How Fienta helped a digital marketing organizer save days of work

Priit Kallas is the founder and strategist behind Dreamgrow, one of Estonia's best-known digital marketing agencies. With a busy schedule and a long list of responsibilities, Priit is always looking for practical ways to save time.

That is why the marketer and endurance runner values tools that make everyday work more efficient, without cutting corners (as runners know all too well) and why he eventually chose Fienta.

One of Priit's best-known projects is Digital Elite Camp, an annual conference in Estonia that attracts attendees from around the world. Fienta plays an important role in making that event easier to run.

A challenging conference

"The place where we hold the event is Laulasmaa Spa, and the conference hall holds 167 people, so we can't sell more tickets than that." That makes the event highly sought after. "We bring top speakers in the field to Estonia. About 10% of attendees are from Estonia, and the rest come from Europe, Australia, the United States, and elsewhere."

The aim of the conference is to discuss the latest techniques in digital marketing. "It's all about conversion optimization, or getting people on your website to buy something. That's the core. My business partner, Peep Laja, has previously been voted the top CRO expert in the world. He speaks at other events and invites people while he's there. My side of the deal is organizing everything here, including accommodation and transportation."

The conference has grown steadily over the years. "We first did it in 2009. For the first three or four years, it was called Eliitlaager [the Estonian for Elite Camp - ed], and most of the speakers presented in Estonian, with three or four international speakers in English. After that, we switched to having everyone speak in English."

Filling all those seats has not always been easy, which is one reason Priit eventually started using Fienta. "There were a couple of years when we didn't get enough people in because we started organizing the event too late."

The answer to the problem

Priit also made sure the event gave delegates plenty of time to socialize and network. "Our event takes place at a beach resort in Laulasmaa, and the key is that people arrive, stay for three days, and don't leave. The great thing is that you have a captive audience, so if you want to talk to someone specific, you know they're there. The beach parties are great too, Estonian weather permitting."

As the conference grew, the organizational workload grew with it. "When we started doing it on a larger scale, I measured my time with Toggl [a popular time measurement application - ed]. The admin work alone, especially invoicing and ticketing, took me about 70 hours. Now, with Fienta, it's about one third of that time, which is a huge win for me."

"Previously, we used accounting software where I had to enter ticket details manually, work out taxes for different countries, and add each buyer to our own system. But when people buy through Fienta, it does that work for us. We have about 100 companies attending, and if you imagine saving even a few minutes on every entry, that adds up to hours I can spend on other tasks."

Convenience and ease of use

There are features in Fienta that Priit values especially. "All the payment options are there, including card payments and invoicing, which is very convenient. Before Fienta, we handled things more like an ecommerce site, with PayPal processing payments, and sometimes that became quite complex. Now, if I ever have an issue with Fienta, I know support will be there when I need it."

Priit has also thought about other ways he could use Fienta, including monetizing his favorite hobby after work. "Fienta is so easy to set up. I run a lot, and I realized I could offer running tours in Tallinn. I went onto Fienta, created a page just to try it out, and it took only a few minutes. With another application, it would have been too much hassle. When you organize an event, all the extra admin does not make your life better. If you can offload that to someone else, or to a tool like Fienta, you have more room to focus on making the event a success."

See how Fienta can help you save time on event organization, just like it did for Priit.