Blog
02/06/2025 - Building the (v1.0) platform
Based on all the survey results we have built a first draft of the events directory with filters. This enables people to find events nearby and based on their interests. I also talked with venues and event organisers to understand what was working and what needed tweaked, changed or updated when they were uploading event information. We have event organisers now posting onto the directory regularly and have developed the venue offering as well.
The next step will be to talk to more organisers, seekers and venues to understand what they are doing and what challenges they have.
Want access to our platform where event seekers and organisers can connect? Sign up now to ensure you're on the waiting list!
15/09/2024 - Next Steps and thank you!
Firstly, just a massive thank you to all of you who filled in the survey! I've been so pleased by the response with 226 surveys completed so far. This means that the problem I experience is also a wider problem for others. Based on this, I'm going to take the next steps in this journey and start building.
Results and the problem
87% of you were individuals looking for events, so this is the first task, creating a directory where you can find events.
30% of you were running or promoting events, so I'll be looking at building a simple form to submit events.
I've taken the results of the challenge question "In 30 secs or less, tell us what your biggest challenge is for promoting your events or finding out about events in D&G" and put them into 2 main problems statements.
For individuals - I want to find events in one place, in plenty of time to plan to attend, in areas that I'm willing to travel to and not have to search across various sites or groups to find events of interest to me.
For those delivering events - I want an effective way to promote our events, to an audience that I know are interested in our events, and to not be a time suck or costly process.
The quickest and easiest way to solve these problems is a free to access event directory, with suitable filtering, so that's my first task.
Next Steps
I'll be contacting Business Gateway, South of Scotland Enterprise and Techscaler to access business support and funding, as these organisations offer support to people in the South of Scotland building digital products and website apps.
In terms of development, I'll be using the Jobs to be done framework for developing, which means taking a customer centred approach to what I create. There is no point in me creating something that nobody wants to use or just adds to the problem of there being too many places to find events. So, I've set up drop-in times if you'd like to meet with me and provide input and feedback. These will be 20min chats online and you can book by clicking here. I want to build something that benefits the region and all those living here so please do get in touch.
Roadmap of development
If I'm able to secure some seed funding, I will aim to have a basic directory up and live in 2-3 weeks.
In 2-3 months, I will aim to have tweaked and developed the directory based on feedback and be thinking about next steps.
Want to support me while I self-fund this project? Buy me a coffee!