Most Innovative People in Events 2020: Jordan Kentris

The Basics: Jordan Kentris is the owner and creative director of stationery and invitation design company A Good Day Inc., a Toronto-based design firm that specializes in avant-garde event stationery made from unconventional materials. He got his start in the advertising industry as a web designer and developer before falling in love with the world of invitation design after working on his brother’s wedding. “It was a project that got me hooked into the world of events,” Kentris explains. “Six years later, we've worked with couples and businesses all around the world, constantly pushing ourselves and enhancing the guest experience at each touchpoint.”

For a micro-wedding this past summer, Kentris and his team created a three-layer, die-cut menu that was personalized for each guest. It featured a fan-like design that unfolded to expand on each course of the meal.Photo: Courtesy of Luminous Weddings2020 Highlight Reel: While Kentris has often leaned on his developer background to offer webpage design services for clients, those skills became particularly crucial in 2020, when the majority of his design work was postponed. “I spent a couple of months just realigning to my goals and relaunching the business to merge my two worlds of stationery and branding with user experience design,” he says.

In May, Kentris debuted an end-to-end customer support system, which has ultimately led to 1,000% growth over last year’s sales. His goal was to transform the guest experience from before an attendee receives an invitation to after the event itself—finding online and offline touchpoints to keep them excited about, talking about, and sharing the event. “The shift to virtual events has been painful—and eye-opening—as the majority of them are very passive,” Kentris notes. “We respond or sign up, then we wait days or weeks. Sometimes we forget; sometimes we can't make it; sometimes we’re no longer interested. The time between is such an interesting space to work towards and fill.”

He has developed a proprietary guest-management system that allows guests to RSVP and check-in for events, and that also provides guest tracking and the ability to easily follow up with all invitees. He has also begun building customized event websites that can host livestreams and allow for a digital guest book, as well as creating matching digital invitations. His current project? Working to expand the platform to include gamification by essentially rewarding people who attend multiple events.

Kentris says that, for him, the highlight of the year has been seeing the event industry come together to support each other during the pandemic. For his part, he’s provided free homepage audits for more than 150 businesses.

Event Philosophy: “Create wonder and curiosity in your events,” Kentris says. “I strive to create those feelings in my work and the events I contribute to, trying to take something conventional and putting a unique spin on it or having it serve another purpose.”

Goals for the Future: “I'm looking forward to continuing working with our amazing clients to transform their events and branding,” he says. “Our guest management platform is being validated with clients and their guests constantly, and we are building an extensive roadmap to accommodate the growing needs of virtual events.”

Back to the Most Innovative People in Events 2020 list, sponsored by Pathable