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Chicago Greeter Web App Matches Visitors with Volunteers for City Exploration

Mightybytes’ new web application for Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture streamlines process for matching visitors with local volunteers to encourage city exploration.

New process significantly reduces workflow and volunteer response times and offers improved convenience.

(CHICAGO) March 7, 2012 –  Mightybytes’ new web application streamlines the process for booking visits on Chicago Greeter, a free service provided by the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture (COTC). The site allows visitors to explore the city by matching them with friendly and insightful local volunteers who know the area. These visits can be customized to a specific neighborhood, language, or special interest and can vary from historic landmarks to unique shops and places to dine.
The existing website was friendly, but cumbersome because it used an outdated data tool in tandem with emails and faxes to match visitors and volunteers. After researching user demographics, Mightybytes streamlined and refocused the site around all three sets of users and developed an intuitive three-phased web application for COTC staff, volunteers, and Chicago visitors. 

The resulting site accomplishes several tasks:

  • Establishes Chicago Greeter as a helpful resource for visitors to connect with city volunteers who are knowledgeable and excited about their favorite local destinations.
  • Provides an easy tool for volunteers to manage bookings.
  • Helps Greeter staff service volunteers and visitors with a more fluid and professional flow of information.

In order to help the Chicago Greeter team make site updates and more efficiently manage data, Mightybytes focused on streamlining workflow steps across all parts of the booking and administration process and then created simple interfaces to support each step in that process.

”Usability was the most important factor in redesigning interfaces for Chicago Greeter,” Mightybytes Art Director Joy Burke said. “Our lightweight design paired well with a strong visual hierarchy and easy-to-understand workflows to achieve a very user-friendly system.”

Users of the site agree, noting that the site is not only intuitive but also saves time as well.

“Because of the improvements that Mightybytes implemented, our workflow time has been significantly reduced and our volunteers are responding to visitor requests far more quickly than ever before,” said Katie Law, Manager, Chicago Greeter. “It is so convenient to be able to access our database from any computer—even from a mobile phone.”

The site’s creators see where a solution like Chicago Greeter could be applied to many different scenarios both in and out of the travel and tourism industry.

“Chicago Greeter is great for those travelers who are looking for recommendations or historical background from people who know their neighborhood best,” said Mightybytes owner Tim Frick. “The product could also be easily extended to other cities or to organizations interested in matching up volunteers with those who need services.”

The Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture markets Chicago as a premier cultural destination to domestic and international leisure travelers; provides innovative visitor programs and services; and familiarizes visitors and residents with the city’s vibrant neighborhoods, cultural attractions and creative industries. The Chicago visitor industry serves 40 million visitors annually, generates $11 billion in direct spending and $616 million in taxes, and sustains 124,000 jobs. For more information, visit www.ExploreChicago.org.

Mightybytes is a triple bottom line-friendly creative firm that executes design-driven marketing communications and online interactive solutions. The company employs smart design and clever storytelling as the underlying forces that drive its process while its technical expertise cuts across media formats and platforms to set it apart. Mightybytes works primarily with cause-driven clients, helping them prosper, grow, and achieve measurable business results. For more information, visit www.mightybytes.com.

For more info, check out the Chicago Greeter entry in our portfolio:
View the Project

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Mightybytes Projects Earn 2011 Hermes Creative Awards

Statues are nice. We like statues. Especially shiny ones that are molded like the winged messenger god Hermes with his fist in the air.

Recently, Mightybytes earned two 2011 Hermes Creative Awards and an honorable mention, so we’ll have a chance to add some more shiny, fist-pumping icons to our awards shelf.

Based on the evaluation of the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals judges, three of our projects received the following awards (in order of highest to lowest):

The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing, and design of traditional and emerging media. The competition recognizes outstanding work in the industry while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communications professionals.

We are very proud of the hard work our crew has accomplished to receive these awards.

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Workshop: Using Social Media to Build Awareness

Tim will present a workshop at Community Media Workshop’s Making Media Connections Conference on June 8th in downtown Chicago. This session will cover the topic of using social media to build awareness and measure results.

The afternoon session will help you put the vast array of available social tools to work for your business or organization through content strategy, implementation, and measurement of results. Participants will walk away with a blueprint for generating a stronger brand identity and building community through social interaction, engagement, and strong content.

Tim will cover topics such as:

The workshop will also showcase real-world examples and lessons learned from various social media campaigns covered in Tim’s latest book Return on Engagement: Content, Strategy and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing.

For examples of tips and techniques that Tim will cover in this workshop, check out two of his posts on Business Insider:

UPDATE: You can download a PDF of the presentation used during this workshop at the link below:

Download MMC2011 Presentation (2.2 MB PDF file)

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Help us Help the Environment!

Team Mightybytes is working hard to fight climate change, but this team needs your help!

Joy, Tim and Steve are in heavy training/fundraising mode while counting the days down to mid-May’s NYC to DC Climate Ride. We can put the training miles behind us for this 300+ mile ride that benefits nine different environmental organizations, but our team has a fundraising goal of nearly $7,000.00 and the ride is just around the corner.

Think you can help us raise this cash?

Any donation, large or small, is greatly appreciated and will help fund the work of the following organizations:

Donate to our Ride!

Why We’re Riding

Tim’s Ride

“The Climate Ride experience is exhilarating and inspiring. You get to push your own physical limits while meeting 100+ other like-minded riders who bring their own unique stories to share. The group is small enough that you really get to know fellow riders, unlike some of the larger rides I’ve done. Plus, with nightly presentations, film screenings, and discussion panels, the opportunity to learn about sustainability and the things we each can do to help the environment is constant and ongoing throughout the ride. Of course, most importantly, you ride to benefit these nine great organizations, each of which has a unique environmental-related mission.”

Joy’s Ride

“With encouragement from Tim, who rode in the California Climate Ride last Fall, I decided to put myself to the test for this upcoming NYC to DC ride. I knew it would present several challenges for me, such as preparing myself physically and raising the required funds in time, but I always love the opportunity to rise and meet a good challenge. After researching the ride a bit more and learning about all the ways the money we raise goes towards funding the designated sustainable and eco-minded organizations, I realized this would be the perfect way to do my part to help our planet. Here’s to a brighter future for our beloved Earth!”

Steve’s Ride

“When Tim first told me about Climate Ride, I have to admit I was pretty hesitant. I wasn’t in that good of shape to do something like this, nor have I ever done a long distance bike ride before. But the more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded. I made the decision to do the Climate Ride as a personal test to myself, but I also view it as an opportunity to get to know my (fairly new) co-workers. I lived in an environmentally-conscious town (Athens, OH) for the past four years before moving to Chicago, so striving to find ways to support the environment is important to me. I’m excited to meet other cyclists and those who share the same interests, and I’m looking forward to learning a lot about myself (physically, mentally) while learning more about my fellow teammates (Tim, Joy). 300 miles? Bring it on!”

Please consider donating to our ride and sharing this page with your friends. We need all the help we can get and truly appreciate it! Thank you.

Donate to our Ride!

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Presentation: Engage Your Community at Catalyst Ranch March 16

What’s better than an uber-creative space for an early spring brainstorming session?

Tim Frick’s fun and creative approach to marketing your business or organization in a way that truly engages customers is the perfect fit for Catalyst Ranch’s unique environment. Tim will cover digital marketing techniques from his book, Return on Engagement, on March 16th at Catalyst Ranch, one of Chicago’s most unique meeting and event locations for brainstorming and innovation.

Founded by Eva Niewiadomski, Catalyst Ranch is a stimulating, colorful meeting space where the word “Catalyst” is not just their name, but a way of seeing the world. Tim’s presentation will feature tips and best practices for getting a return on engagement through your website, blog, content, design, social media, email marketing and mobile business efforts.

Take a virtual tour of Catalyst Ranch.

See details to register for this event.

Cost

$15 or provide two children’s books that will later be donated to Open Books

Date

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Time

6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Place

Catalyst Ranch (Chicago)
56 W. Randolph, Suite 3W
Chicago, IL 60661
(312) 207-1710

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