Streamlining event management with a flexible CRM platform

Case Study

Property Developer Network: Streamlining Event Management with Ontraport

28k

new members

100+

events/year

1,000%↑

attendees

A group of people sitting in a room watching to a presentation

Company

Property Developer Network (PDN) is the largest networking group of its kind in Australia. It provides both novice and experienced property developers with resources, events and education to support their property development journeys.

publicAustralia

Industry

Services

Key features used

CRM
Custom Objects
CMS
Smart Pipelines
Email Automation

Introduction

Founded in 2012 around a kitchen table with just five friends, Property Developer Network (PDN) has grown to become the largest networking group of property developers in Australia.

By 2018, PDN had expanded to around 2,000 members and was hosting in-person and virtual networking events in Brisbane and Sydney. However, the organization relied on a patchwork of disjointed tools, which hindered growth and operational efficiency.

With ambitions to expand nationally, founder Rob Flux realized that PDN needed a more integrated solution to streamline event management, automate processes and support the organization's rapidly growing community.

With the help of Ontraport Certified Expert Shelly Cox, PDN implemented Ontraport. Since then, PDN has grown exponentially, with more than 30,000 members, running more than 100 in-person and virtual events annually across Australia.

Ontraport has been a huge game changer for Property Developer Network. Back in 2018 when we first joined Ontraport, we only had 2,000 members. Ontraport now powers our back-end operations, and we’re able to run over 100 events annually and engage our 30,000+ members more effectively than ever before. The platform is truly helping us reach new heights in our mission to set 1,000 people financially free by 2030.”

Rob Flux

Owner and Founder

The Challenges

Before partnering with Ontraport, PDN faced significant challenges that impeded growth and operational efficiency:

Manual Processes

PDN relied on manual systems for nearly every aspect of event management. They used Excel spreadsheets to track members, Meetup groups to promote events, and cash tins to collect payments at the door. This resulted in missed opportunities, operational inefficiencies and considerable stress for the small two-person team.

Disorganized Data

PDN used several unintegrated tools, with no central system for managing events, payments or contacts. This led to inconsistent event promotions, lost attendee data and missed payments. With no centralized database, PDN also struggled to personalize its marketing and analyze event performance.

Scaling Challenges

PDN aimed to expand its events to more cities across Australia, but its existing systems lacked the scalability and automation required to manage a national presence. The small team faced overwhelming workloads, making it difficult to meet the increasing demand from community members.

Hindered Communication

Capturing contact details from Facebook groups and Meetup events was nearly impossible, and PDN lacked an integrated email system to communicate effectively with its members. The absence of a centralized communication platform meant that timely and consistent event promotions were a challenge.

Lack of Centralized Brand Presence

PDN’s reliance on Meetup for event promotion caused fragmented branding and limited visibility. Its WordPress website wasn’t integrated with Meetup, meaning that new audiences often missed out on discovering PDN’s events. This fractured brand presence hindered their expansion efforts.

The Solution

To address these challenges and streamline operations, PDN implemented Ontraport as its central platform for event management, contact management and communications.

Centralized Technology

Ontraport replaced multiple tools and integrated PDN’s operations into a single platform. All contacts were imported into a centralized database, and multiple custom objects were set up to manage event promotions, registrations and payments. The comprehensive solution enabled PDN to automate processes, integrate data, and scale its operations nationally.

Automated Event Management

PDN now runs events in four cities every month, both in-person and virtually, as well as webinars and live Facebook sessions. Ontraport automates the entire event lifecycle, from promotions to registration and payment processing. Once an event is created, all necessary processes are handled automatically through complex automations and dynamic pages.

Key automated processes include:

Event promotions: Event pages and emails are dynamically updated based on event details.
Event registration and payment: A Stripe integration processes payments, with conditional logic determining whether a person needs to pay based on their membership status.
Event reminders and confirmations: Attendees receive automated confirmations and reminders based on their registration type (in-person or virtual).
Ticketing and attendance tracking: Attendees receive QR codes as their tickets, which can be scanned on the day of the event, automatically updating attendance records in Ontraport.

Personalized Event Experience

An image of a webpage to rsvp for an event

Ontraport’s Dynamic CMS enables personalized event pages, registration forms and thank-you pages that adapt to each attendee’s stage in their customer journey. Attendees see only relevant information and are presented with additional resources, such as free courses, based on their membership status. This personalized experience helps drive higher event attendance and deeper engagement with PDN’s education programs.

Integrated Payment System

The days of cash tins at the door are over. PDN integrated Stripe with Ontraport, allowing for seamless payment processing. Members can now register and pay for events through a single platform, whether they’re attending in-person or virtually. Attendees who qualify for free events based on their membership status are automatically recognized, eliminating manual checks and errors.

Speaker and Volunteer Management

An image of Ontraport's contact card view.

Ontraport also streamlined PDN’s internal processes, particularly around speaker and volunteer management. Speakers are managed through a lead stage system, tracking their progress from invitation to confirmation. Volunteers receive automated communications before each event, outlining their responsibilities and ensuring that they’re prepared for their role.

Post-Event Automation

An image of an automtion map in Ontraport

After each event, PDN uses Ontraport to send thank-you emails, promote future events and gather feedback from attendees, speakers and volunteers. This feedback is automatically recorded in the system, allowing PDN to analyze the performance of each event and improve future processes.

Results

Grown from 2,000 members to 30,000 members in 5 years with automated community outreach and event management

Saved thousands of hours in manual labor through streamlined event management and automated payments

Reduced payment errors and improved cash flow with a Stripe integration that eliminates manual payment processing

Higher event attendance rates and engagement thanks to timely automated emails and personalized event pages

Scale operations without hiring additional staff through a solid infrastructure and automated systems for payments and communication

Looking Ahead

Rob Flux, PDN Owner and Founder, has set an ambitious goal of helping 1,000 people achieve financial freedom through property development by 2030. With Ontraport’s automation and scalability, PDN is well on its way to achieving this goal.

As the community continues to grow, Ontraport will remain a central part of PDN’s strategy for delivering valuable educational programs and networking opportunities to property developers across Australia.