There are some major moves happening at MavenHaven and we'll be rolling out some nice integration with third party websites soon.

In the meantime, make sure to log in and check out our updated interface. We're always looking for feedback.

Since we launched our Beta test version in November, we've been gratefully receiving a flood of user feedback that has enabled us to understand where MavenHaven is helping our users and, even more importantly, where it is not.

The good news is that we're preparing to launch a completely upgraded version of MavenHaven that is going to include both a web interface that more closely fits user needs, as well as suite of professional services that will give added power to Mavens seeking bookings and Havens seeking to create the best programming. Much more information bout this soon...

What's so exciting to us now is that MavenHaven has already grown larger than most speaker bureaus: we have a phenomenal pool of speakers in our user base, from world famous authors and leading inspirational figures to fresh and new performers and teachers. Added to this is a pool of hundreds of venues that are seeking programming. As our community grows, so will our ability to make the right connections between the Mavens and the Havens.

We'll be back in touch soon with updates on the soon to be launched upgrade!

We've been very pleased to hear more reports of booking inquiries from Mavens. Here is a short demonstration that shows Mavens how to get the most out of MavenHaven. Give it a try and let us know if you have any questions.

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Check out our web demo explaining how MavenHaven can serve as a tool for program planners and event organizers.

We received a few more booking inquiry reports from Mavens today. And there was a nice spike in signups as well. On our end there is a real sense of momentum. All of you are helping by telling Mavens and Havens that you know about the beta registration at www.mavenhaven.com/beta.

We've been relatively quiet the past week or so for good reason -- based on a lot of feedback we received from users in the first few days of the private beta, we completely redesigned the MavenHaven search engine from scratch!

Today, search works something like Google -- just type in your query in the box and hit "Search Havens" or "Search Mavens" depending on your preference. Your results now will also be sortable based on the way in which the results match your query. So if you search Mavens for "sports and Israel" and someone is available in Israel, MavenHaven will tell that they match their availability, and if Israel is one of their topics of expertise it will let you know that as well. Our search algorithms have also been improved to find you more matches than before.

We're working on many more improvements to the site. Keep your eye out for small improvements here and there over the coming weeks, and continue to send us the feedback which enables us to serve you best!

Good news from the front! We've heard today from a few different Mavens that Havens have responded to their message announcements of speaking tours with serious booking inquiries. We hope this is going on across the site. MavenHaven is proud to be making these matches and providing the tool for great people and great places to connect with one another. Be in touch if you have any good news.

Just a note to tell you why we've been quiet on the blog this past week. Primarily, it is due to all the work we've been doing improving features and fixing bugs. We managed to complete our first small user survey and that served as the basis for some of the significant improvements that you're seeing today. A larger survey will deploy this week. Thanks so much for so generously providing feedback and for being patient with some of the bugs that have popped up. Jason's going to have more details on what we did a bit later in the day. Keep it coming!

Hi everyone! Welcome to MavenHaven! I'm Jason Lustig, the CTO for MavenHaven. Before I give an update on the status of MavenHaven, let me quickly introduce myself: In addition to being CTO for MavenHaven, I also am a senior at Brandeis University (if you're interested, I'm majoring in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, as well as computer science). So rest assured that I have had quite some experience with performing a balancing act between different groups who have different needs and interests.

That's what we are doing here now at MavenHaven. After our launch last week we have received so much feedback from you -- both positive and constructive -- that it's been quite a task trying to figure out where to start when it comes to improving our services. Everyone has good ideas, and we've been spending the last few days not only celebrating the fact that you all have signed up, but synthesizing them into a plan to take MavenHaven from good to great.

The great thing is that we hear you loud and clear. In the coming weeks you'll see many changes, both big and small, as we develop MavenHaven based on your feedback. So keep it coming, we're listening!

Last night MavenHaven hit the 48 hour mark, and we're really in awe of how the site has been received by the community. The response that we've had, both in terms of signups and feedback, had blown us away. Your (positive and negative) comments have been enormously helpful, and we've already fixed a number of issues that emerged from feedback. That's the purpose of a Beta--to discover what we can do better and to do it quickly.

One of the challenges that we're facing is how to prioritize your feedback for action. Clearly, we can't do everything at once both because it would be very disruptive to the user experience and because we need to carefully work out all the ramifications of each change before implementing. Right now, we've built a nice long list based on your feedback and are analyzing it each day. On Sunday we'll begin to move on a few of the top priorities, and we'll continue acting on the list methodically over the next few weeks. So expect to see some changes, and if you are at all confused feel free to contact us with questions.

We've enjoyed seeing people begin to use the site to reach out to others. We're looking forward to seeing that grow as the user base climbs and climbs. Have a great weekend.

Yesterday's launch went off relatively smoothly, considering. We had some momentary glitches in the early moments of the site's beta which made it hard for some users to register, but those were settled relatively quickly. We're working quickly now to deal with any issues as they arise. In that vein we very much appreciate everyone's fantastic feedback both about bugs and likes/dislikes on the system. Jason will be in touch soon with a better roundup of what we're doing on the technical end of the site. In the meantime, we really hope you are enjoying your experience. We're delighted to watching the site go into action and seeing how many quality people and organizations have jumped right in.

Welcome to the first day of MavenHaven's Beta release. The Beta period gives you the benefits of coming in early while we get a chance to iron out the inevitable kinks in the system. Benefits include the fact that everything is free, and the opportunity to get first access to the new way to connect to great people and organizations. We of course are wildly excited to see the realization of what has been many moons of real power-hour work.

Let me introduce the 'We': Our founding team is myself (Aharon Horwitz), Jason Lustig, and Ariel Beery (we'll get some bio's up soon). Each of us is hands on deck across the organization but officially Ariel and I are heading up outreach, while Jason keeps our technology up to speed and developing in time with our spirit. We've also recently been joined by Ahuva Goldstand and Sarit Davidman who are, respectively, helping a great deal with outreach and data management. You can meet everyone inside MavenHaven.

What is common across the founding team is that we've all worked on both sides of the program planning-speaking-lecturing-seminar giving-consulting equation, and we grew increasingly frustrated with how difficult it is to quickly find and contact good, relevant people and organizations throughout the cost spectrum. MavenHaven is our way of saying it can all be done better.

The main purpose of this blog is to let you know how MavenHaven is growing and building. You'll regularly hear from Jason about site upgrades, new features and bug fixes. And since MavenHaven has big plans and groundbreaking ideas for development, we'll be commenting here about new things happening on the journey forward.

Since most everyone reading this is new to MavenHaven, I suggest you take a look at our about section. It will give you a good sense for how we connect you with the experts and venues that you need for bookings and program planning. You can also jump right in to get the full experience. We've opened up Beta registration here: www.mavenhaven.com/beta. We may occasionally be closing registration depending on our growth curve, but feel free to spread the word. The most important thing for us: Please send feedback on bugs that you find, ideas that you have, or things that you like or dislike. That's how we can improve.

And we'd be remiss if we didn't end with hearfelt thanks to all the great people who helped us get to where we are. You know who you are and we couldn't be more appreciative.

See you on MavenHaven!

Exclusive Pre-Registration has begun at www.mavenhaven.com/exclusive. Join in the fun.