The Full Story
The University of Dundee is one of the top 200 universities globally for graduate employment and attracts thousands of undergraduate and postgraduate applicants each year. To showcase its courses and student experience, the university runs multiple open days annually, each involving dozens of individual sessions, tours and talks.
Before using Gecko, managing these events was a complex and time-consuming process. The team relied on Eventbrite for bookings and Excel exports for manual check-ins. While this worked for simple events, it quickly broke down when attendees needed to book multiple sessions within the same open day. “It took about two days to set up each event,” explains Rob, Deputy Head of Web Services and Product Owner. “We had to make sure visitors didn’t book sessions with timetable clashes or overbook rooms.”
Problems often surfaced only after bookings were made. When clashes were discovered, staff had to email attendees individually, and not everyone saw those messages. “We’d get people turning up with their parents asking why they’d been able to book two things at the same time,” Rob says. “It was a bad admin experience for us and a bad user experience for our guests.”
The team wanted a system that could handle complex session bookings and allow them to communicate quickly via text. Rob evaluated multiple options, creating a detailed requirements matrix to support procurement. “The only solution that fulfilled all of our criteria was Gecko,” he says.
To ease the transition, Gecko was first trialled on smaller open days for medicine and dentistry. The results were immediate. Automated check-ins were already happening when staff arrived on the day, and feedback on emails and texts helped the team refine their messaging. “Honestly, I couldn’t believe just how seamless and how simple it all was,” Rob says.
When it came to the university’s larger September open day, the difference was even clearer. Setting up more than 70 sessions and their capacities took around half a day. Since then, events have been cloned and adjusted as needed. “Now we can have an open day booking system up and running in less than an hour,” Rob explains. “From two days to 30 minutes is pretty decent.”
Gecko’s messaging tools have also played a key role in improving attendance. Attendees receive text reminders shortly before sessions they’ve booked, helping them stay on schedule during busy days on campus. This has significantly improved check-in rates. Where Eventbrite delivered around a 50% booking-to-check-in rate, Gecko has pushed this to over 80% on recent open days.
Gecko also supports the university’s international engagement. The international team runs around 20 webinars a month using Gecko templates that can be quickly cloned and adapted. These integrate directly with the university’s CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, allowing attendees to move seamlessly into ongoing communications after events.
By integrating smoothly with existing systems and offering a better experience for both staff and visitors, Gecko has transformed event management at Dundee. Open day bookings have increased by 220% compared to the previous year. As Rob sums up, “Nobody else replicates the UX for the end user the way Gecko does.”