Booked Out
Speakers Agency Directory and Bookings Management Platform
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Background
Booked Out is Australia's premier speaker agency, connecting the nation's most compelling authors, artists, thinkers and educators with schools, libraries and communities nationwide. For over two decades, they've been arranging author visits, workshops and events that bring stories to life and inspire audiences across the country.
The agency approached Digital Bridge needing a complete digital transformation. With a roster of hundreds of speakers and thousands of annual bookings, Booked Out needed a sophisticated platform that could handle complex search functionality, streamline the enquiry process, and give their team full control over speaker profiles, tours, and availability.
The challenge was to create an intuitive user experience that helps busy teachers and librarians quickly find the perfect speaker from a vast catalogue, while building robust backend systems to manage bookings, tours, shortlists, and detailed speaker information across multiple categories and regions.
Approach
Digital Bridge worked closely with the Booked Out team through an extensive discovery process to understand both the customer journey and the agency's operational workflows. We mapped out how educators search for speakers—often by theme, year level, location, or specific events like Book Week—and designed the platform around these real-world use cases.
We built the website using Laravel PHP for the backend, providing a powerful and scalable foundation for managing the complex data relationships between speakers, tours, events, and bookings. The front-end was developed with a focus on intuitive browsing and search functionality, allowing users to filter speakers by multiple criteria simultaneously.
Key features we developed include:
- Advanced Speaker Directory: Sophisticated filtering system allowing searches by speaker type, themes, year levels, regions, and special categories like First Nations speakers, STEM communicators, and wellbeing experts
- Shortlist Functionality: Users can save favourite speakers to compare and share with colleagues, streamlining the decision-making process.
- Tour Management System: Automated system for managing and displaying regional tours, making it easy for schools to book speakers already visiting their area.
- Engagement Request Form: Streamlined booking enquiry system that captures all necessary details while remaining quick and easy to complete.
- Comprehensive CMS: Custom content management allowing the Booked Out team to independently update speaker profiles, availability, tour schedules, featured content, and thematic collections.
- Responsive Design: Mobile-optimised experience ensuring the platform works seamlessly on any device.
The design aesthetic reflects Booked Out's brand as professional yet approachable, with vibrant speaker photography and clean layouts that let their impressive roster shine.
Result
The new Booked Out platform has transformed how schools, libraries and communities across Australia connect with speakers. The sophisticated search and filtering system allows educators to quickly find relevant speakers for their specific needs, while the shortlist feature has dramatically streamlined the decision-making process for events and Book Week planning.
Key outcomes include:
- Streamlined User Experience: Educators can now browse, filter and shortlist speakers in minutes rather than hours, with intuitive navigation that mirrors how they actually search for speakers.
- Efficient Tour Discovery: Schools can easily identify when speakers are touring their region, reducing travel costs and increasing booking opportunities.
- Empowered Content Management: The Booked Out team can now independently manage all speaker profiles, tours, events and featured content without technical assistance.
- Enhanced Speaker Profiles: Rich, detailed profiles showcase each speaker's expertise, available presentations, audience suitability, and booking information.
- Professional Brand Presence: The polished digital platform reinforces Booked Out's position as Australia's leading speaker agency.
- Scalable Platform: The robust architecture supports hundreds of speakers and thousands of annual bookings while maintaining fast performance.
- Mobile Accessibility: Teachers and librarians can search and enquire about speakers on any device, wherever they're planning.
The platform has become an essential tool for thousands of educators across Australia, making it easier than ever to bring inspiring voices into schools, libraries and community spaces. The Booked Out team now has a scalable digital foundation that will support their mission of connecting curious minds with unforgettable speakers for years to come.
Need a sophisticated directory or booking platform that handles complex search, user accounts and content management? Contact our platform development specialists to build your custom solution.
Digital Bridge is a website design, development and management team based in Fitzroy, Melbourne.
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