CadmiumCD recently integrated their software with the world's most popular registration platform. Here's exactly what the software integration looks like for meeting planners who want to utilize it for their conferences, galas, and trade shows.
13. BEST PRACTICE #1
Clearly Define Your Goals
Make sure your goals are well-defined before the software integration
project begins, with measurable success metrics and a solid
understanding of your data flow.
14. BEST PRACTICE #2
Have a Single Point of Contact
Assign one person responsibility over the project to manage timelines,
check progress, and make sure all stakeholders are on the same page
at all times.
15. BEST PRACTICE #3
Test, Test, Test
Create a testing plan with multiple people QCing (quality checking) the
system for points of failure and processes that may confuse users.
18. Intent / Goals
SaaS solution for quick setup and changes + maximum
control over data and process.
Didn’t need the most robust solution, but something
inexpensive and flexible.
Wanted users to be able to register, select sessions,
and have those choices reflect on eventScribe.
Needed changes to appear quickly in all systems
(website, app, etc.).
After CadCon offer this solution to clients who want a
lightweight registration system.
19. Intent / Goals
Background: CadmiumCD decided to use the Eventbrite registration system for our 2019
CadCon registrations. We also wanted to offer hands-on learning labs for registrants to
select during registration. As part of the requirements, these selections as well the
registrant’s profile information should be saved on CadmiumCD’s database as automatic
plan on the CadCon eventScribe Website and App.
35. How It Worked
Solution: CadmiumCD created an integration between eventScribe (CadmiumCD’s attendee facing products) and
Eventbrite (SaaS based registration and ticketing platform). We leveraged Eventbrite’s API to log attendees into
eventScribe via SSO.
36. Why It Didn’t Work for Us
It was a bad brand experience logging into Eventbrite
from eventScribe and didn’t feel like a native
eventScribe experience to users, causing confusion
We would need to do more custom development to
integrate Eventbrite SSO with eventScribe App
Users couldn’t easily make changes to their registered
session items
We could not generate instant registrant reports without
creating another integration to pull data from Eventbrite
daily
39. How It Worked
Solution: CadmiumCD created an integration between eventScribe (CadmiumCD’s attendee facing products) and
Eventbrite (SaaS based registration and ticketing platform). We leveraged Eventbrite’s webhooks to automatically be
notified when a new registration has been completed or an existing one has been modified. This data coming from
Eventbrite would create accounts on the eventScribe system and automatically create a plan based on the user’s
selections during registrations.
40. The Right Solution for Us
eventScribe accounts were instantly created upon
registration & attendees sent login email
Attendees could login to Website and App with
eventScribe details
Changes made in Eventbrite reflected in eventScribe,
but data was secured and housed in CadmiumCD
ecosystem
Registration data was instantly sent to eventScribe, so
we could easily generate attendee reports in our own
system
45. BEST PRACTICE #1
Clearly Define Your Goals
Kind Of – Marketing team and CadCon committee clearly defined
goals and intent of integration. We had to do two total integrations to
find the solution we were looking for.
46. BEST PRACTICE #2
Have a Single Point of Contact
Yes! – Ariyo Shahry was the single point of contact that made sure all
integration items were carried out in time.
47. BEST PRACTICE #3
Test, Test, Test
100% - We tested two different integration options to ensure user
experience was consistent with past years and also intuitive. We had
customer support systems in place to field questions.
49. Top 3 Challenges with Integrations
Unclear Goals
Poor Communication
User Error
50. Software Integration Best Practices
Clearly Define Your Goals Beforehand
Have a Single Point of Contact
Create a Testing Plan to Ensure Success
51. Takeaways from CadCon
Two total integration projects to find the RIGHT solution
(SSO and Webhooks)
Instant updates on eventScribe website and app based
on selections in Eventbrite
Custom development project to build table selection
tool with Eventbrite integration
The process of bringing together separate components from different systems so they can function as one.
Application-to-application data exchange
Communicate business logic, data, and processes without intimate knowledge of IT infrastructure
Improve efficiency across your organization
Improve data visibility
Significant IT time/cost saving
Improve user experience
Efficiency refers to minimizing duplicate efforts across your organization (aka redundancy). Entering the same data into multiple systems is not only inefficient but also prone to problems.
Data visibility refers to minimizing data silos and enabling the flow of data among systems and taking advantage of what each system can do with that data. For example, analytic and marketing tools can give you a tremendous insight on the data you already own.
IT cost saving is significant when you consider the cost of recreating and maintaining a piece software or technology internally. Integration allows you to use the best system for the job while marinating the visibility of the data. Other cost saving to consider is technical support. When you integrate with 3rd party software you can leverage the existing technical support that those vendors are offering.
Integration done correctly can improve the user experience. Consider a Single-sign-on where users can use the same set of credentials to login to multiple platforms. Not only they don’t need to know and remember more passwords but they also login using the same familiar login screen that they always use to login regardless of what system they are using.
Data security is commonly referred to as the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of data.
Data privacy is suitably defined as the appropriate use of data. When companies and merchants use data or information that is provided or entrusted to them, the data should be used according to the agreed purposes.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).
Eventbrite is quick and easy to set up – create an account, follow directions to create an event, and design the page with all your branding and event details
Choose what standard field you want to collect from attendees with simple on/off switches
Click “Add custom question” at bottom of the form
These questions support HTML for some custom formatting as well
For our purposes, we wanted people to select 1 learning lab per day to guarantee their spots during those sessions. We had to think a lot about how this would work beforehand because we knew we were going to integrate this data with eventScribe.
We decided to associated a alpha-numeric to each session in brackets, so that we could easily identify these sessions via the API webhook when we send the data into eventScribe.
Using the content management tools to add static pages, etc. made it easy and customizable… you might even say SaaSy!
Logging in on eventScribe would redirect you to Eventbrite to sign up
Technically, in client terms, this was a reworking of the integration, and therefore a NEW project
Selections made in Eventbrite show up as a blue star in eventScribe (as opposed to the yellow star associated with an attendee selecting that particular session)
Custom development to create easy 'gala-style' registrations
Once signed into eventScribe, apply tickets to attendees, and they can choose seating at events associated with their tickets
This was tied to Eventbrite - the systems recognized whether an attendee purchased a 1-day or 2-day pass and assigned tickets to the person based on that data
Technically, you could sell tickets to an event and use the table selection tool as well, or simply have a custom question option like in learning labs
We had a team of CadmiumCD users register themselves to go through entire integration process to ensure it was smooth and bug-free