Organising a Startup Weekend ? We got you covered !

Managing and planning a big event is a monumental task, fraught with strategic challenges. In order for your event to be a success, there are many parameters that need to be taken care of.  Explara is a huge platform that takes care of all your event details and offers several features that can guarantee that your event is a roaring success. This case study takes you through the finer details of ‘Startup Weekends’ organised and facilitated by Explara across 30 cities.

Startup Weekends are a phenomenon all over the world, and they take young entrepreneurs through the process of founding and running successful ventures. The event helps young entrepreneurs connect with like-minded individuals, (perhaps even find co-founders or investors), discover the entrepreneur’s journey, learn what it takes to start a venture, and gives them a push to start their own.

Explara began organising and facilitating Startup Weekends back in 2014, and since then have held over 100 editions across different cities. Most of the events have been held in Tier 2 cities in India such as Tanjavur, Rourkela, Ludhiana, Rajkot, Vijayawada, Jaipur, Jalandhar, and Nagpur. Some of them have been hosted at international locations like Jaffane, Kabul, and Tbilisi. In bigger cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi, Explara sold over 100 tickets for each event, making it a hugely successful and powerful venture. The success of the events can only be attributed to the multiple exciting features that the platform offers! Let’s take you through some of them:

1. Easy Ticketing and registration

A custom registration page for was created for the Startup Weekend event, which offered several different ways to register- invite only, group registration, multi-session registration, etc, as well as a Facebook registration app which was used on SW’s Facebook page. What’s more? Explara seamlessly integrated all of SW’s social media on the platform, allowing them to create a buzz around the event and to spread the word.

2. Secure and Easy Payment

Explara accepted payment via Credit cards, Debit cards, and Netbanking while selling tickets for the SW. It was also integrated with SW’s PayPal and Stripe account, so they could receive money directly to their account post ticket sales. Another benefit offered was the Offline Payment Processing which allows payment via cheques and demand drafts as well.

3. Efficient Sales Management

Explara made it much easier for SW’s customers to register and buy tickets by creating multiple pricings and deadlines and offering multiple currency options for international attendees. The platform even offered cool add-ons such as a Merchandise Sale option and Travel Booking Integration for registered attendees.

4. Effective Promotion and Marketing

5. Attendee Management

Attendee information was managed by giving SW direct access to their attendee data based on the registration forms. An inbuilt support module was also included that managed queries and questions on the events page. The Entry Management mobile app ensured simplified check-ins and guest management at the venue.

6. Community and Membership

SW created an event-based community, added members to it, and automated the entire process so members are directly added when they register. The official event website was also integrated into the community, along with the facebook pages. Explara handled members-only email lists, organized community-only events, and offered paid membership for SW’s community. All payments and renewals were handled by the solution.

7. Event Apps

To make the management of Startup Weekends easier, Explara also offered several apps that help through various tasks. Mailchimp, that can schedule and send emails to lists of attendees, Explara POS for selling tickets and registration, Explara event manager to simplify check-in and guest management at the venue, Explara Emailer for bulk emails, and Event Survey to gather feedback post the event.

These amazing features ensured the success of the Startup Weekends in India, which are due to be held in Hyderabad, Goa, and Rourkela in the upcoming months. To book your tickets, head to www.explara.com!