The best thing that just keeps getting better – Episode 2

Nobody said it was going to be easy…5 questions every start up needs to keep handy

Starting a new business can be an emotional and financial roller coaster. In my opinion, the highs far outweigh the lows, but there can be tough times that have to be met head on.

Unless you’re lucky enough to have deep pockets, or have an investor with them, funding a start up can be overwhelming, especially as a number of obstacles can typically arise due to not having enough money in reserve or the revenue coming in doesn't cover all the start up costs. It’s at this point that doubts can creep in and thoughts such as, “I’ll get a job for a few months to pay the bills and then come back to this,” go round in your head. If you go down that route you may well "go back to it” once you've got some additional cash, but the opportunity may have passed. What’s also likely to happen is that you won’t go back as momentum and enthusiasm may wane or priorities change.

It’s at this point that you should ask yourself a few questions:

1.    Are we nearly ready to launch?
2.    Has there been a good level of interest and positive feedback to date?
3.    Is there enough interest to show that there is a large enough market for it?
4.    Will initial sales come in quickly?
5.    Have we got (or can we get) enough in reserve to keep going to plug the gap between new sales and actual money going into the bank account?

I know there are other factors to look at and you will have asked yourself some of those questions at the planning stage, but if you can answer yes to all of the above, then stick with it and don’t give up. If other people believe in what you are doing and there is a genuine interest in the product or service that your new business is offering then you’re onto something.

We went through the same moment when doubt creeps in, like many start ups, but we had a real belief that Mitingu brings something new and fresh to the events industry. We had some terrific feedback early on, which has only continued since and we're working with some outstanding brands who are seeing brilliant results with Mitingu. It goes without saying that you need to continue to monitor your monthly costs (just as any business does no matter how old or new) and in turn how much business you need to bring in as you grow your company. Pairing a good sense of accounting, with being invested in your company and/or idea is what we believe is a basic formula for a start up.

But our biggest lesson and the moral of this story, is that every time that voice in your head tells you maybe this wasn't such a great idea, ask yourself the 5 questions above. If you can say YES to all 5 then put that thought to rest and go and make a success of your business!

Greg (Co-Founder)

Read the first episode in this series to find out more about our journey so far.

November Product Update

We have added some great new features that our customers have been requesting. 

Donations

You can now easily accept donations rather than only offering a fixed registration / ticket price. When setting up a new event simply tick the 'This registration type is a donation' checkbox (see above) and your registration cost becomes a suggested donation amount that can be edited by your customers at the point of sale. If you have a minimum cost per registration, simply add that cost as a fee by editing the registration/ticket type after creating the event.

Attendee Details

Although most business events will want to capture their attendee's name and other information we do have many events (especially entertainment events) where you just need to sell tickets. You can now simply untick 'Require attendee details' (see above) when setting up an event and your attendees will skip the details page when registering and go straight to the checkout page.

Scheduled Event Emails

We recently added the ability to schedule emails before, during and after your event. You can choose a custom designed template, edit the content and schedule the send based on contact tags and who has or hasn't registered giving you a powerful way to schedule reminders and send individually tailored messages to your contacts based on their registration information.

To get started checkout our article in the support site.

Custom Themes

We quietly rolled out this powerful new feature a few weeks ago. At the moment you can create and customise the templates for your order emails, tickets, invitations, reminders etc with full HTML/CSS editor access. This is just a phase one and in the coming months we will be adding the ability to have full HTML/CSS control over your registration pages.

Our templates are easily created using the same liquid templating system used by sites such as Shopify. To get started creating your own theme checkout the article on our support site.

Engagement Scores

As delegate engagement is core to what we want to achieve with Mitingu, we've added a new metric for you to quickly see the engagement of each of your contacts. The engagement score is calculated when you invite to, or email contacts about, an event. It is then calculated based on how they engage both with the email and the event itself. You can now find the engagement scores as a traffic light icon on each contact in your contact list.

The best thing that just keeps getting better – Episode 1

I’m regularly asked how things are going at Mitingu and generally my reply is “it’s the best thing I’ve ever done”, because in terms of my work life it is! We’re always looking at ways to do things better and give our customers the best experience possible, so “the best thing” will just get better and better.

Being a start up in the events technology sector is great fun. Like any new business just starting out, we have lots of ups and downs, but staying focused on our goals and objectives makes getting through the tough periods so much easier. Reading books written by successful technology entrepreneurs like Delivering Happiness by Tony Hseih of Zappos has also been a great source of inspiration.

Mitingu has been around since February this year and we have come on leaps and bounds, working with some fantastic people and businesses. I thought I’d write a regular update to let you know about some of those highs and lows, our goals, aspirations and how we plan to get there. I’ll keep it short and sweet as I realise we all live in a busy world.

Feb 2014 – Sept 2014

“Follow your dreams, they know the way”

We started out with all the excitement, dreams and aspirations I believe anyone starting a business must have. We had to find the right people, not just with the right credentials, but who shared the same ideas and bought into our customer focused culture. It took a while, but we have a team leading the business that I am now proud to be part of.

When it came to the actual product, we started with a huge list of features that we thought would be great for event organisers. We then did a lot more research and managed to take loads of those features off and agree a “core” list of features that we felt were essential and that would be released as phase 1 of the product. We held a brand strategy workshop (sounds very grand, but it really was eye opening) and it helped us to focus on what we were, a delegate registration and engagement platform. That helped us chop a lot of the features on our list that weren’t directly related to this.

We also had to deal with funding. How would we do it? Would we be able to self-fund, need investment or maybe a combination of both? Would we want investors to buy into our ideas and be an active part of the business or just someone who invested and wanted to see an agreed return on that investment? It has to be said at this point that we did have an ace in the pack…one of our founders (hello Jon Baker) is a software developer! This gave us a huge headstart and a massive saving on initial product design and development. He was, is and will always be a huge influence on Mitingu and that’s only a good thing as he is hugely talented and a privilege to work with. As much as that helped, we still had bills to pay, so we decided that we would self -fund initially and review regularly (keeping on top of the money coming in and out is such an important, but regularly overlooked job). By June we realized that some additional funding and expertise would be really useful in helping us get to first base (we decided to go down the route of getting an investor that would also add valuable input into the business), so Andy (Jordan) was the perfect fit and in July joined us as a shareholder and partner in Mitingu.

Where we are now

We’ve been in BETA since July and we’ve had lots of live users putting the platform through its paces. There’s been no major issues, lots of great feedback that has helped us made it even better and we are set to come out of BETA on November 31st.

I’ll be keeping you all up to speed every week from now on, sharing the good times and the lessons learnt along the way.

One last thing to say is we’ve received amazing support and feedback from our customers and our friends. Our families have been super supportive and made this whole journey worth all the effort to date.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Greg (Co-Founder)

All of the Benefits, With No Strings Attached

Which of the following best describes you?

a: You like to keep your options open

b: Commitment makes you feel secure and taken care of

If you’re thinking that you’ve stumbled across a dating website you haven’t, in fact when we put together the pricing and access options for Mitingu - an online event registration and delegate engagement platform (just so we’re clear) - we knew commitment varies for different professionals and companies.

That’s why we decided to create a fully-customizable platform that suits either the A-type or B-type personality above. You can choose to have the platform branded with unlimited use and access or you can pay for what you need as you need it, giving you the flexibility and control that we know event planners, managers and coordinators need.

Whether you are planning hundreds of events, attended by many, or a few smaller events each year, your role in events is most likely, to centre around delivering good customer service - or good delegate service. Mitingu focuses on exactly that, no matter the size or format of your event.

What’s more is that we won't strip back all the goodies if you choose the pay as you go option. You’ll still have access to all the features needed to increase event registration, communicate with attendees, manage guest lists but above all engage your delegates.

If you want to check out what we’re about you can sign up via the pay as you go pricing page. Or you can talk it out by contacting us. Alternatively if commitment is what you are looking for, take a look at our whitelabel options and get in touch.

The Importance of Good Delegate Engagement

Delegate engagement is a phrase you’ll hear us often refer to. Typically delegate engagement is focused around the day of the event. Whether it’s creating a unique networking bar at a conference or a self-select agenda at a workshop event, delegate engagement is an important part of an event manager’s job to ensure delegate satisfaction.

Good delegate engagement starts much earlier than the day of the event. At Mitingu, it begins before you've even publicised your event. It’s a mix of creating the right first impression with a branded, easy to use event website, creating highly personalized emails and having access to a number of data points that enable you to understand delegate behaviour and increase ticket registration.

We understand that analysing analytics can be an overwhelming task or requires a specific skill set. Mitingu integrates with Google analytics, social analytics, as well as enabling the creation of email templates and tracking. We pull all the important data into a single dashboard to give a complete overview so you can quickly see what’s working and what’s not working. Using the platform, you can simply make an edit to your event site copy or an image, or perhaps change questions in the registration process or even send an email to delegates who aren’t attending to find out why.

Good delegate engagement ahead of an event creates a chain reaction. Positive sentiment shared by one delegate to their network can quickly become ticket sales. Mitingu’s features enable good delegate engagement to begin long before the day of the event.

Interested in test driving the platform and seeing how good delegate engagement could benefit your event success? Sign up today for access and take a look around.

Because everyone needs to be loved

I thought I’d share a recent customer service experience that I had and a separate one that my wife had.

I’m a member of a health club and regularly use the gym now I’m north of 40! My family are also members there so we pay a fair old chunk to them every month. I walked in recently and there were three members of staff talking amongst themselves in front of the reception desk. No problem there, it’s important to get along with your colleagues. However, not one of them said hi, all I got was a quick glance. It made me feel pretty insignificant and not really valued as a member. It also made me think that if there were another gym in the area to the same standard then I would have moved to it. However, there isn’t so I just have to lump it this time! They delivered disappointment.

My wife recently went into a well known global retailer and had the complete opposite experience. They qualified if she was just browsing or needed some assistance. When she told them she’d like some assistance they took her to one side, went through the range, bought her a glass of bubbly and helped with fitting and choosing the right items. She spent some well earned money in there and left feeling a million dollars! They delivered happiness.

It’s pretty simple, everyone needs to be loved. It’s not just about getting people’s money, it’s about giving them a great experience which delivers value for that money, recognition and happiness.

We want our customers to feel loved and we’ll make it our mission to achieve that.

Have a great day and go make someone happy!

Greg

Welcome to the place to be!

A big, warm welcome to the new Mitingu site, we hope you like it.

The last few months have been a whirlwind! Following some great feedback from our clients and the team, our platform development has come on leaps and bounds. We've added some talented new faces to the team and we've taken a good hard look at what we do and how we do it.

We felt that promoting ourselves as an event management platform was a bit vague. Event management can encompass budgets, audio visual planning and many other facets. What we're all about is the delegate registration and engagement.

What do we mean by that?

We think that there are only two driving influences for anyone engaged in any form of event management - the event itself and the people who attend it. We've made it our purpose to enhance the engagement and the experience of people who register for and attend events.

We want to help make it a better experience before, during and after the event. We'll keep you posted all the way on what we're up to and what's new. Most importantly, we always welcome your suggestions and we'll always get back to you with a reply.

Have a great day.

Greg