Do you currently run or plan to run events that need handling bookings or registrations, such as workshops, community classes, not-for-profit fund raisers, marketing conferences, or even a large-scale event like a trade exhibit, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to register to attend or participate?
Co-ordinating event registrations can be a time-consuming process. You will most likely need to manage event schedules, available dates and spaces, registration numbers, data administration, collecting payments and invoicing, confirmations, reminders, refunds and cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special needs and providing tickets to event participants.
There are lots of benefits to setting up an automated online event registration system. It can make your business more efficient, save time and lower expenses, help you easily reproduce previously-run events, give event managers more control, create a more enjoyable client experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that setting up an online event registration system can be expensive.
Fortunately, if you run a WordPress-powered website or blog, you can download and install an inexpensive and highly professional web-based event booking solution.
Introducing …
Event Espresso
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration plugin for WordPress lets you easily schedule an event and start accepting online bookings literally in minutes.
(Set up multiple events and receive online registrations with Event Espresso)
Event Espresso is a flexible and feature-rich plugin that gives you complete control of your event registration management process.
Customize your event registration forms
You can employ several event registration strategies, from simple online enrolments and straight up ticket sales, to creating custom registration forms for collecting detailed information about your participants, or integrating your event bookings with social media sites like Facebook.
View detailed information about event attendees
Note: Currently, Event Espresso supports two different versions of their software: Event Espresso 3 and Event Espresso 4. The new EE 4 is completely different than the older Event Espresso 3, as the platform has been revamped using a different structure to accommodate future growth. The Event Espresso 4 plugin platform has different features, user interface, data structure, coding method and price. The developers aim to eventually retire Event Espresso 3, so keep this in mind as you learn more about this plugin.
Learn more about the plugin here:
Benefits Of Using Event Espresso
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your website:
Automated Event Registration Management And Ticketing Solution
Event Espresso provides you with everything you need to turn your existing website into an automated and feature-rich event management site … from custom registration forms and automated response emails, to seating capacity limits, multiple price levels and discount codes, to printable tickets and seating charts.
Higher Business Productivity
By using a web-based event registration solution like Event Espresso, you save time and increase your business productivity by virtually doing away with the chore of processing registrations and bookings manually.
Essentially, you are enabling attendees to perform the enrollment process themselves.
Letting your attendees to do all of the data entry frees up your time and lets you direct more energy on creating a more enjoyable event.
Complete Control Over The User Experience
As you will see shortly, Event Espresso gives you full control over the event management and booking process that you want your participants to experience.
Additional benefits include:
- Reduced Costs: The Event Espresso plugin is a very low cost online event registration management solution compared to developing your own solution or using a 3rd-party provider. This is made possible by using a model where you purchase the core plugin (which suits the requirements of most users) and then purchase add-ons when you need new features.
- Higher Sales: With Event Espresso you can accept new event signups 24 hrs a day. Not only that, but, Event Espresso social sharing and marketing features and addons (see below) let people who are interested in registering for your event share your information with their friends who may be interested.
- Paperless Event Sign Up Process: With Event Espresso, your event registration process remains entirely online, reducing traditional paper consumption from tasks associated with administration.
- All Information Belongs To You. You control all the data acquired from event attendees.
Features
Event Espresso provides functionality to its customers via standard features (these come with the software) and optional features that customers can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso offers many built-in to site owners. Here are just some of these:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Ready to start using in no time.
- Custom Event Registration Forms. With Event Espresso you can collect specific information using custom event registration forms on your site to create a tailored experience for your customers.
- Event Calendar. Customers can easily find your events and add these to their schedule using a calendar.
- Collect Payments. Event Espresso seamlessly integrates with several payment gateways, allowing you to collect payments prior to running events.
- Google Maps. Google Maps integration allows you to customize the look and control settings of Google Maps on the event listing and event details pages.
- Spam Protection. Prevent the chance of spamming and bots creating false registrations on your web site by using reCAPTCHA features to provide human authentication.
- Mobile Registration And Ticketing Apps. The Event Espresso mobile registration system enables you to validate tickets, speed up door registrations, set up multiple check-in “stations” and track your participants.
- Event Check-In List. Generate a list of event registrants and check in everyone who has attended.
- Event Manager Pre-approval. Be selective about who can and can’t participate in your events.
- Public Commenting. Add “social proof” by encouraging potential registrants to ask questions about your event and previous participants to post comments that can help others consider whether or not to register. Moderation settings for public comments are set up in the WordPress commenting settings.
- Works With The Latest WP Version. The Event Espresso 4 user interface follows the WordPress guidelines to help you build beautiful event pages that are easier to use and mobile-friendly.
- Multi-Language Application. Event Espresso is currently available in over 15 languages, and more are being added all the time.
- Exportable Information. You can export all of your information collected from event customers into Excel or CSV format for compiling advanced reports, planning marketing strategies, analyzing attendee statistics, etc..
- Register Multiple Event Attendees. EE 4 allows an individual or people to buy multiple tickets and different types of tickets simultaneously. Event managers specify how many attendees are able to register in a single session by specifying either a limit on ticket purchases per order, or per-ticket minimums and maximums.
- Attendee Records. Manage your registrant’s profiles and payment history and keep all of their data organized and easily within reach.
- Invoice Payment Reminders. Follow-up potential customers who have not paid yet for their booking with a standard but personalized invoice with one click. Your invoices will reference registered customers who have not paid their registration yet by name, display the amount they owe, and include links to the event, a payment link and a url where they can download a PDF invoice.
- Categorize Events. If you have multiple event types such as free and paid, conference speakers and breakout sessions, different types of courses, etc. you can categorize them to help your attendees to find what they’re searching for. You can display all the events in a category on a custom event category page, make events searchable by category, and color-code events on the Event Espresso events calendar to make them easier to find, as well as suggesting other events in the categories that appeal to your existing customers.
Extra features include:
- Object-Oriented Programming. Event Espresso is simple enough for basic WP users, and also extremely robust and customizable for enterprise-level users and web-based software developers. The bottom line is that by using OOP, EE 4 allows for more complex enhancements and customizations to the application.
- Full Logging, Remote Logging. EE 4 lets you create a log file with debugging data that can be useful for developers who are potential errors.
- Flexibility, Autonomy And Value For Money: Event Espresso states on their website that their mission is to “empower business and organization leaders with the event registration, ticketing and management tools that maximize the success of events.” To achieve their mission, the company operates on a modular and highly effective model that provides users with great autonomy and flexibility and delivers value for money as a result.
The premium edition of Event Espresso also includes 40+ added features, including:
- Email shortcodes that includes attendee data in confirmation emails and email newsletters.
- Default surcharge (similar to applying a service tax to tickets).
- Default payment status.
Event Espresso Add-Ons
As mentioned earlier, Event Espresso provides “addons”, which allow end-users to significantly enhance the capabilities of managing your event.
Some of these add-ons include:
- Events Grid Template Add-on: Displays events in a pure CSS grid-like structure using the featured image. Hovering over the image will display further information. If an event does not have a featured image, it will use a default image.
- Recurring Events Drop-down Template Add on: The Recurring Events Drop-down custom template organizes the events with many datetimes into a drop-down list.
- Events Calendar Table Template Add on: The Calendar Table template is a list template with a bold date and customizable “register now” button. The template can be customized to display the event thumbnail image instead of the date.
- Social Coupons Integration Add on: If your web site uses Groupon.com you can easily accept Groupon codes to your events. You can also specify whether events accept the social coupons or not.
- Custom Files Add-on: The Custom Files add-on provides PHP files that let you bypass certain aspects of the Event Espresso plugin.
- Seating Chart Add-on: The seating chart addon is for venues and events that sell and reserve seats for attendees in advance. This is ideal for venues and events such as theaters, concert halls, play houses, sports arenas and stadiums. The Seating Chart addon allows you to promote reserved or assigned seating to your events and venues from your WordPress website. The Seating Chart addon lets you control the experience for your customers and design assigned seating charts and attach single prices to each seat.
- Multiple Event Registration Add on: The Multi-Event registration addon gives potential customers the ability to register for multiple events at once. In each event listing attendees will be given the option to either register for a single event or add multiple events to their cart. With the Multiple Event Registration add on, attendees can register for several events at once and even add additional attendees to any of the same events in the same checkout process.
- Events Table View Template Add on: The Events Table Template add on gives event managers a simple and easy-to-use system that lets you modify the design of your event lists. It comes with a simple table template with category filters, table search, table paging and more. It also allows developers to design custom templates using one of the templates included as a source template.
- Infusionsoft Integration Add on: With the Event Espresso 4 Infusionsoft App and Merchant Account integration all-in-one sales and marketing software addon, you can easily automate your customer relations and email marketing campaigns to seamlessly capture registrant data, track bookings, and accept payments from your website.
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to its plugin, including new add-ons.
For more information about the latest Event Espreso features and add ons, check out the plugin here:
User Feedback
Here are just some of the many great testimonials that customers have written about Event Espresso:
”Congratulations on an absolutely fantastic plugin. I’m really impressed with its functionality and add on features and will definitely upgrade my client’s production site to the premium version (when ready for launch) to incorporate all the features. As I have told another client “this plugin is the cat’s meow”.” Pete Mansel
”Over the next 5-6 years we should be able to claim that we saved the company over $100,000 – Thanks Event Espresso!” David Waterman, KT Benefits & InkItDigital.com
”I’m so excited to fire Eventbrite! Event Espresso has an amazing WP plugin for event management. We’re testing it now & are very impressed! In a nutshell Event Espresso saves us money & does everything Eventbrite did before. :)” Dustin Nay
Event Espresso Tips
Whether you are an education services provider, trainer, festival promoter, or event consultant, there are just countless possibilities of what you can achieve with the Event Espresso plugin.
After downloading the plugin and becoming a registered user, spend a little time researching the support forum for new ideas and practical ways to streamline your event management workflow and improve the experience of your attendees.
Event Espresso Support
Event Espresso is compatible with other WP plugins and themes that follow WordPress coding standards. If you find that you need help with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides highly responsive customer support, as many of its plugin users attest:
”By far, the customer service experience with Event Espresso has been the best of any WordPress Theme or Paid Plugin that I’ve used in the past two years!” Megan Murray, Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe
The Event Espresso plugin provides exceptional support including access to a support forum, comprehensive online documentation with faqs, knowledge base and how tos, email support and even a monthly VIP member pass giving you access to community of developers, designers, event managers, publishers and webmasters that use Event Espresso tools, plus faster support response times.
Additionally, Event Espresso boasts a well-staffed team of experienced WordPress web developers with a solid track record of support, so this is definitely a plugin you can count on to organize and manage your events.
Product License Pricing
Event Espresso is available in different editions, including a FREE basic edition (named Event Espresso Decaf). For support and advanced plugin options, however, you need to consider downloading one of the paid plugin editions below:
- Personal Edition – This license option enables you to run Event Espresso on one site only. It includes 51+ Premium features, (add ons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $69.95.
- Everything Licensing – This license allows you to set up Event Espresso on 1 site only. Cost includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium add ons and 1 year of upgrades and support. Price = $279.95.
- Developer License – This allows you to set up Event Espresso on five sites. Includes 51+ Premium features, (add ons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $249.95.
The cost to purchase the Event Espresso plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software is selling for the prices shown above. Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Event Espresso – Event Registration And Ticket Management
Note: The pricing above was current when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin seller when you visit the site.
Additional Plugin Info
The Event Espresso development team is continually adding new features and improvements to the plugin. Make sure to register for their newsletter when you visit their site to receive the latest information and updates.
Use the plugin’s documentation pages for answers to common questions about setting up and how to use Event Espresso, and the support forums for questions related to a specific situation, or to notify developers about problems and give feedback.
For detailed documentation, demos, downloads, videos, tutorials, FAQ and more, visit the Event Espresso website.
The Bottom Line
Event Espresso is the preferred WordPress event booking and ticketing management plugin, used by thousands of WordPress users.
If you are a WordPress site owner and you intend to run events that involve scheduling dates, times and venues, registering attendees, and/or reserving seating, then you will probably not find a more suitable software for your needs than Event Espresso.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Event Espresso – Event Manager And Ticketing Registration Plugin For WordPress
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