A Perfect Engagement - choosing the right event management applications

This is the story of how Idealist Consulting came together with several Salesforce partners to take our Engagement Party to the next level, by using native Salesforce event management technology and selecting an amazing nonprofit to benefit. We’re telling the story of our collaboration during a session next week at Dreamforce, but here is a sneak peek!

Everyone who has run an event knows there is a huge flurry of activity, both digital and IRL, behind the scenes. At a bare minimum if you run an event, you need these digital event management  tools:

• A ticketing solution

• A tool to promote registration

And many events also may want to consider:

• A payment or donation processing tool

• An SMS/text tool 

As we were evaluating tools, it was critical to us that they would integrate well with Salesforce, but equally important was ensuring a great customer experience for party registrants.

A brief history of The Engagement Party

Back in 2011, The Engagement Party started as a group of friends having pizza in a bar, and dreaming about all the possibilities that existed for nonprofits on the Salesforce platform. It evolved over the last nine years to become bigger and better, with progressively larger venues to eventually include businesses as well as nonprofits. Idealist Consulting has hosted it throughout this evolution, and we see hundreds show up to celebrate engagement on the last night of Dreamforce. In the past several years, we have opened the party up to businesses as well, but whereas we give nonprofits free entry, we ask business attendees to pay a small fee that goes directly to a nonprofit of Idealist Consulting’s choice.

The growth of this party parallels the growth of the Salesforce.org space, and it’s part of the fabric of the nonprofit community: we’re all sharing excellent ideas and trying to make things better. But it’s not just about getting people together, it’s about getting solutions together, also.

The growth of the Salesforce.org space has meant there are more tech solutions we have been able to include. Historically the party has been about solutions and nonprofits first, with a benefitted nonprofit second. This year we are putting the benefiting nonprofit, Amplify, first, at the heart of our messaging and goals for the party.

The collaborative approach

We’re all working together to make the Engagement Party great. This is a view of everything happening behind the scenes so that the end-user will experience just one registration process.

With any event there are three key channels:

1. Website: driving registration

2. Mobile presence: driving registration and engagement before/after/during the event

3. The event itself: the in-person connections and experience.

There are also three technology touchpoints:

1. Event management: in this case we have this handled by Soapbox 

2. Marketing communication: in this case, we are using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (powered by Pardot) to drive registration

3. Engagement: in this case, we are using Mogli

And of course, overall this is the organization that will benefit from ticket sales: Amplify. 

Whereas in the past we focused on RSVPs, this year we are more focused on fundraising. 

About Amplify

Amplify is a nonprofit that empowers underrepresented voices to be fearless leaders in technology. But it’s more than that; it’s also a movement. Amplify hosts in-person events, has Twitter channels and is developing more and more ways every day to work toward its mission.

So what does it look like when someone registers for The Engagement Party?

First, they will see a Soapbox registration form. We wanted to make it as easy as possible to help people move up the ladder to turn from registrations over to donors, so choosing a solution with tight Salesforce integration was key.

Next, if they select a paid ticket or add-on donation, registrants will experience iATS behind the scenes. iATS Brickwork donations go directly to Amplify. We know that it’s a better experience for everyone when tools connect as smoothly as possible together.

Finally, while at the party, Mogli provides the experience of texting in to allow attendees to text-to-donate and benefit Amplify. 

Together these apps provide a streamlined experience that keeps data organized, processes attendees smoothly, and allows all parties to collaborate to manage a create great events.

Need Apps for Your Next Event?

Looking for event management apps that integrate with Salesforce? Reach out and ask how we can help.

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