People who put together events are artistic, not scientific. They assume if they build it, they will come. It doesn’t work that way.
Kreg Peeler, CEO of SpinGo, is a big believer in live experiences. “An event speaks to all five senses,” he says, and explains that an event does far more to provide lasting memories and life experience than any one product ever could. As a believer in live experiences, Peeler wants to see events succeed. But he’s seen a lot of well-produced and entertaining events that flopped due to lack of attendance. “People who put together events are artistic, not scientific. They assume if they build it, they will come. It doesn’t work that way,” he says. Peeler knew he could lend practical and logistical expertise to event makers. “I saw a gap where there was a lot of excitement and interest around creating an event but not enough tools,” he says. “I wanted to solve this problem for fellow event makers.”
So Peeler created SpinGo, a free service that allows event makers to list and promote their events. Since the company’s start in 2012, it has become the most popular event listing service online with more public submissions than any other event listing site in the US. But creating SpinGo and watching it grow into a success wasn’t enough for Peeler. He recognized that event makers still had major pain points that needed remedies, one of those being the lack of transparency. Event makers had no way of determining what was driving people to events. Peeler saw an opportunity to provide a holistic solution with Event Master.
Event Master, launched on February 11, helps event makers manage everything about their event and streamline their processes. The Event Master platform offers management for ticketing, scheduling, and marketing, as well as complete visibility into ticket sales, a feature that offers the transparency event makers previously lacked. “We want SpinGo to be your first stop,” Peeler says.
Additionally, for certain events that meet the right criteria, SpinGo will offer their marketing services. The services SpinGo can provide these events include access to a number of media outlets as well as an aggressive marketing campaign, and they are willing to provide these services for no cost upfront. SpinGo only requires a portion of the event ticket sales. “We’re so confident in our abilities, we’ll jump in and take the risk with the event promoter,” Peeler says.
Peeler says early adopters of Event Master love the ability to control their event and bring a bunch of fragmented systems into one place. “They’re excited about having someone in their corner,” Peeler says.
But don’t expect Peeler to stop here, either. He has a vision for his community, one that can envelope a community and make any worthy event a success. Innovation is the theme of the year at SpinGo, and at only two months in, Peeler already has big things in the works that will help get the right people at the right events. “There’s plenty of events, the question is how to get people to find them,” he says. If there’s anyone that has the answer to that question, it’s Peeler.
Published 3/1/2016
