Create your workspace

This page walks you through your very first few minutes in Herding Cats: making an account, telling us about your company, and getting to your dashboard. It takes about five minutes. You do not need to prepare anything first.

Before you start

There is no password to invent. Herding Cats emails you a six-digit code instead. So all you need is an email address you can open right now.

Use your work email if you have one. That is the address your team will look for you under later.

Sign up

  1. Go to the sign-up page

    Open the Herding Cats website and choose to start a workspace. The page is headed Start your season.

  2. Fill in the four boxes

    Type your Company name (the touring company you run), your First name, your Last name, and your Work email.

    Do not worry about getting the company name perfect. You can change it later.

  3. Press Create my workspace

    The button reads Create my workspace. It changes to Sending code… while it works.

  4. Open your email and find the code

    The screen now says Check your email. We have sent a six-digit code to the address you typed.

    Type the six digits into the box labeled Verification code, then press Verify & create workspace.

No code in your inbox?

Check your junk or spam folder first. If it is really not there, press Resend code on that same screen. If it still does not arrive, email MeowCaniHelpYou@tryherdingcats.com and a real person will sort it out.

Already have a workspace?

If that email address already belongs to a company on Herding Cats, you will see This email already has a workspace instead. We do not make a second one. Press Go to your dashboard and carry on where you left off.

Tell us about your company

Once your code is accepted, you land on a single screen headed Set up your company. It is one short form — there are no pages to click through.

  1. Check the competition name

    The first box is Competition name. It is already filled in with what you typed at sign-up. This is the name your team and your staff will see, so make it the one people actually use.

  2. Add the rest, if you have it handy

    Fill in Legal name, Website, Business address, and Phone. None of these are required. Skip anything you do not have in front of you.

    The Business address box suggests real addresses as you type, so pick yours from the list rather than typing the whole thing.

  3. Pick your brand color

    Brand color sets the color used on your invitation emails and on the buttons your staff see in their portal. Choose the color your company already uses.

  4. Press Complete setup

    That saves everything and takes you straight to your dashboard.

You can change all of this later

Everything on this screen lives in Company settings afterwards. Nothing here is locked in.

Landing on your dashboard

Your dashboard is the home page of Herding Cats. The heading at the top is your company’s own name.

Down the left side is your menu: Dashboard, Events, Staff, Travel, Company, and Approvals. If your plan includes optional modules, they appear below those in their own group headed Add-ons.

The big card near the top is your setup hub. It has five numbered steps:

  1. Company profile
  2. Invite your team
  3. Add your staff
  4. Venues & hotels
  5. Build your season

You can do them in any order, and you can skip any of them. Each step shows a small chip telling you where it stands: To do, In progress, Done, Skipped, or From docs.

The shortcut most people miss

You do not have to work through those five steps by hand. Drag your old files onto that card — schedules, staff rosters, hotel contracts, rooming lists, in almost any format — and Herding Cats works out what each file is and ticks the steps off for you. There is an Import documents button on the card too.

You do not need to sort or rename the files first.

Below the setup hub you will find Upcoming Events, and on the right Recent activity. Both are empty on day one. They fill up as you add events and your team starts working.

Signing in from now on

Go to the log-in page. It is headed Welcome back.

There are two ways in, shown as two tabs:

  • Password — if you have set one up.
  • Email code — type your email, press Send verification code, then type the six digits into Verification code and press Verify & sign in.

Either one gets you to the same place.

What to do next

Previous Getting started Next Set up your first event