Technology Profile

John D’Orsay

Technology Profile

New and exciting changes are in store for EventConnect in 2021…new leadership at the helm, well-deserved promotions, new segments of the platform to better serve your clients, and more. What are you most excited about as we start the new year?

The most exciting part of where we are headed in 2021 is two-fold, Team growth and Product Growth. As CEO, watching the team grow as individuals, level up with new skills and work together at a lightning-fast pace in an industry that genuinely needs technology because of the creativity we can apply to our jobs and industry. We are proud that our product will displace and disrupt how our customers and industry stakeholders can work together seamlessly. We are bringing a platform to the market to lower amateur sport technology costs and give each user a way better experience. This culmination will create transparency and efficiency not yet seen in youth sports.

The coronavirus pandemic has altered the course of action for organizations in the sports tourism industry. What pivots did EventConnect make in 2020 to be proactive?

We did not have to pivot our company much at all. We have taken this opportunity to speak with all of our partners and drive for faster technology deployment and build new offerings. If anything, these past 10-months has given us more clarity on how our platform can be used and why. We have chosen to grow our league and club management software, our scheduling features and our hotel offering and integrations. We even changed our policy on refunds to ensure that our athletes and parents have a better experience and ensured that cancelled events would receive 100% hotel refunds.

Your “Everyone Loves a Comeback” report was all the buzz in November and December of last year. What went into building that report?

That report was a fantastic project to create. We spent time analyzing years of our own collected data to give the market a deeper understanding of how we can work better together. We looked at everything from when events are created, how early teams register when hotels are booked, and why certain hotels sell faster than others. And when schedules are created and what types of pooling makes the most sense to the teams. By doing this, we have found even better ways to engineer our platform to give our tournament directors faster tools to maximize the teams/athlete’s experience. We’ve never really seen anyone showcase that type of data at the micro-level. I’m sure you will see more of this in 2021, and the report lives on our website if anyone wishes to download it.

EventConnect invests an impressive amount of time, energy, and resources into further developing the platform… all at a cost absorbs by the company and not passed onto your clients. How did you design this concept, and what is the typical process for determining a new feature?

Well, I guess this comes from our background as technology geeks. The concept is simple, don’t add new fees to the industry, be transparent, and everyone wins. Work together to find where there are natural flows of spending and ensure that all parties somehow see an upside. We all know now that building a platform that connects our industry is valuable to all the stakeholders. What we haven’t had until now is a way to do this. The new feature process is simple on the development team, and we are continually innovating. The features need to drive home value to the athlete and then unite our users with data clarity. I’ll give you an example; when you create a schedule for your tournament, we go from pool play to eliminations. To develop great pools, you need a couple of data points in the schedule. Don’t group teams with teams they play against often, or from the same home association, and two match teams that are close enough in skill level to give all athletes a great experience. With the platform, this is all simple and automated.

Working with over 400 rights holders, over 20,000 lodging partners, and over 800 destinations in the United States and Canada must be at times daunting. Your team’s ability to thrive in that setting is impressive; how have you been able to build such an extraordinary team?

Love is the answer. Building teams is my favourite thing to do. Give your employees tons of autonomy and watch them grow. Give your team a lighthouse of what we are trying to achieve, and let them climb the hill with you. It’s a win-good combination for success in the industry and empowers youth and amateur sports and a healthy lifestyle.

The EventConnect platform houses families, coaches, teams, rights holders, facilities, and destinations all in one location. The data collected alone helps justify tax dollar spending in a world where budgets, projects, and success are scrutinized daily. Tell us about some examples where the platform has turned the tide for a destination marketing organization or sports commission.

We love our partners, and there are so many to share. Here are a few:

Kissimmee Sports Tourism relies on EventConnect. Not all of the events they partner with are not stay and play, so they need real-time reporting on total teams registered and how many were travelling from specific distances.

Visit Irvine and Fox Cities uses EventConnect to stay connected with shared visibility with their hotel partners and event organizers. When everyone has access to the same data, events can run smoothly as event information is at everyone’s fingertips.

With EventConnect, Tourism London used the reporting information by sharing it with local media. The goal was to instantly detail the cities where athletes travelled from for the Ontario summer games via the integrated heat-map platforms.

The Ontario Summer Games & Tourism London also used the platform to engage the participants and volunteers for the Summer Games in promoting the local restaurants and attractions through the integrated communication platform EventConnect provides through the system.

When Event Owners such as World Series Youth Lacrosse and Volleyball Canada are requesting destinations to bid on their events, they can build EventConnect Destination Impact Reports that provide hard data, such as exact room night pick-up and total travelling teams from a defined distance. Event Owners will also create custom surveys for teams and the families to complete to help provide even further reporting to the destinations.

You and Eric are not only business partners but have also been close friends for decades in the advertising, marketing, and tech spaces. How do your strengths and weaknesses play off one another for success?

HA! We both have the same work ethic and beliefs that allow speed to product fit, sales and market penetration. We invest in people fast, we both hate bureaucracy, and we love building things. And family is an essential value that creates alignment both personally and professionally. Where we differ is that our backgrounds are Product development vs. Product design. These separate views lead to a fascinating problem as partners. We disagree on everything when we are in the details. Build feature A first, or ship feature B super fast to test. Therefore, when we finally agree to focus on the next feature or company direction, it’s gone through the stages, and we can move very, very quickly.

Fun personal questions

Besides your hobbies, what do you enjoy doing when you are not working?

Playing guitar, time with family enjoying wine and chats.

What is the most prized possession you have in your office?

Good question. I don’t have possessions, but my pictures of my kids are my favourite things.

What is your favorite sporting event annually?

Too tough - US Open (Tennis), World Series (when the Jays are in contention), Masters Weekend