MICEBOOK (Beta) an online platform focused on knowledge retention and sharing amongst event organisers has gone live today for review and feedback amongst industry professionals. MICEBOOK will be introduced to the global events industry for the first time at The Meetings Show from 8-10 July, 2014 at Olympia, London.
MICEBOOK is available at www.micebook.com
MICEBOOK fills a gap by providing events buyers with an online global destination, venue and supplier research and enquiry tool capable of incorporating and sharing* notes and information amongst users. “Where do you keep your knowledge?” asks Chetan Shah, founder and CEO of MICEBOOK. “All too often agency staff waste time looking for a specific contact, notes from a Fam or event run by a colleague long departed or even just imagery to complete a proposal. MICEBOOK takes the functionality and usability of a high end online search tool and makes it personal and shareable. From the favouriting of top suppliers to notes about the best suite in an unusual hotel, our platform makes the retention of knowledge both easy and individual as each user creates their own personal databank.”
MICEBOOK provides a new twist on the supplier search process allowing users to do far more than identify and enquire about suitable destinations, venues, hotels, DMCs and other relevant suppliers. · Search – use advanced and personalised search capability to swiftly locate suppliers around the world. · Save – favourite specific suppliers to keep abreast of staff changes or additional products and services. · Enquire – designed with flexibility in mind, the enquiry system allows organisers to request information directly from the suppliers. · Note – users retain information and notes placed on the system as they move from role to role adding to their personal equity · Download – information such as brochures and imagery for proposals and pitches
MICEBOOK will be exhibiting at The Meetings Show from 8-10 July, 2014 on stand D55. Visitors to the stand who take part in a two question survey will be entered into a daily competition to win a two night stay at The Mondrian, London; Belmond Reid’s Palace in Madeira and Rosewood Beijing.
Chetan continues: “MICEBOOK is fundamentally about collaboration, it is the ethos on which the platform was created and how we intend to grow. It is also why we decided to ask the industry’s opinion of the platform as it currently stands. We have developed its capabilities and functionality with extensive input from individuals at leading event agencies and suppliers such as Belmond Hotels, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Rocco Forte Hotels, Hosmark and Just The Letter B. But the time is ripe for the wider MICE industry to provide their input. This is the industry’s tool so it is only right that the industry shapes it in a way that is most beneficial to them.”
Zibrant LIVE!, Senior Creative Development Manager, Rhian Jolley said: “MICEBOOK will be a powerful tool for organisers, particularly the ability to record personal notes and updates about individual suppliers. It has clearly been designed by event professionals with the end user in mind rather by an IT team with no knowledge of the sector. The database of suppliers is already comprehensive enough to make it my search tool of choice and the improvements expected once the industry provides their feedback will ensure it is perfectly tailored to our needs.”
AddingValue, Director of Strategy, Chris Clarke: “In a world that is full of different ways to connect with those that can help, it’s refreshing to see that someone is doing their utmost to make life just a little bit easier by bringing disparate information sources under ‘one roof’. This deserves to succeed and provided that there are checks and balances in place to ensure the accuracy of the information, there is no reason why it won’t. I for one will be a user.”
Richard Waddington, chair of the Event Marketing Association (EMA) and former Founder & Chief Executive of international events agency, First Protocol has invested in the company and will be taking on the role as Chairman. Richard comments: “Speaking as an investor in the MICEBOOK platform and former agency head, I know first-hand how individuals and organisations suffer from information overload. People carry enormous amounts of priceless information in their heads, suppliers are constantly providing useful knowledge but it is rarely relevant at the time it is received. Consequently a business card gets lost in a draw, brochures rapidly date and USB sticks full of images are overwritten, information gets researched time and time again. The ability to store, relevant ‘nuggets’ of information and insight, personal to you is vital in the modern business world – entwine that requirement with a global database of MICE industry suppliers and you have an incredibly powerful tool.”
Organisations wishing to promote themselves through MICEBOOK who sign up before the end of July 2014 will receive a free listing until June 2015. Buyer membership of MICEBOOK is free.
*Note sharing is not available in the Beta version