Having different systems “talk to each other” is often a wish for those looking to improve their digital infrastructure. However, there always needs to be a balanced assessment of saving users time and a few steps in their processes versus the resources and cost needed to build an integration or API (Application Programming Interface) – and a lot of research, planning and critical thinking is needed.

Always open to discussions of this kind (see our Where do development ideas come from? article) we heard from several organisations that use Upshot for their monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) purposes also use a booking system, such as Eventbrite. Feedback from users suggested that it was admin intensive to take the registration data from Eventbrite and re-enter into Upshot to report on effectively.

This integration changes all that! 

We are pleased to announce that an integration is now in place between Upshot and Eventbrite. This allows users to import session and register data into Upshot, of those individuals that have booked onto your sessions via Eventbrite.

Eventbrite is an event management and ticketing website, allowing its users to create and promote free, or paid, local events that individuals can book onto or be added to a waiting list if oversubscribed.

As the video, frequently asked questions and guide for existing Upshot users below demonstrates, organisations can now import their session and register data from Eventbrite directly into Upshot, in a couple of clicks saving their users time. If you would like this integration turned on for your organisation’s Upshot account please contact support@upshot.org.uk. 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Eventbrite? 

In late 2021 we conducted a survey to understand how many of our organisations were using booking systems and which features were particularly relevant on these.

At this point we wanted to understand whether to integrate or build our own platform. We decided that integrating with market leading tools was a better approach than building our own booking system. Eventbrite was the most popular tool listed in the survey feedback and so this is where our integration with existing booking systems has started.

Developing this feature has been a key focus of our FY23 Roadmap and we are very grateful to the handful of organisations who helped test this feature.

If you use another booking tool and would like to see a potential integration with this platform in the future please fill out our feature request form. 

What do I need to use this integration on Upshot? 

An Eventbrite account. Eventbrite accounts are free to create and from there you can list out any sessions your organisation is running that you would like people to book onto. You can then use that unique Event ID to import the relevant data into Upshot.

Can organisations link more than one Eventbrite account to their Upshot account? 

Only one Eventbrite account can be linked to an Upshot account at one time, but organisations can manage this integration from the System Admin tab. If your organisation has multiple Eventbrite accounts, you can choose to activate/deactivate the integration as often as needed to switch between your Eventbrite accounts.