Story

About Eventably

Eventably is disrupting the event management industry with its innovative, cloud-based platform to enhance inclusivity and accessibility in event participation. Our platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools that facilitate every aspect of event management—from planning and ticketing to execution and analysis.

Eventably isn’t an accessibility-focused events platform, it is an events platform built with accessibility in mind. From the UI to its features, Eventably increases the reach and inclusiveness of our customers’ events by opening opportunities for new attendees and giving them the tools to ensure they’re included.

Why?

Competing systems are notoriously inaccessible. Whether they’re old, longstanding leaders in the space or new entrants to the market, accessibility of our competitors is lacking, as evidenced by the following comments:

“As the organiser of a local Inclusive Design Meetup and a person with a disability, I am highly attuned to the accessibility of our platforms. All traditional event platforms have accessibility quirks, so we must be careful not to inadvertently exclude people from participating. I think Eventably finally does away with this.” — Roel Van Gils, Founder at Eleven Ways

“It’s unbelievable that a truly accessible events management and ticketing platform does not yet exist! Every day, the lack of such tools forces event organizers who are deeply committed to accessibility and inclusion to bend over backwards just so that every audience member can fully enjoy equitable access to the events we put out. I support the creation of such a platform because it’s a crucial step towards enabling full societal participation for people with disabilities and if anyone can do it, it’s Karl and his team.” – Denis Boudreau of Inklusiv.ca

“I’ve lost count of the times when I’ve been stopped from getting tickets for events because the platform isn’t usable to people like me who are blind. As a speaker it’s frustrating too because I wonder how many people decide not to attend events just because the act of getting a ticket is difficult or impossible.” Léonie Watson, Tetralogical

“My experience has been that event management and ticketing platforms tend to pose barriers for users with disabilities participating independently in social and entertainment events. Event organizers should not be faced with limited market opportunities and potential risk due to the inaccessibility of the systems they use. An accessible ticketing platform is much needed.” – Jared Smith, WebAIM

“As a blind person, I always dread buying tickets to an event because it is usually such a bad experience, even for a skilled screen reader user like myself. This leads to me often having to call or get assistance, which I only grudgingly do if the event is so important to make that worth it. A lot of the time I just decide to skip it if I run into too many issues.” – Peter Bossely, Accessibility Ally

“As someone born deaf who reads lips and doesn’t use ASL, it’s hard to know whether an event will be worth my time. One time, I found out an event had captions after the fact. I asked the organizer why they didn’t promote the event had captions. They said captions are the default for them. While that’s awesome, most of us have become accustomed to expecting nothing. Moreover, many hearing folks tell me they’re relying on captions more and appreciate it when they’re available.” – Meryl Evans

“As a blind conference organizer and attendee, the immense inaccessibility of event platforms has cost me tons of time and money, as well as preventing myself and many other disabled people from equitably participating in this incredibly valuable form of discourse.” – Sina Bahram, Prime Access Consulting

What makes Eventably unique

Accessibility

Platform Accessibility Compliance: The platform is designed to comply with accessibility standards and regulations, ensuring that all users, regardless of ability, can navigate and utilize the platform effectively.
Venue and Event Accessibility Management: Organizers can specify and manage accessibility details for venues and activities within an event, allowing them to communicate accommodations such as wheelchair access, sign language interpreters, and other accessibility services to attendees.
Accessible User Management: Features comprehensive options for user registration, login, and preference management with accessibility in mind, ensuring that users with disabilities can manage their accounts without barriers.

Flexibility

Organizations and Team Management: Users can create and manage organizations and teams, including roles and member permissions, offering flexibility in managing event staff and responsibilities.
Event and Activity Management: Organizers have full control to create, update, delete, and manage events and associated activities, including attaching venues, which allows for tailored event experiences.
Payment Options: Organizers can create events and accept payments in 47 countries using a variety of payment options ranging from credit cards to bank debits to digital wallets.

Event Promotion and Marketing Features

Message System: Organizers and platform admins can send messages directly to attendees and waiting list members, facilitating effective communication and marketing efforts.
Discount Codes: Event organizers can create and manage discount codes, which can be a powerful tool for promotional strategies and attracting attendees.

Compliance Tools

GDPR and Other Compliance Settings: The platform allows organizers to manage compliance related to GDPR, UK-GDPR, CCPA including settings for Data Protection Officer, consent statements, privacy policies, and data retention policies, ensuring that events meet legal requirements.
Terms and Conditions Management: Organizers and platform admins can modify terms and conditions for events, providing legal safeguards and clear information to attendees.

Sales Tools

Ticket Management: Comprehensive tools for creating and managing different types of tickets and ticket sales, allowing flexibility in pricing and access which can maximize revenue potential.
Waiting List Management: The ability to manage waiting lists for events, including sending messages to members of the waiting list, can help maximize attendance and manage capacity effectively.

Design

The Eventably platform proves that complex software can be both attractive and accessible. The home page provides easy flow into core user tasks for both organizers and attendees. Attendees can search for events of interest to them directly on the homepage and, for repeat users, can learn about events that fit their preferences as soon as they arrive.

Event organizers will have robust content, marketing, and compliance features to help ensure their success. The Eventably system allows for both one-off and repeating events. The dashboard provides at-a-glance insight into ticket sales and revenue.

One of the most frequent complaints of people with disabilities when it comes to events platforms is how difficult it is to pay for tickets. This, in turn, results in lost revenue for event organizers. Eventably will ensure that the entire process – from finding the event to buying the ticket, is an accessible experience.

Pricing

Eventably will be priced competitively and will be an economical alternative to existing platforms.

Community Plan/ Free Events and Meetups: Organizers whose events are free, such as community events and meetups will be able to purchase our Community Plan for $9.99 per month.
Paid Ticket Events: Organizers who charge for their events will pay $1 + 3% for each ticket sold.
Discounts for charitable non-profits and Certified B-Corps: Eventably will offer 25% discount on all fees for organizers are either 501 (c)(3) or a Certfied B-Corporation

Our Team

Eventably is founded by a team with both the depth and breadth of experience needed to execute on this plan.

Founding CEO, Karl Groves, has experience as a startup founder with a successful exit behind him. He is a web developer with over 20 years of experience and is an internationally recognized expert in accessibility, and a keynote speaker appearing at conferences throughout the US and EU. Prior to his career in web development, Karl Groves worked in the music industry as a talent agent, show promoter, and talent buyer. As a result, he’s uniquely qualified to guide the success of a SaaS business focused on developing an accessible event management platform.

Karl is backed by a team of professionals who are likewise also qualified for their roles, including:

Brett Harris, VP of Engineering, brings along 20 years of software engineering leadership experience, and certifications and training in Accessibility, Agile Methodologies, Enterprise Architecture, and User Experience. In his prior role, as VP of Engineering at Level Access, he oversaw the development of multiple products and a team of over 20 developers.

Jennifer Groves, Chief Operating Officer, has nearly 25 years’ experience in operations in multiple industries. Her experiences include overseeing HR in 6 countries and work in non-profits, professional services, and tech startups. Her extensive experience in international HR compliance, operations within professional services, and recruiting will help Eventably grow – and manage that growth – with a world-class team.

What We Need & What You Get

Our initial goal for this campaign is to raise $150,000. However, we also have some aggressive stretch goals you can read about below.

All funds raised up to $150k will go directly to product development and other expenses of the business and expect to complete a deployable MVP that we can present to potential investors.
If we reach $250k we will have a product ready for use by customers. We will also have enough funding to market the product and grow the business organically.

In return, backers get escalating tiers of rewards and recognition ranging from a cool swag bag all the way to future discounts that are worth several times more than the investment.

The Impact

In the process, Eventably’s backers will be funding the creation of the first accessible events management and ticketing platform and directly impacting 4.05 million people in the US alone. Along the way you’ll also allow us to set up the groundwork for becoming a Benefit Corporation, including certification as such. Your contribution helps us reach both of those goals.

Risks & Challenges

Like any business, there are risks and challenges. These include things like economic instability and other things which threaten any business. In addition, Eventably will be a new player in an already competitive space. We believe that our unique feature set will give us initial traction that we can carry forward.

Backers should understand that while the information in this campaign represents our current plans, those plans are subject to change based on the amount of money raised and market conditions which may change business priorities.

Stretch Goals

We have huge aspirations! If we’re able to exceed our initial goals we have some really awesome plans for what we’re going to do. Check them out:

Every $100k after $250k is a new free deep dive into accessibility in a new city.

As you read through the below stretch goals, keep in mind that at every $100k after $250k, we will offer a completely new “Deep Dive Into Accessibility” 2-day workshop in a new city, held by Karl Groves.

Karl Groves has trained nearly a thousand people at over 75 companies around the world. This 2-day workshop provides a comprehensive background on digital accessibility, assistive technologies, and accessible web development.

These workshops are for backers only and the cities will be determined by assessing the locations most convenient for our backers.

Accessibility Bar: $200k

At $200k, we fund an Accessibility Bar. What is an accessibility bar? It is a traveling exhibit that features a variety of assistive technologies ranging from software like screen magnifiers and screen readers to hardware like switches and braille output devices. The Accessibility Bar will travel with us as we attend and exhibit at conferences to educate attendees about accessibility.

Accessible Events Video Training: $300k

At $300k, we create a series of video training modules on a variety of topics on how to manage and host events that are accessible for your attendees. These videos will be housed in a section of the site and available for all visitors to the site, regardless of whether they’re customers.

Scholarship Tickets to AccessU, A11yTO, and Accessing Higher Ground: $400k

At $400k, we will fund 20 tickets each for people to attend AccessU 2025, Accessing Higher Ground, or A11yTO Conferences. These conferences are the best conferences in North America for learning about digital accessibility and we’ve personally been a part of each one for over a decade. Tickets will be limited to those persons who’ve never attended the conference before, with preference to students and members of underserved populations.

Mobile app: $500k

At $500k we will add the development of a mobile app to accompany the website. While the website itself will feature responsive design, thus already making it mobile-friendly, the mobile app will have a feature set aimed specifically at increased convenience for event attendees.

Call-for-papers (CFP) Intake, Reviews, and Voting: $600k

At $600k we will add an ability for event organizers to issue CFPs, review them, and communicate with speakers on their proposals.

We add the highest voted “Features available for funding”: $700k

Further down this page is a list called “Features available for funding”. Each item is something on our wishlist for the final product, but not something that will make it in the initial product unless we get the funding for it. If we reach the $700k stretch goal, we will open a survey for our backers to choose which one they want to see the most.

Multi-track virtual events: $800k

At $800k, we develop a feature that allows event organizers to create multi-track virtual events. This feature will contain private rooms for each simultaneous session. Each room will contain video feeds as well as chat room, real-time captioning and transcription.

Epic Party at CSUN 2025: $900k

Every year, California State University Northridge’s Center on Disabilities puts on the largest digital accessibility conference in the world. If we reach our $900k stretch goal, we will throw an epic party at the 2025 conference for up to 100 of our backers.

No Subscriptions: $1M

If we reach a stretch goal of $1,000,000 we will offer all subscriptions at 100% discount for the first year!

Features available for funding

The following is a list of all future features that can be funded by this campaign. Backers at the highest tier will have the ability to have their name attached to one of the specific features in the list below. Funding the feature means that it rises higher in the roadmap and the backer’s name will be listed, associated with the feature for one year after the feature launches.

Streaming/ Webcasting
Attendee Matchmaking
Custom Domains
Custom Templates
SMS broadcast
CFP Intake and Management
Session Recordings
Session Transcripts
HubSpot Integration
Salesforce Integration
Pardot Integration
Single Sign On
Mailjet/ Sendinblue integrations
SurveyMonkey integration
Mailchimp integration
Zoom Integration
Zoho Integration
Interprefy Integration
Quickbooks Integration
YouTube Integration
Vimeo Integration
Sponsor & Vendor Directory
Sponsorship & Exhibition Sales

Other Ways You Can Help

We realize that not everyone can contribute, and that’s OK. You can still help us by helping to get the word out about this campaign and by spreading the word. Share our campaign on social media, sending this out to any mailing lists you’re part of, and tell friends who you think may be interested.

Interested in making a larger investment for which your reward is equity in the company? Give us a shout at eventably@afixt.com to discuss