Kirsty McIntyre, the Head of System Development at CROWDEDEVENTS™.
Kirsty McIntyre is the Head of System Development at CROWDEDEVENTS™. We interviewed her to understand her and the company’s business pathways.
CROWDEDEVENTS™ is a consultancy and event technology start-up looking forward to creating a powerful impact in the industry.
According to Kirsty, the biggest strength of CROWDEDEVENTS™ is the team. Kirsty is an enthusiastic and result-driven professional who focuses on bringing innovative solutions. Learn more about her and CROWDEDEVENTS™ through our interview below.
Give a brief overview of your background and that of the company.
CROWDEDEVENTS™ is a Consultancy and Event Technology start-up looking to impact Workforce Management and Crowd Management Specialisms in the major event space. We have 4 new systems in the development stages, with 3 likely to launch into the market this year. Our physical flagship Workforce Management System CROWDHUBx™ has spiked a massive interest, and we are excited to showcase this internationally.
Over the last 11 years, my background has been across several international events on the world’s stage ranging from Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 to the most recent Expo 2020 Dubai. My role within the events industry has primarily been focused on ensuring all workforce required for each event, whether that be FTEs (Full-time employees), Contractors or Volunteers, are motivated and managed through all stages of their journey from recruitment to deployment on the ground through the effective use of a workforce management system.
As a shareholder and Head of System Development at CROWDEDEVENTS™, this is the opportunity to build our systems based on our experience to create a product that will transform the workforce and spectator experience and meet the needs of our customers worldwide.
In what ways do you hope to succeed?
The CROWDEDEVENTS™ vision is to build a business with the knowledge, capability, and experience to deliver continually. We aim to have competence on the ground with the technology behind the scenes to help deliver event excellence and the support our customers require. Our mission is to spread the power of technology to the events industry. Doing the basics effectively and pioneering to perfection. This has become our mission statement, and as a team, we believe in it.
In your opinion, what is your company’s or your greatest strength?
Our team at CROWDEDEVENTS™ is one of our strongest assets ranging across all departments from system development to customer experience. We have been lucky enough to build a team of superstars who share the same drive and vision to push the boundaries of technology in the event space. It is important to us that our team continue to feel inspired, driven, trusted, and empowered to deliver.
As a business, the support and engagement have been overwhelming, which keeps us moving despite all challenges we faced as a start-up. With a business that is coming up 6 months old, we have had massive engagement across our social media platforms, especially LinkedIn. We are incredibly lucky to have a strong network of friends and colleagues within the events industry who have been incredibly motivational and excited to see the launch of our platforms, but ultimately, the passion the team holds keeps us moving in the right direction.
What was the path you took/your company followed to reach your current position?
As a company, it is important to us to have the ability to provide the full end-to-end package for our customers, which is why outside of our platforms, we also supply consultancy services.
• Our team has over 90 years of combined experience in the event industry
• We have experience across 15 countries and over 20 Major Events.
• We know the people: we handpick tried and tested profiles, many of whom we have long-lasting personal relationships with.
• Quick turnaround: We are experienced in mobilizing and demobilizing teams on short notice.
• We cater for mega-events and have extensive experience in supporting Corporate, Governmental, Sports events and Large- scale ceremonies.
• Our core skill sets are focused on Crowd Management & Visitor Experience.
We don’t just deploy people, we deploy teams. We want to have reputable, experienced, knowledgeable, and capable team members represent CROWDEDEVENTS™.
What motivated you to start (or lead) this business?
After years of working in the event industry and experiencing first-hand what has worked versus what has generated several manual tasks and workarounds to be developed due to systems not having the functionality required as an end user, motivated the start of CROWDEDEVENTS™ and our subsequent bespoke platforms.
My passion for technology and a strong belief that business processes and operations can ultimately benefit from the implementation of the right system into their work environment was also the drive to prove that technology should not be deemed as a hindrance within the events industry.
To be awarded the Major Events International’ Highly Commended’ for Best Technology Innovation 2022 for our CROWDHUBx™ Platform was an incredible moment for us and provided reassurance that we really are on the right path with the needs and wants within our industry.
Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
Innovation and creativity are applied to everything that we do. It is essential for us to think outside the box, but even more, so get rid of the box altogether! Daily, whether it be through our platform development, brainstorming how we can deliver different approaches to our customer service, or spreading the word about our company – we want to challenge the status quo in everything that we do!
CROWDHUBx™ is a prime example of this, as the platform consists of a purpose-built platform harnessing SMART watch technology to provide a unique workforce management system. The system has been considered by several industries, with organizations looking to ensure their worker support is paramount. However, it also looks to streamline business processes.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by your company on par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services.
Technology is slowly shaping the way businesses operate. Whether it is advancing internal business processes or allowing the unthinkable to happen, these advancements have helped us with all 4 of our following bespoke systems, so growth is only inevitable:
CROWDHUBx™
The CROWDHUBx™ & Cx2 SMART technology platform is a workforce management system tailored to help clients manage operational teams. It consists of a purpose-built platform harnessing SMART watch technology to provide a unique workforce management system.
CROWDWRK™
The CROWDWRK™ platform is a workforce management platform tailored to help clients manage their teams. It’s a platform that’s been built to provide a two-way portal allowing colleagues, whether paid, contracted, or volunteers, to be up to date with their Assignment, Rosters, and Deployment.
CROWDWRK™ has been built to help businesses easily understand their workforce requirements, can be adaptable to work for your business requirements and is the centralized hub to see the business headcount planning.
Both CROWDHUBx™ and CROWDWRK™ have been developed to operate as standalone platforms. However, when brought together, it creates the ultimate super platform for all workforce requirements.
CROWDTONIC™
CROWDTONIC™ is our very own Event Staffing Platform. From being able to hold a database of trusted freelancers and employees, their recruitment and onboarding, to being able to track who is working on each project, CROWDTONIC™ is the Event Staffing Platform of the future. CROWDTONIC™ was built to help manage the CROWDEDEVENTS™ pool of consultants and freelancers. Its development has been so effective for us that we now bring it to the open market allowing each agency and client to tailor their own dashboards and manage their staff with complete ease.
CROWDLYTICS™
The CROWDEDEVENTS™ team has been involved with many international mega-events. On this journey across the globe, the crowd management industry has always been one where the training and foundation knowledge is applied in different ways and to different depths.
Through seeing the application and monitoring vary within crowd management, the team brainstormed to see how we could create a proactive crowd motion system that complimented the visitor experience.
CROWDLYTICS™ is in the second phase of development after undertaking research and development to look to bring pioneering technologies together. The system aims to have LiDAR detection, CCTV, Beacons, BLE, GPS, and WIFI all working together to paint the landscape in any venue or event.
We use LiDAR with a pulsed laser to calculate an object’s variable distances and multiple beacons to understand the density of people and objects, which can then be supported by CCTV and WIFI to understand visitation data.
2023 will be a flagship year for the CROWDEDEVENTS™ family, so watch this space as it’s about to get very CROWDED!
Connect with Kirsty McIntyre on LinkedIn.
Find CROWDEDEVENTS™ on LinkedIn, Twitter, & Instagram
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