Online Event Registration

2010-08-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the MPI WEC conference in Vancouver BC. The closing general session included a presentation by Jeremy Gutsche, founder of www.trendhunter.com on the topic was 7 Secrets to irresistible meetings.

I enjoyed the presentation and I think that all meeting and event planners could get some ideas and inspiration from it.

You can access the video at:
http://www.mpiweb.org/Portal/Content/20100727/WEC_2010_Closing_General_Session (jump to 21:10 in the video for the start of the presentation)

Here are the seven points, but for the full explanation you will need to watch the video.

7 Secrets To Irresistible Meetings

You don’t need people to go to more meetings…you just need them to go to your meetings.
Be irresistible to a specific group of people.
Obsess about creating a cultural connection.
It’s not the attainment of the summit, it’s the style of the climb.
Don’t book boringly brilliant people. Book keynotes that engage.
Portray your event as average, and that’s all it will ever be.
Relentlessly obsess about your story.

Job Posting - Event Registration Software Specialist

2010-08-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

ePly Services Inc. is looking for an Event Registration Software Specialist

*** Who are we? ***

ePly Services Inc. is a growing North Vancouver-based company that provides online event registration services to event planners. We focus on making the lives of event planners easier. We look after all aspects of online event registration from planning, designing and programming registration forms, managing payments and refunds to event reporting, and much more. For more information on what we do, visit our website at www.eply.com.

*** What is an Event Registration Software Specialist? ***

A big title for a big job…You are the cornerstone of our business. You are the online registration expert who coordinates with our clients, the Event Planners, to develop the online form that will be used for tracking their event registrations. The position will require you to:

1. Respond to support requests and help clients setup and manage registration forms, by phone, email and live chat.

2. Set up and test online event registration forms using the ePly software when clients want ePly to build the form.

3. Manage current clients to ensure that they are happy and follow up to secure future business, provide pricing for services, etc.

4. Provide general office support including invoicing, processing refunds, conducting internet research and sales and marketing support.

*** What skills do you need? ***

Our business is built on exceptional customer service. We do what is outlined in our client contracts and then take steps to exceed the customers’ expectations to help make their event a success. To excel in this position, you need to be prepared to deliver outstanding service by having:

- Excellent interpersonal and written and verbal communication skills.

- The ability to proactively keep a project on track and to solve problems as they arise.

- Exceptional computer skills with the ability to multi task and work with several windows open at the same time.

- Keyboarding skills of at least 40 words per minute.

- Have a solid foundation working in MS Excel, Word and Outlook.

- Strong ability to multi-task and work under pressure. You will be working on up to 25 client projects at once and will need to coordinate client support calls, emails and concerns on an on-going basis.

- Understanding and knowledge of the event planning industry is a definite bonus.

- Basic knowledge of HTML and image editing software and an understanding of internet and e-commerce terminology is a definite bonus.

*** What we offer our employees? ***

We give you great independence in your job, provided you get the job done. We are a technology company with an exciting product offering. If you like working on cutting edge technology, while at the same time, enjoy the interpersonal aspect of being the prime contact with our customers, this job would be perfect for you. ePly also offers exciting opportunities for growth. We have grand plans for growing the company and want the right people to come along for the ride.

*** How to apply? ***

Please email your resume to Jim Romanik at jim@eply.com and complete the application form at www.eplyevents.com/application

New Features

2010-07-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

New Features

Easy PayPal Integration

Allow your registrants to pay you with PayPal; it's just a few steps to link your form to your PayPal account.

Let Registrants Change Their Own Registrations

You now have the option of allowing registrants to update their own registrations. If you choose to allow this, the system will include a password in the confirmation email sent to registrants when they first register. You have control of when to stop allowing changes and have access to reports showing who has made changes.

If you have an event that is live now and would like this feature added, please contact us and we will help you generate passwords and send them out to everyone already registered.

Payment Options Page

Changes here include simplified operation so that you can add and remove the payment options that appear on your form with a single click. Also, when you add a payment option, default text is inserted to help speed up building your form.

Limits

You now have full access to create and manage your own registration limits.

Currency options

The system will automatically update the currency symbol and other related formatting.

Copy Fields

You can now copy a field and modify it when setting up a form.

Copy Reports

You can now copy reports and modify the copy rather than starting with a blank report each time you need a new one.

Detailed Payment Summaries

For any new registrations, you will see a detailed breakdown of the cost of each item selected on the form rather than one lump sum.

More Changes Coming Soon

New User Interface

We have been working with a usability expert to improve the interface of the ePly system to make forms easier to set up and manage. These changes will be released in late August, but here is a preview of the design.

Click images to see full size

Registration Form Themes

Soon you will be able to select a theme to apply to your registration form. You will also be able to create your own or modify an existing one. This will help to give your forms a professional look and speed up the form building process.

Tip 8: Do Your Registration Form Thank You Pages Generate Revenue?

2010-07-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

When someone completes a registration for your event, it means that you’ve shown enough value and built up enough trust for them to part with their money and to commit time from their busy schedule.

With this initial sale complete, there is an opportunity to take advantage of the sales momentum and to present the registrant with other opportunities.

There are two key places where a link or a bit of text can drive more registrations, traffic for your sponsors or help to fill your hotel room block.

Area #1 – The thank you page.

This is the page that appears after someone registers. This page usually just says thank you for registering, but this page is the perfect place to suggest another action for the registrant to follow.

Area #2 – The confirmation email.

The confirmation email is something that people will have in their inbox, refer back to and maybe even print out. Use it to suggest other actions for your registrants to follow.

Here are a few ideas of what you may want to put in these two areas:

A link to refer a friend or colleague to the event.
A link to book a room in your hotel room block.
A link to a sponsor’s website to add value for your sponsors.
A link to other events you are putting on.
A link to a related, but non-competing event and get that event to link back to yours.
A link to an area of your website where people can purchase merchandise, make a donation, etc.

For all text and links, be sure to use a call to action like “Book your room now” or “See our other events”.

Tip 7: Reduce Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt to Get More Registrations

2010-06-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

Stories about credit card fraud and undelivered products and services that have been purchased online get a lot of attention. Fortunately, this attention brings awareness to the risks out there.

Event planners trying to get people to register and pay online may not think this way, but if you take a few easy steps to reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt in your registration process, it will give you a strong competitive advantage and get more people signing up for your events.

Ways to reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt to get more registrations:

Give the name, phone number and email address of a real person people can contact if they have questions or concerns.

Add logos to your form to show that you have met certain business and security standards such as the Better Business Bureau logo, the Security logo for the company providing the SSL certificate, etc.

Have a privacy policy easily accessible.

State the cancellation and refund policy and make it fair and friendly.

Make it clear what is and what isn’t included in the registration fee.

Avoid automatically redirecting people to a different webpage or trying to mask web addresses.

Tell people what to do with clear and concise instructions. What you think is obvious may not be to everyone.

Make your form clean and neat with everything nicely lined up, text wrapping in good places and sufficient and consistent spacing between elements to give it a professional appearance.

Don’t make people create an account with your registration company before they can register for your event.

Don’t have advertising on your form unless it’s a sponsor for your event.

Make sure the registration form is branded to match your website or event marketing material to give you a consistent look.

Make sure registrants don’t get any kind of pop up security warnings from their browser.

Finally, make sure that you choose your online registration provider carefully. A good provider will help you create a good form and make recommendations that will reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt to help your events succeed.

For more information on selecting a registration service, see The Event Planners’ Guide to Online Event Registration. There are 48 questions you should ask registration system providers when researching systems.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss this more or need other advice on getting more people to register for your events.

Tip 6: Minimize distractions for more registrations

2010-05-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

I’m sure that you’ve sat down at your computer to take care of some online banking, check the news or do a search and have been side tracked by links and information that came up on your screen.

These distractions may have got you completely off track and maybe even caused you to forget about your original task. Other times these distractions are minor and you are able to get yourself refocused after a minute or two.

Even if the distraction is minor and you do get refocused, the time to complete the original task has been extended by the duration of the distraction. This means that now there is a greater chance of an outside distraction occurring such as an email coming in, the phone ringing or someone asking for your attention. These outside distractions can get you way off task.

How this applies to event registration

Once you manage to get someone to your online registration form, we recommend that you minimize the number of distractions to increase the chance that they submit the form. If they do get distracted, there is a chance that they will never get back to it.

There are two main areas of distraction that we see on online forms:

Links to agendas, hotel details and other event information – if you can, we recommend having links to this information on your website, not on the form. Plus, this will allow people to access the information before registering and will ensure that they have access to it after the registration closes.
Sponsor logos – it’s great to have event sponsors and we encourage you to recognize sponsors on the registration from, but don’t make their logos clickable. This includes the logo of the registration system provider at the bottom of the form.
Great places for links and clickable logos is on the thank you or confirmation page that appears after the registration is submitted and in the confirmation email that is sent to registrants.

If you absolutely must have a link or clickable image on your form, please make sure that it’s set up to open a new window when clicked. If you don’t, any data that the registrant entered into the form before clicking the link or logo may be lost.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss this more or need other advice on getting more people to register for your events.

Do you really need to know that?

2010-03-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

With online event registration systems, it’s easy to add fields to your form, but before you start adding them consider these points.

Each field that you add to your form adds a little bit more complexity. On their own, a few extra fields may not seem like much, but how easy your form appears to use at first glance is a factor in how many people actually complete it.

If your form appears long, cluttered or asks for irrelevant details, people can be turned off and abandon their registration. Some may intend to come back when they have more time, but many never do.

When you’re setting up your form, consider these points before adding a field:

Do I really need this information? It might be nice to collect demographic details, such as how many employees are in a company, but will knowing this help you to put on a better event?
Am I really going to use this information? For example, you probably don’t need to ask for the names of each ticket holder on a ticket sales form if you aren’t printing name badges for the event.
Will this field cause registrants to be concerned about how you are using the data? For example, asking for age or home phone number when it’s a business related event.
Will I get good data from this field? If people don’t want to provide certain information that you are asking for, then they may just make up data, which is worse than not having it at all.

Special points on forms selling tickets

If you have an online ticket sales form, you should give some special consideration to asking people to submit the names of each ticket holder. For planning purposes it would be great to know all of the names of each ticket holder before the event, but for many events, the more important goal is to get the tickets sold.

If you are expecting or hoping for people to buy several tickets or a full table at a time, asking them to enter all of the names could be seen as too much trouble. In cases like this, people may not even know the names of the people using the tickets at the time of purchase and if names are entered, there is no guarantee that those will be the people showing up to the event since tickets may get passed around.

In general, try to keep your forms as short as possible, but also consider the people you are inviting, the type of event and how you expect people to use the form when deciding on the fields.

If you have any questions about fields you are thinking about adding to your form, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss them with you.

PS - A field that we recommend dropping from forms is fax number. When is the last time you needed to fax people attending your events?

Increase your registrations by creating some urgency

2010-03-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

March is already here, which means conference season isn’t too far away! With that sentence alone you may have felt some urgency in ensuring everything is on-track for what our industry considers the busiest time of year. This month we’ll talk about creating some urgency when promoting your event to help increase your registration count.

When you ask most people who attended the now famous Canada vs. USA Gold Medal Hockey game last Sunday, they would probably say they wouldn’t trade those tickets for anything. Ask a die hard fan who is without a ticket what they would do to obtain one, and your answer may range from tens of thousands of dollars, to perhaps their right arm! This sort of urgency is what all event planners dream of.

So, how do you create such urgency? Start with these ideas:

Use headlines in marketing materials like “Sold out last year, don’t miss out this year!”
State the event is limited to x number of registrations
Consider showing the number of spaces left on your registration form
State that a waitlist will not be offered
Don’t make your early bird date too far into the future
Consider stating that pre-registration is required in order to accommodate everyone
Make the registration deadline clear. As it gets closer, highlight that in your marketing materials to get people motivated

Now get going, you haven’t got much time!

This blog has moved

2010-03-19T16:23:00.001-07:00

This blog is now located at http://eply.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://eply.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Increase your registrations with an eye catching 'register now' button

2010-02-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

In this month's tip on how to increase your event registrations, we're going to discuss the importance of ensuring you are promoting your event with an eye catching graphic. In particular, the 'register now' button that needs to stand out amongst the crowd of other text and images.

Why the 'register now' button? Although there are plenty of marketing and promotional materials that are important in helping your event succeed, the call-to-action is one of the most important. On many occasions I have found myself wondering how to complete an action I set out to accomplish, simply due to the fact it was buried deep in website navigation or had simply been linked out in a text paragraph that was hard to see.

When creating your button, here are a few items you may want to include:

An eye-catching base colour that will immediately catch someone's attention
Make your image look like a button
Simple and effective action words like 'Register Now!', or 'Sign-up Here!'
An icon that supports the action, perhaps an arrow or a target
A mouseover effect that changes the text or colour of the button when hovered over

Here are some examples to help you get started (feel free to use them):

Once the button is complete, ensure you add it to your website and email campaign in a noticeable place. Don't forget to link it to your registration form, and watch the registrations start rolling in!

Make a top ten list of reasons to attend your event

2010-01-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

To start off 2010 off we'd like to talk about the value of a simple promotional idea, that when formulated correctly, can have a huge impact on the number of registrations you receive for your event.

Making a top ten list of reasons to attend your event is a great way to point out all the smaller details that you may not have included in other promotional materials. To start your list, grab a piece of paper and start writing down all of the things you feel are attractive about your event, for example:

Free speaker sessions
X number of meals
Free networking events
An excuse to come to (insert name of great city)
Meet current clients
Mention CE credits
An opportunity to be the first to see...
Free parking
Discount on hotel rooms
Mention entertainment
Opportunity to visit local attractions
Find new suppliers
Learn new industry trends
Door prizes
Mention keynote speakers
Closing party!

Try recording at least 20 points. If you're stuck, maybe do a quick web search and see what other events are offering. Do you remember prepping to attend a conference or event and thinking "I wonder if the facility has free Wi-Fi". Brainstorming from a delegate's point of view may make your list easier to compose. When complete, go back to the top of the list and rank them from 1-20. The last 10 won't make the cut and now you have the list you can use to promote your event.

If possible keep the list items short in description. This way it can be added to virtually any medium, like a box on your event website or printed material. Or maybe a banner ad on a website or support material for your event newsletter.

A simple list can go a long way in sparking interest from potential attendees.

Sell More Registrations With a Good Cancellation Policy

2009-12-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

At ePly, we want to help you sell more registrations and fill your event. With that in mind, we're now starting a series of tips to help ensure your events' success.

Tip 1 - Make friendly cancellation polices that encourage people to register early, that don't scare people away and still protect the interests of the event planner.

Here are a few points to consider when formulating your cancellation policy:

Clearly state important dates

Ensure dates for full refunds, partial refunds, changes, etc. are clearly stated. This will help to reduce disputes and give you something to refer to if an issue does arise.

Clearly state refund or change fees

You may not want to charge a fee in the name of good customer service, but remember that if the transaction was on a credit card, the credit card processing fees on the initial transaction cannot be recouped, so you must be prepared to absorb this amount.

Keep it simple and professional

Try to provide a brief explanation as to why you have selected certain dates and policies. A statement like "Any change requests must be made before November 24th as we need to confirm meals and seating with the venue" may get a better reaction than "No changes after November 24th".

Provide change request instructions

Be sure to state that cancellation or change requests be made in writing. At a minimum, provide the name, phone number and email address of the person to contact.

Give alternatives

Allow event participants to send an alternate person to the event
Provide a credit towards another event if applicable
If working with a charity, reiterate that in the policy, so registrants know the reason you may not be providing a refund is due to the funds going to the particular cause

Remember, in most cases the main goal is to get people to register for your event. By adding some flexibility to your refund and cancellation policies and giving some alternatives, you are likely to attract more registrations.

Here are three sample cancellation policies.

The registration deadline is March 23, 2010. Full refunds are available prior to January 31, 2010. After this date you may send an alternate to the event without additional charge. To request a cancellation or to make a change please send an email to the Event Planner at eventplanner@theevent.com.
Refunds less a $25.00 cancellation fee will be provided for cancellations received in writing to eventplanner@theevent.com prior to January 31, 2010. Following this date, no refunds will be given, but a credit will be issued to use towards another event within one year.
Sorry, tickets are non refundable as all proceeds go to charity, so please consider your purchase as a donation.

We have plenty of tips of our own, but if there is one in particular you feel the world needs to know, send it over, or contact us.

ePly Online Event Registration Launches a Pick Your Own Price Campaign to Benefit the United Way

2009-11-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

Vancouver, BC - November 23, 2009 - ePly Services Inc. (@ePly), an online event registration software company based in North Vancouver, B.C. is excited to announce they have launched a new holiday season campaign designed to assist the United Way in generating much needed donations.

This unique campaign, a first in the event registration industry, has captured the attention of many event planners, and allows current and new clients to decide on the price they want to pay, per registrant, to use ePly registration software. In addition, 10% of the proceeds will go to the United Way chapter of their choice.

"We wanted to come up with a fun way of generating funds for the United Way, so we decided to allow our clients to pick the price they want to pay as their per registrant fee." Explains Jim Romanik, President at ePly Services Inc. "This past year has been difficult for many event planners and charities; by allowing our clients to pick their price with a portion going to the United Way they can feel good knowing they will be supporting their local community."

"The United Way has many chapters across the U.S. and Canada. This makes the impact of our client's generosity that much greater as they can contribute to their local chapter." adds Jim. To learn more about how you can help your local United Way through this promotion visit www.eply.com/pick-your-price.

About ePly: ePly has been providing online event registration software to their clients since 2001. ePly's registration software was developed to assist event planners in their registration process for events, conferences, meetings, tradeshows etc. For more information on ePly's online registration software, visit www.eply.com.

About the United Way: United Way supports vulnerable people and works to prevent social problems. It's priority for United Way to provide hope and opportunity for children and seniors. United Way leads change in the Lower Mainland region by understanding social issues through research and dialogue; bringing together partners and coordinating action; influencing public attitudes, systems and policy; measuring community change and evaluating investments.

Media contact:
Rob Smith
Marketing Manager - ePly Services Inc.
P: 604-484-0585 ext 904
E: rob@eply.com

ePly Online Event Registration Software Launches New Self-Serve Version of their Software

2009-11-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

Vancouver, BC - November 12, 2009 - ePly Services Inc. (@ePly), an online event registration software company based in North Vancouver, B.C. is excited to announce that they have begun allowing clients to set up their own registration forms using their new self-serve software.

Since the company started in 2001, ePly has always built registration forms for their clients based on the requirements that have been set out. The system that ePly used to build these forms was created in-house, and has evolved as client requirements and registration forms became more and more complex. The self-serve software is another evolution of this system that was developed solely with the client user in mind. Now the software allows users to set-up and maintain their own registration forms via a simple to use interface.

"As clients can now build and maintain their own registration forms, this effectively eliminates their set-up cost with ePly." says Jim Romanik, President of ePly Services Inc. "Of course, should clients want us to build their forms for them we are happy to provide a quote."

With this new update ePly has simplified their pricing; all of the details can be viewed on their website at http://www.eply.com/event_registration/pricing.html.

With the launch of the self serve system ePly has also added three free bonuses for each registration form; the ability to create a save-the-date form and follow up survey, and a review of your form by an ePly expert. Support will remain free of charge as it always has.

"Over the next few months we will roll out several new features that will automatically be available to our clients. These include a registration button generator to help promote your form, updates to the reporting features to give you the timely information you need, and an automated form validator to help ensure your registration forms have no mistakes before going live." explains Jim.

ePly has been in business since 2001 providing online registration solutions to their clients. For more information on ePly's software and new self-serve release, visit www.eply.com.

Media contact:
Rob Smith
Marketing Manager - ePly Services Inc.
P: 604-484-0585 ext 904
E: rob@eply.com

I'm dreaming of a GREEN Christmas...event!

2009-11-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

The snow is beginning to fall, spruce trees are being transformed into Christmas trees, and invitations are being sent - the holiday season will soon be upon us.

Last month we brought you tips on how to ensure your holiday party is a success, this month we continue with tips on greening up your holiday event from the experts at e=mc2 event management inc.

As event specialists we must consider every aspect of a holiday party, especially as green and eco-friendly practices become an industry standard. The season is a great opportunity to highlight eco-friendly event ideas and focus on making 2009, a green Christmas.

e=mc2 event management inc. is committed to the cycle of life, in products, in events, and in services. In our dedication to eco-friendly practices we have created our e-green team. Our unique team of experts focuses on facilitating, educating and supporting all events and meetings with green initiatives.

Our e-green team has put together some unique and practical green ideas that will ensure a green Christmas:

ELECTRONIC INVITE - A formal and sleek style of invitation that will suit any event, an electronic invite is an eco-friendly option that meets all the requirements of a printed invitation, and even exceed it! It can reflect any theme, provide vast information, act as a database, provide a convenient RSVP process, and is cost effective, especially with large Christmas parties.
SERVICE WARE - For decades, plastic has been a versatile and durable product in making service ware, but the environmental impact is severe. New products made from corn syrup and bamboo are becoming available that have the same quality of plastic, but also have the capability to cut waste significantly. Check out Earth Distributors, a great place to find earth friendly service ware.
SUSTAINABLE DECOR - The idea of reusing and re-purposing elements of an event is an easy and eco-friendly approach. A centerpiece is an excellent example of sustainable decor. Creating centerpieces that use re-purposed household items or vintage pieces are unique and can always be donated.
GIFT WRAP - Gifts are a fun and memorable part of a family holiday event, especially for children. Unfortunately, gift-wrap is a major contributor to event waste, so this season try to rethink wrapping! It could be as simple as using newspaper, or even putting gifts in reusable bags. There are so many ways to re-purpose items or create gift-wrap that can be branded and reused.

For more green holiday ideas contact Jocelyn Flanagan at 403.770.1383 or info@emc2events.com.

10 Tips for a Successful Holiday Party

2009-10-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

The leaves are turning, pumpkin flavoured hot drinks have shown up, and children are looking more bundled up than they did two weeks ago. These signs all point to the terrifying realization that summer has officially come to an end. Don't fret, it's almost Christmas! What!? Ok, so it may be a little early to start talking Christmas, but it is the perfect time to start formulating ideas for your holiday parties.

To ensure your holiday party success, we've invited Sharon Bonner, President of Bright Ideas Event Coordinators Ltd. to share her 10 tips for a successful holiday party.

Venue - Choose a venue location that will work well for your group. Keep in mind where the guests live and find a central location if possible.

Timing - Keep the timing conducive with the group dynamics. For example, be sensitive to the average age of your group, shift workers or staff with young families, and plan accordingly.

Theme / Décor - Pick a theme and carry it throughout the entire party planning from invitation to theme décor at the event. Choose from many unique Holiday themes and don’t be afraid to try something new. Consider an “Around the World Holiday Sampler” highlighting Christmas celebrations in many cultures. Or how about a Caribbean Christmas Celebration complete with Palm Trees and real sand?

Entertainment – Match the entertainment to your group. If your group enjoys passive entertainment, then a comedian or ventriloquist is perfect. However, if your group is interactive try choosing Theatre Sports or a Game Show to keep them engaged.

Activities – Activities are by far the most important component of your event, next to the quality of the food. Once the formalities of the evening are complete, make sure you schedule an action packed agenda for the remainder of the evening. So many companies forget this, and merely hire a DJ for the portion of the evening after the dinner, and this is a big mistake.

Menu – Think about your group and choose the type of menu that will work best for the evening agenda, budget and type of guests. A formal high end event will most likely be best suited to a plated dinner, whereas other events do best with a buffet. If budget is a concern, offer hearty appetizers and plan a stand up cocktail reception.

Seating - Mix up departments with reserved seating so that guests meet new people. Make sure to plan for single guests and schedule so that they are seated with other single guests.

Master of Ceremonies – This is a critical component of the evening and should be a professional actor or entertainer, as there is rarely someone in house that is comfortable addressing the group for several hours.

Taxis / Buses – Be proactive and offer taxi vouchers or bus service, especially when offering a host bar.

Guest Gifts - Take home items don’t have to be expensive to be memorable. Get creative and offer a parting theme gift as guests leave the event. It means a lot to your guests as they leave with a thank you gift. Hint: Chocolate items are ALWAYS a big hit!!!

For more Bright Ideas contact Sharon Bonner @ 604-303-7707 or sharon@brightideasevents.com

What About Building My Own Online Event Registration System?

2009-09-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Building your own online event registration system sounds like a great investment, but programming and maintaining your own system can be much more expensive and time consuming than you might expect.

As an online registration company, it would appear biased for us to recommend not building your own online registration system. That aside, we truly believe that you’ll be much further ahead if you use a professional registration system (even if it’s not ours) than building your own.

For us, we would rather lose business to a quality competitor than hear we lost business due to someone planning on building their own registration system. Although well intentioned there are some very important business requirements to consider.

1. A basic online event registration system can take months to build. Every possible situation must be considered, designed, built, tested and documented.

2. There are many potential and actual costs involved with building your own online event registration system:

Quality programmers will start at $75,000/year
Management time to administer programmers, designers etc. $60,000+/year
Testing and “bug fixing”
Server hosting – $1000+/month ($9.99/month shared hosting doesn't deliver professional results)
Software licensing for server operating systems and database software, $4000. Additionally, the software will need to be updated as your business requirements and technologies change
Server and system maintenance – 20+ hours a month
System support (tech support and troubleshooting for clients and their customers)
System updates/adding features
PCI certificate and audit each year – $3000+
System backups
Lost business/additional staff costs (for manual or assisted event registration) if the system is down

When you consider all of the time, work and cost involved with programming and maintaining your own event registration system, it makes sense to have an experienced company do it for you.

High-quality, efficient online event registrations systems, such as ePly’s, are guaranteed to work right from the start—and at a fraction of the time and cost for you to build your own.

Save time and money, and get it done right.

Questions?

We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

How Effective Form Headers Increase Registration Count

2009-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gone to a website and had a difficult time finding what you're looking for, so you end up leaving? The same thing can happen with your registration form. The first thing people see when they land on your registration form is the top of the page. So you’ll want to make a great first impression and provide all necessary information for them to complete their registration.

So, what makes a good header? There are many things you can include in your header to make it more informative and appealing. Over the years we have seen a lot of headers, so we know what works, and have compiled some suggestions on things to be aware of when creating your registration form headers.

Attention grabbing - Try to incorporate your logo and any graphical elements that keep in line with your website, or conference branding. Your registrants will recognize your brand and be more inclined to complete registration.

Opportunity to sell your event - Point out some highlights of your event. Perhaps a well-known speaker is coming, or you're offering a free off-site event. These are all things that entice your registrants and should be clearly outlined so they don’t miss out.

Include basic details - Make sure the header answers the 5 W's - who, what, when, where & why.

Avoid excessive details - Too much information can scare people away, remember, your goal is to have the user register. Try to hit a balance between informative and quick to read. You'll also want to avoid including so much information that your registration form is pushed below the fold (the part of any web page that is shown in your browser before you need to scroll).

Avoid linking away from the form - If you need to include links to outside materials, try to set the link up to 'open in a new window'. This way, the registrant does not navigate 100% away from your page, but can view any supporting material in new tabs or windows, and is able to switch back to the form when needed.
Include a privacy policy - This is very important in the online world as you want to ensure your registrants feel secure when entering their data. If anyone has questions as to the security of their information ensure that is included in the privacy policy.

Questions?

We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

Increase Your Event Registrations With Email Invites That Work - Part 2

2009-06-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

Last month we provided you with five easy steps to help increase your event registrations with email invites that work. This month we will cover part 2 of that post, with five more tips that will help you to create successful email campaigns for your next event.

Test - If you have a large email list (rather subjective I know...typically I consider large to be 500+), try taking 10% of that list and sending one version of your email to one half, and another version to the other half. Whichever receives the highest response rate will be the version you send to the other 90%.

Sending - if you can avoid sending bulk email from your personal email application, then do. This can be a red flag and could result in your email being blacklisted by the recipients' firewall, or worse, the recipients Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you work from a home office and rely heavily on your email, the last thing you want is your email being lost in cyberspace.

Unsubscribe - It is extremely important to respect your email list by providing the option to unsubscribe. It is also required under CAN-SPAM compliance.

Forward to a Friend - Suggest a forward to a friend option to help increase your distribution and ultimately your registrations!

When to Send - There is always some debate on when the best time to send your email is. Do I send it at PST or EST? Do I try to get the recipient after their first coffee of the day, or will they be too wired to pay attention?!? Don't fret, there is endless data on this, and what I have taken from it is that Tuesdays to Thursdays between 8:00am and 11:00am is the best time to send. Of course, this is ultimately up to you and who your target recipients are, but using the above as a guideline is a great place to start.

Lastly, include the name and phone number of a real person to call if questions come up about the event and the registration process.

There are many factors that make up a successful email campaign. Follow some of the tips from this month, and last, and you'll be well on your way to creating one of those successful campaigns.

Questions?

We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

Increase Your Event Registrations With Email Invites That Work - Part 1

2009-06-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

Email is a great tool and arguably one of the biggest leaps forward for business in the last 20 years. As we become more and more attached to this form of communication we must also become more aware of the pitfalls that go along with it. This month we're going to cover some important things to consider when sending out an email invite for your next event.

If you typically send your event invitations through the mail you may be used to the traditional process of proofing copy, images etc. before the final version is printed and sent. With email invites the process is similar. However, it is important to remember that unlike paper invitations your email has many hurdles to overcome, such as spam filters, grabbing the attention of the user before it's quickly deleted and whether or not the email recipients software downloads it as it was meant to be seen...to name a few.

Before you send your next email campaign, use this checklist to make sure you have some of the basics covered :

Subject Line – this will make or break your campaign. You have two important tasks here. One, get through the spam filter, and two, catch the readers attention...quickly. Descriptive subject lines are great for both of these goals. Which of these subject lines would prompt you to continue reading "2009 Computer Conference" or "Registration for the 2009 Computer Conference is Now Open"?

Spam filters keep an eye out for certain words. So when creating your subject line and copy (#3) try to avoid words like 'Free', '$$$', 'Save', 'Discount', etc. And yes, I do realize the irony in that sentence.
Images – Although the designer in all of us would love to have an image rich email it can be a red flag for Spam filters, and not all users have 'allow images' turned on. Get your message out with text and support it with images (not the other way around). If you create a good balance between these elements more potential registrants will receive your message.
Well Written Copy – This seems basic, but I regularly receive emails that don't seem to be written for a human being. If you were to send your email to anyone, right now, would they know what it's about? If you do not have a good in-house copywriter that's okay, contract it out with all that money you saved ditching the paper invitation campaign!
Call to Action – Now that the email has reached the recipient and they are engaged, what do they do? Ask yourself, "Why am I sending this email?" If that's not clear in the body then your call to action is not clear and concise.

Make sure the reader is doing exactly what you want them to do. This is where an image is great! Have your designer create something eye catching (Note to designers: This is my version of an apology for #2), or, feel free to use this button in your next campaign (right click then 'save as').

Links - Although the above button is eye catching and it's no mystery what action to take, it is always good practice to include a text link to your registration form just in case your recipient's inbox does not download images.

Next Post : Part 2 of Increase Your Event Registrations with Email Invites That Work - five more items to check...

Questions? We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas – 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

Does Your Registration Form Do These Eight Things?

2009-05-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

The answer to the question “What should a registration form do?” might seem obvious, but if you respond with “Collect registration data”, there is a good chance that you can improve your registration forms to increase registration count and put on memorable events.
From our experience, here are eight things your registration forms should be doing in addition to collecting data:

1. Make you look good – Your registration form should reflect your professional image by having consistent branding, flawless formatting, well positioned text and of course, look the same in all browsers.

2. Convert the people who arrive at the form into paying customers – Getting people to your form is only the first step. Usability headaches such as too many required fields, confusing registration options, incorrect pricing or dates all contribute to people abandoning the registration form.

3. Give people a second taste of your event – The first taste comes from your marketing materials, so now you need to reinforce it. Your form should have a similar look and feel to your marketing material and be well organized, error free and work as intended, just like the event will be.

4. Make people feel safe and secure – Having a professional looking form is a great help, but you also need to ensure you have a clearly displayed privacy policy and that your form is hosted on a secure server.

5. Prevent mistakes – Let’s face it, people don’t read instructions, so even if you add text to your form explaining what to do and what not to do, it likely won’t be read. Your form needs to be set up in a way that mistakes cannot happen in the first place.

6. Reduce calls to the event planners – Event Planners are busy people, they don’t need more calls about registration form issues. Always have a contact phone number on your form in case people do need to call, but try to anticipate common questions that might come up and make sure they are answered on the form. Also, test, test and test your form. Many calls are a result of a problem encountered on the form,o make sure yours is perfect before going live.

7. Make people say, “Wow! That was easy!” – Even registration forms with lots of options, categories and workshops can be made to seem simple with the right planning and layout. Invest the time, before you start, to eliminate frustrations and problems later on.

8. Collect data the right way for meaningful reporting - There is more than one way to set up a question for many of the fields you find on typical registration forms. All of the question types may get the data into your database, but you need to consider whether the format of that data will provide you meaningful, consistent and reliable reporting for your requirements.

Questions? Call One Of Our Solutions Experts – We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas – 1-800-507-3759.

8 Alternatives To Extending Early Bird Deadlines When You Need More Registrations

2009-03-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last month’s article called “5 Reasons Not To Extend Your Early Bird Pricing Period” advised against extending early bird deadlines to encourage people to register for your events and promised to come up with a list of alternatives.

We have put together our list of ideas and also invite you to send us some of your own ideas. Anyone who sends us an idea will be entered into a draw for a coffee card and with your permission we will publish any unique ideas along with your name in our next newsletter. See below for the details.

8 Alternatives To Extending Early Bird Deadlines When You Need More Registrations

Reinforce the benefits of attending your event. Highlight different benefits when you send out registration reminders. Be sure to write these benefits in a way that will appeal to the demographic you are marketing to. For example, promoting that the conference is next to a world class golf course won’t be a benefit unless most of your group are avid golfers.
Pick up the phone and make a sales call. It can be time consuming, but the payoff can be big. Start by calling the people who registered for your last event, but haven’t registered for the current one. They probably have it on their to-do list, but remind them why they should register today. Maybe you can even enter their details into the online form while you have them on the phone to secure the registration right away.
Reveal new details about the event in each registration reminder. Rather than repeating the same information in your reminders to register, let people in on some of the new details such as surprise guests, newly added workshops, or door prize announcements.
Use testimonials from previous events. Make sure people know how great the last event was so they attend this year.
Find discounted deals for your participants. Rather than discounting your price, find deals on attractions, restaurants, accommodation, etc. that your participants can take advantage of if they attend your event. Some of these deals may already be offered and you just need to find them, or you may need to call businesses in your area to see what they are willing to offer.
Add a second tier price break. If you really feel that extending a price break is needed, then consider making it in between the early and regular rate. For example, if the Early Bird deadline is Dec 15th for $100, then go up to $125 before reaching the final price of $150 rather than extending the original early bird price. This ensures that people who registered early still get the greatest benefit.
Be honest about your situation and address concerns that people may have. It’s usually better to address the concerns that people may have than to let imaginations runs wild and allow rumours to start. For example, if you think people are not registering because they are unsure if the event will happen, let them know that registration is down due to the economy, but that you aren’t cutting any programs. Fill them in on what you are doing to ensure the event happens. Always remember to highlight the positives without making it look like you are being unrealistic.
Offer an incentive to registering early besides saving money. Items such as an entry into a draw, a free white paper or a book related to the event could be just enough to get people registering. Make sure that the real early birds get the same benefits too!

Remember, it doesn’t take much to convince people who are sitting on the fence to take action and register. I hope that you will be able to use some of these ideas or that they get you thinking about some other ways to encourage registrations.

ENTER TO WIN!

Send us your ideas, tips and strategies on how get people to register.

If you send us an idea, we will enter you into a draw for a $20 coffee card and with your permission, we will publish your unique idea, name and company in our next newsletter. Please send you ideas to jim.romanik@eply.com.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.

What to Expect When Working With ePly!

2009-02-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

Not knowing when to expect to hear from a supplier can be very frustrating. Did they get my email with my requests? Are they giving me the priority I need? Do they know I’m under a deadline? What should I tell my client or boss who is asking, "When the form will be live?"

At ePly, we understand that receiving updates and meeting deadlines is imperative to maintaining a great reputation with your client or boss. And, because we create hundreds of registration forms a year, we know approximately how long each step of the process takes.

A first draft of your registration form within two business days after we receive your signed contract and all of your event details, unless we provide a specific date.
Once you review the first draft of your form and send us the changes, we will have the form updated within one business day unless we provide a specific date.
Your form will be ready to go live within two business days after you give your final approval on the layout and content. This gives us time to go through our 150 point checklist to ensure everything is perfect. If your form requires custom JavaScript programming (we will tell you if it does), up to three additional business days may be required to complete the programming and testing.
We will respond to all voicemail and email within two business hours. If the person you are contacting is out of the office we will provide you with an alternate contact in case you need an immediate response.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

5 Reasons Not To Extend Your Early Bird Pricing Period

2009-02-05T10:20:00.000-08:00

A lot of events incorporate early bird pricing to encourage people to register early and it usually works. In some cases an Event Planner may extend an early bird period after registration has started, but after a recent experience I think that this strategy should be avoided.

Here's why.

This past fall, I was considering attending a conference, but kept putting off looking into the details, checking into flights and hotels and making a decision. I knew that the early bird pricing ended December 10th, so I set a reminder for myself to make a decision by that date.

The morning of the deadline, just as I was about to finally look into the details and decide whether to register or not, I received an email stating that the early bird deadline had been extended until January 15th.

I immediately re-scheduled my reminder to register and was happy that I could hold onto my money for another month and wait to see a better opportunity arose.

I understand the organizers of this event were trying to encourage more people to register, however, I now realize the problems an Early-Bird extension can cause.

Consider these problems:

Delayed registrations and revenue from fence sitters - If you allow a reasonable amount of time for people to take advantage of your early bird pricing anyone who is serious about attending will register. If people are undecided or putting off the decision as I was, extending the period just gives more time to delay.
Lost registrants to competing events or other commitments – The longer someone waits to register for your event the more likely they will make other commitments and be unable to attend your event. Get people registered early so they will schedule other things around your event rather than at the same time.
Gives the impression that your event is struggling – When I found out that the early bird period for this recent event was extended, I concluded that they must be getting less registrations than expected and needed to offer another incentive. This thinking made me sceptical about registering since there might be less networking opportunities, cancelled workshops and other changes as a result of less revenue.
Frustrate people that registered before the early-bird deadline – If people registered and paid their money early only to find out that the procrastinators will get the same deal they did, you could get some complaints or leave a bad impression in their minds.
Set a precedent that waiting until the last minute pays off – People will remember what happened with registration for a previous event and if you are known for extending early bird deadlines, it will become harder for you to get people to take immediate action when you send out your marketing materials.

Since we believe that extending early bird deadlines isn’t a good way to get more registrations, we’ve come up with a list of our recommended alternatives for the March newsletter.

If you have comments about this article or want a sneak-peak at our ideas, please contact us.

An Easy Way to Secure More Registrations for Your Event

2009-01-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever come across an event that you wanted to attend but registration wasn’t available yet? What did you do? Did you remember to go back in a few weeks to register or just forget about it?

If people are starting to think about registering for your event and you don’t have a way to capture that interest, you are losing potential registrants. Seizing every opportunity to make a sale is critical to a successful event, especially during a time when people are spending less.

Use A Save-The-Date Form

A Save-The-Date form is a simple form designed to collect contact information of people interested in attending your event before registration opens. Once you have the email address and/or phone number of people interested in attending, you can proactively follow up to encourage them to register.

A side benefit of the Save-The-Date form is the number of responses you get may help gauge the interest level for your event.

Over the last few weeks, while the ePly team was snowed in, we brainstormed what a really good Save-The-Date form should include:

Keep it simple and easy to complete.
Limit the fields to name, phone number and email address; ask for other details only if you really need them.
Make email address the only required field.
Give clear and easy-to-read instructions on how the save the date form works such as “Registration for the “event name” is not yet open. Please enter your name and email address below and we will contact you once registration opens”.
Have a privacy policy on the form so people feel safe providing their information.
Make the form branded to match your organization or the event, so people feel comfortable.
Put the name, phone number and email address of a contact person on the form. You probably won’t get many calls, but just knowing that there is someone to contact will help make your form seem more legitimate.

Here is a sample Save-The-Date-Form:

The next time people express interest in your event and you are still finalizing the details, make a Save-The-Date form a part of your event marketing plan and proactively follow up to secure those registrations.

At ePly we want to see our customer’s events succeed, so we are offering to set up a free Save-The-Date form to anyone using our system. Contact us for more details.

In the next newsletter we will be writing about extending early bird registration deadlines. Does it really encourage more registrations or does it just give the procrastinators more time to think about it and frustrate the people who have already parted with their money before the original deadline?

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.