Congressa

Congressa is your conference programme in your pocket. It works without internet, too.

WHY IT EXISTS
At conferences I carried a folded paper programme in my jacket and unfolded it at every break to check when my talk was and in which room. I wanted the phone to tell me what is on now, what comes next and where to go, even in a congress hall with no signal.

A SIMPLE START
1. Get the programme. Scan the QR code from the organiser or a colleague, paste the programme link, enter the conference website or open the PDF. Your name and an access code are optional.
2. For a programme from a website or PDF, check the recognised days, times and item types (lecture, posters, lunch, break, social programme). Fix anything with a tap.
3. That is it. The programme stays on your phone and the reminders are local: what, when and where, always before it starts.

WHAT THE APP DOES
• NOW – what is on right now, what comes next and your own next item.
• PROGRAMME by day, with talks and posters inside their blocks, authors and paper codes.
• MY PLAN – star what you do not want to miss; the app warns you about clashes.
• I'M IN THE PROGRAMME – if you present, chair or guide, link yourself to your name: your slots are highlighted and reminded first.
• REMINDERS BEFORE TALKS – 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or a time of your own from 1 minute to 12 hours before every item. You also choose what the app reminds you about.
• ORGANISER ANNOUNCEMENTS – programme changes and important messages right in the app, when the organiser uses a server.
• REGISTRATIONS for workshops, dinner or the social programme, with capacity and a waiting list, when the organiser uses a server.
• SHARE BY QR CODE – show the code and a colleague has the same programme within seconds, on iPhone and on Android (more below).
• SEARCH by surname finds a talk even inside a block, with or without diacritics.
• PLACES with directions in Maps, speakers and contact persons with a call button.
• EIGHT LANGUAGES – Slovak, Czech, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Ukrainian. You choose the app language yourself.
• AI RECOGNITION (optional) reads even messy PDFs and websites, with your own API key or through the organiser's server.

SHARING BETWEEN IPHONE AND ANDROID
The QR code or invitation link from Congressa opens a small web page that takes care of the rest. If your colleague has the app, the programme opens right away. If not, the page sends an iPhone to the App Store and an Android phone to Google Play. After installing, the same programme loads by itself: automatically on Android, on iPhone with the “Paste programme link” button on the welcome screen.

FOR ORGANISERS
On Mac and iPad the app is also the conference back office: it imports the programme from a website, PDF, text or calendar, manages rooms, people, presentations and attendees, and publishes the programme to your own server in one click. The optional server sends push reminders, handles registrations with a waiting list and produces attendance lists.

PRIVACY
No account, no sign-up, no ads, no tracking. The programme and your plan stay on your device. Data leaves it only when you send it yourself: to the organiser's server that you enter, or to the AI recognition you start. If you share a programme by link, only the programme itself is uploaded to the Congressa server, without your name or plan, and it is deleted 30 days after the conference.

FREE AND INDEPENDENT
Congressa is an independent app and is not made by the conference organiser. It is free and unrestricted: no ads, no tracking, no locked features, no subscription. One physician builds it in his free time, and it is free so that everyone at a congress can have the programme at hand. If it helped you, you can leave an optional tip (a coffee, a lunch or a dinner). It unlocks nothing and only helps keep the app free for others.

Author: Ján Šikuta. The app grew out of his own need at congresses. Contact: congressa_main@icloud.com