Let’s take a look at LinkedIn ‘s updated “events” application.
It’s a step up from the initial version and still requires a couple of tweeks.
The good
I took the opportunity to create an event for an upcoming seminar/workshop (local to Rochester – though you’re welcome to attend if you can make it;-).
It’s easy enough to use – and completely free.
People that plan to attend or are merely interested can respond accordingly. I wanted to have an idea about the attendance because the facility can only fit so many…
The event cannot be used to charge, so it’s good for getting an idea of interest, and promoting events, but not so good for advanced ticket sales.
And speaking of promoting – I can use this link: Attend the Nov 29th “LinkedIn for Job Seekers” workshop to tell people about it.
The bad
A nice feature of this makeover of events – you can search for events.
Unfortunately when you hit the little “next” button at the bottom of the search results, it doesn’t flip you to the top of the next page, it leaves you at the bottom. So you’ve got to scroll up to look, and then scroll back down to get to the next page – where it places you at the bottom (of course).
Hopefully they’ll work that bug out shortly.
I’d make some wisecrack about not having enough events to experience multiple pages in the search, but that would just be insulting;-)
And – I noticed that after I searched on one term, the site gave me a side menu to refine the search by location or industry – drop another plus in the good category.
The ugly
Well – that’s what it’s going to be if my event update doesn’t take hold…
It seems LinkedIn has added a calender and mapping feature. When you click on “add event to my calender” it downloads calendar data. Perhaps if I was an outlook user it would have worked, but hey – they’re trying.
The mapping feature may get me in trouble though.
When I created the event, I designated the location as a specific church on a specific road, but had left off the number. Well – the event page is now showing a nice map of the road and pointing somewhere else along it!
And here’s the process when I try to edit the event:
- Press “Edit”
- Change the address to include the number
- Press “Save Changes”
- This returns me to the event page – where the changes are not visible
- If I edit the event again, the change is not there
Soooo…. It appears that I am unable to edit the event… Not so good…
To help attendees, I added a comment about the actual address of the event, and hey – commenting on the event is also a positive change;-)
Almost
And that’s where I am on the events feature. It ought to be just fine when they roll out the dot-release fixes in the next few weeks.
By all means make use of it – but try to get it right the first time;-)
To your continued success,
steve
—
Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock