Stanza v2.0
New Year, New Beginnings
👆Watch the video first for a live demo of the latest features and what’s next.
New Year, New Product
We spent the better part of 2023 reimagining the product as one that gives creators like you better, faster and simpler tools to create, manage and share your calendar. We’ve also redesigned the experience for the 6M+ fans who are actively subscribed to calendars. Keep reading to see what’s changed and how your account may be impacted.
Calendar Migration
Automated calendars: If you were previously using an automated calendar, i.e. powered via API or scraper, you’re all set as those calendars were automatically migrated over. We will continue to use the original source.
Manually maintained calendars: We’ve replaced the old dashboard with an easy import of a calendar from your calendar of choice.
You can add or edit events in your calendar app and all changes will automatically reflect on your Stanza page. You can also update images & for each event to match your branding. Check out the video above for best practices.
➡️ Ask: Please email us at founders@stanza.co if you’d like to update an existing calendar’s link.
New Features
Edit images for calendar events: Upload your calendar avatar and / or event images to make the calendar match your branding.
Good example here would be: NBA Knicks
Adding individual events: Much requested feature from both creators and fans where instead of subscribing to the entire schedule, fans can download individual events. This feature is automatically available for all calendars.
Good example here would be: Chase Center
Collect fan contacts on demand: We’ve previously offered this feature as part of an annual contract to creators. However, we’ve learned that this feature only makes sense at key points during the year (for ex: schedule release or playoffs).
Now you can turn this feature on and off as you’d like and pay as you go vs. an annual contract.
Fan-First Features
As we had conversations with fans during the rebuild period, we prioritized these features:
Adding calendars to groups: Fans wanted a solution for calendar clutter and groups hit the bill. Think of groups as playlists and calendars as songs. Fans can now add calendars to a group (for ex: Sports) to collect calendars into one calendar to add to their device.
My events: To reduce calendar clutter even further, fans can choose to subscribe to calendars and view them only on Stanza. This still incentivizes them to add the schedule and gives creators another opportunity to be top-of-mind for fans as they’re considering how to spend their time.
AI powered search, discovery and support: Search was by far our most popular feature in the old product. We reimagined it from scratch to go beyond simple searches like “Warriors schedule” to more discovery-oriented queries like “What to do in Tampa this weekend” or “Find me shows like Law and Order” or “Find me other shows like Bruce Springsteen in SF this weekend”.
Check out search here: stanzacal.com/search
Asks from You
Take the new platform for a spin:
Login into your account: If you can’t log into your account, please fill out this form with the email you’d like to use. We’ll update it on our end.
Try importing a manual calendar: Ideas can be around community events, ticket sale dates, etc.
Double check your subscriber count: We’ve migrated over all subscribers but if you’re still seeing a discrepancy, please fill out this form.
Play around with search, discovery, support: Make sure that your calendar is showing up first and there are no duplicates that need to be removed. If there are duplicates you’d like removed, please email founders@stanza.co
What to expect in 2024
So much new stuff - keep an eye out for monthly email updates from us with the latest.
Here’s a high-level overview of what’s on the horizon:
Reviews: Fans can review your calendar and give you suggestions for the other types of events they’re interested in seeing.
Event pages: Every event will have a page - similar to a Facebook Events or Eventbrite page with more information on the event. You will be able to share event pages directly (vs the entire calendar) and again, fans will be able to add just a single event.
RSVPs: Fans can RSVP to events and you can directly text those fans attending with event updates as they come up.
Search and Discovery for events: We’ll be expanding search to include individual events (vs. just calendars) and include ticketing, shop links, etc. within search listings to make it that much easier for fans to spend $ with you.
Tipping and Donations: Fans can donate or tip a calendar creator - this has been an ask from more indie creators as well as from creators / teams who have charitable organizations that they want to promote.
Stanza app: An easier way for fans and creators to be able to view & manage their calendars.
That’s it for this month’s update. If you have any feedback or ideas for other features to build, please email us at founders@stanza.co 🙌