We recently reached the awesome milestone of having our platform utilized at over 4,000 conferences worldwide. That’s a big number we’re all very proud of! We’ve had the honor of partnering with truly amazing events - from social media conferences to meetings on the future of Bitcoins and Mixed martial arts tradeshows. We’ve come a long way since introducing our platform in the summer of 2012 and have learned a great deal about the exciting meetings industry, event technology and meeting planners. In addition, we learned a lot about ourselves and our product.
Here are just a few of the things we’ve learned on the thrilling road we’ve taken to get to where we are today:
1. Organizers are hustling
Getting into the event industry, we knew organizers were busy bees - we just didn’t know how busy said bees really were. Bringing together a whole event experience requires a billion and one moving parts - you need an event platform that really works for you, not the other way around. There is no time to take on technology that has a learning curve - we found that you guys needed a clean, intuitive platform that can create a maximum impact with a minimal investment of time (and money ;)).
2. Organizers are smart(er)
Our conversations with you have changed. From questions such as ‘why do I need an event app,' we’ve gone to discussing the attendee flow when they first access the platform and whether we can integrate to your ticketing platform and CRM systems. You know what you want, you know what you need and we learned that not only do we need to lay everything out on the table from the start, but that we need to prove ourselves worthy of being part of your event (we’d like to think we have!).
3. Organizers are different
Not two event organizers are the same. In fact, you guys are all extraordinarily different (in an awesome way) from one another. For some, selling tickets is your main driver, while, for others, the event experience is everything. You need someone who can understand you have unique needs because events are different (like snowflakes, but better). That’s the beauty of them.
4. Organizers want more
You were skeptical, you were starting to sway, and then you were convinced, fell in love with tech, and now you want more. Now you’ve seen what event apps and networking platforms can do for events - so why stop there? There’s seemingly no limit to what tech can do so why not more features, more accessiblity, more tech, more integrations, more of more!
5. The industry is ripe for evolution (or revolution?)
Event tech is here and has become much more commonplace, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Amazon changed the way people shop online, LinkedIn changed the way professionals search for jobs, Airbnb changed the way people travel. You want someone to revolutionize the way organizers manage, promote and maximize events, and the changes that have already taken place in the industry are just the beginning.
6. We love you. You (usually) love us back 🙂
Over these past few years, we’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how many of you not only took your valuable time to provide us with even more valuable feedback - but how many of you have been by our side helping us grow this whole time. The feedback we’ve gotten from these 4,000 conferences have allowed us to grow into a company and product that can truly make a difference in the event industry. By believing in our cause and giving us your honest opinions and thoughts we’ve come to rely on you to tell us how we can get better and in turn give you something you can truly rely on as an event professional.
Thank you to all of the amazing event organizers for helping us grow. We’re going to keep making professional events more successful and impactful. This was only the beginning.
