Where it all began

Conferli is not another overhyped digital startup platform conquering the world. Conferli was created due to the strong belief that there is a way to make the life of an association event planner much easier.

Back in the days, we heard a lot of complaints from especially the smaller associations that the tender process of their conferences was very complex and long lasting. They didn’t have the internal capacity to take care of it as they wished and they also were not approached pro-actively by venues or destinations because their conferences were ‘too small’. Furthermore, the local hosts for their conferences were drying up. On the other hand, convention bureaus and venues were also not targeting the smaller conference (less than 400 delegates) so there was a gap.

The idea

As every startup the idea started big, but we needed to size it down to make a tangible platform that works. We sat together with stakeholder groups and the idea of Conferli was born, an easy-to-use platform that matches associations with destinations and venues, which makes the tender process way more efficient and comparable. The platform makes it possible to benchmark all relevant data against each other and easily present it, invite local hosts, or directly book it. After we had the idea worked out the development phase came. And after that……………… it became a bumpy road 😊

Starting up during a pandemic

We had prepared quite a lot of business scenarios but we never expected to launch in the middle of a world-wide pandemic where getting together at conferences was simply no longer allowed. This for sure asked a lot from our entrepreneurial mindset as well as from the flexibility of the system. Now, 2 years later, we can say that we are proud that we are becoming more and more found by associations, that we are inspiring them with new destinations and helping them in their RFP/ tender process.

We dare to say that we are bringing back the fun of conference planning and due to the platform doing the work for you, you have time for other things.

The Inventor

My name is Nienke, just turned 40 and luckily I didn’t suffer from that. I lived and worked abroad for a long time, always with a strong link to the conference and association industry. But now I am back in my home country, happy living in the woods of Zeist with my family and dog. Besides being the founder of Conferli I am a proud mother of a 7 year old daughter. Which is a great assets because she can be more demanding than any of our clients 😊. I am a passionate reader, and most probably one of the few people that does not have a Netflix account. However since Covid-19 I discovered podcasts and if binge-listening is a word, it surely relates to me. I am a true mountain lover, which is quite hard if you live in The Netherlands, but during our holidays we try to go to the mountains. Running a startup ask a lot of my flexibility but every day I am feeling that I really contribute to the industry and we are truly helping people to make their work life easier and that keeps me smiling!

The Creator of Opportunities

My name is Bregje and I am the youngster in this company. I am living in Zeist with my husband and 3 young kids. My life is always hectic, a bit chaotic, but full of new adventures. I love to cook, I love to eat it even more and a having a good conversation is my favorite of all! Although I always worked in the hotel industry my perfect vacation is going camping with my folding trailer (like a real Dutchie). To spend time on my health I enjoy playing tennis with my neighborhood friends.

During my career, selling meeting rooms to agencies, corporate clients I always had a desire to do something with the association market. However that seems to be a hard decision for hotels as the association world is so different with longer lead times and different tender processes. When the opportunity came for me to join Conferli I didn’t doubt for a second. I love being creative, I love learning new skills, working agile and having a diverse set of tasks every day and that is possible at a start up! Working for a company that is bringing something new to the market that can be of real help to make work life so much easier gives me so much energy!

The Tech Guy

My name is Ivan, and I am passion about family, children, education, environment, health, science, and technology. Throughout my life I enjoyed skiing, sky and scuba diving, tennis, and travel. For work I enjoy collaborative, visionary environments to lead by influence, and love building global, diverse, and inclusive teams that produce success stories.

I have always worked in large enterprises, helping them transform and harness the power of digital technology while evolving the way they operate. To feed my other passions and my inner-entrepreneur and innovator, I am also advising start-ups’ and established boards internationally on digital products development, strategy, operations, and efficiency.

Born in Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia, I live in Boston with my wife and our large family. Love traveling the world with them, playing boardgames, challenging them in Civilization (ok, that’s a computer game), having conversations at the dinner table, and as kids are growing up getting new perspectives by seeing the world not just through my own but also through their eyes.

My passion for entrepreneurship and meeting Nienke, who is an absolute expert in conferences, a group of us came together and envisaged the first MVP and dreamt up the future possibilities. I am such a believer in in-person strong personal connections and having spent my carrier in the business world attending and presenting at many conferences, I know they are not easy to plan. In reality, the solution is really simple and smart, and we brought it to life with Conferli!

Actually, timing could have not been worse. As we were getting ready to launch our MVP, pandemic hit out of nowhere, yet we decided to carry forward. I am so proud of how far we have come, so many associations/cities/countries/venues signed up, and I am very excited that now, as we’re coming out of the pandemic, see Conferli take off even faster.

What connects us

As a team, we are driven by our passion for this market, our curiosity in new solutions and our ingenuity to come up with new solutions. We let go of old structures and give the power to our users. We create new solutions and dare to innovate. With a new way of thinking, we reinvent the old industry and offer a fast and efficient experience for the conference organizer of the future.

The Aim of Conferli

Our aim is to level out the playing field in the event industry, enabling events of all shapes and sizes to find best-suiting destinations - easily and efficiently. We do that by creating access to independent benchmarking data, supported by smart technology, and fueled by our passion for the conference world.

Our Dream

Our dream is to re-invent the association RFP/ tender processes, make them more transparent and efficient. So that associations can focus on their purpose and being there for their members!

How can you help us?

As a startup, we are constantly looking for input and feedback. We would be very happy if you sign up on the platform, all services for associations are free so no need to worry about that, and test the system.

And if you are starting your next conference destination search? Think about us and send us your RFP/ tender, you can maybe not imagine it, but we love to handle that part of your job and will make sure you will experience a hassle-free RFP/ tender process.