Background
The Nonprofit Technology Network, commonly referred to as NTEN, is a professional
organization whose members use technology to support a variety of nonprofit causes. Their
members share a common mission: to help nonprofits use technology more efficiently.
Business Challenge: Offering an online forum to engage attendees before, during
and after event
After the successful 2008 event in New Orleans, NTEN Executive Director Holly Ross was
looking for new, intuitive ways to help get the word out about her 2009 event in San Francisco.
She felt it was essential to find an easy way for returning alumni, potential attendees, students
and others to get better connected – to share their thoughts and goals for the event – and to
network with each other.
“Foremost in my mind for 2009 was adding a professional, innovative social networking tool
to help enhance the overall conference experience,” says Ross.
Acteva Solution: Implementing Acteva’s trusted Private Social Network
In 2008, Acteva introduced Acteva Private Social Networks (APSN) — a single tool to
calendar, publish and consolidate event data, organize multiple groups, manage membership
registration and sales and provide members with a user-friendly but powerful social networking
experience.
Impressed with the technology, Ross felt APSN would now serve as an integral new solution for
attendees to increase their reach and effectiveness. As Ross explains, “Our mission is to help the
non-profit sector use technology to meet their goals - connecting our members so they can share
their knowledge with one another is central to everything we do.”
Soon after the debut of APSN, Acteva worked with Ross to develop a customized version to
be used specifically for NTEN 2009. This groundbreaking new social networking solution,
NTConnect, would utilize APSN to create a unique forum for sharing ideas, networking and
connecting with others online.
“The goals of NTConnect were to leverage its networking capabilities and create a single
‘meeting place’ for show attendees,” says Ross. “The plan was for Acteva’s solution to help our
event attendees ‘meet’ each other and talk about the challenges they face.”
In addition, NTConnect participants each have their own profile page with their own calendar,
and a place where they can post their own blogs, photos and videos. They could also become
members of groups associated with any sponsor, exhibitor, speaker or topic.
With this partnership, an exciting new venture and avenue for growth had been born that
would benefit all involved—especially NTEN members and alumni. “Those are the people who
keep us afloat and help make us who we are as an organization.”
Every NTConnect participant had access to a dynamic calendar where they could view
conference sessions, import events from their favorite vBooths (more on these below) and
create personal events, which could be downloaded to Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar.
The technology was extremely user-friendly—whether the user was technically inclined or
not.
Ross explains a success story that occurred just before the conference began. “One local
attendee wanted to set up a pre-NTC meet up before the conference opened at a local brewpub,”
she says. “He posted this event to NTConnect, requesting that participants RSVP if they
were interested. With that information he was able to secure the location and communicate
the plans to everyone.”
Finally, Acteva helped NTEN create “vBooths” or virtual trade show booths that attendees
visit online. With vBooths, exhibitors could advertise their upcoming events at NTC 2009 and
throughout the year through a shared calendar, push traffic to their website through special
offers, post product literature and communicate directly with attendees through blogs and
group discussions.
Ross highlights what is perhaps the greatest enhancement since the 2008 event: “With
NTConnect, when attendees arrived they already had a network of contacts and our exhibitors
and speakers were prepared with relevant topics and materials. This made for a far richer
conference experience for everyone involved.”
Results: Increased networking opportunities, 30% growth in attendance
The end result: despite the tough economic climate, NTEN grew significantly in 2009. “We
sold out with over 1,440 registrants, an increase of about thirty percent over last year. To grow
this conference in such a challenging climate is impressive,” says Ross. “This was due in part to
the tremendous anticipation that grew out of the online community prior to the physical event.
People started to go crazy, and in a good way.”
Going forward, Ross anticipates even greater success in the future. Having worked with
NTConnect from the beginning, she looks forward for more opportunities for growth leading
up to their 2010 event in Atlanta.
Says Ross, “This year, our exhibitors and speakers came prepared with relevant topics and
materials based on feedback from their NTConnect blogs. It was a success in every way – for
everyone involved.”
Experience that counts
Acteva is the trusted leader in online event registration, ticketing and payment management
services. Since 1998, over 14,000 customers have used Acteva to manage more than 260,000
events and process more than 4.6 million registrations. Acteva’s customers include Bausch &
Lomb, Pfizer, SAP, Girl Scouts of America, Whole Foods, BMW/MINI, NASA, VMware, Apple,
DHL, PG&E and thousands of small to large-sized businesses and organizations.
