Boston, MA – September 22, 2014 - Signature Boston is pleased to announce the addition of two innovative partnerships that will strengthen the portfolio of services available to meeting planners working at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center by offering Digital Event Solutions and Registration Services. The new partnerships come as part of an ongoing effort of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s (MCCA) Strategy & Product Development Team to improve the customer experience, supporting the promise of a Signature Boston experience.

Through a partnership with Digitell Inc., a web-streaming industry leader committed to helping clients leverage content to drive attendance and increase revenue, the BCEC and the Hynes will now offer more digital event capability. Meeting planners will be able to host webinars, live streaming, and capture content. In addition, planners will have access to Digitell’s expertise in overall digital program development to help them enhance content and engage attendees.

Through a partnership with Attend.com, a local Boston start-up that provides online software to help event organizers streamline the event management process, the BCEC and Hynes will now offer an easy and convenient approach to registration needs. Attend.com will help Signature Boston simplify and automate management of small to mid-size events to decrease costs and free-up onsite resources. The registration service will include internet, hardware, and access to a wide array of registration functions. These include wireless nametag printing, mobile attendance tracking, text-message alerts for VIP arrivals and access to data and analytics following the event, all ordered at one rate through one point of contact.

“Meeting planners have hundreds of contacts to deal with when it comes to procuring services for their events and making sure those services arrive and operate as planned during the show. Our partnerships with Digitell and Attend.com allow us to help our clients streamline some of that work,” said James E. Rooney, executive director of the MCCA. “If we pair our customer service skills with these two exceptional products, we alleviate some stress for our clients and make it easier for them to do business in Boston.”

“When we sought to partner with a digital program developer and explored the idea of managing registration services in-house, we didn’t want to just offer the same types of services planners are used to working with,” said Johanna Storella, the MCCA’s chief strategy officer. “Attend.com and Digitell don’t just do registration and live streaming. They offer resources and knowledge, plus innovative, cutting-edge solutions to challenges that modern event planners face. We are excited to roll out these new services and look forward to working closely with our new partners.”

“As a legacy operator with a solid reputation in the $280 billion meetings and events industry, MCCA recognized that established event management tools were no longer sufficient. With traditional solutions, planners must take a siloed approach to the management of activities and the collection of data needed to prove the return on investment of their events,” said Matt Engel, chief executive officer of Attend.com. “Our strategic partnership with MCCA will provide organizations across multiple industries with an end-to-end event management solution that gives the insights needed to streamline the planning and execution of events by actually making them measurable."

"We couldn’t be more thrilled to be entering into a partnership with MCCA to provide Digital Event Services,” said Jim Parker, president of Digitell. “They are a forward thinking organization that shares a similar vision as we do regarding the future of meetings. We believe that together, we will impact the meeting industry for the better by providing organizations access to the technologies that will allow them to leverage their content and affordably reach an international audience. We see this as a win-win opportunity for everyone involved."

In both cases, the MCCA’s Strategy & Product Development Team has created packages that address the industry desire for accessible, pioneering technology at cost effective rates. They will be available to clients at both the BCEC and Hynes Convention Center beginning this month.

For more information about these services contact the MCCA’s Director of Business Strategy, Mark Michaud at 617-954-2138.

About the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA)
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority owns and oversees the operations of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA and the Boston Common Parking Garage. The BCEC and Hynes have earned a rare gold standard from the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC), making Boston only the fourth city in North America and the 12th worldwide to have been awarded this top standard, the highest certification level a convention facility can achieve under strict AIPC guidelines.

In 2013, the MCCA hosted 254 events at the BCEC and Hynes with 770,000 attendees, generating 462,000 hotel room nights and $620 million in economic impact. The MCCA is currently in the midst of its Top 5 campaign to launch Boston into the top five convention destinations in North America. For more information, go to www.massconvention.com.

About Digitell Inc.
Headquartered in Jamestown, NY, Digitell employs 45 staff members in areas of programming, virtual event technology, web design, graphic artists, marketing and social media staff, audio/video technicians, tech support, administration and management. In addition, Digitell contracts with a team of experienced and veteran freelancers around the country for on-site capture, streaming and support.

It is Digitell’s mission to help clients leverage their most valuable asset, their content, to provide valuable educational resources to their members, drive attendance, engage their members, attract new members, improve the ROI for exhibitors and generate non-dues revenue. For more information, go to www.digitellinc.com.

About Attend.com
Attend.com provides online software that helps event organizers produce high quality events by simplifying and automating event management processes. The company's innovative software eliminates the time-consuming tasks of onsite event management and has proven to increase attendance, decrease event costs and free up onsite resources. Dalhousie University, Northeastern University, United Way, BMW, and the University of Virginia are just a few organizations that are using Attend.com's solutions. The company is backed by .406 Ventures and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. For additional information, please visit www.attend.com.

Media contact:
Erin Rohr
Metis Communications
+1 (617) 236 0500
Erin.rohr@metiscomm.com