The BusyEvent Blog

As many of you know, we recently closed a round of funding with a great set of new partners. We’re excited by their confidence in us and our business model and look forward to continuing to grow and execute on our plan.

However, there were a number of firms that weren’t able to ‘get in’ to the round due to the speed at which we wanted to close, or the ‘other hot deals’ that they had on their plate.

After taking some time to review my notes on all that transpired, I wanted to share one email reply that was sent to an interested investor that we are still speaking with. He didn’t participate in Round 1, but we are pursuing a small follow-on for some investors that are still interested in what we’re doing at BusyEvent.

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BusyEvent is an online and onsite event management system that provides both event managers and event participants with all of the tools they’ve ever wanted, all in one place, unlocking previously untapped information, business opportunities and revenues.

BusyEvent is focused on creating a more profitable, efficient and ROI-rich experience by automating communications, creating social and business connections and creating information out of the myriad data streams coming into and out of an event. Whether your event is internet connected or internet-independent, BusyEvent can scale to manage a monthly gathering of fewer than 100, a once a year event for more than 10,000, or a series of frequent-and-small events that are geographically dispersed functioning as an enterprise events management system. BusyEvent’s sole purpose is to make it easy, efficient and profitable to manage people, information and events – giving every event participant more time to focus on getting more out of the meetings they attend while creating better meetings and events.

(NOTE: Their criteria/question is underlined, our response is the bulleted list)

· 2-3 person teams, with a CEO who is the product visionary:

• BusyEvent is led by David Schenberg (CEO – Vision/Sales) and Brian Slawin (President – Operations/Finances)

o David Schenberg – http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjschenberg

o Brian Slawin – http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianslawin

· A strong technology lead

• Oren Montano is the Director of Systems Development. Oren has previously led teams at AmDocs and for clients such as Anheuser-Busch and Ford Motors. His expertise is in enterprise level systems architecture and team building and management.

· A CEO who has infectious passion and intensity, yet is humble and coachable:

• Here’s an interview with David on SBTV, listen for yourself (10 minutes): http://tinyurl.com/DavidSchenberg

· A business model that I can understand in 30 seconds without visual aids:

• Ever been to an event? Ever stood in line waiting for your badge only to be shuffled to another line? Ever wondered “who do I know that’s here but haven’t met yet and would really like to”? Ever put on an event that added another 20 hours to your already busy work week? Ever collect about a hundred business cards, only 3 of which were worth anything and then had to hand enter that information into your CRM system? Ever walk a tradeshow floor and gotten ‘badge scanned’ only to be bombarded with useless emails a week later? Ever been in charge of a sales group at a tradeshow that got 1500 leads, but didn’t know which ones were worth following up?

o BusyEvent is fixing all of that . . . and that’s the model.

· The company has a prototype/alpha version that is currently being challenged by users and generating feedback:

• We have 3 product lines (Express, Meeting Manager, Professional) already in full production and generating revenues (Financial available, upon request).

· An ability to generate revenues in 6-9 months:

• Already generating revenues and have been cash flow positive for 2 years.

· A business that needs no more than $1-$2 million in financing to become a $25-$50 million (exit value) company, simply by executing the core business plan:

• Reply Redacted

· Initially sells to the enterprise for branding, credibility, awareness and early revenues:

• Our major clients focus are large corporations (Client Names Redacted) and Associations (Client Names Redacted).

Meeting Manager is our embedded/enterprise focused toolset that enables the efficient creation and management of frequent-and-small meetings.

· Can get to revenues within 6 months, tops:

• Been there, doing that.

· Is sold on the basis of ROI, e.g., helps generate revenues or reduce headcount/costs:

• You are TOTALLY speaking our language and more importantly, that of our clients.

• Part of our revenue model is based on the amount of costs we save a company when they run an event.

• Our tools not only reduce head count, but also reduce travel and logistical costs as well as enhance efficiencies. More importantly, while reducing ‘functionary’ roles (like people sitting behind the desk) it turns people into event ambassadors that can help improve the overall event experience.

· Integrates easily with existing platforms and/or programs:

• Our entire system is built on .Net2 and SQL2005. We integrate seamlessly with any ODBC compliant system and also provide API and web services in case we’re dealing with something more out-of-the-main (.NetNuke, Ruby on Rails, etc…)

· Either leverages existing open source programs or can itself become partially or fully open source:

• Open Source…blech! Because our focus is on enterprise and the Fortune 1000 are “comfortably Microsoft” we have made the commitment to Microsoft centric tools and systems.

o Our major concerns about Open Source are:

§ It’s not really free. While the Open Source community is strong at writing code and making things happen, our experience is that from an Enterprise perspective, there is sparse support and integration capabilities, especially at the Fortune 1000 level.

§ Open Source developers never met a Documentation Document that they liked…or wrote…or read. Open Source and Documentation are like cute and cat…just don’t go together.

§ There’s more, but you get the idea. Our stuff plays nice with Open Source and we’re committed to the path we’re on.

· Has multiple revenue streams, e.g., software, maintenance, services, etc.:

o SaaS

o Hardware Rentals

o Consulting

o Onsite Support

o Technical and Operational Support

o Efficiency Savings and ROI Creation

o Professional Services within the BusyEvent model

o BE Live!

CEO David Schenberg, interviewed by the Small Business Brain.

Read and Listen to our take on the event industry and how BusyEvent is turning data into information and generating revenues for event managers by doing less work to prepare for and manage an event, and enjoying it more.

The SmallBizBrain Interviews David Schenberg about BusyEvent, Event Management Tools to Manage Information, People and Events.

John Asks: Will be discussing Sponsorship sales for the annual meeting of an education based local association. Has 15 colleges as members. Has an annual dinner meeting that has sponsorhship sales potential. All of the college PRESIDENTS attend. Huge potential for reaching the DECISION MAKERS.

Hoping there are folks here that will share the different sponsorship opptys that their group takes advantage of. Sponsor of cocktail hour, sponsor of main speaker, sponsor of valet parking….etc….

BusyEvent Answers: This is a great question John – one that all event producers care about…

Sponsors like to place their dollars into something more productive than “your logo here.” People like to network and learn at events such as yours. So why not have several sponsors participate directly in the networking and learning aspects of your event. If you break down your event into 4 or 5 “stages” each stage can be sponsored.

What if you set up the evening as a progressive meal? Each stage allows a sponsor to submit a PowerPoint slide for the front of the room promoting their product and even submits an “ice-breaker” question for the tables to kick around while they eat their salad, dessert, etc.

Give everyone a name badge and put the tables they will be sitting at for each course. Leave the cocktails before/after for open networking etc. If you get the room to shuffle around 4-5 times across the evening, then you are giving everyone a chance to sit with up to 45 people that night. All of them taking part of the evening to think about your sponsor’s message and question.

If you skip the logos everywhere signage, then your event will look less like a NASCAR event and become more friendly and elegant. Instead, produce a small booklet for the tables, put all of the questions, slides, logos, sponsor websites etc. in that so the attendees can take it with them for after the event is over.

Lisa asks: I’m doing a preconference email blast to a couple of hundred attendees. Instead of the usual introduction boilerplate, I’m open to new ideas. Basically anything goes as long as it fits within the boundaries of email marketing!

BusyEvent Answers: Lisa, I would encourage you to have some fun and reward those who like to network. Send them something they can bring to the show and come looking for you. One example I’ve seen is you send them a random puzzle piece and they bring it to you to see if it fits. If they do, you reach in your pocket and give them a prize.

Another involves a match n win with your product or service being featured. One person has to find their match in the crowd and once they find the match, they come together to you.You can control the number of matches and thus prizes, but the cool feature of this little game is you get a whole room of people meeting one another all talking about you! Make it something they stick to their badge or pin to their lanyard. The rest, as they say, is up to you.

Dave Asks: What on line registration service would you use to manage a running event?

BusyEvent Answers: Dave, The logistics surrounding the on-site check-in, bib distribution and timing is far more critical to providing the best experience for participants. Add to this, sponsorship messaging and volunteer management and now registration may seem like one of your smallest needs. The larger the event, the more important all of the other “stuff” becomes.

Consider a registration system that has the ability to speed the on-site process. Look at how RFID embedded in the bib can provide all sorts of real-time benefits and assist with event logistics. If you have a decent sponsorship revenue opportunity, then there are other benefits that can be gained by modifying the communications to promote appropriate sponsors in the fitness arena.

Megan Asks: How do you get young people to register for events… What strategies have worked for you? How do you get twentysomethings to commit to attending your events? Do they actually then show up?

BusyEvent Answers: Megan, This question is relevant for any group. Short attention span is seeping into all age groups as we all get connected in more ways than ever. All groups (especially 20-somethings) want to attend something that is a one-of-a-kind experience. If you are successful in putting together an event filled with the best content (new products, respected speakers & panels discussions, after-hour parties and use technology as an assistant) then you’ll have a successful event. Content will always be king, so focus on making a great event and then be sure to promote it well in advance through all the appropriate channels for your multiple demographic audience.

It may not be the financial capital of the world anymore, but New York is still a pretty awesome place and the Times, well come on…it’s all the news that’s fit to print!

And this morning, the Times got just a little bit ‘fitter’ by including the words of CEO David Schenberg.

In the article, David talks about our use of a “Carrier Hotel” to assure that our clients get the best, most reliable and most cost-effective internet services possible for the SaaS delivered BusyEvent platform.

http://www.tinyurl.com/CarrierHotels