The Squid Surfaces.

What does a radio control aviation event have to do with a corporate conference? The answer to that question lies deep within the code of Eventsquid. What is now a top-tier corporate event registration platform began as a humble answer for a million or so model aviation hobbyists who needed a way to handle promotion, registration, communication and execution of several thousand RC events that occur each year in the United States and Canada. The story of Eventsquid’s ascent from “RCFlightDeck” reveals just how important a software’s roots are in forming the flowering tree it is destined to become.

The origins of any software often dictate its trajectory even if the function of the software has changed over time. For example, if software begins as customer-centric contact management software and then evolves into an event software platform, it might approach events from an attendee-centric perspective vs an event-centric perspective. That might matter to an event planner trying to understand why Joe Attendee, who registered for an unrelated event on the platform is designated as “Exhibitor” in an event that has no exhibitors — all because the system saved “exhibitor” as an identifier to Joe Attendee’s record. An event-centric platform might view Joe Attendee as having unique roles depending on the event.

All of that gives context to Eventsquid. RCFlightDeck, the progenitor of Eventsquid, focused on thousands of amateur event operators who had been running their events with a hodgepodge of rudimentary software. The attendee base in the RC hobby averages more than 55 years of age, which only compounded the challenge of building a platform that would simplify event promotion, registration and attendance for both planner and attendee. The thinking and design that informed RCFlightDeck persists today in Eventsquid. It should come as no surprise that attendees really like the simplicity. Is a corporate attendee any different from an RC pilot when registering for an event? NO. The point to carry away is this: paying attention to users is critical to building any successful software platform. Engineers are great at engineering, but user experience is an exercise in psychology. The two certainly work in tandem but psych steers that ship. Our team expends a disproportionate amount of time and resources to honing our software so that it not only functions as intended, but does so in an intuitive and pleasing way — one that elicits comfort, if not joy.

Since 2015, Eventsquid has been solely focused on the organizational market for events. We have largely abandoned vertical markets and devoted the past 5+ years toward key initiatives designed to enhance the management and execution of organizational events. In particular, we have emphasized virtual event, continuing education and reporting services over all else. Critically, we have not tried to do too much or broaden the already wide array of modules contained within the software. In other words, we do what we feel we can do best and we do not attempt to supplant better alternatives in the market simply to offer everything “under one roof.” To do so would compromise the quality of what we do provide. The market is full of examples. Have you ever seen a member management system that handles events as well as a dedicated events platform? Or, vice versa? Those animals don’t exist. There is certainly benefit to housing as much as possible under one platform, but the law of diminishing returns suggests that trying to do too much will dilute the quality of everything else you provide — and this is to say nothing of price.

As you browse our site, consume our videos and read the accompanying commentary, we hope our philosophy will emerge on its own and make it self-evident that Eventsquid will always make your “top 3” list of event management platforms to consider for yours or your clients events.