January 16, 2025 • 32 mins
In this episode of The Village Halls Podcast, host Marc Smith interviews Bernard Hammick, Managing Director of Hallmaster, a digital booking system tailored for village halls and community venues. Bernard shares his journey into the digital realm, which began in the late 1990s when he developed a website for his campsite to provide detailed information and facilitate email communications with customers. This experience led him to create websites for local businesses and, eventually, to develop a bespoke booking system for a village hall seeking an online solution for availability and reservations.
Recognising a broader need, Bernard expanded Hallmaster to serve various venues across the UK, emphasizing the importance of an online presence for village halls to secure regular income through direct bookings. He discusses the evolution of Hallmaster, highlighting its role in streamlining operations and enhancing accessibility for both administrators and patrons. The conversation underscores the necessity for community venues to embrace digital tools to remain relevant and efficient in today's technology-driven landscape.
This episode offers valuable insights for anyone involved in managing village halls or community spaces, illustrating how digital solutions like Hallmaster can transform venue management and community engagement.
For more information, you can visit the episode page:
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Marc Smith (00:01):
Hello, my name is Marc Smith and welcome to the
Village Halls podcast sponsoredby Allied Westminster, the UK's
largest specialist provider ofVillage Hall insurance and the
home of Village Guard.
Hello and welcome In today'spodcast.
We're lucky to be able to speakwith Bernard Hammick, the MD of
Hallmaster.
Now, whilst Hallmaster is asponsor of the show, they also
(00:23):
have a wealth of knowledge whenit comes to the world of the web
, so we'll make for someinteresting listening.
So gone are the days when youshould be considering being
online.
It is an absolute must.
For my short time on the showalready, one of the most common
features is funding.
Whilst village halls can raisefunds from other sources, it's
vital to keep regular incomefrom direct bookings.
This is where an onlinepresence can come in.
(00:45):
Welcome to the show once again,bernard.
Hi, Marc, nice to speak to youWell, thank you very much for
being here.
So we'll get on to current dayHallmaster in a moment, but
first, how did you get startedin this digital world?
Bernard Hammick (00:58):
Yeah, I'll try and keep the story brief, but we
used to run a campsite back inthe late 90s and I was intrigued
by the idea of a website.
Normally, being able to tellour customers about our campsite
was restricted to sending out abrochure in the post.
So thought of being able totell customers about our
campsite with such detail and beable to change that information
(01:20):
on a daily basis was arevelation to me.
So I decided to learn how tobuild our own website and
quickly got a good following andwas able to do email shots,
which saved so much time, ofcourse.
I then started doing websiteswith small local businesses,
including selling ski wear, anda friend said their local
(01:41):
village hall wanted a newwebsite and a way for their
customers to see availabilityand make a booking.
So it all went from there to behonest.
Marc Smith (01:50):
So the village hall booking system, it came from a
campsite booking system, or wasit?
Or was it independent of that,or was it just a starting point?
Bernard Hammick (01:58):
Yeah, that was the starting point really.
So I was just understood themechanics, if you like, of
hosting domain names, emails andhow all that sort of work
together, and then from there,as I said, I did small websites
for plumbers, electricians andhotels and stuff.
But this particular customerwanted a booking system and also
(02:21):
I don't want to reinvent thewheel, um, but soon found out
that there was nothing out therespecifically for village halls.
Um, so, yeah, I went down thatroute, um, and uh, yeah, it just
it just went from there.
I quickly realized thatactually there's plenty of other
venues, uh, not just villagehalls, but other venues around
(02:41):
the country that could benefitfrom it.
Marc Smith (02:43):
Yeah.
So what was your backgroundthen?
Because obviously would YouTubeeven be around then?
No, it wouldn't have been.
So how did you work out how todo all this stuff?
Bernard Hammick (02:53):
Well, I did a sort of basic course with a
company in Dorchester, near us,and they just sort of showed me
how to use Frontpage, which is avery, very basic web design
program at the time, and it wentfrom there.
I then worked out how toconnect a database to the
website and that was prettytransformative really, because
(03:20):
it meant that the websitesuddenly became dynamic.
You could just update thingsvery, very quickly, whether it's
prices or content or uploadingimages.
That was a real game changerfor me and that's what sort of
piqued my interest, I would say,and that's what led us into
(03:41):
probably one of the firstshopping carts where we were
selling children's ski clothing.
And yeah, we had a bigfollowing, um, and customer base
from that as well, because wecould just upload the products
very quickly instead of, uh, youknow, typing them in manually
all the time and then uploading.
So, yeah, it was very dynamicthat's very interesting, that.
So you've been in business for14 years, so I I take it today's
(04:02):
version of Hallmaster is a lotdifferent from version one yes,
so I wrote the code for thefirst version but soon realized
that this had a bigger potential, as I said earlier, than I'd
first thought.
So I got in coders anddeveloped the site from
suggestions and issues thattrustees and committee members
were facing, with the idea ofmaking life easier for them.
(04:24):
So it wasn't just my idea ofthis is how I think it should be
.
It was very much geared aroundthe issues and problems that
administrators had, so it woulddefinitely hit the market as far
as that's concerned.
There were, of course, issuesfrom our side too, but you know
we could quickly code those outfrom our side too, but you know
(04:47):
we could quickly code those out.
And one of the biggest issueswas actually convincing people
that this would soon become aday-to-day way of taking and
managing bookings.
Yeah, plus the other thingwhich, again going back all
those years as far as theinternet timeline is concerned,
we were desperately waiting forbroadband to get installed
across the country.
So we had a lot of peoplepushing back saying, oh, we're
(05:07):
never going to get broadband,we've been told, and it was.
That was.
That was quite tough, actuallyconvincing people that they
could still use the system andthey would benefit from it.
Marc Smith (05:17):
But that's pretty much a thing of the past really
now, and people can still run itoff their phones, off a 4g
signal or 5g signal, so there'snot really any anything to hold
them back now yeah, I was goingto say that I I build websites
um, in my, my spare time andthere was a day where you'd have
(05:40):
to compress the image so muchthat it was you know you
couldn't really see it.
But nowadays, compress theimage so much that it was, you
know, you couldn't really see it.
But nowadays, with the internetso fast, you can put video on
the homepage as well and it just, it works flawlessly.
It's so much easier.
Bernard Hammick (05:52):
It really is.
I mean, it's even justuploading pictures, even if
you've got a, you know, reallyhigh res picture of your venue
or an event going on.
Even when you upload it, the,the systems usually just
compress it for you now and,yeah, it just speeds.
Obviously it's important tokeep the speed of, uh, the, the
page loading, things like thatgoing.
(06:13):
So, yeah, it's, it's all it'sstuff which, unless you've been
through it, like we have it'speople just don't necessarily
realize what's involved.
Marc Smith (06:21):
Which, is yeah, yeah understandable oh yeah, so I
suppose let's get back to basics.
So do you even need a websiteto have a booking engine?
Um?
Bernard Hammick (06:31):
the simple answer is no.
Um, there are ways to directcustomers to the calendar and
booking form without having awebsite.
Um, in its basic form, a simplelink to the local parish
magazine would do, to be honest.
Um, alternatively, adding it toa facebook page will do.
Uh, you can just run the systembehind the scenes as well.
So if you don't want to allowyour customers to, say, make
(06:52):
bookings directly from thesystem, you can still take and
manage bookings over the phone.
Uh, either way, it's all aboutstreamlining the process for the
customer and the administrators.
Of course, um, they're all many.
Most of the time they'revolunteers.
Time is very precious, so, yeah, this is absolutely crucial.
Marc Smith (07:11):
Excellent.
So I suppose I would alwaysadvocate for having a website
because it's interesting to readabout village halls, so people
will you know, rather than justa link to a booking page, you
can actually learn about thevillage hall itself.
So I would I would encourageanyone to have a website.
So obviously we want to makethis easy for people.
So what is, what are the basicsto setting up a website?
Bernard Hammick (07:32):
yeah, absolutely.
I totally agree.
Um, I mean, nowadays, websitesreally are just so easy to set
up.
There are many free uhcompanies out there that are
offering free websites.
Obviously, they they'll mayhave paid advertising on there
which you can pay a small fee toremove, that sort of thing.
But you don't need to be techsavvy anymore, as there are
(07:53):
companies like yourselves outthere who are offering websites
at affordable prices.
It depends on what you want.
If you have somebody in theteam who can happily manage the
website for you, then that'seasy enough to do.
Or if you're not too sure, thenyou get a professional like
yourself or a similar company toactually set it up for you.
(08:16):
And it's the usual adage youget what you pay for.
If you've got somebody buildinga website for you, then
basically, then you're going toget all the help and advice,
what you pay for.
If you've got somebody buildinga website for you, then
basically, then, um, you knowyou're going to get all the help
and advice that you, that youmight not know about anyway so I
suppose, once you have thatthat website set up, and whether
the bookings are automated ormanual, so how can a village
(08:39):
hall make its website asuser-friendly as as possible?
yeah, sure, um, again, websitesdon't need to be large and
complicated.
Um, you know, we we often seewhere people are embedding our
booking system into theirwebsite.
Um, you've got great pages ofinformation and, uh, a lot of
(09:01):
the time it's about the historyof the of the venue, which is
facinating.
But, at the end of the day,what people are trying to do is
drive traffic or drive customersto the actual venue itself.
So a simple single page couldbe enough with basic information
about the venue, where it is,what it offers, how much it's
going to be to hire a particularroom, etc.
(09:23):
Then, as far as we believe,it's very much about getting a
call to action on the page soview availability here or book
your event here, these sorts ofthings.
Generally, people visitingwebsites, particularly for a
venue, they know what they'relooking for.
They know their local venue,probably already.
(09:44):
They may have even had an eventthere themselves, um, and they
just want to go and, um, uh,just book it or see what's, or
even see, just see what's goingon.
So often we see out of date,clunky websites with just loads
of text and it's just veryoverwhelming and as interesting
as it is about the history ofthe venue.
Perhaps the main thing,initially, is to let them know
(10:05):
that you're open for business.
Um, as I mentioned just now,having the site also, uh, having
it responsive will will meanthat they get the best
experience too.
Marc Smith (10:14):
So, uh, that that's absolutely crucial so I suppose
for people who don't know,responsive would be it works on
any device really, so it resizesitself for any device.
Yeah, exactly.
Bernard Hammick (10:26):
It just means that the pages and content will
resize according to the actualdevice and browser that's being
used.
So many people are using theirphones to do everything.
It's absolutely crucial thatthe way it displays on their
phone is clear and easy to read,and again, that's exactly where
people like yourself come in umand uh other other, uh
(10:49):
organized, you know othercompanies that sell websites.
If they're looking, make surethat they offer a fully mobile,
mobile responsive site.
It's absolutely crucial really,is now would I have.
Marc Smith (11:03):
Maybe I was dreaming but back, say like just 10
years ago, what was it used tobe?
Would there be a site fordesktop, then a site for mobile?
I'm sure I had one that hadlike m dot and then my business
name.
Bernard Hammick (11:16):
Yes, absolutely yeah, definitely, I mean it's
that's all done with the codingnow.
So it depends on that.
You know this, the uh, the, theuh device that they're using,
uh, the.
The website should pick up whatdevice they're using and show
the content accordingly.
But you're right, um, there wassome very uh, very basic, um,
(11:37):
almost uh app like websitesbuilt, but that was a real pain
actually, because you end uphaving to to have two websites
for your, for your uh, yourparticular venue.
Yeah, so yeah, and managingcontent for one can be enough,
but having it for two and makingsure that it's consistent is,
is was quite difficult.
But yeah, you're right, I'veactually forgotten about those.
Marc Smith (12:00):
We must block it out .
But that's good, because it'sjust keeping it as simple as
possible.
There's no possible, there's nolonger that necessity to have
it.
It just works it out itself.
So you don't have to worryabout catering for everyone,
because that one website will doit all itself.
Exactly, exactly, yeah.
So I suppose a lot of hallswon't have IT experts in their
(12:21):
committees, or maybe even intheir villages.
So what are?
Some simple steps to getstarted with the Hallmaster
Online Booking System.
Bernard Hammick (12:29):
Well, um, yeah, I well, number one is contact
us.
I mean, we've, as you saidearlier on, we've, you know, got
over 14 years of experiencewith literally thousands of
venues across the uk.
Uh, and I think those days, orthe idea or concept of having to
have an it guru or it expert onthe committee is potentially a
(12:52):
thing of the past.
Um, yes, you might wantsomebody who's a bit tech savvy,
but I always liken it to and weused to hear this all the time
and I used to liken it to so, inother words, to use the booking
system in a similar way islikening it to.
You don't need to be a mechanicto drive a car.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, you don't necessarilyhave to understand every nut and
(13:17):
bolt within the actual bookingsystem.
Your job as an administrator isto take and manage the bookings
and making sure that they areinvoiced and that you've got the
money for them.
That that's it.
Um, but that's where a systemlike ours will come in.
But as far as having an itexpert is concerned, I mean, we,
we used to hear it a lot um, inthe early days of of committees
(13:39):
saying, oh, it's not for us.
And we, you know, we, it's,it's too clever and it's too
sophisticated, or we haven't gotanybody.
Uh, and my comment was well,find somebody, um, and and
generally, what we used to seetime and time again is we'd have
young people in their sort ofteens would suddenly join a
(14:01):
committee for the village hall.
They'd actually become acommittee member and they would
be the person in charge of theIT, whether it's the Facebook
page or social media or thewebsite.
So, give them a chance.
I mean, they're the ones whoknow, um, probably more than
more than anybody else.
So, uh, just invite somebody onboard to to come and join and
(14:21):
help out yeah, yeah, that'sexcellent that.
Marc Smith (14:25):
So I suppose the the people on the, on the committee
they would just set up to saysay you had.
Well, our local village hallhas a main, the main building,
and it has a part on the side aswell that you can hire
separately.
So I take it inside.
Well, I suppose any onlinebooking system, not just
Hallmaster, you can havedifferent prices for different
areas of the hall and I supposeand for different you could have
(14:48):
a charity event could be acheaper price.
Do you have that flexibility?
Bernard Hammick (14:56):
Yeah, very much so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, verymuch so, Marc.
I mean, um, that's somethingwhich was very apparent right
from the early days.
That um, the system needs to beincredibly flexible.
Uh, again, if it's a not abespoke system um which, let's
face, it, would cost you tens ofthousands of pounds to produce
um, then the system you're goingto use needs to be flexible
(15:17):
enough to be able to managethose sorts of things.
So, consequently, we see somany complex structures, if you
like, or pricing structures.
We've got one venue that usesone rate and it's the same rate
per hour.
It doesn't matter what time ofday or night it is, it doesn't
matter what day of the week itis, it doesn't matter if you're
(15:38):
local or not local, that's it.
And then we've got anothercustomer that has over 200 rates
.
How they deal with that is upto them, but the system
definitely manages it.
And then, of course, you canput in conditional rates.
So if you've got a special ratefor Fred who, so if you've got a
special rate for you know Fred,who's always used the main hall
on a Sunday for such and such arate, you know you can set that
(16:00):
up and the system will work outhow much time those customers
have had and calculate it foryou automatically.
I mean literally.
With our bulk invoicing, forexample, it takes seconds
literally to do the monthlyinvoicing and it's all very
accurate as well.
It doesn't miss out that theymay have hired some tables and
(16:22):
chairs or had, you know, 10 cupsof tea or whatever it is yeah,
yes, that's absolutely crucial.
Marc Smith (16:27):
Having flexibility for the way you charge at your
venue is is critical really yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned
the invoice there because youintegrate with um like
accounting software.
Uh, so like I think, whensomeone books, does it talk back
and forward to the accountingsoftware, or do you have to?
How does it work when someone?
Bernard Hammick (16:49):
books, the hall .
How is?
Marc Smith (16:50):
it invoiced absolutely so.
Bernard Hammick (16:52):
So, just before that is, you've got sort of
payment integration so you canstart to take payments from your
customers.
They can pay you directly.
So it's starting to get thestage where you can be sort of
semi-autonomous, if you like,yeah, um, and then you can set
things up so that it willconfirm their booking
automatically, it'll issue areceipt, it'll update their
invoices, paid, those sorts ofthings, and again, we don't
(17:18):
charge any transaction fees orcommission on any things like
that.
So it does make it veryaffordable for venues to do that
.
But just moving on to yourpoint about accounting software,
so there are loads out there.
You know there's Xero,quickbooks, sage, Freeagent I
mean, the list goes on.
Uh, for example, we integratewith, with a lot of the sort of
(17:38):
major ones, um, in two ways.
You can do it either justdownload a, a list of invoices
into a spreadsheet and importthem manually.
Uh, alternatively, there are uhlinks or apis, a bit like bank
feeds, where hallmaster canspeak to your your particular
bank, I'm sorry, your accountingsystem, yeah and um.
(18:02):
So when you create an invoicein hallmaster, it automatically
generates it in quickbooks orsage, etc.
So there's there'spossibilities for that as well,
uh, there's always going to be alevel of of manual uh input as
well.
Marc Smith (18:18):
Anyway, actually, I don't think that's a bad thing,
um, because I think it justmakes sure you keep on the ball
with things, really oh yeah, andthat will make it easier at the
end of your financial yearbecause you can just, I know
with I use zero for my businessand I just say there you go as
long as you've reconciledeverything you you go.
Bernard Hammick (18:36):
This is now your problem.
Marc Smith (18:37):
It's all done.
Bernard Hammick (18:38):
Exactly, yeah, and that's another thing which
you know like with us is we do asort of raft of different
reports so you can report, youknow, you can find out if who's
owing you, who's late withpaying, all those sorts of
things which obviously you cando with accounting software too,
but this because itintrinsically links to their
bookings.
It's really accurate, and so,yeah, those sorts of things With
(19:03):
reports you can check onoccupancy, who's bringing what
money, and so on and so on.
The list goes on.
Really, you can get all sortsof information from the system.
Marc Smith (19:14):
Yeah, because visibility is key.
You you understand how thehall's been performing,
Especially if you have it overthe course of, say, two or three
years, then you really haveyear-on-year data to look at to
know if this year was busy, whywas that?
If this year wasn't busy, youcan probably maybe figure out
why it wasn't.
Bernard Hammick (19:31):
Absolutely.
Yes, I mean obviously withlockdown.
Lockdown that changed things alot.
But, yes, you can see trends ofoccupancy, types of booking.
So uh, one that we we've hadfeedback a few times from is
venues say, well, we didn'trealize.
Actually we've taken uh eightbookings for weddings this year
and it's brought us in moremoney than it has for all the
(19:51):
pilates classes and kids, kidsparties.
So you know, all of a suddenthey think, well, okay, we're,
we're obviously a good locationfor weddings.
Let's concentrate on that.
Uh, obviously there's a balanceof making sure you still um
supply and support the localcommunity yeah, oh yeah, I want
to just completely, uh, stopthings.
But it does give you anindication of of uh, you know
(20:12):
what's being used as well.
So you know people might not beusing the tables and chairs
because they're old, but uh, youknow, might think you might
take a an opinion on that and,um, because you can see it from
from the actual income uh reportitself I see that's really
interesting.
Marc Smith (20:30):
Now I'm going to try and not go down a rabbit hole.
Just now, however, I was onyour website and I was reviewing
everything, and then I lookedin the integration section and I
saw this is a love of mine aheating integration and a remote
locking integration.
So what I think is amazing isthat so if someone books on the
(20:51):
system, it can turn the heatingon automatically.
So say, I take it.
You can say, an hour before thebooking is due, turn the
heating on to 21 degrees so it'snice and ready for people to
turn up.
Is that how it works?
I hope that's how it works.
Bernard Hammick (21:06):
That's exactly how it works.
Yeah, that is amazing.
Again, we've teamed up with acouple of companies and so they
deal with all the sort ofinstallation and hardware.
If you've got your own heatingengineer, then you can obviously
use them, but essentially theysupply a thermostat and a hub
(21:28):
which connects to Hallmaster.
Essentially, they still can goin, of, of course, and override
everything manually if they needto.
But, uh, essentially, you'reabsolutely right.
So they can set up differentrooms or different zones, so you
might have two rooms in zoneone and so on.
Uh, that that's all down to theconfiguration by the actual uh
(21:49):
heating company themselves.
Uh, but, yes, we, we, you'reabsolutely right.
So when someone books, um, theymight have a, say, a pilates
class at seven o'clock on atuesday evening and they want it
at 19 degrees.
So the system will instruct theheating to come on at the
relevant time to get it up totemperature for that particular
(22:10):
booking, and then, uh, it'll,it'll just switch it off, off,
or it'll change to thetemperature for the next event.
And again, yes, that's all donein the background and just
ticks over in the background andjust makes sure that the
heating is running efficiently.
The person who's running theactual hall doesn't have to
(22:32):
worry.
Oh, have they left the heatingon or whatever.
They can do it remotely orHallmaster will have done it for
them automatically.
Marc Smith (22:39):
So yes, that's absolutely right yeah, because
it's not relying on a person toturn up.
So, say, it is seven o'clock atnight and the person who
manages the hall is, say,leaving at three o'clock.
They would just put the heatingon then normally, so it's up to
temperature.
But now, using a heatingintegration, it can do it, you
know, automatically.
So you don't have to rely onsomeone being in the village at
(22:59):
that time to do it or asking fora favor to do it.
Plus, it must save an absolutefortune, absolutely.
Bernard Hammick (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, correct, that's right, Marc.
I mean, it's something which webrought in, you know, a few
years back, probably two orthree years ago now, I guess,
and it was very much at some ofthe seminars and events I'd go
around.
It was other guest speakerswere talking about energy and
saving, you know, cost of energyand cost of fuel and all this
(23:27):
sort of stuff, and this justplayed into that.
Uh, really well, um, thatpeople, uh, as you quite rightly
say, weren't having to turn upin the middle of winter to
switch the heating on or, moreimportantly, off, because
they've decided that the lastperson who's left hasn't
switched it off, for example soyes, that's all uh, available
now.
Marc Smith (23:48):
So, and that's also the same for remote lock.
Now, I was looking into thisfor the house, but I have I have
a door that you have to lift upthe latch to make it lock.
Okay, I don't think it wouldwork.
However, so your remote lockingsystem so when someone books,
not only is it warm, they can.
I think this is amazing, thatyou just you can the person can
turn up and they'll be given, Iassume, a key code or a a unique
(24:10):
code to them that they can'tpass on, that only maybe have
one use or two uses, that theycan go into the hall and then,
once they lock it, that thatcode is disabled.
I presume.
Bernard Hammick (24:20):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And again, you can havedifferent zones, so it might be
the front door or it might be acode for the room one or hall
two or whatever.
So that's exactly right.
So, in a similar way, it speaksto Remote Lock, who we have
partnered with, and again theycan help with regards to what
(24:40):
your requirements are.
So if you are changing fromjust a stable door latch for
keeping your doors shut and wantsomething a bit more secure,
then yeah, they'll definitelyhelp you with that.
Again, our system integratesseamlessly really with that, so
that at a given when the bookingis made, a unique PIN number is
(25:04):
created and that's then emailedautomatically to the customer
or the person using the actualvenue to say, when your booking
starts, you'll be able to accessthe room using this code and
then, when they leave, theywon't be able to get back in
again.
That's it.
Marc Smith (25:25):
Now I suppose a lot of listeners will think that
sounds extremely complicated,but it's not really, is it.
Once it's set up, it just works.
That's the great thing aboutthis stuff.
Bernard Hammick (25:34):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
I think it's the same about allof these things.
Everything we've discussed sofar today is all about that.
I think a lot of people get abit concerned or bogged down
with the idea that it's going totake up a load of resources,
and of course there is a bit ofa learning curve, but generally
speaking, it does take time justto set these up.
(25:55):
In the same way, let's say, youget a brand new TV tv.
It's got bells and whistles,and it's got this and it's got
that, and you think, well, Ijust want to watch.
you know, bbc one, bbc two yeah,yeah and a couple of other
channels, and then you prettywell stick at that.
Um, it's got the flexibility todo all of that, but you don't
doesn't mean you have to use allof those things, so yeah, and
(26:17):
that's again where we come inwith the training that we offer
as well, which is all free.
We can just go through someone'saccount with them, make sure
they know what they're doing andto get the best sort of
streamlined workflow out of it,and then it's over to them.
They can just go about theirday-to-day business of running
(26:39):
the venue.
That's, that's what their jobis.
At the end of the day.
Their job is not having to getbogged down in it, the.
It should be, uh, you know, thethe thing that's working for
them, not the other way aroundyeah, excellent.
Marc Smith (26:53):
No, I I could.
Uh, I have to restrict myselfto what I, because I could talk
all day about tech.
So, uh, I think I'll ask onefinal question, because I could
go on forever.
So what advice would you havefor village hall committees that
are hesitant to go?
Just to go digital, just to getstarted on this digital journey
(27:13):
?
Bernard Hammick (27:14):
Yeah, I think don't hesitate is number one
thing.
You're definitely missing outnow, I think if you're not sort
of at least looking into thisside of things, I mean, you
won't only just be savingvaluable time, but generating
more income.
There are enough issues withattracting people and getting
(27:36):
revenue.
Funding is virtuallynon-existent now, and that's
something again which we sawmany years ago.
Funding was pulled from villagehalls and the like, so people
were sort of panicking, thinkingwhat do we do?
Well, one of the solutions isto get online.
(27:56):
Certainly, that's where peopleare looking.
People's booking habits havedefinitely changed.
Um, as you know, we can buypizza or airplane flights or
whatever you want.
So booking a village hall is isanother thing which people will
not only want, they wouldexpect to be able to do at the
very basics, um, so you knowthat they have, unfortunately,
(28:21):
also, as a side side thing,they've also become impatient,
uh, so you only have a briefmoment to get their attention
really.
So it's important that if youdo have even if you do have a
website at the moment, uh, ifthe site looks old or out of
date or not easy to use, theninevitably they're going to go
to a venue that is up to dateand they'll probably give them
(28:42):
their business instead.
So digital tools now mean thatbooking and invoicing processes
isn't restricted to just oneperson, for example.
So if someone is ill or away,someone else can pick up the
reins and carry on whereeverything's been left off.
Someone else can pick up thereins and carry on where
everything's been left off.
So it'll free up valuable timeand generally it'll just bring
(29:06):
the administration communitytogether and things like double
bookings are a thing of the past.
As far as we're concerned.
We did a data import for acustomer and discovered that
they'd actually got two weddingson the same day or not the same
couple either, and discoveredthat they'd actually got two
weddings on the same day or notthe same couple either.
So, um, stuff like that is isyou know, we luckily we just
don't hear that anymore um, butit is is stuff like that which
(29:28):
could easily slip through thenet.
So I think it's just do yourbest.
Uh, find, if you can't do it ordon't want to do it, doesn't
mean to say you shouldn't do it.
Find somebody who is is able tohelp.
There are plenty of companies.
There are businesses out hereable and happy to give free
advice.
Just a bit of research.
(29:48):
Just phone somebody out, phoneus up.
You know we're happy just tohave a free chat about the way
forwards.
Whether it's with us orsomebody else, we don't really
mind.
I think it's with us orsomebody else, we don't really
mind.
I think it's just importantthat people understand that they
could be getting so much moreout of their venue and out of
the website as well.
Marc Smith (30:08):
Yeah, well, it's certainly a good time to be
entering the digital worldbecause everything you know, as
you say, the double bookingsmultiple people can use it.
I was just going to mention theold pop email system where one
person read it on one device andit disappeared from other it.
I was just going to mention theold pop email system where one
person read it on one device andit disappeared from other
devices.
A thing of the well, I supposeit's still an option, but it's a
thing of the past really.
So, yeah, it's a great time tobe entering this world.
It really is.
Bernard Hammick (30:27):
yes, If you embrace it or have a go.
As I said, you don't have tobecome an IT expert or guru, but
I mean the majority of people.
We still get people say, oh,I'm too old.
Marc Smith (30:41):
Well, I think our oldest member is 92, so I think
it's just a mindset thing reallywell, it just so happens that
we have our own shiny newwebsite here at the Village
Halls podcast, so it would begreat if you could jump on there
and give us a follow so you canlisten to the back here at the
Village Halls podcast.
So it'd be great if you couldjump on there and give us a
follow, for so you can listen tothe back catalogue of the
(31:03):
podcast and any future podcastsas well.
And on for this podcast I willhave a link to the Hallmaster
website and the small.
They've got a videodemonstration of the system.
You can view that on theirwebsite, but I'll also put it on
the Village Halls podcastwebsite as well, just so it
makes it nice and easy foreverybody.
So thank you very much for yourtime today, bernard.
(31:24):
It's been fascinating to hearwhat you've done for Village
Halls over the past 15 years and, I suppose, hopefully another
15 years more to come.
So thank you very much for yourtime.
Bernard Hammick (31:34):
Thank you, Marc .
It's been a great pleasure, andthank you to all the listeners
as well, and I hope to speak toyou sometime soon.
Yeah, definitely.
Marc Smith (31:44):
Cheers now.
Many thanks to our headlinesponsor and specialist insurance
provider, allied Westminster,for making our podcast possible
and whose services you candiscover more about at
villageguardcom, and to onlinebooking system provider
Hallmaster, who also sponsor ourpodcast and can be found at
hallmastercom.
And to online booking systemprovider Hallmaster, who also
sponsor our podcast and can befound at hallmastercouk.
You've been listening to theVillage Halls Podcast, a unique
(32:07):
listening community forBritain's village community and
church halls and anyoneinterested in the vital
community services they provide.
We'll be back again soon withanother episode.
For more information, pleasevisit thevillagehallspodcastcom,
where you'll also they provide.
We will be back again soon withanother episode.
For more information, pleasevisit thevillagehallspodcastcom,
where you will also find linksto our social media pages.
Thanks again for listening inand until the next time.
(32:28):
Goodbye for now.
Hello, my name is Marc Smith and welcome to the
Village Halls podcast sponsoredby Allied Westminster, the UK's
largest specialist provider ofVillage Hall insurance and the
home of Village Guard.
Hello and welcome In today'spodcast.
We're lucky to be able to speakwith Bernard Hammick, the MD of
Hallmaster.
Now, whilst Hallmaster is asponsor of the show, they also
(00:23):
have a wealth of knowledge whenit comes to the world of the web
, so we'll make for someinteresting listening.
So gone are the days when youshould be considering being
online.
It is an absolute must.
For my short time on the showalready, one of the most common
features is funding.
Whilst village halls can raisefunds from other sources, it's
vital to keep regular incomefrom direct bookings.
This is where an onlinepresence can come in.
(00:45):
Welcome to the show once again,bernard.
Hi, Marc, nice to speak to youWell, thank you very much for
being here.
So we'll get on to current dayHallmaster in a moment, but
first, how did you get startedin this digital world?
Bernard Hammick (00:58):
Yeah, I'll try and keep the story brief, but we
used to run a campsite back inthe late 90s and I was intrigued
by the idea of a website.
Normally, being able to tellour customers about our campsite
was restricted to sending out abrochure in the post.
So thought of being able totell customers about our
campsite with such detail and beable to change that information
(01:20):
on a daily basis was arevelation to me.
So I decided to learn how tobuild our own website and
quickly got a good following andwas able to do email shots,
which saved so much time, ofcourse.
I then started doing websiteswith small local businesses,
including selling ski wear, anda friend said their local
(01:41):
village hall wanted a newwebsite and a way for their
customers to see availabilityand make a booking.
So it all went from there to behonest.
Marc Smith (01:50):
So the village hall booking system, it came from a
campsite booking system, or wasit?
Or was it independent of that,or was it just a starting point?
Bernard Hammick (01:58):
Yeah, that was the starting point really.
So I was just understood themechanics, if you like, of
hosting domain names, emails andhow all that sort of work
together, and then from there,as I said, I did small websites
for plumbers, electricians andhotels and stuff.
But this particular customerwanted a booking system and also
(02:21):
I don't want to reinvent thewheel, um, but soon found out
that there was nothing out therespecifically for village halls.
Um, so, yeah, I went down thatroute, um, and uh, yeah, it just
it just went from there.
I quickly realized thatactually there's plenty of other
venues, uh, not just villagehalls, but other venues around
(02:41):
the country that could benefitfrom it.
Marc Smith (02:43):
Yeah.
So what was your backgroundthen?
Because obviously would YouTubeeven be around then?
No, it wouldn't have been.
So how did you work out how todo all this stuff?
Bernard Hammick (02:53):
Well, I did a sort of basic course with a
company in Dorchester, near us,and they just sort of showed me
how to use Frontpage, which is avery, very basic web design
program at the time, and it wentfrom there.
I then worked out how toconnect a database to the
website and that was prettytransformative really, because
(03:20):
it meant that the websitesuddenly became dynamic.
You could just update thingsvery, very quickly, whether it's
prices or content or uploadingimages.
That was a real game changerfor me and that's what sort of
piqued my interest, I would say,and that's what led us into
(03:41):
probably one of the firstshopping carts where we were
selling children's ski clothing.
And yeah, we had a bigfollowing, um, and customer base
from that as well, because wecould just upload the products
very quickly instead of, uh, youknow, typing them in manually
all the time and then uploading.
So, yeah, it was very dynamicthat's very interesting, that.
So you've been in business for14 years, so I I take it today's
(04:02):
version of Hallmaster is a lotdifferent from version one yes,
so I wrote the code for thefirst version but soon realized
that this had a bigger potential, as I said earlier, than I'd
first thought.
So I got in coders anddeveloped the site from
suggestions and issues thattrustees and committee members
were facing, with the idea ofmaking life easier for them.
(04:24):
So it wasn't just my idea ofthis is how I think it should be
.
It was very much geared aroundthe issues and problems that
administrators had, so it woulddefinitely hit the market as far
as that's concerned.
There were, of course, issuesfrom our side too, but you know
we could quickly code those outfrom our side too, but you know
(04:47):
we could quickly code those out.
And one of the biggest issueswas actually convincing people
that this would soon become aday-to-day way of taking and
managing bookings.
Yeah, plus the other thingwhich, again going back all
those years as far as theinternet timeline is concerned,
we were desperately waiting forbroadband to get installed
across the country.
So we had a lot of peoplepushing back saying, oh, we're
(05:07):
never going to get broadband,we've been told, and it was.
That was.
That was quite tough, actuallyconvincing people that they
could still use the system andthey would benefit from it.
Marc Smith (05:17):
But that's pretty much a thing of the past really
now, and people can still run itoff their phones, off a 4g
signal or 5g signal, so there'snot really any anything to hold
them back now yeah, I was goingto say that I I build websites
um, in my, my spare time andthere was a day where you'd have
(05:40):
to compress the image so muchthat it was you know you
couldn't really see it.
But nowadays, compress theimage so much that it was, you
know, you couldn't really see it.
But nowadays, with the internetso fast, you can put video on
the homepage as well and it just, it works flawlessly.
It's so much easier.
Bernard Hammick (05:52):
It really is.
I mean, it's even justuploading pictures, even if
you've got a, you know, reallyhigh res picture of your venue
or an event going on.
Even when you upload it, the,the systems usually just
compress it for you now and,yeah, it just speeds.
Obviously it's important tokeep the speed of, uh, the, the
page loading, things like thatgoing.
(06:13):
So, yeah, it's, it's all it'sstuff which, unless you've been
through it, like we have it'speople just don't necessarily
realize what's involved.
Marc Smith (06:21):
Which, is yeah, yeah understandable oh yeah, so I
suppose let's get back to basics.
So do you even need a websiteto have a booking engine?
Um?
Bernard Hammick (06:31):
the simple answer is no.
Um, there are ways to directcustomers to the calendar and
booking form without having awebsite.
Um, in its basic form, a simplelink to the local parish
magazine would do, to be honest.
Um, alternatively, adding it toa facebook page will do.
Uh, you can just run the systembehind the scenes as well.
So if you don't want to allowyour customers to, say, make
(06:52):
bookings directly from thesystem, you can still take and
manage bookings over the phone.
Uh, either way, it's all aboutstreamlining the process for the
customer and the administrators.
Of course, um, they're all many.
Most of the time they'revolunteers.
Time is very precious, so, yeah, this is absolutely crucial.
Marc Smith (07:11):
Excellent.
So I suppose I would alwaysadvocate for having a website
because it's interesting to readabout village halls, so people
will you know, rather than justa link to a booking page, you
can actually learn about thevillage hall itself.
So I would I would encourageanyone to have a website.
So obviously we want to makethis easy for people.
So what is, what are the basicsto setting up a website?
Bernard Hammick (07:32):
yeah, absolutely.
I totally agree.
Um, I mean, nowadays, websitesreally are just so easy to set
up.
There are many free uhcompanies out there that are
offering free websites.
Obviously, they they'll mayhave paid advertising on there
which you can pay a small fee toremove, that sort of thing.
But you don't need to be techsavvy anymore, as there are
(07:53):
companies like yourselves outthere who are offering websites
at affordable prices.
It depends on what you want.
If you have somebody in theteam who can happily manage the
website for you, then that'seasy enough to do.
Or if you're not too sure, thenyou get a professional like
yourself or a similar company toactually set it up for you.
(08:16):
And it's the usual adage youget what you pay for.
If you've got somebody buildinga website for you, then
basically, then you're going toget all the help and advice,
what you pay for.
If you've got somebody buildinga website for you, then
basically, then, um, you knowyou're going to get all the help
and advice that you, that youmight not know about anyway so I
suppose, once you have thatthat website set up, and whether
the bookings are automated ormanual, so how can a village
(08:39):
hall make its website asuser-friendly as as possible?
yeah, sure, um, again, websitesdon't need to be large and
complicated.
Um, you know, we we often seewhere people are embedding our
booking system into theirwebsite.
Um, you've got great pages ofinformation and, uh, a lot of
(09:01):
the time it's about the historyof the of the venue, which is
facinating.
But, at the end of the day,what people are trying to do is
drive traffic or drive customersto the actual venue itself.
So a simple single page couldbe enough with basic information
about the venue, where it is,what it offers, how much it's
going to be to hire a particularroom, etc.
(09:23):
Then, as far as we believe,it's very much about getting a
call to action on the page soview availability here or book
your event here, these sorts ofthings.
Generally, people visitingwebsites, particularly for a
venue, they know what they'relooking for.
They know their local venue,probably already.
(09:44):
They may have even had an eventthere themselves, um, and they
just want to go and, um, uh,just book it or see what's, or
even see, just see what's goingon.
So often we see out of date,clunky websites with just loads
of text and it's just veryoverwhelming and as interesting
as it is about the history ofthe venue.
Perhaps the main thing,initially, is to let them know
(10:05):
that you're open for business.
Um, as I mentioned just now,having the site also, uh, having
it responsive will will meanthat they get the best
experience too.
Marc Smith (10:14):
So, uh, that that's absolutely crucial so I suppose
for people who don't know,responsive would be it works on
any device really, so it resizesitself for any device.
Yeah, exactly.
Bernard Hammick (10:26):
It just means that the pages and content will
resize according to the actualdevice and browser that's being
used.
So many people are using theirphones to do everything.
It's absolutely crucial thatthe way it displays on their
phone is clear and easy to read,and again, that's exactly where
people like yourself come in umand uh other other, uh
(10:49):
organized, you know othercompanies that sell websites.
If they're looking, make surethat they offer a fully mobile,
mobile responsive site.
It's absolutely crucial really,is now would I have.
Marc Smith (11:03):
Maybe I was dreaming but back, say like just 10
years ago, what was it used tobe?
Would there be a site fordesktop, then a site for mobile?
I'm sure I had one that hadlike m dot and then my business
name.
Bernard Hammick (11:16):
Yes, absolutely yeah, definitely, I mean it's
that's all done with the codingnow.
So it depends on that.
You know this, the uh, the, theuh device that they're using,
uh, the.
The website should pick up whatdevice they're using and show
the content accordingly.
But you're right, um, there wassome very uh, very basic, um,
(11:37):
almost uh app like websitesbuilt, but that was a real pain
actually, because you end uphaving to to have two websites
for your, for your uh, yourparticular venue.
Yeah, so yeah, and managingcontent for one can be enough,
but having it for two and makingsure that it's consistent is,
is was quite difficult.
But yeah, you're right, I'veactually forgotten about those.
Marc Smith (12:00):
We must block it out .
But that's good, because it'sjust keeping it as simple as
possible.
There's no possible, there's nolonger that necessity to have
it.
It just works it out itself.
So you don't have to worryabout catering for everyone,
because that one website will doit all itself.
Exactly, exactly, yeah.
So I suppose a lot of hallswon't have IT experts in their
(12:21):
committees, or maybe even intheir villages.
So what are?
Some simple steps to getstarted with the Hallmaster
Online Booking System.
Bernard Hammick (12:29):
Well, um, yeah, I well, number one is contact
us.
I mean, we've, as you saidearlier on, we've, you know, got
over 14 years of experiencewith literally thousands of
venues across the uk.
Uh, and I think those days, orthe idea or concept of having to
have an it guru or it expert onthe committee is potentially a
(12:52):
thing of the past.
Um, yes, you might wantsomebody who's a bit tech savvy,
but I always liken it to and weused to hear this all the time
and I used to liken it to so, inother words, to use the booking
system in a similar way islikening it to.
You don't need to be a mechanicto drive a car.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, you don't necessarilyhave to understand every nut and
(13:17):
bolt within the actual bookingsystem.
Your job as an administrator isto take and manage the bookings
and making sure that they areinvoiced and that you've got the
money for them.
That that's it.
Um, but that's where a systemlike ours will come in.
But as far as having an itexpert is concerned, I mean, we,
we used to hear it a lot um, inthe early days of of committees
(13:39):
saying, oh, it's not for us.
And we, you know, we, it's,it's too clever and it's too
sophisticated, or we haven't gotanybody.
Uh, and my comment was well,find somebody, um, and and
generally, what we used to seetime and time again is we'd have
young people in their sort ofteens would suddenly join a
(14:01):
committee for the village hall.
They'd actually become acommittee member and they would
be the person in charge of theIT, whether it's the Facebook
page or social media or thewebsite.
So, give them a chance.
I mean, they're the ones whoknow, um, probably more than
more than anybody else.
So, uh, just invite somebody onboard to to come and join and
(14:21):
help out yeah, yeah, that'sexcellent that.
Marc Smith (14:25):
So I suppose the the people on the, on the committee
they would just set up to saysay you had.
Well, our local village hallhas a main, the main building,
and it has a part on the side aswell that you can hire
separately.
So I take it inside.
Well, I suppose any onlinebooking system, not just
Hallmaster, you can havedifferent prices for different
areas of the hall and I supposeand for different you could have
(14:48):
a charity event could be acheaper price.
Do you have that flexibility?
Bernard Hammick (14:56):
Yeah, very much so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, verymuch so, Marc.
I mean, um, that's somethingwhich was very apparent right
from the early days.
That um, the system needs to beincredibly flexible.
Uh, again, if it's a not abespoke system um which, let's
face, it, would cost you tens ofthousands of pounds to produce
um, then the system you're goingto use needs to be flexible
(15:17):
enough to be able to managethose sorts of things.
So, consequently, we see somany complex structures, if you
like, or pricing structures.
We've got one venue that usesone rate and it's the same rate
per hour.
It doesn't matter what time ofday or night it is, it doesn't
matter what day of the week itis, it doesn't matter if you're
(15:38):
local or not local, that's it.
And then we've got anothercustomer that has over 200 rates
.
How they deal with that is upto them, but the system
definitely manages it.
And then, of course, you canput in conditional rates.
So if you've got a special ratefor Fred who, so if you've got a
special rate for you know Fred,who's always used the main hall
on a Sunday for such and such arate, you know you can set that
(16:00):
up and the system will work outhow much time those customers
have had and calculate it foryou automatically.
I mean literally.
With our bulk invoicing, forexample, it takes seconds
literally to do the monthlyinvoicing and it's all very
accurate as well.
It doesn't miss out that theymay have hired some tables and
(16:22):
chairs or had, you know, 10 cupsof tea or whatever it is yeah,
yes, that's absolutely crucial.
Marc Smith (16:27):
Having flexibility for the way you charge at your
venue is is critical really yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned
the invoice there because youintegrate with um like
accounting software.
Uh, so like I think, whensomeone books, does it talk back
and forward to the accountingsoftware, or do you have to?
How does it work when someone?
Bernard Hammick (16:49):
books, the hall .
How is?
Marc Smith (16:50):
it invoiced absolutely so.
Bernard Hammick (16:52):
So, just before that is, you've got sort of
payment integration so you canstart to take payments from your
customers.
They can pay you directly.
So it's starting to get thestage where you can be sort of
semi-autonomous, if you like,yeah, um, and then you can set
things up so that it willconfirm their booking
automatically, it'll issue areceipt, it'll update their
invoices, paid, those sorts ofthings, and again, we don't
(17:18):
charge any transaction fees orcommission on any things like
that.
So it does make it veryaffordable for venues to do that
.
But just moving on to yourpoint about accounting software,
so there are loads out there.
You know there's Xero,quickbooks, sage, Freeagent I
mean, the list goes on.
Uh, for example, we integratewith, with a lot of the sort of
(17:38):
major ones, um, in two ways.
You can do it either justdownload a, a list of invoices
into a spreadsheet and importthem manually.
Uh, alternatively, there are uhlinks or apis, a bit like bank
feeds, where hallmaster canspeak to your your particular
bank, I'm sorry, your accountingsystem, yeah and um.
(18:02):
So when you create an invoicein hallmaster, it automatically
generates it in quickbooks orsage, etc.
So there's there'spossibilities for that as well,
uh, there's always going to be alevel of of manual uh input as
well.
Marc Smith (18:18):
Anyway, actually, I don't think that's a bad thing,
um, because I think it justmakes sure you keep on the ball
with things, really oh yeah, andthat will make it easier at the
end of your financial yearbecause you can just, I know
with I use zero for my businessand I just say there you go as
long as you've reconciledeverything you you go.
Bernard Hammick (18:36):
This is now your problem.
Marc Smith (18:37):
It's all done.
Bernard Hammick (18:38):
Exactly, yeah, and that's another thing which
you know like with us is we do asort of raft of different
reports so you can report, youknow, you can find out if who's
owing you, who's late withpaying, all those sorts of
things which obviously you cando with accounting software too,
but this because itintrinsically links to their
bookings.
It's really accurate, and so,yeah, those sorts of things With
(19:03):
reports you can check onoccupancy, who's bringing what
money, and so on and so on.
The list goes on.
Really, you can get all sortsof information from the system.
Marc Smith (19:14):
Yeah, because visibility is key.
You you understand how thehall's been performing,
Especially if you have it overthe course of, say, two or three
years, then you really haveyear-on-year data to look at to
know if this year was busy, whywas that?
If this year wasn't busy, youcan probably maybe figure out
why it wasn't.
Bernard Hammick (19:31):
Absolutely.
Yes, I mean obviously withlockdown.
Lockdown that changed things alot.
But, yes, you can see trends ofoccupancy, types of booking.
So uh, one that we we've hadfeedback a few times from is
venues say, well, we didn'trealize.
Actually we've taken uh eightbookings for weddings this year
and it's brought us in moremoney than it has for all the
(19:51):
pilates classes and kids, kidsparties.
So you know, all of a suddenthey think, well, okay, we're,
we're obviously a good locationfor weddings.
Let's concentrate on that.
Uh, obviously there's a balanceof making sure you still um
supply and support the localcommunity yeah, oh yeah, I want
to just completely, uh, stopthings.
But it does give you anindication of of uh, you know
(20:12):
what's being used as well.
So you know people might not beusing the tables and chairs
because they're old, but uh, youknow, might think you might
take a an opinion on that and,um, because you can see it from
from the actual income uh reportitself I see that's really
interesting.
Marc Smith (20:30):
Now I'm going to try and not go down a rabbit hole.
Just now, however, I was onyour website and I was reviewing
everything, and then I lookedin the integration section and I
saw this is a love of mine aheating integration and a remote
locking integration.
So what I think is amazing isthat so if someone books on the
(20:51):
system, it can turn the heatingon automatically.
So say, I take it.
You can say, an hour before thebooking is due, turn the
heating on to 21 degrees so it'snice and ready for people to
turn up.
Is that how it works?
I hope that's how it works.
Bernard Hammick (21:06):
That's exactly how it works.
Yeah, that is amazing.
Again, we've teamed up with acouple of companies and so they
deal with all the sort ofinstallation and hardware.
If you've got your own heatingengineer, then you can obviously
use them, but essentially theysupply a thermostat and a hub
(21:28):
which connects to Hallmaster.
Essentially, they still can goin, of, of course, and override
everything manually if they needto.
But, uh, essentially, you'reabsolutely right.
So they can set up differentrooms or different zones, so you
might have two rooms in zoneone and so on.
Uh, that that's all down to theconfiguration by the actual uh
(21:49):
heating company themselves.
Uh, but, yes, we, we, you'reabsolutely right.
So when someone books, um, theymight have a, say, a pilates
class at seven o'clock on atuesday evening and they want it
at 19 degrees.
So the system will instruct theheating to come on at the
relevant time to get it up totemperature for that particular
(22:10):
booking, and then, uh, it'll,it'll just switch it off, off,
or it'll change to thetemperature for the next event.
And again, yes, that's all donein the background and just
ticks over in the background andjust makes sure that the
heating is running efficiently.
The person who's running theactual hall doesn't have to
(22:32):
worry.
Oh, have they left the heatingon or whatever.
They can do it remotely orHallmaster will have done it for
them automatically.
Marc Smith (22:39):
So yes, that's absolutely right yeah, because
it's not relying on a person toturn up.
So, say, it is seven o'clock atnight and the person who
manages the hall is, say,leaving at three o'clock.
They would just put the heatingon then normally, so it's up to
temperature.
But now, using a heatingintegration, it can do it, you
know, automatically.
So you don't have to rely onsomeone being in the village at
(22:59):
that time to do it or asking fora favor to do it.
Plus, it must save an absolutefortune, absolutely.
Bernard Hammick (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, correct, that's right, Marc.
I mean, it's something which webrought in, you know, a few
years back, probably two orthree years ago now, I guess,
and it was very much at some ofthe seminars and events I'd go
around.
It was other guest speakerswere talking about energy and
saving, you know, cost of energyand cost of fuel and all this
(23:27):
sort of stuff, and this justplayed into that.
Uh, really well, um, thatpeople, uh, as you quite rightly
say, weren't having to turn upin the middle of winter to
switch the heating on or, moreimportantly, off, because
they've decided that the lastperson who's left hasn't
switched it off, for example soyes, that's all uh, available
now.
Marc Smith (23:48):
So, and that's also the same for remote lock.
Now, I was looking into thisfor the house, but I have I have
a door that you have to lift upthe latch to make it lock.
Okay, I don't think it wouldwork.
However, so your remote lockingsystem so when someone books,
not only is it warm, they can.
I think this is amazing, thatyou just you can the person can
turn up and they'll be given, Iassume, a key code or a a unique
(24:10):
code to them that they can'tpass on, that only maybe have
one use or two uses, that theycan go into the hall and then,
once they lock it, that thatcode is disabled.
I presume.
Bernard Hammick (24:20):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And again, you can havedifferent zones, so it might be
the front door or it might be acode for the room one or hall
two or whatever.
So that's exactly right.
So, in a similar way, it speaksto Remote Lock, who we have
partnered with, and again theycan help with regards to what
(24:40):
your requirements are.
So if you are changing fromjust a stable door latch for
keeping your doors shut and wantsomething a bit more secure,
then yeah, they'll definitelyhelp you with that.
Again, our system integratesseamlessly really with that, so
that at a given when the bookingis made, a unique PIN number is
(25:04):
created and that's then emailedautomatically to the customer
or the person using the actualvenue to say, when your booking
starts, you'll be able to accessthe room using this code and
then, when they leave, theywon't be able to get back in
again.
That's it.
Marc Smith (25:25):
Now I suppose a lot of listeners will think that
sounds extremely complicated,but it's not really, is it.
Once it's set up, it just works.
That's the great thing aboutthis stuff.
Bernard Hammick (25:34):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
I think it's the same about allof these things.
Everything we've discussed sofar today is all about that.
I think a lot of people get abit concerned or bogged down
with the idea that it's going totake up a load of resources,
and of course there is a bit ofa learning curve, but generally
speaking, it does take time justto set these up.
(25:55):
In the same way, let's say, youget a brand new TV tv.
It's got bells and whistles,and it's got this and it's got
that, and you think, well, Ijust want to watch.
you know, bbc one, bbc two yeah,yeah and a couple of other
channels, and then you prettywell stick at that.
Um, it's got the flexibility todo all of that, but you don't
doesn't mean you have to use allof those things, so yeah, and
(26:17):
that's again where we come inwith the training that we offer
as well, which is all free.
We can just go through someone'saccount with them, make sure
they know what they're doing andto get the best sort of
streamlined workflow out of it,and then it's over to them.
They can just go about theirday-to-day business of running
(26:39):
the venue.
That's, that's what their jobis.
At the end of the day.
Their job is not having to getbogged down in it, the.
It should be, uh, you know, thethe thing that's working for
them, not the other way aroundyeah, excellent.
Marc Smith (26:53):
No, I I could.
Uh, I have to restrict myselfto what I, because I could talk
all day about tech.
So, uh, I think I'll ask onefinal question, because I could
go on forever.
So what advice would you havefor village hall committees that
are hesitant to go?
Just to go digital, just to getstarted on this digital journey
(27:13):
?
Bernard Hammick (27:14):
Yeah, I think don't hesitate is number one
thing.
You're definitely missing outnow, I think if you're not sort
of at least looking into thisside of things, I mean, you
won't only just be savingvaluable time, but generating
more income.
There are enough issues withattracting people and getting
(27:36):
revenue.
Funding is virtuallynon-existent now, and that's
something again which we sawmany years ago.
Funding was pulled from villagehalls and the like, so people
were sort of panicking, thinkingwhat do we do?
Well, one of the solutions isto get online.
(27:56):
Certainly, that's where peopleare looking.
People's booking habits havedefinitely changed.
Um, as you know, we can buypizza or airplane flights or
whatever you want.
So booking a village hall is isanother thing which people will
not only want, they wouldexpect to be able to do at the
very basics, um, so you knowthat they have, unfortunately,
(28:21):
also, as a side side thing,they've also become impatient,
uh, so you only have a briefmoment to get their attention
really.
So it's important that if youdo have even if you do have a
website at the moment, uh, ifthe site looks old or out of
date or not easy to use, theninevitably they're going to go
to a venue that is up to dateand they'll probably give them
(28:42):
their business instead.
So digital tools now mean thatbooking and invoicing processes
isn't restricted to just oneperson, for example.
So if someone is ill or away,someone else can pick up the
reins and carry on whereeverything's been left off.
Someone else can pick up thereins and carry on where
everything's been left off.
So it'll free up valuable timeand generally it'll just bring
(29:06):
the administration communitytogether and things like double
bookings are a thing of the past.
As far as we're concerned.
We did a data import for acustomer and discovered that
they'd actually got two weddingson the same day or not the same
couple either, and discoveredthat they'd actually got two
weddings on the same day or notthe same couple either.
So, um, stuff like that is isyou know, we luckily we just
don't hear that anymore um, butit is is stuff like that which
(29:28):
could easily slip through thenet.
So I think it's just do yourbest.
Uh, find, if you can't do it ordon't want to do it, doesn't
mean to say you shouldn't do it.
Find somebody who is is able tohelp.
There are plenty of companies.
There are businesses out hereable and happy to give free
advice.
Just a bit of research.
(29:48):
Just phone somebody out, phoneus up.
You know we're happy just tohave a free chat about the way
forwards.
Whether it's with us orsomebody else, we don't really
mind.
I think it's with us orsomebody else, we don't really
mind.
I think it's just importantthat people understand that they
could be getting so much moreout of their venue and out of
the website as well.
Marc Smith (30:08):
Yeah, well, it's certainly a good time to be
entering the digital worldbecause everything you know, as
you say, the double bookingsmultiple people can use it.
I was just going to mention theold pop email system where one
person read it on one device andit disappeared from other it.
I was just going to mention theold pop email system where one
person read it on one device andit disappeared from other
devices.
A thing of the well, I supposeit's still an option, but it's a
thing of the past really.
So, yeah, it's a great time tobe entering this world.
It really is.
Bernard Hammick (30:27):
yes, If you embrace it or have a go.
As I said, you don't have tobecome an IT expert or guru, but
I mean the majority of people.
We still get people say, oh,I'm too old.
Marc Smith (30:41):
Well, I think our oldest member is 92, so I think
it's just a mindset thing reallywell, it just so happens that
we have our own shiny newwebsite here at the Village
Halls podcast, so it would begreat if you could jump on there
and give us a follow so you canlisten to the back here at the
Village Halls podcast.
So it'd be great if you couldjump on there and give us a
follow, for so you can listen tothe back catalogue of the
(31:03):
podcast and any future podcastsas well.
And on for this podcast I willhave a link to the Hallmaster
website and the small.
They've got a videodemonstration of the system.
You can view that on theirwebsite, but I'll also put it on
the Village Halls podcastwebsite as well, just so it
makes it nice and easy foreverybody.
So thank you very much for yourtime today, bernard.
(31:24):
It's been fascinating to hearwhat you've done for Village
Halls over the past 15 years and, I suppose, hopefully another
15 years more to come.
So thank you very much for yourtime.
Bernard Hammick (31:34):
Thank you, Marc .
It's been a great pleasure, andthank you to all the listeners
as well, and I hope to speak toyou sometime soon.
Yeah, definitely.
Marc Smith (31:44):
Cheers now.
Many thanks to our headlinesponsor and specialist insurance
provider, allied Westminster,for making our podcast possible
and whose services you candiscover more about at
villageguardcom, and to onlinebooking system provider
Hallmaster, who also sponsor ourpodcast and can be found at
hallmastercom.
And to online booking systemprovider Hallmaster, who also
sponsor our podcast and can befound at hallmastercouk.
You've been listening to theVillage Halls Podcast, a unique
(32:07):
listening community forBritain's village community and
church halls and anyoneinterested in the vital
community services they provide.
We'll be back again soon withanother episode.
For more information, pleasevisit thevillagehallspodcastcom,
where you'll also they provide.
We will be back again soon withanother episode.
For more information, pleasevisit thevillagehallspodcastcom,
where you will also find linksto our social media pages.
Thanks again for listening inand until the next time.
(32:28):
Goodbye for now.
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