Case Study — Event Technology
Digitalising India's Premier Metallurgy Conference: IIM ATM 2024
- Client: JSW Steel
- Event: IIM ATM 2024
- Venue: Bengaluru
- Nov 20–22, 2024
Project Overview
Webshark Web Services designed, built, and operated the complete digital infrastructure for IIM ATM 2024, India’s premier metallurgy conference organised by JSW Steel and the Ministry of Steel, Government of India. The platform handled 3,000+ online registrations, 1,500+ abstract submissions, and ₹1 Crore+ in payments. An 8 to 9 member Webshark team was deployed onsite for QR-based attendance and kit distribution across the three-day event in Bengaluru. Webshark was recognised on stage as the official Technical Partner and was subsequently retained for IIM ATM 2025 at IIT Hyderabad.
The Indian Institute of Metals & JSW Steel
The Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) is India’s foremost professional body for metallurgists and materials scientists, with chapters across the country and a membership spanning academia, research institutions, and industry. Its flagship event, the Annual Technical Meeting (ATM), is one of the most significant gatherings in the metals and materials sector on the Asian continent.
The 78th edition, IIM ATM 2024, was organised by JSW Steel, one of India’s largest integrated steel producers, in partnership with the Ministry of Steel, Government of India, and multiple regional chapters of the IIM. Held from November 20 to 22, 2024 at the Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad International Convention Centre (GKVK Campus), Bengaluru, the event brought together researchers, engineers, policymakers, and industry leaders at a national scale.
Identifying the Challenge
Before IIM ATM 2024, one of India’s most significant national-level technical conferences had no dedicated digital backbone. Every edition relied on manual coordination across registrations, payments, abstract reviews, and onsite operations. As the scale of the event grew, so did the operational risk. JSW Steel, tasked with organising the 78th edition in Bengaluru, recognised that a fragmented offline approach was no longer sustainable for a conference of this stature, one backed by the Ministry of Steel, Government of India, and attended by over 1,700 delegates from across the country and abroad.
No Centralised Registration or Payment System
Prior to 2024, participant registrations were collected through offline forms and manual follow-ups, with no unified system to track status, validate IIM membership, or generate GST-compliant invoices. Payment reconciliation was a significant overhead, with no real-time visibility into who had paid, which category they belonged to, or whether their documents had been issued. For an event handling thousands of participants across multiple categories including professionals, academics, students, and international delegates, this was an operational liability that compounded with every passing edition.
Abstract Management Was Fragmented and Inefficient
The abstract submission and peer review process was entirely manual. Authors submitted their work through email or physical copies, reviewers were coordinated offline, and acceptance decisions were communicated with significant delays. There was no structured way to track submission themes, assign reviewers by expertise, or notify authors systematically. With over a thousand abstract submissions expected for the 2024 edition, the absence of a purpose-built submission and review platform posed a serious risk to both the quality and the timeline of the academic programme.
Onsite Operations Depended on Manual Headcounts
Attendee check-in and conference kit distribution at previous editions were managed through printed lists and manual verification, creating long queues and reconciliation gaps at entry points. There was no reliable way to confirm in real time whether a registered delegate had checked in, collected their kit, or required special handling. For a three-day conference spread across multiple venues and attended by senior government officials, industry leaders, and international delegates, this level of operational uncertainty was simply not acceptable.
Our Approach
End-to-end event technology, built from the ground up
Webshark delivered a comprehensive, multi-module web platform covering every touchpoint of the participant journey. The system was built on Laravel and designed to handle concurrent load from a geographically distributed audience spanning academia, industry, and government.
Conference Website
A fully responsive public-facing site covering event overview, venue, committees, sponsorship, programme schedule, and exhibition layout. Built for easy navigation across a broad, non-technical audience.
Registration Engine
A multi-tier system supporting professionals, academics, and students. IIM membership IDs were validated against a live database, with GST capture for compliant invoicing and category-based payment flows.
Payment Gateway Integration
Dual-currency processing in INR and USD via UPI, NEFT, IMPS, and RTGS. Every transaction fed directly into an automated pipeline for invoice generation, receipt delivery, and financial reconciliation.
Abstract Submission and Review
A structured portal for authors to upload abstracts, select themes, and choose presentation formats including oral, poster, or metallography. A backend engine managed reviewer assignments and workflows.
Participant Dashboard
A personalised post-registration hub for every attendee tracking registration status, abstract decisions, accommodation, and downloadable documents including payment receipts, invoices, and certificates.
Multi-Channel Communication
Integrated email, SMS, and WhatsApp notification pipelines delivering registration confirmations, abstract decisions, payment receipts, and real-time event updates throughout the participant lifecycle.
Onsite QR Attendance System
A proprietary QR scanning system operable on standard smartphones with no dedicated hardware required. An 8 to 9 member Webshark team managed attendee check-in and kit distribution across all event points.
Certificates and Invoicing Engine
Automated generation and delivery of GST-compliant invoices and participation certificates post-payment. All documents were accessible directly from each participant's personalised dashboard.
The Outcome
The platform went live ahead of the event and handled the complete participant lifecycle without disruption. From the moment a delegate landed on the registration page to the final day of onsite kit distribution, every touchpoint was managed through a single, unified system. The organising committee at JSW Steel had real-time visibility into registrations, payment statuses, and abstract decisions at all times, without dependence on manual data entry or offline reconciliation. For an event of this scale, involving government ministries, a steel conglomerate, academic institutions, and over a thousand delegates, operational reliability was non-negotiable. The platform delivered exactly that.
Beyond the numbers, the platform delivered a qualitative transformation that the organising committee felt at every stage of the event lifecycle. What had previously been a fragmented, error-prone process spread across spreadsheets, manual follow-ups, and offline payment tracking became a single source of truth accessible to all stakeholders in real time. Abstract reviewers worked through a structured digital workflow. Delegates received instant confirmations and had all their documents available on a personalised dashboard. Onsite, the Webshark team processed attendee check-ins and kit distribution using nothing more than smartphones, keeping queues short and operations smooth across all three days. For JSW Steel and the Ministry of Steel, the result was an event that ran with the precision expected at a national-level government-backed conference.
In Their Own Words
The technology backbone Webshark built for IIM ATM 2024 was instrumental in making the event a seamless experience for over 1,700 delegates. From registrations to onsite operations, the platform performed without disruption throughout the three days in Bengaluru.
Dinesh Rout
Vice President, JSW Steel
Recognised On Stage
Webshark Web Services was publicly recognised on stage as the Technical Partner for IIM ATM 2024, acknowledged by both JSW Steel and the Ministry of Steel, Government of India. The recognition affirmed our role not merely as a vendor but as an integral part of the event’s operational success.
Recognised by
JSW Steel
Recognised by
Ministry of Steel, Government of India
Category
Technical Partner — IIM ATM 2024
Trust extended — IIM ATM 2025 at IIT Hyderabad
The strongest signal of a successful engagement is a client who returns, and in this case, a mandate that followed the event to a new organiser. The 79th Annual Technical Meeting of the Indian Institute of Metals, IIM ATM 2025, moved to a new organising institution: the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad.
Webshark was engaged again as the technology partner for this edition, a direct consequence of the platform’s performance in 2024 and the confidence it instilled in the IIM ecosystem. The 2025 event is scheduled for December 4–6, 2025, at IIT Hyderabad, Kandi, Telangana.
2025
Repeat engagement
IIM ATM 2025 — IIT Hyderabad
December 4–6, 2025 · Kandi, Telangana · Organised by IIT Hyderabad
- New organiser, retained partner
- Proof of ecosystem trust
- Platform continuity
2026
Repeat engagement
IIM ATM 2026 — BISR JAIPUR
December 10–12, 2026 · Jaipur, Rajasthan · Organised by Nuclear Fuel Complex, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Hindustan Zinc Limited, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, IIM chapters of Jaipur, Jodhpur & Roorkee
- New organiser, retained partner
- Proof of ecosystem trust
- Platform continuity
Memories From IIM ATM 2024
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