MyPunchbowl

Event planning service MyPunchbowl has added trip planning features from Kayak today. This is pretty darn innovative - I am not sure I've seen any othe event planning service offer trip planning. While my guess is that most events are local, having the ability to find air, car and hotel for a trip to an event is smart. The feature is named, "Travel Center" and is an option that event planners can select. While no mention of revenue sharing was noted, I am assuming that MyPunchbowl will share in the commissions that Kayak generates.

What would be great is if the event planner can select the recommended airline, or hotel to their attendees.

Boston-based MyPunchbowl is launching two new features that founder and CEO Matt Douglas says their users have been asking for. The first new feature is a Facebook game called Hangover. From what I can tell, it's some sort of card game with a hunt for additional cards which get you points and then you get hungover. Here is the install page if you want to start looking for cards.

The other feature looks like the Facebook news feed and shows you real-time activity around your party or event. Douglas says RSS feeds, SMS notifications and IM messaging are coming in the next weeks. As a party host or planner, it can be difficult to keep up with what's going on - from invites sent, to invites accepted to event questions to BYOB status. This new Buzz feature is meant to help making things smoother for the event planner or host.

Check out our previous MyPunchbowl coverage including our interview with Douglas. Here is a sample of what the Buzz feature looks like:

We've written about party planning tool MyPunchbowl several times before including their relaunch last November. I had a chance to speak with Matt about two announcements the company is making today. The announcements are: a new partnership with 1-800-Flowers on a new site called Celebrations and "Share on Facebook" functionality. Check out the details on both on the Mypunchbowl blog.

MyPunchbowl is creating an end-to-end party planning tool rather than just an invite service such as eVite. He went on to say that their tool "helps the host look good". They are working on finishing the complete loop for party planning. It'd be great to have a service that can not only help you schedule the party but make sure everything you need is ready including location advice and rentals where needed.

Competitors to MyPunchbowl include Socializr and Renkoo (our Renkoo coverage). Matt notes that MyPunchbowl is much larger than both competitors using analytics charts from Compete (Compete is down so I can't embed a chart unfortunately).

The team is located in Boston and has 4 full-time employees and 5 contractors. All development is done inhouse.

What service do you use for event planning? My sister uses evite for everything, I haven't had many events to plan.

Party planning service MyPunchbowl is announcing their new release of the service today. I had a chance to speak with CEO Matt Douglas in Boston this past weekend and his overview video is below (sorry about the lighting!). We've reviewed MyPunchbowl in the past and find that it's what Evite should have evolved to in 2007.

Here are the new features Matt sent over:

• New visual design throughout the entire site presents a tabbed layout for easy navigation and an attractive new layout for guest view
• Party theme selector enables users to select templates by category, subcategory, search terms, and even color
• New online invitation templates for Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years Eve, and other winter holidays
• Party theme selector provides a full-screen preview of the Save the Date or online
• Invitation, including information input by the host
• Party planning ideas & advice by party expert “Penelope Plans” is now integrated into MyPunchbowl.com
• New email import including .CSV and others to quickly create a guest list
• Flexible display enables the user to show or hide the on-page help system

Come inside for the screenshots and video »

An article this evening got me thinking back to how I researched the companies I interviewed with 13 years ago. It was the Big 6 accounting firms then (what is it now Big 2?) and research was via SEC lookups and hard copy annual report reviews. You see, when you interview at a large accounting firm, you best be ready to discuss not only their annual reports but their clients' reports as well. I can only imagine how much easier it is for accounting students today.

Fast forward to today. Going on an interview? Check out the interviewers Facebook, Twitter, blog, MySpace, and review what others think of him or her. Of course you will have found the job on the CenterNetworks Job Board. :)

MyPunchBowl CEO Matt Douglas has an excellent article about preparing for an interview and how to handle research in today's Web 2.0 market. A snippet:

One thing I’ve been struck with are the vast differences between those who prepare for an interview and those who don’t. Here’s some advice that I gave a college-age person yesterday (she was interviewing for a college intern position). Before you interview, learn about the person that is going to interview you. With all of the resources of the web, you can find out a lot about me pretty quickly; where I’ve worked, my professional experience etc. But more importantly, you can find out personal things about me. What makes me tick? Do we share the same interests? Do we know anyone or anything in common? These are critical things to learn BEFORE the interview so that you can not only make small talk but you can “get inside my head.”

In my past roles where I was responsible for hiring, the people who got the job were the ones who were prepared. I can teach someone Rails or SEO, but I can't teach someone the instinct to be ready. So be ready, there's absolutely no reason when the Internet does all the work for you. And for the hiring manager, review this essay on hiring by Marc Andressen.

Punchbowl Software, makers of MyPunchBowl party planning tool have secured a round of vc funding led by Intel Capital. Check out the full details on the MyPunchBowl blog.

"Intel Capital, with its recent emphasis on early-stage consumer internet investing, is the perfect investor to help fuel our rapid growth," said Matt Douglas, founder, Punchbowl Software. "This funding will allow us to capitalize on numerous opportunities available in the market."

"The event-planning market is substantial and enjoys viral growth dynamics," said Lucy McQuilken, investment manager, Intel Capital. "Punchbowl is well positioned to take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies and become one of the leaders in this market segment."

The amount of the round was not disclosed. MyPunchBowl recently launched a major upgrade and a Facebook app called Party Animal.

MyPunchbowl (MPB) is an innovative way to plan a party. Check out the reviews on Webware and Mashable along with a video screencast from Screeniac. They have launched a few new/updated features today along with a Facebook application.

The new features include: a "party checklist" which allows a party host to create lists of items for attendees to bring with them. The attendees can check which items they will bring and the host can also prioritize which items are of greater need. Somehow I bet "beer" and "vodka" will appear at the top of many lists.

The other features are more utility-based: unlimited co-hosts, party duplication and e-mail bounce notification. This last one is important as if you incorrectly enter a person's email address, they might not show up and it will be egg on your face!

MyPunchbowl is also launching a Facebook application today. Their blog notes, 'The new application "Party Animal" offers a fun new way to tell your friends how they act at a party. Facebook users can vote for their friends, choosing between personalities such as "Drunken Pig" and "Lone Wolf." Facebook users can also unlock bonus animals by creating a MyPunchbowl.com account. Bonus animals include celebrity personalities such as "Paris Hilton" and "Snoop Dogg" and creative party animals such as a "Social Butterfly" and "Party Pooper."' A screenshot of Party Animal is below.

I wonder what personality I am at a party! It looks like a fun app that can draw users back to MPB to plan their own parties.