2022 Year In Review

The last few years have shown the importance and vitality of in-person events for our communities. Grandstand was humbled to be a part of so many of these events in 2022, both the many that were brand new to us and that have been old friends. We served organizations of all sizes with apps that enhanced guest experiences at events and improved communication options for groups.

New clients included major state fairs, including the Arizona State Fair, the Ohio State Fair, and the New Mexico State Fair. We also saw huge growth in our music festival partners. We added large music festivals like Solid Sound and Nova Scotia Music Week, large international festivals like Festival Estereo de Picnic in Bogota, Columbia, as well as destination music festivals like Strings & Sol, Holy Shipwrecked and The Sands. Grandstand also continued to see lots of growth amongst state and county 4-H & FFA programs. Finally, tourism was a large growth area for Grandstand in 2022 with the addition of city- and region-specific event/tourism apps.

All of this was made possible by our powerful app platform that saw major enhancements in 2022. Here are a just a few things we brought to many of our apps in 2022:

• Architecture Improvements: We rethought nearly every part of our app experience, bringing in needed enhancements like swipe back, improved page navigation, and a loading process that is more dynamic and faster to all users.
• Improved Photo Sizing: We realize the challenge of cropping and saving photos into a consistent size across your app. We added tools that allow you to upload any size of photo, whether horizontal, square, or vertical, and have it display at a full, un-cropped size on your list detail pages and event detail pages.
• List Content in Event Detail Pages: Our goal is to continually make uploading content as streamlined as possible. We now made it easier to add extra content to your event detail pages by simply linking them to a list page and leaving parts of the event detail page blank. For example, let's say you have a performer with 5 shows on your calendar. By linking each of these 5 performances to a single list page with a detailed description and photo for that performer you can now have that content auto-populate to each of those 5 shows as well, saving you even more time!
• Clickable HTML Links in Rewards: Providing coupon codes for online coupons just got easier with the ability to include HTML links in your coupon/reward descriptions. Now you can link away to the site where the redemption will occur or just provide a link to provide more information on a specific sponsor or offer.
• Map Thumbnails on List & Schedule Pages: No matter what type of map you use, you can now show inset thumbnails on your schedule and list pages. One click on those maps will bring your user to the full map.
• Competitive Results Improvements: Improved competitive results display with breadcrumbs and ability to go back.
• Passwords on Surveys, Live Polls, Scavenger Hunts, Quizzes and Lessons: We added the ability to add a temporary or full-time password to your survey, form, live poll, scavenger hunt, quiz, or lesson to make testing easier or to restrict who can participate.
• Major Speed Upgrade: App reloads are up to 300% faster than previous versions which increases usefulness and guest satisfaction with the app.
• PDFs with Search: Many of our clients have libraries of pdfs that need better transparency. We added a search tool to our pdf viewer this year to make it easier to find what you need in a multi-page PDF.
• Scavenger Hunt Completion Survey/Form: We've made it easier than ever to collect information after scavenger hunt completion in order to unlock a reward. Now you can ask for the user's email address, name, or other info before unlocking the coupon, all in the native scavenger hunt setup and without taking them to a separate form or survey.
• Venmo Integration: You can now put a Venmo Tip button on list pages by adding the Venmo ID in the admin. The user will click on the link and be taken over to their Venmo app outside of your app to complete the payment or tip.
• List HTML: Already available in event listings and custom pages, now you can add basic HTML tags to your list descriptions on the list detail pages. Add header tags, list tags, bold and more to your descriptions. We didn't want the main list table page to feel left out either so we've added a new Max Lines feature for list subheaders to control how many lines of text will show up. This is controlled in your List Settings for each list.
• List & Schedule Default Image Control: Now you have full control over the default event and list images on both the main page and detail pages. You can edit those images in the Grandstand Admin in Fonts & Colors -> Events/Calendar & Fonts & Colors -> Lists.
• Photo Filters Reimagined: Photo Filters have been completely reimagined and allow you to create a single full-screen filter that locks the size and gives you much more control for your brand assets.

All of this amazing app content is driven by our easy-to-use admin tool that was made easier to use in 2022. Here are a few new features specific to Grandstand Admin:

• App Store Agreement Notifications: We've added enhanced tools to better communicate Apple App Store licensing agreements that need signed, Permissions that need changed, or Apple App Store Developer Accounts that need renewed.
• Upload Event Images: Adding images to your events just got easier with the ability to upload images directly to the Grandstand Admin. Previously you could add an image via an external url but now you can upload images direct.
• Design Snapshots: Whether you are using your app for multiple events or just want to switch your app between season and off-season mode, Design Snapshots give the ability to easily switch back and forth, never losing your hard work. Once you have wrapped up one event you simply take a snapshot before starting the next one. Then you can always toggle back and forth between snapshots with just one click! Available in App Packages 3, 4 and higher.
• GrowthZone Member Management Integration: Select packages can now integrate with data from GrowthZone, the membership management service, to pull in robust member data including locations, descriptions and more!
• List Filters Display Options: Lists now have two options for how filters should show up in the app, including a new vertical overlay list. This option and the existing horizontal scroller option are selectable in the list settings.
• Saffire Schedule Integration: Fairs and festivals that use Saffire for their schedule management can now have that data pulled into Grandstand, including event titles, dates, times, descriptions, images, links and more!
• List & Schedule Default Images: As part of the revamped app platform admin users can now customize the default images used on both lists, list detail pages, schedules, and schedule detail pages. All of these are controlled in the Fonts and Colors (Events/Calendar or Lists)
• Start & End Events After Midnight: Although we always had the ability to do manual overrides, you can now setup and manage your own events that start or end after midnight. For events that start after midnight you will select the next day (the actual day the event starts) and the system will automatically put it at the bottom of the previous day (for any events happening midnight to 3 a.m.). For event end times they can now be marked for any time after midnight.
• Batch Upload Handling of Special Characters: Admin users can now batch upload event descriptions that include special characters, including Spanish language characters.

This is just a small part of the enhancements Grandstand made in 2022 and we have even more on top for 2023!