The Story So Far

After its conception in August 2011, Get Invited has been an exciting journey so far. From its initial, and very basic HTML wireframes last semester it has developed into a fully functional prototype that has been used to manage two events; a small event organised by Rick Monro (UX Director at Tibus) and a series of events at the Ulster Festival of Art and Design. In the latter scenario the application processed 2247 tickets worth a total of £3,563 across 23 individual events.

The project has also been pitched to some of the world’s top entrepreneurs and venture capitalists when Kyle won a place at Stanford University’s eBootcamp programme in April 2012.

This document details the progress made from the previous semester; demonstrating the design and functional changes, reflecting upon the events run and the future plans for the project.

Business Model

Based on learnings from the book Business Model Generation by Alex Osterwalders & Yves Pigneur, the business model shown below was devised. This illustrates our main value propositions along with various other components of the business such as our partners, costs, revenue streams and relationships with our two main customer segments

Branding

The logo has been redesigned to employ a more realistic ticket shape by removing the corners and making the torn edges more apparent. A sense of depth has been added by incorporating a slight gradient as well as a bevelled effect on the line that surrounds the text.

Get Invited or Invited?

The initial brand name was Invited but this has since been changed to Get Invited, the logo has encompassed the old name to maintain consistency throughout the testing period to avoid confusing our customers. The new name will be applied to the next iteration of the design.

Get Invited imposes a suggestion to potential customers to get the application and ties in well with the idea behind the domain name; which is covered next.

Domain Name

Get Invited now has its own home on the web rather than running off the back of a personal hosting account, the http://getinvited.to/ domain was registered

The .com domain name was unavailable so we solved the problem with a little creativity. The thinking behind this domain name is that it would read like a natural sentence, for example - to attend an event called “Designing Experiences” run by the Ulster Festival the domain would be http://getinvited.to/ulsterfestival/designing-experiences

This translates to: Get Invited to the Ulster Festival ‘Designing Experiences’ event - this makes it easy to remember and pronounce the domain name which is great for word of mouth marketing.

The first part of the domain ulsterfestival is based on the user name and then the event name created by that user - http://getinvited.to/username/event-name

Customers can view all the events by a specific user by simply visiting the page for that user - http://getinvited.to/username

Initial Prototype

The screenshot on the following page shows the very first prototype page for an event - this was used to test out the initial design iteration of the application with our first client at the University of Ulster.

The design has progressed somewhat since this stage - the following pages walk through the process of a customer purchasing a ticket and also the back end of the application where an event organiser can set up and manage their events.

Event Page

This is the main page where customers purchase tickets for an event. The design is focused upon simplicity and usability. Simplicity is an important value with Get Invited, and we have worked to ensure that this is reflected throughout the service.

With the event pages we have worked to present only the required information in a manner that is easy to read and understand, without cluttering the site up. This enables visitors to quickly assess the information presented to them and make a decision regarding booking a ticket.

The design of the pages is locked down so an event organiser cannot tamper with the layout, colours or typography. The only design element the user has control over is the logo, which they can upload themselves. This provides a consistent user experience for all customers and maintains the Get Invited brand across every event.

Ticket Information

After selecting a ticket type and quantity, the user will be directed to this page which collects information required for the ticket. Irrelevant information such as postcode and phone number have been emitted to create a low barrier of entry for purchasing a ticket. We want to encourage sales not prevent them. Upon completion of this form, users will be redirected to Paypal where they can purchase their tickets - the process is then complete in three simple steps.

Payment Processing

Handling payments is an important part of any service which sells a product. For the testing phase of Get Invited we have opted for PayPal, this was due to time constraints. Whilst PayPal definitely has issues it does come with some benefits; it is instantly recognisable and simplifies the payment process. This is an area that will be revisited in more detail elsewhere in this document.

Ticket Mailing

Making it easy for people to buy tickets needs to be followed up with easy access to the tickets. With Get Invited we currently email tickets to the attendee. This means that they receive their ticket within minutes of having purchased them, allowing people to purchase tickets whilst on the go. Due to the format of he tickets themselves it is also unnecessary to print off these tickets, and additional benefit to the system.

We have received a few complaints about the design of the ticket for those who have opted to print them out, saying it required too much ink to do so - the design is subject to change as a result.

User Events Page

Each event organiser will have their own unique page showing a list of events they are currently running - this contains the event title, date, location and a snippet showing a description of the event with a call to action to view the full event.

This gives event organisers the power to group events under their user name; something that was specifically requested by our Ulster Festival client. It also enables customers to view other events organised by a particular organiser - something which many people will do if they enjoy a particular event and wish to find other similar events.

Holding Page

As the application is still in the beta stage of development, it is currently only available through private invitation. There is still a lot of development to be carried out before it will be in a suitable state for public realise. For anyone who visits the site, they can register their interest by leaving their email address on the holding page. When the application has been opened up to further beta testing those who registered will be notified and gain access to the application prior to it’s public release.

Login Page

Although currently hidden from the public, this is the login page for event organisers included in the beta testing programme to sign in to their dashboard.

The design maintains the consistent focus on simplicity and basic colour palette; this may be expanded in the future to include one additional colour for the call to action buttons. The input boxes incorporate icons as a visual cue in addition to the text label, allowing users to instantly recognise what the text field is for without having to read the label.

Events Dashboard

The dashboard provides an overview of an event organisers current and past events. This allows an organiser to see the bigger picture by accessing the key information for every event on one page.

There are three key areas of the dashboard:

Timeline of Events

Tickets Sold/Tickets Remaining

Event Promotion

Timeline of Events

The dashboard area of Get Invited provides a timeline of events, in chronological order from the next event you have on your calendar through to the final event you have set up. This makes it easy to immediately identify when an event is running, which makes it easier to prioritise events.

Tickets Sold/Tickets Remaining

One of the main things you want when organising an event is to sell tickets. Ideally you would like to sell every ticket. The dashboard provides an easy to understand visualisation of how many tickets are sold and how many remain unsold. This helps to visually identify which events are selling well and which need more promotion. This information is given prominence in the design, illustrated with large red text and corresponding progress bar.

Event Promotion

Promoting events is another important aspect of event organisation, tickets do not sell themselves. As with the event creation process we have made it easy to directly promote individual events from the dashboard itself. Combined with the other aspects of the dashboard mentioned above this provides a very strong feature, allowing organisers to assess and, if necessary, further promote their events.

An event organiser can also edit an event through the dashboard or view the people attending a specific event. Future features will enable organisers to manage their email contacts and campaigns through the dashboard as well as their account and financial details.

Create/Edit Event

With Get Invited, event creation is highly important. As such it was vital to ensure that it was easy to understand and that it had to simply work. The image on the next page shows the form for setting up a new event (or editing a previous event). This the most important page when it comes to event creation. The information entered into this page is used throughout the rest of the event creation process and also for the event details when the event is published.

As it stands there are three parts to event creation, which are covered in turn below. The progress bar at the top of the page informs the user of their current stage in the process.

Event Information

The first section allows the user to populate the event with their own information; including an event title and description, the date and time of the event can be input using either the drop down menus or by clicking on the calender icon which pops up an interactive calender widget to condense the task into a single action.

The second panel allows the organiser to specify ticket information, at present this is restricted to three categories; full, discount and promo. This will be expanded to allow users to specify their own ticket names. Here, users also specify a price of each ticket type.

The final step in this section allows the organiser to specify a venue and location.

Event Preview

The second stage in the event creation process is a preview for the event. This allows organisers to see exactly how their event will look when it is published. It also enables them to identify potential issues beforehand and take steps to resolve them.

Event Publishing

After proceeding to the final step in the process, the user is provided with a unique URL for their event, they are also encouraged at this stage to promote the event by posting it to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The final page is only viewable once the event has been published. At this point there is nothing needing to be done regarding the actual event, as it is already live. At this stage promoting events becomes the priority, and this section has been built with this in mind.

Email Preview

A fourth step will be incorporated into this process in the next design iteration to include a promotional email preview; this will be generated based on a template, but the user will be able to adjust the copy to suit their requirements.

Design Revisions

The next iteration of the design will incorporate an improved design and aesthetic - the details are subtle in most cases but the design is much cleaner, simpler and bolder.

Dashboard

The image below shows a new improved dashboard design, this is still under developed and certain areas - particularly the navigation need more focus.

The progress bar has been improved to draw further attention to it and shows the balance between the tickets sold and the tickets remaining as opposed to just the tickets sold.

Event Page

The textured background has been removed to improve the cleanliness of the page. A strong division between the primary and secondary content has also been incorporated - the separation between these is a perforated edge; consistent with the design of the ticket.

Email Button

The email link has been changed to a button; this has been kept flat and grey so as not to detract attention from the primary call to action for buying tickets.

Icons

Icons have been added to draw attention to the date and time of the event, this information was lost in the previous examples.

Logo Placement

The placement of the client logo has been relegated to the bottom of the page; in the previous round of testing it became obvious that client logos had the potential to damage the aesthetic of the page when placed at the top. By ensuring the Get Invited brand remains at the top of the page, we maintain total control over a user’s initial experience with the page. This may be disputed by customers who want their logo at the top, but this will only be implemented based on significant criticism against the present design.

Social Links

Social networking links have also been incorporated into this design allowing a customer to share the event with their friends. This encourages word of mouth promotion by providing an easy mechanism for users to share the information without effort.

The Technical Side

Get Invited is a fine blending of high quality of design and high quality development. The two compliment one another, resulting in a level of work that goes far beyond what either team member could achieve individually. The following section will be looking at the more technical aspects of what makes Get Invited work.

PHP

PHP is one of several server-side languages that be used for creating web based systems. When we started working on Get Invited it was also the language that we were both most comfortable writing, which made it an obvious choice for the work we were going to do. Having the understanding of PHP that we do allowed us to quickly get some basic systems in place to allow us to test and iterate ideas rapidly. This was vital during the early phases of the project, and is still something we view as core to our process of making things online.

Frameworks

Frameworks provide a set of tools that make working in a certain language easier. They are designed to do most of the heavy lifting so that the people working on a project can do exactly that - work on the project. With Get Invited we used the Wee_ Framework, based off of David’s own work over the past year. It’s focused on giving only the bare minimum of assistance to get things working. So a limited set of tools that let you get work done. As a starting point for any project, we couldn’t ask for anything more.

Current Issues

Unfortunately there are a few issues with the Get Invited system, due to the current stage of progress of development. Fortunately these are, for the most part, minor issues that have been discovered through testing events. The main problem areas are:

Overselling Issues

Ticket Emails Flagged as Spam

Manual Ticket Assignment

Overselling Issues

Of all the issues currently identified within Get Invited this is probably the most concerning and most problematic to resolve. This is because it’s a difficult issue to accurately test.

When a user starts the process of booking a ticket the tickets they will be purchasing are locked, so that nobody else can buy them. This lock remains in place for a total of 15 minutes. The issue with this is that if a person takes slightly over the 15 minute period when booking one of the last few tickets to an event it is possible that the last ticket may be sold more than once.

To work around this we will need to slightly rework the payment process in order to ensure that if the last ticket has been sold that nobody else is sold for something that they won’t receive.

Ticket Emails Flagged as Spam

For the customers of Get Invited this is probably the biggest issue, that some mail providers (most notably gmail) have been marking emails sent from Get Invited as spam. This causes issues as it leads customers to believe that they haven’t received their tickets.

This is another issue that relates to the current level of development of the system. Currently all mails are sent directly from the server that Get Invited is hosted on. Whilst this works the end result is that over time we risk the emails being flagged as spam. This is something that we will want to avoid with a public release.

There are solutions that are available to us that we will be using that help mitigate these issues as we get closer to a public release. During the development phase we are willing to tolerate this but going forward it will definitely be resolved.

Manual Ticket Assignment

Whilst this is an issue with the system, it is not a result of the system itself, it comes as the result of the preferences of the user who has been testing the system. This will be covered in more detail in a separate section.

The problem lies in the fact that some event organisers like to have multiple different ways of selling tickets. This often results in tickets being sold in an office rather than via Get Invited and in me being asked to manually assign tickets. Whilst this isn’t a difficult thing, it gets repetitive and frustrating. As such it’s an issue we would prefer to work around if possible. Fortunately the easiest resolution also implements a feature we have wanted to provide for some time - the ability to assign tickets.

Get Invited has three types of tickets available: full price, concession and promotional. The first two are tickets that are sold via the site, but promotional tickets need to be assigned to attendees and we currently have no functionality to handle that. By implementing the ability to manually assign tickets for all three areas, but defaulting to promotional tickets, we can provide a hidden piece of functionality to the system. Using this approach also makes it easier to track such ticket sales, which affords us a way to measure how much we owe to event organisers.

Reflection on the Ulster Festival

In the work that we have done on Get Invited we have had the luck to wok with the University of Ulster in order to test our system. The initial phase of this was with their Festival of Art & Design but we will also be ticketing for their end of year Fashion Show.

This has provided us with some interaction with event organisers and really helped put Get Invited to the test. Fortunately it has performed admirably throughout each series of test events.

Unfortunately not every part of the process was as enjoyable. There were a small handful of problems that became quite vexing over time:

Communication Overload

Unclear Communication

Crossed Wires

Communication Overload

Our primary contact for the Ulster Festival, Tim Kerr, was responsible for sending a great number of short emails one after another. This had the unfortunate side effect of turning what was an insignificant amount of work look overwhelming.

Another consequence of this was that it became much harder to identify messages that were important, as they would be buried in amongst all of the single line emails.

A better approach, I believe, would have been to send a single email that listed out all the tasks that needed to be completed. This would have result in a single list and would have resulted in it being handled more speedily.

Unclear Communication

In addition to the quantity of messages it was often the case that emails would be vague, which would lead to confusion. It also led to time being wasted whilst we tried to work out what was being asked for. Had this happened with an urgent message the consequences could have been quite severe.

There were also instances were the impossible was asked for, in vague terms that resulted in time being lost identifying that this was the case. Clarity is important in communication, in order to prevent time from being lost like this, as the time that was lost could have been spent more effectively on other areas of Get Invited.

Crossed Wires

This issue in particular was quite frustrating. As a part of the Festival there was also a site being designed in order to help promote the events. This was not something that we were involved with, but we were frequently contacted regarding issues with it.

Whilst these kinds of messages didn’t take us away from the work we were distracted from what we were meant to be doing. It also came across as slightly uncaring of the parties involved that messages were being sent to people who weren’t involved in the project.

Get Invited @ eBootcamp

Stanford University 2012

In March, the opportunity arose to apply for the eBootcamp programme at Stanford University - a week long conference of events and workshops for upcoming student entrepreneurs from across the world. Kyle was one of thirty students selected from the international applicants to attend the conference in California.

Video Pitch

The application was based on a video pitch and a series of questions about the applicant and the product, both are included in the following pages.

You can watch the complete video online.

Why does the world need your idea?

Web-based ticketing solutions for events are complicated. Far too complicated. My product - Get Invited - is a beautifully designed web-based ticketing and event promotion solution. It focuses on exceptional design, simplicity and ease of use. By seamlessly integrating payment gateways, social media and targeted email campaigns it’s an end-to-end solution for event organisers that allows events to “run themselves”.

Through market research with a number of event organisers I discovered that existing solutions are often poorly designed. With Get Invited, I’ve re-imagined the process of creating and managing events. A unique dashboard feature offers an overview of an organiser’s events, allowing them to see key information about all their events at a glance; such as the number of days until an event and the tickets remaining, it also offers in built social networking features to help further promote events when required.

For purchasing tickets I’ve developed a system that allows event organisers to connect with customers on a personal level through personalised email invitations that treat the customer as a person, not a statistic, which helps to establish loyalty to both Get Invited customers and the brand.

What has been the journey of your idea?

My idea was born out of the frustration felt by local event organisers, who - despite the existence of other web-based ticketing solutions - were in desperate need of an easy to use ticketing solution that dispensed with clutter and simplified the ticketing process.

I currently have a beta version of Get Invited developed which I will be launching this week for a series of events my university runs annually. By working with stakeholders in my university on this event I’ve been afforded the opportunity to gain valuable feedback from a typical client, helping to shape and evolve the design of the application.

During my testing, Get Invited has attracted interest from other local event organisers who have expressed an interest in using it. I have also strategically identified a number of partner organisations further afield who I have been fortunate enough to have been introduced to by my course director.

My vision is to introduce Get Invited to a global market, with the application becoming the market leader and competing with current leading solutions such as Eventbrite.

Why should we choose you over everybody else?

I’m extremely passionate and enthusiastic about what I do. The digital products I’ve built to date have received a great deal of excellent feedback. Some of the world’s leading web designers - Andy Clarke, Sarah Parmenter, Naomi Atkinson and Trent Walton, for example - have been hugely encouraging with their praise.

I believe in sharing knowledge and experience and regularly contribute to the web community through my blog by writing articles and with free applications designed to make the process of web design easier. Most recently these have included: Vizuali, a web-based scrapbook; and Bear CSS, a time-saving tool for designing web sites, which was recently featured on both yCombinator and The Next Web.

I’m a team player and I believe I can hugely contribute to this experience and I would welcome the opportunity to bring my enthusiasm and passion to E-bootcamp.

What can you contribute to maximize the experience of everybody involved?

I believe I have a great deal to offer to those participating in the E-Bootcamp experience. As a designer and developer working on the web I would love to share my knowledge with others on the programme, helping others to develop their online presences, assisting others with online promotional strategies, and contributing to group work and creative brainstorming.

I love to work with and help others by sharing my knowledge and experience and I hope that my passion, positivity and enthusiasm will help to bring inspiration to the E-Bootcamp group.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Thanks to the support of the course director on the Masters programme I am currently studying on, my university have committed to support me in this application by covering my travel costs to San Francisco and any other costs I might incur.

My course director has mentored me and has strongly encouraged me to apply for the E-Bootcamp programme. He believes I have a great deal to offer to the experience and that it would be a life changing opportunity for me.

Coming from Belfast, Ireland, I’m fortunate enough to be part of a city with a rapidly growing digital community. I would love to bring my perspective to San Francisco and would grasp this opportunity with both hands.

The email which arrived on the morning of March 8th to deliver the good news.

Pitch

The week consistent of visits to many successful Silicon Valley startups such as Google, Yahoo, Zenga and a series of workshops and conferences leading up to the pitching competition finale. For this a short five minute pitch was prepared and delivered across various rounds of pitching in front of Silicon Valleys most respected venture capitalists.

The following pages show the presentation, along with the notes to aid in telling the story.

Slide 1

Get Invited is a beautifully designed, web-based solution for promoting events and selling tickets online.

For event organisers, running an event can be a stressful ordeal. There is a lot to consider; promotion, management, ticket sales and handling payments.

Slide 2

Get Invited solves this problem by providing an end-to-end solution for event organisers that allows events to run themselves.

Set up event - send custom, personalised email invitations that treat the customer as a person not a statistic.

Slide 3

We believe the user experience is very important.

Everything about our product has been designed and considered.

Slide 4

Unique dashboard feature.

Provides event organiser with an overview of all their past and present events.

Key information is highlighted - tickets sold, days remaining.

Allows organiser to make important decisions.

Promote event with integrated social media functionality.

Slide 5

Simple

Focused

No clutter

Clear CTA, low barrier to entry for user buying tickets

Slide 6

Initially aimed at niche market - design events, interest from customers from the UK & Brooklyn.

Organisers of these events are unhappy with user experience of competing products.

Small market to test the app initially.

Currently Iterating and gathering feedback from this market.

Slide 7

Great feedback from both event organiser and attendees, few problems were experienced.

Slide 8

Over 56 million tickets
$400 million - 2011
$1 billion projected for 2012

EventBrite is complex and trying to be too many things to too many people.

Lacks focus.

Poor user experience as a result.

Why are we better? Better user experience, design, focus, simplicity.

Slide 9

Transaction fees.

Hosting costs.

Design and development in house.

Generating revenue through commission on ticket sales.

Distribution via the web.

Feedback

Feedback from the VCs and other members of the pitching group was overall; very positive. The pitch was delivered with confidence, clarity and a clear understanding of the problem and solution. The only criticism was; slide 9 contained too much information. One VC argued that perhaps EventBrite offer more complexity and features because they provide a service for larger events that require the flexibility.

Read more about eBootcamp online.

The Future of Get Invited

Over the course of this document we have spoken at great length about what we have been doing, but we have also put thought into where we want to take things too. There are two key areas that we have looked into:

New Features

Promotion

Each of these is important to the future of Get Invited, so let’s take a look at them in a bit more detail below.

New Features

A lot of products implement new features for the sake of implementing new features. This is something that we do not want to do with Get Invited. Each new feature needs to be well considered and it needs to fit with the aims of Get Invited.

As a result of this there are a very few limited features that we want to add to Get Invited:

Mailing Lists

Flexible Ticket Types

Mailing Lists

With Get Invited we want to ensure that it is both as simple and as easy for event organisers to set up and promote events. Currently we have integration with social media to help promote events but we know we can do more. One of the most common methods of promoting events is by setting up mailing lists that organisers can make use of.

We want to ensure that any efforts in this area fits perfectly with the aims of Get Invited, providing a simple easy to use method to promote events to people invested in hearing about them.

Ticket Types

From our testing of Get Invited with the Ulster Festival we have established a nice baseline for events, providing a flexibility of full price, concession, and promotional tickets. This will work well for a significant number of events. From feedback from individuals we are interested in working with in the future though, it is not flexible enough to suit their needs.

We have taken some time to think about this, and have worked out a way that we can provide a method for creating additional types of tickets for events with a minimal impact to the overall simplicity of Get Invited. This will allow organisers to create unique ticket types for their events whilst still benefitting from the simplicity of Get Invited.

Promotion

Whilst new features, well considered will add to the quality of Get Invited the service itself means nothing if there are no event organisers using it. A such we have taken some time to identify individuals and conferences that we would like to get to try out, and use, Get Invited.

Activate

Activate is a great event for people in our industry. Sometimes in the industry in which we work it can become all too easy to forget the importance of such activities. As such we would like to ensure that they have a ticketing experience that is appropriate.

Ampersand Conference

Ampersand is a small conference organised by Clearleft, which focuses on an important but often neglected aspect of design. We always want to support events that can help develop understanding of the important areas of design.

Brooklyn Beta

This conference focuses very much on helping to improve things, something that is a core value of what we have worked on with Get Invited. As such we want to provide a ticketing experience that aligns with the goals for their event, rather than having to settle for something that doesn’t meet with their own goals.

Insites: The Tour

Many events that designers go to relates to design or to development. Insites is different, and served as re of an informal conversation between speakers and attendees. Sometimes different can be better.

Future of Web Design

The Future of Web Design is one of a handful of well known design conferences in the UK. The ticketing solution that they are currently using doesn’t really match up with the quality that you would expect for such a quality event, and we think that Get Invited would be much better.

New Adventures in Web Design

New Adventures is another in the line up of well known design conferences in the UK, who have expressed a possible interest in using an alternative to their own system. We think we would be a good fit for their needs.

Refresh Belfast

Refresh Belfast, and it’s partner Distill, are fanatic free events for the local community in Belfast. Whilst the other events we are interested in working with are paid tickets, We believe that by having Get Invited used at any events which appreciate the quality of work we have undertaken will be beneficial for our brand as a whole.

Sarah Parmenter

Sarah Parmenter runs a series of workshops and has expressed a very strong interest in using Get Invited in order to process the sales of tickets to her workshops.

standards>next: Mobile and Devices

As we are always striving to improve our own understanding of such technologies we feel a. Certain resonance with such goals. We would like to see them using a ticketing platform relevant to their own expertise.

Why These Events/People

We have selected a group of design orientated events and people. This is because the first people we want to see using our system are those that have an appreciation for what we are working on.

An added benefit of targeting people in this industry is that we know this industry. The design community is a very open and welcoming group of people and, as a result, it is usually very easy to get an introduction to people running such events.

We have also targeted events that are run reasonably locally to us as well, with a small selection of events happening elsewhere. Part of this is due to it being easier to keep in touch with event organisers but a larger part of it relates to geography. By focusing on a single area of the world it becomes much easier to build a solid reputation, which should help make it easier to get other events interested in using the platform we have built.