VMUG, or VMware User Group, is an independent global community of VMware users. They provide a platform for IT professionals to connect, collaborate, and share knowledge about VMware technologies and solutions.

VMUG organizes numerous events for its members, both in-person and online, as part of its knowledge-sharing and training programs. These events include local conferences, webcasts, community meetups, product roadshows, and special in-person gatherings. To efficiently manage these events in Salesforce, VMUG needed a robust event management tool that could streamline and automate their event processes natively within Salesforce.

AC Events Enterprise was the perfect choice because it’s a security-approved app and fully built on Salesforce. Let’s dive deeper into the project requirements and explore how AC Events Enterprise helped VMUG achieve its goals.

Challenges & Project Objectives

VMUG’s previous event management solution didn’t meet their needs because it was too rigid, with little room for customization or branding. It was also difficult to make changes to their event pages on the Salesforce community portal, and managing events was time-consuming.

It was crucial to find a customizable and flexible solution, natively built on Salesforce, that could handle both virtual and in-person events of any size. The goal was to simplify the entire event organization process, from event schedules, registration, and ticketing to marketing, emailing, and post-event reporting. And by adjusting the interface, provide a better experience for their community members. 

It was also crucial to establish an integration between Salesforce and two external virtual and in-person event platforms to ensure that the registration data is seamlessly synchronized between both systems.

Main tasks included:

● AC Events Enterprise installation, setup, and ongoing support

● Creation of an event microsite on the existing Salesforce community portal

● Branding and customization of event pages to align with VMUG’s branding

● Integration with external virtual and in-person event platforms

Solution and Results

AC Events Enterprise met almost all of VMUG’s needs and offered features they didn’t have with their previous event management tool. Now, VMUG can manage all their events more easily in one place on Salesforce and provide a better experience for their community members.

● VMUG now has a well-branded, mobile-friendly event registration portal with an event calendar that provides members with a list of upcoming and past events. Each event page features a detailed description and can optionally include additional information, such as the agenda, sessions, speakers, room assignments, and sponsors (with their logos, text, and hyperlinks to their websites if needed). Members can easily find an event they want to attend by using the event filtering bar to sort events by type, category, start and end dates, and location.

● VMUG users get a personalized experience based on their roles. Members, event managers, and guest users see event information that matches their needs. They also see different event registration forms with specific data fields so that VMUG can collect the right contact details for each event.

● VMUG can assign specific portal users to create events directly through the portal using a simple, intuitive Event Creation Wizard tool. They can also access event registration lists directly on the portal without needing to go into Salesforce. Events can be created internally within Salesforce as well. The event cloning functionality streamlines the event creation process and saves a lot of time for event managers.  

● For on-site event registration, VMUG scans a QR code on each attendee’s event ticket, which is unique to each booking. The data is automatically sent to Salesforce. With direct Zoom integration, the AC Events Enterprise app automates attendee check-in management for virtual events, ensuring that VMUG doesn’t need to worry about data synchronization.

● Automated email notifications keep members informed about new events, upcoming events, and attendance reminders. They also automatically receive post-registration branded welcome and thank-you emails. VMUG has a set of email templates that can be easily customized to match its branding.

● All event registration data is monitored in real-time and can be used to create real-time reports based on registrations and attendance. Thanks to the integration with external webinar and virtual event platforms, VMUG has all event registration data synchronized between systems in a timely manner so that they don’t need to worry about data syncs or potential issues.

And here’s what VMware User Group (VMUG) said about our performance:

“We were searching for an events platform to improve our members’ as well as internal user’s experience. It was critical that it was native to Salesforce so we could use our existing membership database of over 170K+ active members The AC Events Enterprise platform met all our requirements. The team at Advanced Communities made the migration a successful and pleasant one. I would highly recommend their platform for your community.”

Craig Leahy (IG), Project Manager

Learn more about Advanced Communities:

Visit AC Consulting Services page on the Salesforce AppExchange.