EN Technology Roadmap [Help Requested, Discuss Here Please]
OK folks, looking for some big picture help on the technology side. So, Calling All Geeks please!!!!
I have outlined the four key components of EN in this Roadmap Document here, but to recap they are Social (Forums), Events, Training and Learning.
The next phase of EN is focusing on the Events side of the equation, and I need your help outlining what we need so that I can work on getting it done.
Hint: The answer isn't "Try this other system" ...I am looking for specifics please! 
Desired Outcome:
Initial Version
- An Events "channel" that displays in date order, not unlike the one you can find at Ironman.com/races where you are able to filter by Type, Date, etc. This would be powered by a database.
- Each event would have basic race info, link to the race website, and a dynamic list of EN folks who are participating. Events added by EN Staff only.
- Members would "join" an event by submitting their Season Roadmap (submitting a form).
- A tag would be assigned to that User such that users could be supported behind the scenes by Staff and relevant website content. These tags would be pushed to our third-party user management system (Intercom).
- Season Roadmap submissions would generate a list of folks to follow, and relevant resources. AKA if you chose IM Wisconsin, it might suggest some other folks to connect with, as well as the Wisconsin forums. Eventually the Season Roadmap submission would recommend training plan choices by default, with the option to connect with a coach beyond that for more input.
- Notifications that a User has joined an event would be posted to our Dashboard / social feed.
- Athletes able to "join" Events from the event page vs submitting a form.
There might be something I have missed, or something else that would make this easier or not. I am not averse to a third party solution, I just want to make sure that you, our members, can connect and self-organize to maximize your EN experience.
I look forward to your feedback below, thanks!
~ Coach P
Comments
1) The ability send an invite to an event to another team member.
2) the ability to submit an event. That was local races can make the list
3) the ability to sort by region
4) Auto recommend events based on distance and your season road map/training plan. If we're getting close to the end of th OS it could recommend 10k 13.1's. If we are wrapping up a Get Faster block it could recommend a sprint.
5) it could warn us if we are looking at an event that will interfere with a key workout weekend (such as a race rehearsal)
6) earn badges for Event Participation.
7) Log race results against the event
8) the ability to search/list past events that we participated in.
9) dynamic integration of events into the Season Road map
10) Denote if you are racing or spectating the event
11) sort by Key Events
12) direct link from event to the master forum post, race website, race type specific execution page
1) we could see the total hours, miles and yards for each week
2) highlight key workout weeks such as test and race rehearsal weeks. That helps plan vacations.
3) add goals to the roadmap such as run streaks, core challenges, etc
But I do know that I definitely don't want to go find a firm that's going to charge me $500 an hour to write a survey!
There are plenty of you in here who are deep in the technology space, this is your chance to speak up!
- Suggests you have too many races scheduled if you are getting over ambitious.
- Tells you if your selection of Ironman X does not line up with your selected out season start
- Recommends ideal dates for a training camp based on selected "A" event
- Tags existing race reports and/or other info already in the EN space when a new event is selected.
I suspect the answer to your MAIN question, as far as technology is concerned, lies in CROWDSOURCING.
I understand the concept but don't really know where exactly to begin looking for (someone in thENation might know better).
I did some "basic google digging" and here are a couple articles that might point you in the right direction:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/crowdsourcing
https://appirio.com/cloud-powered-blog/what-are-the-hottest-technologies-in-crowdsourcing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing
https://www.sculpteo.com/blog/2016/10/19/13-best-crowdsourcing-platforms-for-product-design/
ability to upload wko's to trainingpeaks.. perhaps having a way to do an entire plan? or a week or month at a time? also, if i want to hack my wko by mixing and matching from intermediate and advanced, being able to go to an individual wko on EN and clicking a button to upload that button, then I can go to TP to delete the originally scheduled wkos
I am looking for guidance on what technology we could use to achieve what I have outlined above.
IOW, if you use websites that are really awesome and you think EN should do that, then send me that link.
Pretty please don't ask me for anything that has never been done before (technologically speaking).
I know people want the EN app to gently tickle their feet at 4am before brewing the perfect latte, then sync Strava with their Work Calendar, notifying co-workers of sweat levels and likelihood of workday excellence. And ordering you the right meal at dinner time so you don't binge. But first, we have some big picture items to solve.
https://products.office.com/en-us/sharepoint/compare-sharepoint-plans
https://products.office.com/en-us/business/office-365-business-essentials
I have used Zapier to connect all kinds of different apps to get data where I need it - works great.
https://zapier.com/zapbook/
I just did some additional digging to find the CMS of another online community I'm a part of (Youpreneur.com). Their forums are very clean and user friendly. They appear to have a lot of features and could be worth looking into:
https://invisioncommunity.com/
- Post a schedule of events/seminars that is viewable to all users,
- Allow members to "sign up" or "register" for the events/seminars
- Deliver content to the registraants
I don't know what services are used for these types of events, but could be that you could link the EN team page to one of these services and use the service to manage the content, the schedule and the registrations???