January’s Top News
RunSignUp Releases New Race Website Template: We kicked off 2018 by releasing our second template option for the thousands of races that take advantage of our free race websites. The new template option runs in parallel to the legacy template and races can select the template they prefer. Highlights of the new template include:
- Brand highlighting with the race logo in the upper left corner (we’ve removed the RunSignUp logo)
- Sticky SignUp and Donate buttons that remain visible as you scroll
- Horizontal menu to maximize page space
- Mobile design with auto-scaling of images
- Footer with “contact race link”, race logo, and the option to display sponsors
- Improved user design for setting your race theme and menu order
- Integrated social feeds
- A cool countdown clock
- Event highlight labels
Designed to Delight: Launching the new RunSignUp.com: It’s not just our race websites that are getting a facelift! We have released a new homepage and major content pages to keep up with modern website expectations and ensure that our website is intuitive for endurance industry professionals seeking tools and information. More updates will continue to roll out.
New Support Website Released: In addition to the new company website, our Help Portal (formerly the How-To section) has also been upgraded – today, it includes not only the How-To’s, but also Blog posts, Tutorials, FAQ’s, and webinars in a single website. The design is streamlined and easy to navigate, and the page allows you to create support tickets directly on the support page (instead of a second step of emailing us).
Coming up in February 2018: RaceTrends Report
We’ll be releasing our 2017 RaceTrends Report at the Running USA Industry Conference February 11-13! This year’s report aggregates the data from our system from 2015-2017 to provide a snapshot of the endurance industry and shed light on the trends you should look out for.
If you’re attending Running USA, catch RunSignUp Founder Bob Bickel share key findings from the RaceTrends Report during the Innovation Showcase at 4:30pm on Sunday, February 11, or stop by booth #306 anytime to learn more!
Race Director Resources
RaceInsights – Donation and Registration $$: RaceInsights now allows you to see the specific amount of money coming from registrations and donations. By viewing the source table, you can find the sources (and specific websites or emails) that correlate to your registration dollars and donation dollars.
RunSignUp and eventbaxx Announce Partnership: We are partnering witheventbaxx, the leader in digital race bags, to make it simple and efficient for races to distribute eventbaxx race bags. Races using both platforms can easily sync participants via the RunSignUp Open API; the technical integration is available immediately to RunSignUp customers on the Technology Partner section of their race dashboard. If you’re interested in eventbaxx, CEO Marc Grewenig, wrote a guest blog detailing the philosophy behind eventbaxx and how you can use the technology to monetize your event, reach more people, and create a more sustainable event.
More Race Director News
Volunteer Email Tags
Saving Taps
UX Update: The Race Title Tile
Industry Info
Why RunSignUp Asks for Payment Account Information: Fraud is another concern testing the longevity of registration providers. As a Payment Facilitator, we have a responsibility to the banking industry, the credit card networks, and all our customers to ensure that our platform is not used for fraud. We know it can be frustrating to complete additional steps before your race can collect funds, but the information we gather protects both runners and us financially – which, in turn, ensures our future ability to manage your registration.
Timer Talk
- The Race Director 2018 enhancements
- An introduction to RaceDay Scoring – the next generation of The Race Director
- Timer submitted topics and Q&A
To register for the User Conference or find more information, visit: https://runsignup.com/theracedirector
Partner Results Widget Update: We updated our Results Widget with the option to add a custom button at the bottom with a link. This is useful for timers who are moving to RunSignUp, but have legacy results on another website (or maintain a separate website with additional results).
RaceJoy Raves
Share Your Interactive Course Maps: Races offering RunSignUp’s RaceJoy mobile tracking and cheer sending can now publicly share their official course map built in RaceJoy right on their race website. Race organizers can post their official map on websites and through emails and social media sites. What makes the map tool unique is that it is responsive – participants can view the course from different perspectives, zoom in and out, or toggle between satellite view, map view, or Google street view. Additionally, the race can include pop up markers to promote key locations, local sponsor and entertainment, aid stations, and more.
Fundraising Corner
Auto-Import Past Year Fundraiser Contacts: As part of our CRM updates, we now automatically import past year’s contact information that fundraisers may have imported or gathered from donations in previous years. This makes it simpler for fundraisers to contact people to ask for support in subsequent years.
Fundraiser Email Updates: Fundraisers have more flexibility with emails they send from our system, with the ability to select specific contacts on their fundraising list. Additionally, fundraisers can now save their email drafts and return to them in the future.
RunSignUp News
RunSignUp Converts to an S Corporation: Effective January 1, 2018, we have converted our entity type from a Limited Liability Company to an S Corporation. This conversion is due to the continued success for thecompany, and does not have any impact on our operations or contracts with suppliers and customers. There are two major motivations for this transition:
- It provides a mechanism to allow the company to grant stock options, fulfilling our Guiding Principles by giving credit to the entire team for creating our company.
- Having shares will allow RunSignUp to have more flexibility to acquire companies as smaller vendors look for exit strategies for their businesses.
Sports Backers Transitions to RunSignUp: Sports Backers made the transition to RunSignUp’s event management platform in 2018 to provide seamless registration to participants across its outdoor fitness events, better engage the Richmond community, and manage event day operations. “RunSignUp automates many of the manual processes that we previously did for our events. We are eager to focus our time on event innovation to achieve our mission of inspiring a more active Richmond community, and ensuring that our participants have the best race day experience possible,” said Scott Schricker, Director of Marketing for Sports Backers.
API Integration Quick Start: If you are a developer looking to integrate with the RunSignUp API, check out this quick start overview on working with the API.
Help Wanted – Development Interns: We are hiring two interns for our software development team for the summer of 2018 – one in our Moorestown, NJ office (Philadelphia suburb) and one in Orlando, FL.
Stay current with all our news, updates, and best practices on Facebookand our Blog.
May all your races run well!
– The RunSignUp Team
The RunSignUp Monthly Newsletter helps Race Directors, Timers, Running Stores, and Club Officers understand how to use online registration to improve their races and running clubs. We also provide updates on our registration service, RunSignUp. This service provides race management tools, race check-in, kiosks, results, running club memberships, and more.
