How ShoSoft streamlined event planning for a Kentucky nonprofit

At a Glance

Organization: The Center for Rural Development | Somerset, Kentucky

Type: Nonprofit organization

Use case: Event scheduling, venue management, team coordination, reporting

Previous tools: Paper binders

Key result: 5 hours saved per month; single source of truth for all events and spaces

Overview

Since 1996, The Center for Rural Development has been on a mission to stimulate innovative and sustainable rural development in Southern and Eastern Kentucky. The nonprofit organizes dozens of monthly events at its state-of-the-art facility in Somerset, Kentucky. 

Each year, The Center grows its event programming and impact, but it needed a tool to grow with it. The challenge was finding a solution that would be easy for their team to adopt and integrate into their existing operations. 

The Challenge

Every week, The Center’s facility — a 90,000 sqft building with over 35,000 sqft of event space — hosts a combination of social, educational, cultural, and professional events that regularly draw hundreds of attendees. Considering the growing frequency and complexity of its event programming, The Center felt it needed a more robust software package. 

“We relied on internal processes and documents to make our event network, which made collaboration and quick access challenging.,” says Jim Vanthournout, The Center’s Director of Workforce Training. 

With these analog systems, there was no transparency in the event calendar — it was hard to know which rooms in the facility were booked, creating inefficiencies with scheduling spaces. 

The team needed to increase visibility. So, Vanthournout led the charge in finding a solution. He knew that transitioning from entrenched analog systems to a tech platform would be a big learning curve for his team, so he looked for something that was easy to use, simple, and low risk. 

“We needed something that was basic and straight-forward. Something that I didn’t need IT support to implement. I didn’t want to have to load up an entire, complicated software system.” 

The Solution

When Vanthournout began the search for a new software, a team member brought ShoSoft to his attention. ShoSoft’s robust feature set especially its event calendar and inventory management capabilities were exactly what The Center needed. Even better was that it was free to start. 

“I thought, if it meets our minimal needs it’s a win, we’ll adopt it. If not, there’s no investment, so worst-case scenario, we’ll start over,” said Vanthournout. ShoSoft met their “minimal needs” and more. 

Over the course of eight months, Vanthournout thoughtfully transitioned his team from papers and binders to ShoSoft. Using ShoSoft’s centralized calendar has transformed their operations: now, multiple people can see space availability in real-time, helping them schedule and rent their venue more efficiently.  

Vanthournout has started using some of ShoSoft’s more complex features to continue to reduce and streamline his team’s workload. Like the calendar, ShoSoft’s reporting feature has allowed him to remove a manual process and generate cleaner, automated reports.

Vanthournout reached out to ShoSoft’s team to offer feedback on this feature; his suggestions have now been integrated into the software. 

The Results

One year into using ShoSoft, Vanthournout estimates the platform saves his team, at minimum, five hours per month. But equally important, using the simple, intuitive software has also saved them dozens of headaches.

Ultimately, Vanthournout says ShoSoft has delivered on exactly what it promised: it’s helped The Center transition from outdated, manual systems to accessible, modern processes without an IT or investment burden.  

And best of all, using ShoSoft has freed up The Center’s team to focus on what matters to them most: designing meaningful, delightful events and programs that foster sustainable rural development throughout the region.  

Laura Glover, Managing Director of Convention & Facility Services added, “I have loved the professionalism and intrinsic value that ShoSoft has provided. They made it a point to understand our functions and customized their product to our needs. They have provided great customer response, and I recommend their services and quality without hesitation.”

Ready to transform your venue like The Center? Schedule a demo with our team today.

Image credit: The Center for Rural Development