Now that 2014 is behind us, we like most of you are looking forward to 2015. For Athlete Guild, it promises to be our best year ever. The last two years for us has been an incredible growth period. That has come with a lot of challenges but also a lot of opportunities. We've had the pleasure of working with so many of you through timing, event managment, or just simply personal involvement in the event. You see, all of the staff at Athlete Guild are competitors as well so while most of the time we are behind the scenes, many times we are toeing the line as well. This gives us a unique perspective that many companies can't offer. We understand the needs of the race director as we produce many of our own events and we also understand the needs of the competitor as we enjoy competing and participating in events ourself. For every race we work with, we are constantly thinking about the needs from both sides.
In our efforts to make the best event for everyone, we're constantly looking at all of our services to see where we can improve. Whether it is improved data management services for the race director or a better experience for the participant, we know that we can always do better. Race events in general have changed considerably since I got involved over 15 years ago. Technology has played a huge role in what we can do. Expectations have never been higher from both the race director and the participant. It is no longer good enough to simply show up and put a mat down and print out a few results. Runners expect instant results now and race directors have gotten really impatient in that regard. Events have to have a lot of flash and bang for the buck or runners will simply look elsewhere. This is not to say that the race organizers have to get crazy and blow their budgets, but they do have to provide a better experience than the past allowed.
At Athlete Guild, we're looking at all aspects of our services to see what we can do. While we can certainly provide better timing and results than anyone else around, it is not enough. Race directors need better tools to help manage their participants. We are continually improving our data management tools online and rival that of any registration platform out there. There are tools available that most of you can't see as a participant, but as a race director are vital to your organization. Gone are the days where simple spreadsheets are sufficient. Race directors need tools to help make decisions and have to immediate access to those at anytime. We're the only company around that can provide that as we do all of development internally and don't depend on third-party services.
For the participants, we strive to make sure that everyone has a good time and experience. From our communication tools prior to the event, to the actual race day operations, to the final posting of results and the services that we provide; we stand above the rest. We're not resting though just because we have the best. We're looking at improviing that. Starting this month we're now doing a regional newsletter instead of a much broader one. This is so that we can help market better the local events in an area and provide better information to the participants. It makes better sense to have events grouped together in a smaller region and publish to those that are interested in those. People can certainly subscribe to any of our newsletters, but now we can target better those that really care. You can change your subscriptions easily through your online profile.
This is but one of many ways we are striving to improve. In upcoming newsletters, we'll announce other offerings. All of these are in an effort to improve the experience for all parties involved. Let us know how we're doing.
See you at the race!
