Local business Salt + Tonic pushing event technology to new levels at the Crankworx Rotorua festival

Rotorua-based software company Deliver - Tech Made Possible have built a custom app to make the event experience smoother for all on-site at Crankworx Rotorua – a major mountain biking event that brings people from all over New Zealand and the world to Rotorua each year. As well as showcasing Rotorua as a world-class mountain biking destination, Crankworx also provides opportunities for our local, up-and-coming riders within New Zealand.

Managing a major live sporting event like Crankworx presents some unique challenges – all part of the fun for the Salt + Tonic team, according to Directors Josh Dillner and Matt Browning. Both avid mountain-bikers, the partnership has been a blast for the team, who enjoy pushing technology to the limits to solve problems.

Josh moved to Rotorua 6 years ago and loves the lifestyle, and the mountain bike trails which he races around with his 3-year-old. Matt moved to Rotorua 10 years ago after his OE in Canada, and gets out on the trails whenever he can – before work and on weekends.?

Salt + Tonic have worked with Crankworx since 2019 to create event management software, an app, and scannable wristbands to improve the on-site experience for staff, volunteers, athletes, media, and festivalgoers.

For Josh and Matt, being part of the innovation process for Crankworx is a dream, as they look to tackle the challenges of this fast-paced event, developing new technology to make things smoother and easier.

Josh explains: “The app we’ve developed for Crankworx allows the organisers to schedule all events with the ability to change times on the fly, due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather. It also allows spectators to build a personalised schedule of what is relevant to them, with the ability to “favourite” the events they don’t want to miss.”

Matt continues: “The app is customised based on the user’s role, which means spectators, volunteers, and event staff can all access a single app and get the information most relevant to them. Notifications are sent out via user groups, meaning relevant information can be sent out to all involved instantly, which is key for a large sporting event like Crankworx to run smoothly, where athlete updates and schedule changes are a common occurrence.”

The Crankworx Rotorua festival staff have seen huge benefits over the four years they’ve been building out the functionality with Salt + Tonic. One key innovation has been the introduction of festival wristbands. Through near-field communication (NFC), festival wristbands give each person the right permissions to enter certain event zones, like the media centre and VIP area, all with the beep of a scanner. They make the on-site experience easy for all involved, not to mention being a sweet souvenir.

Josh explains: “The scanning companion app allows a user's digital profile or pass to be loaded onto a beautifully branded wristband. This wristband can then be scanned at each gate, showing gate staff profile details, accreditation levels, and whether health and safety information has been completed. This fits right in with Crankworx’ sustainability and environmental ethos, reducing the number of passes and supporting documents that need to be printed.”

At Crankworx Rotorua 2022, real-time live stats will be introduced, allowing the event's organisers to see how busy each zone is in real time, which will be useful for transportation, event planning, and health and safety. Salt + Tonic will be on-site to monitor the technology and make adjustments as needed.

Aiyana Grigsby, Event Manager at Crankworx Rotorua, says “The custom software Salt + Tonic has built for our festival has helped us improve security around our event site, streamline accreditation, and have systems customised to meet our needs and goals on-site. The wristbands are loaded with attendee information which “talk” to our software allowing us to confirm the individual is in fact the correct individual checking in, and that they’ve completed all required Health & Safety documentation giving us confidence that they are allowed to enter the event site. This was extremely useful to have last year during the Delta outbreak in NZ! We had data we could look back on to see who had been onsite each day. The volunteer software they’ve developed over the past four Crankworx Rotorua festivals allows volunteers to self-schedule shifts, which gives our volunteers better flexibility to pick and choose what they sign up for while cutting down admin time for our Volunteer Manager.”

For more on Salt + Tonic, visit saltandtonic.co.nz

For more information on Crankworx Rotorua, landing 5-13 November 2022, visit Crankworx.com/festival/rotorua