Does your company currently run or plan to run events that need to accept registrations, such as workshops, community courses, charity fundraisers, corporate functions, or even a large-scale event like an art exhibition, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to book to attend?
Managing event registrations is a complex and time-consuming process. You may be required to co-ordinate scheduling, available dates and seating allocations, registration numbers, data processing, payment processing and invoicing, confirmations and reservations, reminders and alerts, cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special requests and issuing tickets to participants.
There are a number of benefits to setting up an online event registration system. It can streamline your business processes, save time and reduce costs, help you easily reproduce recurring events, give you more control, create a more enjoyable customer experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that this can be costly.
Fortunately, if you own a WordPress-powered website, you can easily install an inexpensive and professional online event booking solution.
Presenting …
Event Espresso – WordPress Event Management And Ticket Registration System
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration plugin for WP lets you easily set up an event and begin receiving registrations in just minutes.
(Set up multiple events and process online bookings with Event Espresso)
Event Espresso is a flexible and feature-rich application that gives you full control over the event registration management process.
Create custom registration forms
You can employ various event registration strategies, from simple online registration and straight up selling tickets, to creating custom registration forms in order to better understand your event participants, or integrating your event bookings with social media sites like Facebook.
View detailed information about your event attendees
Important: At the time of writing this review, Event Espresso offers two different versions of their software: Event Espresso 3 and Event Espresso 4. The new EE 4 is fundamentally different than the older Event Espresso 3, as the software is being revamped using a different structure to enable future growth and expansion. The EE 4 plugin platform has different features, user interface, data structure, coding method and price. The developers aim to eventually retire EE 3, so keep this in mind as you learn more about the benefits and advantages of using this plugin.
For more details go here:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your website:
Hands-Free Event Registration Management
Event Espresso provides you with everything you need to turn your current online presence into a fully-featured event management website … from custom registration forms and automated emails, to attendee limits, multiple price levels and discount codes, to printable tickets and even seating charts.
Increased Business Productivity
By using a web-based event registration system like Event Espresso, you save time and increase your business productivity by literally doing away with the need to process registrations manually.
Essentially, you are making it easier for attendees to enroll on their own.
Allowing your attendees to do the data themselves frees you up from doing administration and lets you focus more of your time on creating a more unique event.
Full Control Over The User Experience
As you will see in a moment, Event Espresso gives you complete control over the event management and booking process that you want your users to experience.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Lower Costs: Event Espresso gives you an inexpensive online event registration management solution compared to other options or using a third-party service. The cost is kept low by using a model where you buy the core plugin (which suits the requirements of most users) and then purchase addons only if you need extra functionality.
- More Sales: Event Espresso lets you accept new signups 24 hrs a day. In addition, Event Espresso social sharing and marketing features and add ons (see below) let people interested in registering for your event invite others who may also be interested in attending.
- Green Event Sign-Up Process: With Event Espresso, the event sign-up process is performed entirely in digital form, reducing traditional paper waste from tasks associated with enrollment.
- Own Your Information. You own all the information collected from event participants.
Plugin Features
The Event Espresso software provides functionality to its customers through standard features (these come with the plugin) and additional features that customers can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso offers many built-in to web site owners. Here are just some:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- Custom Event Registration Forms. With Event Espresso you can collect specific information using a custom event registration form on your web site to prepare a tailored experience for your event participants.
- Customizable Event & Registration Page Designs. Customize your events and enrollments page using Event Espresso’s unlimited template options and elements, and HTML or CSS.
- Collect Payments. Event Espresso provides integration with payment gateways, allowing you to collect payments prior to running events.
- Google Maps. Google Maps integration allows you to customize the display settings of Google Maps on the event listing and event details pages.
- Default Prices. Set up events quickly and easily with pre-configured system-default ticket pricing.
- Mobile Registration & 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 event attendees.
- Event Check-In List. Generate an exportable list of event participants and confirm those who attend.
- Admin Pre-approval. Be selective about who can register for your events.
- Public Commenting. Add “social proof” by allowing potential registrants to ask questions about your event and past attendees to post reviews that can help others decide whether or not to enroll. Moderation settings for public comments are specified using the WP default commenting section.
- Keyword-Rich Event Page Web Links. Keyword rich event page Web links take advantage of your Permalinks configuration settings. “Pretty” permalinks that include relevant keywords enhance the context of your pages and improves your search rankings, helping you get more potential customers to your website.
- 15+ Languages. Event Espresso is being translated into over 15 languages, with more languages planned.
- Import Event Data. EE 4 provides a CSV-based importing capability that allows you to import bulk event data all at one time. You can export, edit and import details about events, datetimes, ticketing details, pricing, custom registration questions, venue info, terms, taxonomies, term relationships and more.
- Event Venue Manager. The venue manager in EE 4 allows information about a venue to display throughout the Event Espresso admin and the front-end of your website to inform users of your event’s location. The venue record displays many of the standard WP settings such as tags, categories, discussion settings, comments, etc., but also includes information like venue seating capacity, venue site URL, telephone number, venue address, map, etc. You can also list venues on various locations of your theme as well as on a venue listing page on your site where you can set up and reuse venue profiles for multiple events or display all the events for a particular venue.
- Event Espresso Community. Event Espresso provides users with access to a community of experienced event managers, developers, designers, marketers and business owners who also use the plugin. You can interact with other Event Espresso users through their community chat room, support forums, job board, and social media discussions on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google+.
- Social Sharing. Event registrants and site visitors can tell others about your events using social sharing buttons.
- Event Posts. Publish your events using pages or posts and take advantage of WordPress custom post types. You can even customize the page templates to display events in your own custom way.
Extra features include:
- Define Extra Meta Information. This feature allows web-based software developers to have more control and options over your event page and how your information displays to your visitors.
- Metabox Management & Reorganization. Event Espresso lets you leverage the WP user interface, which brings the ability to reconfigure the user interface to match your workflow processes. Each control box can be collapsed, re-arranged or entirely deleted from the page.
- 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 objectives, the software has been built using a modular that provides users with great autonomy and flexibility and delivers value for money as a result.
The premium edition of Event Espresso also provides you with 40+ additional features, including:
- Email shortcodes for including participant data in emails and newsletters.
- Default surcharge (the same as adding a service tax to each ticket).
- Option to skip the confirmation page in the registration process.
Event Espresso Add-Ons
As well as an incredible range of features, Event Espresso provides “add-ons”, which allow users to significantly enhance the capabilities of managing an event.
Some of these add-ons include:
- EE4 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 the event does not have a featured image, a default image will be used.
- Recurring Events Manager Addon: The Recurring Events management addon allows you to put your events on autopilot by scheduling repeated events weeks or months in advance. You can create as many future events as you like. Event Espresso will then automatically open and close registrations for all recurring events.
- Events Calendar Table Template Addon: The Calendar Table template is a list template with a bold date and customizable “register now” button. The template can be customized to show 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 even specify whether events accept the social coupons or not.
- WP User Integration: The WP User Integration addon allows you to take advantage of the WP user system. With the WP User Integration addon you can give your users a special incentive by offering member prices and overriding event pricing when your members are logged in. You can even set up member-only events where only registered users of the website can have access to your special events. Members can also add personal data into their profile page allowing them fast registration for events by auto-filling in the personal information on the event registration form. Your users can also view event history and pay for events.
- Roles And Permissions Basic And Pro Addon Editions: This add-on lets you include staff in your organization to help manage your events and give new users permission to create events or regional managers the capacity to manage events. The Roles and Permissions Basic add-on allows you to manage & customize the WordPress users roles and give them different permissions with different privileges, allowing others to help you manage your events or events that others create. You can customize roles so that users do not have access to certain parts of your WP dashboard and/or certain sections of your Event Espresso settings. If you’d like to create geographic regions for other people to manage events, use the Roles and Permissions Pro add on.
- EE4 Event Ticketing & Bar Scanning Addon: The Ticketing add on adds the capacity to generate tickets with bar codes. The Bar Scanning add on gives you the capacity to scan ticket bar codes. The ticketing add on includes the ability to customize event tickets. Multiple bar code types are included for handling check-in scans at venues. People can either print out their tickets or display them on their mobile devices. The barcode scanner can be used for checking in or checking out registrants and to validate tickets.
- EE4 Events Calendar Addon: This WordPress events calendar displays events and event categories in a nice graphical calendar.
- JSON API Add-on: The new Event Espresso JSON API addon gives permission for other applications, web tools, mobile apps, etc… to access your Event Espresso data through an Application Programming Interface (API).
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to the software, including new addons.
For complete details about the latest Event Espreso features and add ons, visit the plugin website:
User Testimonials
Below are some of the many great testimonials that satisfied users have written about Event Espresso:
”Thanks to you and the rest of the team for Event Espresso – Every time I get a signup for an event, I think about how much time EE saves me – and signups happen while I’m out on the water teaching kayaking, not answering the phone. :-)” Tue Brems Olesen, OnAdventure
”When you can get a company to expend more money switching systems just to use your plugin…you’ve really accomplished something.” David, House of Prayer
”Event Espresso plugin still rocks. Saw you guys were up for the WP Honors too. Glad I paid for it! If you need event management on your WordPress site I recommend Event Espresso.” Patrick Allmond, Focus Consulting
Useful Tips
Whether you are a gym owner, trainer, event promoter, or event management consultant, there are just countless possibilities of what you can do with the Event Espresso plugin.
After downloading your copy of the plugin and becoming a registered user, spend a little time researching the forums for tips and practical ways to streamline your event management process and enhance the experience of your attendees.
Support
Event Espresso works with with other WP plugins and themes that follow WordPress coding standards. If you experience issues with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides great support, as so many of its plugin users confirm:
“I’m really impressed with not only the application itself but the support. I have rarely seen such a responsive support staff than at EE. They rock…I highly recommend this plugin!” sock2me
The software provides amazing support with 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.
In addition, Event Espresso boasts an established team of experienced web developers with a proven track record of support, so this is definitely a solution you can depend on to organize and manage your events.
Product Pricing
Event Espresso is available in a range of editions, including a FREE basic edition (referred to as Event Espresso Decaf). For support and advanced plugin features, however, you will want to consider purchasing one of the ”Pro” plugin editions below:
- Personal License – This edition lets you run Event Espresso on one domain only. Includes 51+ Premium features, (addons sold separately) and 1 year of upgrades and support. Cost = $69.95.
- Everything License Edition – This enables you to set up Event Espresso on 1 domain only. Includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium add-ons and 1 year of upgrades and support. Price = $279.95.
- Developer License – This enables you to configure Event Espresso on 5 domains. Includes 51+ Premium features, (addons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Price = $249.95.
The cost of purchasing the Event Espresso plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin sells for the pricing shown above. Check the plugin’s website for the latest price: Event Espresso – Event Manager & Ticketing Registration Software For WordPress
Note: The pricing above was current when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the site.
Additional Plugin Info
The Event Espresso development team is continually adding new features and improvements to its software. Make sure to register for their newsletter when you visit their site to receive the latest information and updates.
Search the software’s documentation pages to find answers to common questions about setting up and how to use Event Espresso, and the support forums for questions related to a particular situation, or to report problems and give feedback.
For all documentation, demos, downloads, videos, tutorials, FAQ and more, visit the Event Espresso website.
The Bottom Line
Event Espresso is the leading WP event booking and ticketing manager software, used and trusted by thousands.
If you own a WordPress-powered website and you currently run events that require scheduling dates, times and venues (offline and online), booking attendees, or selling tickets, then you will probably not find a more suitable WP plugin for your needs than Event Espresso.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Event Espresso – Event Manager & Registration Plugin For WordPress
***