Stova.io

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Overall, a good experience.

Overall, a good experience. The interface looks modern – I believe it got an update recently. Aventri is a reliable tool. Large companies use it, so they must have checked it out carefully when picking an event management system. I also looked at others like Cvent, Eventbrite, and so on. It’s definitely much more capable than simpler and cheaper platforms like Wix or Constant Contact. It's mostly aimed at bigger events that need some complex planning. Organizing conferences, trade shows, summits, etc. Anything with over 70 people with different types of attendees, it’s got more value. But it can still work for smaller events, like lunches or dinners with less than 50 people. It’s a really good RSVP system for tracking different attendees, their needs, and their choices. It has good features for sending out invitations or messages to specific groups. The hardest part will be setting it up, entering all the data, and getting your team trained properly to use it right.

Stova is a well considered out of the box solution

Stova is a well considered out of the box solution to make and keep professional meeting registration websites. Stova Knowledge Base has endless resources with precise short video to answer any question. The platform is always growing with the community’s requets.

The software has been really good during

The software has been really good during the pandemic for managing online events; it has also helped us organize physical events smoothly too.

Game changer for our organization's

Game changer for our organization's events and made the user's experience much better! This has made hosting events for our organization much more interactive.

Company really changed our events

Company really changed our events, making user experience better! It's improved how we host events, more interactive now.

Damn

Pros Lots of flexibilit; a lot of great people to work with. Cons Where to even begin...... Problems with this company actually began just before COVID hit with an incompetent, inexperienced new CEO who had zero industry experience (for Aventri, which was formerly Etouches). Fast forward a couple of years, MeetingPlay, Aventri and EventCore were merged (courtesy of a new vc) about 2 years ago. To say the merger has been a disaster is an understatement. First, the three companies all used different platforms and apps for internal use. There was no forethought given to how those would be dealt with - and it's still going on today. Second, an executive team (starting with the CEO) that came together had ZERO INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE! Like the previous CEO, friends were brought in who "had success elsewhere" who brought chaos to almost every department across the company. They are arrogant and completely out of touch with what's going on with the company. They refuse to listen to all the people with _actual_ experience in the events industry. The CEO even had the nerve to go on a 3-week European vacation last year while there were ample signs of trouble. Then, the new company needed a name. They came up with "Stova.io." What does that even mean?? Well, it's made up. The feedback from employees was 100% NEGATIVE. Here's the kicker: No one bothered to research the name for more than a few minutes, finding out, too late, that a S. Korean company had the same name and owned the stova.com domain and wouldn't sell it. Who uses .io?? NO ONE! Nothing about the name indicates we're an event software company. The name sounds like an appliance company. Major, major blunder. In an absurd move to reduce costs, they decided to bring in dozens of DevOps consultants/programmers, who had no history with our platform or company - and they were in unworkable timezones (Belarus, Mexico City, etc). Most of the people who had worked on the platform for years are all gone. The chaos and delays that has caused is immeasurable. And I've lost count of how many disasters we've had during major events the past year, with systems going down for hours. Our customers are fuming. Sensing danger, the company sent out an employee engagement survey early this year. Employees were pestered to take time to fill it out. More than 6 months later, not a single thing has been addressed. Why? Another leadership failure. Things have gotten progressively worse across the board, especially this past year. Everyone is over-worked, over-scheduled, frustrated, defeated, angry and burned out. Read prior reviews why. EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB. To top it all off, we let go somewhere between 50-60 employees (most of them older and higher-salaried...hmmmm) in late July. Employees who were with us longer got a whole _two weeks' severance_ and no health insurance or other typical severance benefits. But, it didn't stop there. We had an all-hands meeting later that day that did not go well. It lasted 3 hours, 2 hours longer than our normal (and useless) monthly all-hands meetings. The CEO was crying (literally) about how he has failed the company (no kidding) and was not taking a salary for the rest of the year (boo hoo). C-level execs were taking a 50% pay cut. Next, we're no longer getting 401k matching. That last one was the final straw for everyone, as these are all maaaaajor warning signs that the company is financially sinking. During the Q&A, people showed they had had enough and did not hold back going after the leadership team, demanding answers that we'd never get. Everyone wants answers as to why we have all been ignored the past two years when we're the ones with the background and actual experience in this business. They refused to listen when we've been begging for help for so long. Oh, I also forgot to mention that those who have equity in the company, going back to pre-merger times have been left with options that are, literally, worthless. Am I done? Nope. One of the co-CEO's of MeetingPlay (one of the 3 merged companies) resigned at the end of July, fed up with how the new company was being run. Right now, there is a hiring freeze at Stova. However, if jobs do open up, you'd be wise to stay far away, as most of us think we'll be bankrupt by December. COVID times aside, it's stunning how quickly we all went from booming times to staring at an abyss. So much that was built over the past 15 or so years has been ruined. Advice to Management Resign. Immediately. You've all proven you're not up for your jobs. Although, it may be too late to save the company.