I was just going through the list of registrations for Code Camp Oz 2009 and so far there are 55 registrations (or rather 55 “tickets”). Whilst it was perhaps a brash decision on my behalf, I decided to try EventBrite as a registration system this year. I coped a little bit of flak this year because the criticism was “why is this better than what we used to do”. That is a fair comment but its still interesting to try new things anyway, you never know what you will learn.
One of the things that I’ve learned, which was also a criticism was that there needs to be a clear way of cancelling attendance. So far I’ve only had two people cancel their attendance so it hasn’t been a big problem but it would be good if EventBrite had that feature (if you know that it does then let me know!).
So far its a been a fairly positive experience using this SaaS solution for helping to manage the event. I’d love it if it allowed us to put out calls for speakers, manage submissions and pull together a schedule. While I want these things I would probably never build them myself so the true benefit of a SaaS solution is that it allows you to focus on what you do best whilst allowing the vendor to gradually increase the feature set.
Tatham Oddie suggested I also look at Tixi which he has helped develop. Maybe we will look at that next year.
Anyway – if you have any feedback about the EventBrite system I would love to hear it, but right now I have to catch my plane!
