Inspiration for a new, user-generated events website called NadaToDo came to Anastasia Koutalianos over a year ago when she realized she never knew what was going on in Vancouver. She would often hear about events she was interested in only after they had passed.
While in Montreal during the summer she and a design team called Elliot created the site, where people could post events happening in their community. “It allows communities to merge and re-shape each other,” says Anastasia, the site's creator. The main goal of Nadatodo.com is to become a useful tool in discovering events going on in your community.
Anyone can post events and it’s absolutely free to do so. The website is not limited to the Vancouver area, but is also open to other cities in the lower mainland and beyond. Nadatodo.com covers a wide range of events from music and concerts to workshops and art shows. Anastasia admitted that she was naive at first, thinking, “everyone will want to be a part of this,” but looks to Facebook as a good example – it was the universities that made it huge. However, unlike Facebook, the events aren’t limited to sending invites to friends. Anyone can see these opportunities and it’s not discriminatory to who you know.
Anastasia expressed that she is thrilled at the positive energy the site has already received. “The site has been up about a month and a half, and it already has a ton of support. Theatre companies, art companies, independent or not, have been posting events on the site.” With the Olympics coming up it’s a good resource to know about as it’s free promotion. Nadatodo is also teaming up with Iheartvanart, participating in local festivals and parties in Yaletown, one of the only areas in Vancouver untouched by VANOC. There will be themes everyday during the festivities including b-boys, film screenings and art shows.”
“It's a lot easier to sort through and I like being able to bookmark things I want to check out. The site is way more user-friendly than some of the other ones I've used. It's nice to be able to use a website for event guides rather than newspapers or magazines, especially now that most people are trying to downsize the amount of paper they use,” says Capilano student Durae Wilson of the site.
Nadatodo.com gives people an opportunity to go outside of their comfort zone and check out events that they may never hear about otherwise. Anastasia feels that “Vancouver may have a reputation of being a no fun city, but events are out there. They just lack the promotion.”
The site has a home page with the events coming up within the week in Vancouver – along the left hand side bar you can choose the type of event that interests you and see what’s coming up. It’s also designed so that once an event expires people can upload video, photos, and comments in the past events section.
//Jillian Law
Writer
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