A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF CMT AND EASYCHAIR FOR ACADEMIC CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT: USABILITY, FEATURES, AND USER SATISFACTION

Abstract: Conference management systems are critical to the efficient submission, reviewing, and decision-making process in academic conferences. Among the popular systems, Microsoft's Conference Management Toolkit (CMT) and EasyChair are two widely used tools that assist conference organizers, reviewers, and authors. This research presents a comparative analysis of CMT and EasyChair along three important dimensions: usability, feature set, and user satisfaction. Both systems were evaluated by formal questionnaires and interviews of authors, reviewers, and conference organizers who have used both systems for real settings. Strengths and weaknesses in interface, reviewer assignment, submission workflow, and communication efficiency are revealed by the analysis. Both systems are functionally adequate, although CMT has a cleaner interface than EasyChair, which is also more flexible and customizable. Satisfaction differed by role and task complexity, and organizers preferred CMT for administrative ease while reviewers preferred the review management capabilities of EasyChair. The findings provide practical insights for conference committees choosing management software and informing them of broader discussion on how to enhance digital platforms for the organization of academic events. Keywords: CMT, EasyChair, Comparison, Digital Platforms, Feature, Recommendations.