From a happy childhood in a remote pocket of South Australia, to working in Melbourne’s urban jungle, Anneliese Urquhart has experienced diverse communities.
During years of travelling and moving for work, the 31-year-old social entrepreneur often found herself looking for events in the areas she was visiting. Recently she launched an innovative website – www.jedo.me – to cater to this need, and connect communities around Australia.
Free and easy to use, Jedo is a second-generation events sharing platform that helps people find, share and host events. Members are notified when events are on that fit their interests, and can see at a glance what’s going on in the upcoming week for their local area. Jedo helps them organise outings with friends, and buy tickets for events they discover.
Urquhart explains that with Jedo, “as I plan my weekend with my family, I see quickly all of the events that are on near me. I can check out any of the hundreds of free events happening each week for me to do with the kids, buy cheap last-minute tickets, or find something especially for me, like a book club…”
Jedo allows the members to create and promote their own events too, and social media integration makes it easy for everyone to share what’s happening with their friends.
Already some of Adelaide’s major event holders and organisers like the Thebarton Theatre and Holden Street Theatres, and ticketing outlet VenueTix, have media-rich event listings on the site and find that Jedo gets them seen more often across social networks like Facebook. Other hosts, including Conservation Volunteers Australia and The Shaper Group, promote events that reflect the site’s social conscience.
“This is about fostering connectivity: we help people connect with their local communities and the communities of people that share common interests,” Urquart says.
Jedo was launched in Melbourne in September 2011 with backing of Nick Reade, General Manager, Small Business Banking at ANZ Bank, who saw the pitch in an angel investment network. “I see a lot of businesses and new start ups in my role, but Jedo really appealed to me. It is simple but very innovative with smart people behind it. I wanted to get involved,” he said.
The online community has its own mind; after being launched in Melbourne in late October, Jedo sprung up in Adelaide when South Australians began signing up and posting events, and events are now appearing for Queensland and Sydney.
The site also provides some community benefits, because all of it’s promotional tools and services are completely free for events that are free to attend. “For us to be successful, we need to have a positive impact”, Urquhart says.
Keep up to date with what’s happening in Adelaide with Jedo.
Go to www.jedo.me today and sign up. It’s easy!
You can also keep up to date with Jedo on Facebook
and follow @Jedo_Me on Twitter.
