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SOCIALECO

SYSTEM

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sxc.hu/photo/624291, by: pr3vje

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TREND IMPLEMENTATION •• RONALD VAN DEN HOFF (CDEF HOLDING)

During the realization of our concept Seats2meet.com,

our focus was not to simply create a good product. Our

stakeholders – we thought – consciously or subcon-

sciously want an active role in co-creating a new product.

But if you do not have customers yet, and the product as

such has never seen before on the market, how to

proceed? Our goal was clear: a new service for the Dutch

market for organising meetings, that would fit in the

current era and also serve as a basis for future suc-

cesses. It all started in 2007 in a shopping mall in

Maarssenbroek. In all tranquillity we opened a pilot plant

there and invited a number of good customers to test our

formula for one year. Initially we mainly focused on the

physical, transactional part of the organisation. But

gradually we took the 'social' route. For me, that was

what it was really about. Of course, our basic philosophy

was in order: we were already a vision-driven organisa-

tion, where 'responsibility' and 'transparency' are

paramount. But that was still in the old world.

The search for new connections in this new world

together with all our stakeholders, was a challenge.

These connections now run through social media. We

THE

FUTURE ORGANISATION

NOWSeats2Meet is a conference centre that is set up

according to the principles of an Organisation 3.0. And that makes a profit that is three times as high

as that of conventional conference centres.

SEATS 2 MEET

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make full use of existing social software. With Mindz.com

we also have introduced our own software. We call it a

social ecosystem. Almost all of our social activities are

run through Mindz.com.

Cream of the CropIf we look at what Chris Anderson refers to as the 'long

tail' of the 'demand for conference space', we see that

most of the business is generated by major parties with a

high booking volume at our traditional meeting centre

Meeting Plaza Utrecht. We know their purchasing

departments and we make annual price and volume

arrangements with them. This gives a degree of revenue

certainty. That will be at the expense of price, because all

our fellow providers deal with the same segment of this

market. The bookers of these organisations are profes-

sional and knowledgeable. The whole process of doing

business is therefore very effi cient. And in line with the

20-80 rule: 20 percent of the Meeting Plaza customers

generate 80 percent of sales. The same goes for our

competitors.

In this fragmented market, we see more and more of my

beloved Independent Professionals (IP's). They book

conference chairs for themselves, but increasingly also

for third parties, including the larger conventional

players: the IP's receive an increasing number of

assignments from the 'old' segment. This increases the

number of bookers, but decreases the revenue per

booking and leads to a higher business risk. Uninteresting

business? Not at all; this is precisely the opportunity for

Seats2meet.com. With the new formula Seats2meet.com

and the social network Mindz.com we effectively focus on

the 'long tail' of conferences in the Dutch market.

All those small, individual bookers are connected to their

networks, which are in turn connected to other networks.

WORKING MEETING CONNECTING

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Many smaller customers by themselves generate a

fragmentary turnover. The overall value of these

small-volume customers, however, is enormous.

Our corporate story and our message is spread by our

business community. In Seats2meet.com people book

thousands of meeting rooms. And through Mindz.com

more than 60,000 IP’s generate positive buzz and

constantly book rooms. They give us their business,

because they also get a lot from us: a free workplaces,

free lunch and free collaboration software. 95 percent of

the site Seats2Meet consists of 'socially generated

information', information that the market finds more

reliable than information provided by a company itself.

That also is for free. So I can do more with less money. I

get more exposure and bookings with less effort. Our

'classic' profitability, according to a benchmark study, is

three times higher than that of traditional companies,

and then we aren’t even including the social capital.

Only three FTEs work at each Seats2Meet location, where

traditionally at least fifteen FTEs are needed. I no longer

check our communication efforts and content. This takes

some getting used to, but I don’t need to manage, drive,

train, administer, pay and meet with all those people any

more. We don't have sales, marketing, public relations or

reservations departments. We do not need printed

matter, brochures, information folders and such.

To each their own seatsThe number of Seats2Meet locations is also rapidly

increasing. In the spring of 2011, there are 'descendants'

in Lelystad, Eindhoven, Breda, Tilburg, Amersfoort,

Amsterdam, Utrecht and Maarssen. We provide inter-

ested entrepreneurs and businesses with knowledge,

both in digital form and in monthly test-ups. They are

more than welcome to train with us to experience

everything we do (and are free to freely to copy us!)

Our business advice is free. Of course, they themselves

invest in arranging their location. They can use our

Seats2meet.com software for free. Only when their S2M

operator earns money by renting chairs, will we modestly

share in the profits. Do not be surprised if within five

years, dozens of railway stations will have S2M sites. Or

the regional offices of Rabobank. Sometimes we copy

part of our formula. For 'flexible workspaces' and the

'new world of work' movement, for instance, which are

possible everywhere, as long as there's a chair, a desk

and an Internet connection. So for government buildings

we offer our Seats2share.com program officials can work

at any public location. For companies who like people

from the outside outsiders, affiliated with their company

or not, to work with them, we offer the Seats2work.com

formula. A lot of countries are interested, from Estonia,

Brazil, and India to China.

Grown by staying openUltimately, we are, to put it in an old fashioned way, an

SME-organisation with a business-to-business image. In

2010 we have70 FTEs and a turnover of more than eight

million euros. Our solvability is more than 40%, so even

in these times of crisis I can sleep well at night.

Our entire organisation is suffused with social media. We

are transparent and try to communicate personally with

all stakeholders. We think in terms of abundance, we give

a lot away and will continue to do so. We share all our

knowledge. We offer many newcomers, IP's, entrepre-

neurs, innovators and do-gooders a platform, both

physical and virtual. We learn every day. We believe in

sustainability. Our whole social media strategy has

become a kind of ecosystem in which its employees and

all other stakeholders fully participate.

In classical financial terminology this is an incredibly

cheap and very effective, but above all fun way of doing

business. Not just to do business with money, but above

all to do business with fun new people who have

boundless energy, creativity and the natural tendency to

'share'. The energy and innovation flow. Every day is a

party!

RONALD VAN DEN HOFF

www.cdefholding.nl

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INCREDIBLY CHEAP

AND VERY EFFECTIVE

DO BUSINESS WITH FUN NEW PEOPLE WHO HAVE BOUNDLESS ENERGY,

CREATIVITY AND THE NATURAL TENDENCY TO 'SHARE'. THE ENERGY AND INNOVATION

FLOW.

EVERY DAY IS A PARTY!

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