How Online Registration Saves 55% Time

 

In Meeting Planners International Future Watch survey, event organisers positioned Workload as the number one issue impacting their job and industry. Overworked and underpaid could not be a more appropriate way to describe event organisers today juggling location logistics, hotels, catering, agendas, marketing and the many other details relating to registering people to their events.

Please find below ways in which event organisers are reducing their workload by 50% by using online registration and why online registration is the fastest growing solution in event organising today.

According to industry expert Corbin Ball, 80% of event organisers are really being disadvantaged by managing their registrations using paper, spreadsheets and home-grown systems. They are missing out on cutting their workload in half because they are not using an online registration system. In a recent survey, 342 event organisers estimated their workload was reduced by 55% on average after switching to an online event registration system.

A good online registration system eliminates a lot of work by automating tasks that event organisers used to do manually, like data entry, reporting, mailing and payment processing work. Below are seven ways a good online registration system can cut an event organisers workload in half.

Reduce data entry work

If you are using paper registrations or web forms that get emailed to you, then you have data entry or transfer issues which becomes a time consuming process that leaves you struggling with illegible handwriting and correcting wrong information. An online registration system takes the registration data right from the online form, stores it in an online database where you can access any delegates information at anytime and runs an unlimited number of reports with a click of a button.

Reduce accounting work

Collecting payments from those who have forgotten to pay is an ongoing issue before, during and after events, turning into too many mailers, phone calls and keeping up-to date on your accounts receivable tracking. An online system automatically accounts for who owes what and produces reports where you can email personalised letters with amounts due at just a click of a button.

Reduce mailing work

When someone registers using paper or a web form, your manual work has just begun i.e. printing, copying, folding, mailing, emailing etc. An online system will eliminate these time-consuming activities by automatically emailing everyone when they register with their receipt, invoice and event materials. It also makes reminders a breeze when you can email everyone with a click of a button.

Reduce reporting work

If you use Excel spreadsheets or home-grown databases to organise your data, then
you have the ongoing task of transferring and compiling data to get the totals you need for your event. An online registration system will automatically compile and tally all of your data for you in real-time. With a click of the button you can run summary reports that tell you how many people are attending, how much they paid, and what dietary requirements you need to order. You can also give links to these reports to your clients or vendors so they can get up to the-minute information without you having to send updates.

Reduce credit card & payment processing work

Accepting credit cards and other payments is a manual processing, with data entry, wrong credit card numbers, declined cards and accounting complexities. Or you just accept cheques taking longer to collect money. An online system will eliminate these extra steps with real-time credit card processing and built-in automated accounting doing the job the moment someone registers.

Reduce delegate changes

Delegate changes and cancellations are a necessary part of registration, creating many calls and email requests that interrupt you at your busiest time, right before the event! With an online system, delegates can go online and make their own changes and cancellations without ever having to bother you. You just get the email notification that it took place.

Reduce allocation management time

Managing allocations for events, breakout sessions and room blocks can be a time consuming and intensive task. A good registration system automatically manages allocations, waiting lists and automatically notifies your delegates when a place is not available.

An online event management system will not only save you time but will greatly reduce the errors and stress involved in organising a successful event.

Simon Young is an online event specialist MISSION event software Ltd, the leading European event management software company.

Simon.young@missioneventsoftware.eu

Web: http://event-master.com

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Event Marketing And Management

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Latest Social Media Solution for event organisers http://ping.fm/oLHfJ

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Ways Twitter Can Help Market An Event

Ways Twitter Can Help Market An Event

Here are my five ways:

1. Post updates about your event website/online registration
When you set up a Twitter account for your event, make sure to enter your event website into the URL section. Your website will be visible on your profile at all times. Keep your followers updated about changes, for example when you have added your event agenda to your website, or when the dates and times of tasks are due. Include relevant links (event website or online registration page) every time, so your followers can easily read and find such information

2. Offer special deals
A good way to create noise and buzz about your event

3. Ask for feedback and ideas from followers
Delegates appreciate knowing they have contributed to an event so they get the most benefit from paying to attend. Twitter is a great way to do this. You can also poll for answers to get feedback to help shape content

4. Post real content that is significant
Twitter provides ongoing information and it needs to be interesting and relevant for people to engage and be inspired. This will create discussion between you and your delegates who will look forward to your updates

5. Monitor your event using Twitter
Creating the buzz will invoke readership and responses by your followers. Twitter is about sharing and creating discussion, so make sure you keep track of what’s being said about your event and join in the conversation. It can be as simple as answering a question about a logisitc change such as letting users know about a workshop time change

http://ping.fm/Jbsm4

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First-of-its kind interactive smart phone application designed specifically for the Exhibition & Event Industry

First-of-its kind interactive smart phone application designed specifically for the Exhibition & Event Industry

Exhibitions and Events of any size can use the mobile service to benefit from our revenue sharing programme and there are many uniquely patented features, not found in any other available mobile/phone applications

FOR EXHIBIITION ORGANISERS: The Mobile Phone Service is not only designed for use at the exhibition or event but for communication with people 24/7/365 days a year. You will love the real time alerts feature that can send messages to users stored in the alerts section. The mobile service will work with any software and requires little work for the Organisers. The mobile service features an easy-to-use management tool

A great feature of the mobile service is that it costs nothing to use!

it can even make you money through low cost direct marketing that Exhibitors and Attendees will be happy to get

FOR THE EXHIBITORS: The mobile service is the best way to reach an audience. Exhibitors are seeking to attract. From low-cost interactive banner advertisements that can direct visitors to their stand to redeemable coupons that can create a busy stand, the mobile service delivers the only interactive advertisement of its kind

Promotion of new products, giveaways, special guests and drawings are attention-getters. It is an Exhibitor’s best friend helping to create a unique relationship with visitors through two way communication, scheduling meetings and marketing information, that used to be handed out is now downloaded and stored in the mobile service application and icarried home with the visitor!

Everyone benefits from the cost savings made on printing and saving the environment – helping everyone go GREEN

FOR THE EXHIBITION VISITORS: The mobile service enhances the exhibition experience beyond anything else available on a phone. Unique features that include linking you friends to each others schedule, interactive floor maps with routing to stands, social media interaction and the ability to download brochures from exhibitors so you don’t have to carry around bags of paper are just some of the features. Getting and staying organised and updated is easy. Its interactive capability allows you to create or update your schedule on the go and all of your exhibition information stays organised in one place

When you are not at the exhibition, the service still delivers, with local business providing free coupons that make the application purchase an ROI a 100 times over!

http://event-master.com

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Social Media for Event Planners

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New Social Media Service

Introducing Social Media services, with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn that complement REGIS, the leading online registration solution

Delegate Profiles:
Attendees personalise their profiles: photos, bios, tags, as well as links to all their other information on the web (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr).

Sponsorship Value:
Sponsors participate in the community as peers of the delegates, providing valuable, targeted, non-intrusive access to potential customers.

Registration:
Wiith REGIS your delegates become part of the community when they register.

Unique Communication Tools:
All social networks let users send messages, but we let them target conversations to those who share their interests

Mobile Interface:
Use your iPhone to access delegate profiles and photos, plus access your personal schedule of talks on the go.

Surveys and Polls:
Survey and poll your delegates. Questions can include embedded photos and videos. Includes reports and analysis.

Integrated Conference Calendar:
Green your meeting with on-line hand-outs and slide. See who is attending each talk and an integrated, per-session wiki allows attendees to suggest questions and share notes.

Recommendation Algorithms:
Finding the right people to meet is hard! We make it easy with advanced recommendation algorithms that pro-actively suggest good “matches”.

Host Tools and Customisation:
From the look and feel to custom questions, you control your event. Monitor your event community’s activity and health with up-to-the-minute metrics

http://event-master.com

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Connect with Event Planners

Looking to connect with Event Planners at Twitter: @simon_d_young — LinkedIn: http://ping.fm/UJAkX — Facebook: http://ping.fm/CctC4

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Benefits of Surveys to ROI

Surveys can measure and monitor the success of an event by gauging expectations, understanding participant reaction during the event and measuring the effectiveness of your message after the event is over

Before the Event
Enable specific speaker content
Measure ROI
Encourage delegate suggestions

During the Event
Engage delegates
create interest

After the Event
Gain delegate knowledge
Information for improvement
information for ROI

Why Survey?

 Events become more successful in terms of content and attendance

 Helps understand the delegates needs and expectations

 Understand why a delegate did not attend eg. venue choices, travel issues, event date and time

 Discover how delegates heard about an event, whether it was through an invitation, media, word of mouth. Use this information when creating future advertisement and promotion strategies

 Encourage participation and keep delegates involved and interested during the event

 Gather informaton on the event itself, industry, or delegate interests

 Creates dialogue between individuals, especially if your survey results were surprising or controversial

 Create interest for an upcoming event

 Corporate sponsors will pay for leads and data gained from surveys

 Assess an event’s strengths and weaknesses via post-event surveys

 Find out delegate`s likes and dislikes so you can plan for future content and quality

 Valuable marketing data provides knowledge on industry and customers

Conclusion

Surveys encourage participation and provide valuable feedback. Online surveys provide quick and easily ways of determining strengths and weaknesses of an event, both planning and execution. This helps ensure the success of an event

http://event-master.com

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9 Registration Form Ideas

Have you ever registered or attempted to register to an event and spent half an hour trying to figure out what you needed to do?

Or have you used an online registration form that lost your data or was so complicated that it seemed like more work than faxing the form?

When used properly, online registration is an extremely powerful tool that makes registration easy for event participants. If not used correctly, event participants can be left extremely frustrated and in some cases reluctant to attend the event

We have put together a list of nine design ideas to help you create user friendly registration forms and give your event participants a positive registration experience

1. Make the registration form easy to access
Make the link to the online registration form very obvious. Event participants may not be familiar with your website and will become frustrated if they have to look for the registration form. If you are sending a URL (web address) in printed material make the address as simple as possible so participants aren’t entering a long string of characters. Also, only put a registration form in a password protected part of your website when absolutely necessary. People often forget their passwords, which will cause more frustration and possibly generate calls and emails to the event planner

2. Make your form familiar and secure
Event participants need to be reassured that their data is secure. A good way to do this is to brand the online form to match your website. This way, the transition to the online from is seamless and event participants will remain comfortable with the process. Also, make sure that appropriate security icons such as the lock symbol in your browser appear when collecting credit card numbers

3. Make the registration form clear and easy to use
A well laid out and visually appealing registration form encourages event participants to register. On the form, keep text to a minimum and make it clear what you want participants to do. Use logic to guide participants through the form and give warnings if something is wrong

4. Have appropriate payment options
If you have a fee associated with your event, make sure the payment methods you offer are appropriate for the people registering. For example, large companies may require an invoice before a cheque can be issued and some groups of people may not have credit cards

5. Display your privacy policy
Many people are concerned about who will have access to their information and how it will be used. Make sure you have a privacy statement available on the online form to reassure participants that you are protecting their information

6. Anticipate questions participants may have
Do not overload the form with information, but have information on the form that you think may be useful when registering such as prices, dates or special instructions. It is inconvenient for participants to have to click back to search for the information on your website and in some cases clicking “back” will delete the data in a partially complete form

7. Only request necessary data
The less information people have to provide the more comfortable they will be with the process and the quicker they will be able to complete the form. If you are asking for personal information such as birth date it helps to add a note saying why you are requesting the information

8. Do not over use mandatory fields
Mandatory fields help to get fully complete registration forms, but too many mandatory fields can frustrate an event participant. This is especially true if there is information that is not readily known such as the fax number for someone else in their group

9. Avoid making participants sign up with another company before they can register to your event
Some online registration companies require people registering to events to first sign up as a member with them. A system like this has its place, but many event participants will be turned off providing information to a third party

About REGIS Software:
REGIS web based event management system is the leading European software solution for meeting and event organisers to manage their events
Email: Regis@missioneventsoftware.eu

http://event-master.com

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