration from months to one month.
Business goals
The client is a professional association serving dentists, hygienists and dental students. Its members look to it for advocacy, resources, an annual convention and continuing education. Those services needed a better home online, and convention registration was taking months of staff and member effort. The association wanted its website, convention and CE accreditation to work as connected parts of what it offers members.
Project overview
Hexagon built the association's website, convention system and CE accreditation platform. The website covers membership information, member resources and public pages. The convention system handles attendee registration, course selection and exhibitor requests. CE accreditation connects course attendance to members' credit records. Together they took convention registration from months down to one month, giving staff their time back during the busiest stretch of the association's year.
Challenges faced and solved
An association's staff run the same few big jobs each year, and the convention is the biggest.
Registration that dragged on for months
Convention registration consumed months of back-and-forth for staff and registrants alike. Every extra week of forms, corrections and follow-up takes time away from the speakers, sponsors and programming that draw attendees.
We moved the process online with attendee types, course selection and confirmations in one flow, taking registration from months down to one month.
A website with two audiences
Members want renewal links, benefits and CE. The public wants to find a dentist and read about oral health. A site organized around the org chart serves neither of them well.
We organized the site around those audience needs, with member resources separated from public information and clear routes into both.
Exhibitors handled on the side
Vendors pay for exhibit space and expect prompt answers. When prospectuses, contracts and table requests live in email, staff lose track of who has committed and what they were promised.
We brought exhibitor materials and space requests into the convention system, so staff can see every request in one place.
CE disconnected from the event
The convention is where many members earn a large share of their CE hours. When attendance data sits apart from credit records, staff retype it and members wait for their certificates.
We connected convention courses to CE accreditation, so credit flows from attendance records rather than a separate round of data entry.
Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Members and attendees | |
| 1. Membership Pages | Dentists, hygienists, new dentists and students each find information on joining and renewing that speaks to them. |
| 2. Member Resources | Benefits, guidance and practice resources sit in one organized section, which adds visible value to membership. |
| 3. Member Login | Members sign in to reach content and services reserved for them. |
| 4. Convention Registration | Attendees complete registration online in one flow, the main change behind the shorter registration period. |
| 5. Course Selection | Attendees pick lectures and hands-on courses during registration, so staff know demand early. |
| 6. Member and Non-Member Handling | Registration recognizes attendee type and applies the matching options, reducing corrections later. |
| 7. Convention Pages | Schedule, speakers, lodging and vendor details live in one place, cutting down on repeat questions. |
| 8. CE Credit Records | Members can see credit earned from convention and other approved courses. |
| 9. CE Certificates | Certificates are available from recorded attendance, instead of through a separate staff request. |
| The public | |
| 10. Public Information Pages | Oral health and community information helps the association serve people beyond its membership. |
| 11. Find a Practitioner Directory | People looking for care can search for a member, which also gives members a visible benefit. |
| Exhibitors and sponsors | |
| 12. Exhibitor Materials | Prospects can get the prospectus and contract from the convention pages, without emailing the office. |
| 13. Space and Table Requests | Vendors submit requests online, giving staff a single list of what's been asked for. |
| 14. Sponsor Recognition | Sponsors are displayed on the convention site, which supports the value they receive. |
| Association staff | |
| 15. Content Management | Staff update pages and announcements themselves, so the website stays current between big events. |
| 16. Registration Dashboard | Staff can follow registrations and course counts as they come in, and spot problems early. |
| 17. Course and Credit Setup | Each course's seats and CE hours are set up in one place, and they flow to registration and accreditation. |
| 18. Attendance and Credit Management | Staff can review attendance and correct credit records without leaving the system. |
| 19. Convention Reports | Totals by attendee type and course help with room planning and next year's program. |
How the platform is put together
Each layer has one job.
The result
Convention registration went from taking months down to one month. The website, convention and CE accreditation now work as connected services for members.
| Area | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Convention registration | Took months | Streamlined to one month |
| Website | Member and public information not clearly separated | Clear sections for each audience |
| Exhibitor requests | Handled outside the convention process | Materials and requests in the convention system |
| CE credit | Retyped from separate attendance data | Connected to convention course attendance |
How we took it from idea to launch
Good software follows a process. Here are the six stages, and what happens in each one.
Discovery & Requirements
Goal: Define the product vision, target audience and core business requirements.
Key activities- Stakeholder interviews
- Market and competitor research
- Defining user personas
- Drafting technical specifications or a Product Requirements Document (PRD)
Design (UX / UI)
Goal: Create an intuitive user experience and visual interface.
Key activities- UX design: information architecture, user flows and wireframes
- UI design: high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes in Figma or similar tools
- Design system: colors, typography and component libraries
Development: Frontend & Backend
Goal: Build the functional application using agile sprints.
Key activities- Backend: set up databases, design APIs (REST, GraphQL), implement server logic, and configure authentication and authorization (OAuth, RBAC)
- Frontend: build responsive interfaces and connect components to backend APIs
- Version control: manage code through Git and GitHub
Security & Optimization
Goal: Harden the application against vulnerabilities and boost performance.
Key activities- Security: address the OWASP Top 10, including injection, XSS and CSRF, enforce encryption in transit and at rest, and implement rate limiting
- Optimization: code splitting and lazy loading, database indexing, API caching and load testing
- QA and testing: unit, integration and end-to-end tests
Beta Release
Goal: Deploy to a controlled group of real users to catch edge-case bugs and gather feedback.
Key activities- Set up staging and production CI/CD pipelines
- Launch a closed or open beta with real users
- Monitor errors through observability tools
Public Release (Launch)
Goal: Roll the software out to the general public.
Key activities- Final production deployment
- DNS configuration
- Marketing and onboarding rollout
- Post-launch performance and security monitoring
Business benefits
Convention registration now takes one month, freeing staff for the program itself.
Members and the public can each find what they came for.
Credit from the convention reaches the member's record with less manual handling.
Website, convention and CE accreditation support each other instead of running as separate projects.
Conclusion
Most associations don't need more software, they need their big annual jobs to take less out of a small team. For this association, the plain measure was time: convention registration went from months to one month. Hexagon delivered the website, the convention system and the CE accreditation behind it, so these services connect for members and staff. If your association's convention takes over the calendar every year, we'd like to hear how it runs now. Let's talk.
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