Does your company currently run or plan to run events that need to accept registrations, such as workshops, community courses, non-profit fund-raisers, corporate events, or even a big event such as a dance party, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to register to attend?
Co-ordinating event registrations can be a complex process. You will probably need to manage scheduling, available dates and spaces, registration numbers, data collection and storage, collecting payments and invoicing, confirmations and reservations, reminders and alerts, refunds and cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special requests and delivering tickets to attendees.
There are many benefits to setting up an automated web-based event registration system. It can streamline your business processes, save time and lower costs, help you easily duplicate recurring events, give event managers more control, improve customer experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that setting up a web-based event registration system can be expensive.
The good news is that if you run a WordPress-powered site, you can set up a very inexpensive and highly professional web-based event booking system.
Introducing …
Event Espresso
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration plugin for WP enables you to easily set up an event and begin processing registrations in minutes.
(Set up multiple events and accept online bookings with Event Espresso)
Event Espresso is a versatile and feature-packed plugin that gives you full control of the event registration management process.
Create custom registration forms
You can employ several event registration strategies, from simple online bookings and straight up ticket sales, to setting up custom registration forms for collecting detailed information about your attendees, or integrating your event registration forms with social media sites like Facebook.
Access detailed information about event attendees
Note: At the time of writing this review, Event Espresso provides two different versions of their software: Event Espresso 3 and EE 4. The new Event Espresso 4 is considerably different than the older Event Espresso 3, as the software is being revamped using a different structure to accommodate future growth and expansion. The Event Espresso 4 plugin platform has different features, user interface, data structure, coding method and pricing. The developers aim to eventually move completely to EE 4, so keep this in mind as you read more about this plugin.
Go here to learn more:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your site:
Automated Event Registration Management And Ticketing System
Event Espresso provides you with everything you need to turn your current website into an automated and feature-rich event management website … from custom registration forms and automated emails, to attendee limits, multiple pricing levels and discount codes, to printable tickets and seating charts.
Better Business Productivity
By using an online event registration solution like Event Espresso, you save time and improve your business productivity by virtually eliminating the need to process registrations manually.
Essentially, you are making it easier for participants to enroll by themselves.
Letting your attendees to do the data entry frees you up from doing admin work and lets you focus more of your energy on delivering a more unique event.
Full Control Over The User Experience
As you will see in a moment, Event Espresso gives you full control over the event management and booking process that you want your users to experience.
Additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Reduced Costs: Event Espresso is an inexpensive online event registration management solution compared to building your own software or using a 3rd party provider. This is made possible through a model where users pay for the core plugin (which suits the requirements of most users) and then buy addons only if you need added functionality.
- More Sales: Event Espresso allows you to accept new event signups outside traditional business hours. Not only that, but, Event Espresso social sharing and marketing features (see below) let people who are interested in registering for your event share your information with their friends who may be interested in attending.
- Green & Paperless Event SignUp Process: With Event Espresso, the event registration process can remain wholly online, reducing traditional paper consumption from tasks associated with enrollment.
- Own Your Information. You control all the data you acquire from event participants.
Features
Event Espresso delivers functionality to its users via built-in features (these are included with the software) and optional features that customers can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso offers many unique features to site owners. Here are just some:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Multiple Dates and Times Per Event. In Event Espresso 4, events can have many dates and times (called datetimes), which these can be managed from a single event.
- Customizable Event And Registration Page Designs. Customize your events and signup page using Event Espresso’s limitless template options and elements, and HTML or CSS.
- Ticket Selector. Present a number of ticket options to prospects and let them purchase the ticket(s) that will best fit their needs.
- Custom Post Types. You can Event Espresso into your WP theme and reuse events information throughout other areas of your site.
- Default Price Types. Price types let you create new prices that adjust the base ticket price of your default ticket.
- Mobile Ticketing Apps. The Event Espresso mobile registration system lets you authenticate tickets, speed up in-venue registrations, create multiple check-in “stations” and track your attendees.
- Manual Registration. you have the option of registering event participants at the door, or send in paper forms for manual processing later.
- Waiting Lists. Latecomers can join a waiting list if your event has reached maximum attendance. You can also specify that wait-listed members pre-pay if you plan to expand numbers for the event.
- Private Comments On Contacts. Keep notes about users on their profile. Private commenting helps you keep records of when event registrants contacted you, your internal observations, and how you have helped your contacts.
- Works With The Most Recent Version Of WP. The EE 4 user interface follows all WordPress guidelines to help you create visually attractive event pages that are easier to use and mobile-friendly.
- Your Organization Settings. you can configure your profile to display throughout Event Espresso and your front-end templates. Organization information include: business name, street address, city, state, country, zip code, primary contact email address, telephone, tax number, logo, Facebook URL, Twitter URL, LinkedIn profile URL, Pinterest profile URL, Google+ profile URL, Instagram URL.
- Exportable Information. You can output all the information gathered from your event participants into Excel or CSV format for compiling reports, devising marketing strategies, reviewing attendee statistics, etc..
- Multiple Attendee Bookings. Event Espresso 4 allows a single person or a group to buy multiple tickets and different types of tickets at once. Event managers specify how many people are able to enroll in one registration by specifying either limits on ticket purchases per order, or per-ticket minimums and maximums.
- Attendee Records. You can manage your customer’s profile information and payment history and keep all of their records organized and easily within reach.
- Social Sharing. Event participants and your website visitors can tell others about your events using social sharing buttons.
- Event Reporting. Event reports gives you information of all registrations and transactions, allowing you to measure the performance of your events with the aggregate number of registrations and how much money has been collected.
Extra features include:
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). Event Espresso is simple enough for most users, and also robust and customizable for enterprise-level users and developers. The bottom line is that by using OOP, Event Espresso 4 makes possible more complex enhancements and customizations to the software.
- Control Box Management And Organization. Event Espresso lets you leverage the WP user interface, which brings the ability to reconfigure the user interface to suit your workflow processes. Each control box can be collapsed, re-arranged or entirely deleted from the workflow configuration.
- 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 software has been built using a modular and highly efficient model that provides users with great autonomy and flexibility and delivers value for money in the process.
The premium edition of Event Espresso also comes with 40+ additional features, including:
- Email shortcodes that includes participant data in emails and updates.
- Default surcharge (similar to applying a service tax to every ticket).
- Default payment status.
Add ons
As mentioned earlier, Event Espresso provides “addons”, which allow customers to further enhance the capabilities of events.
Some of these add-ons include:
- EE4 Events Grid Template Addon: 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, it will use a default image.
- Recurring Events Management Add-on: The Recurring Events management add on allows you to put your events on autopilot by scheduling repeated events weeks or months ahead. You can schedule as many events in advance as you want. Event Espresso will automatically open and close registrations for all of your recurring events.
- Events Date Range Template Add on: The Date Range custom event list template allows your users to browse for events that take place within a certain date range.
- Social Coupons Integration Add-on: If your site is featured on Groupon.com you can easily accept Groupon codes to your events. You can even 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 plugin.
- Roles And Permissions Basic & Pro Add on Versions: This add-on lets you involve staff in your organization to help manage your events and give new users permission to create events or regional managers permission to manage events. The Roles and Permissions Basic add-on allows you to manage & customize the WordPress users roles and assign them different permissions with different capabilities, so others can 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 allow users to control factors geographically for events and users, use the Roles and Permissions Pro add on.
- Multiple Event Registration Add on: The Multiple Event registration addon gives your potential customers the ability to register for multiple events at once. In each event listing registrants will be given the option to either register for a single event or add multiple events to their cart. With the Multi-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 Calendar Add-on: This addon uses the WP calendar to display events and categories of events using an attractive graphical calendar.
- JSON API Add on: The Event Espresso JSON API addon enables other applications, websites, mobile applications, etc… to access your Event Espresso information through an Application Programming Interface (API).
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to its software, including new add ons.
To learn more about the newest Event Espreso features and addons, check out the plugin here:
User Feedback
Below are some of the many testimonials that customers have written about Event Espresso:
“It is a very, very slick plugin. It’s one of those plugins where you install it, change a couple of settings, and boom you’re selling tickets.” Brad Williams, WebDevStudios
”This really is a hell of a plugin. For me, it’s probably the final nail in the coffin for Joomla, as WP can now pretty much do EVERYTHING Joomla does, but better. Love the simplicity of this plugin!” Sam, Web Contempo
”You guys have done an AWESOME job with this system…promise me to keep up the excellent work you guys are doing, for as long as you can… Respect!” Robert Jarnroth, Jarnroth Digital Productions
Plugin Tips
Whether you are a gym owner, teacher, show planner, or event professional, there are just endless possibilities of what you can achieve with the Event Espresso plugin.
After downloading your copy of the plugin and becoming a registered user, spend a little time going through the forums for tips and practical ways to improve your event management workflow and enhance the experience of your participants.
Support
Event Espresso is fully compatible with most WP plugins and themes that follow standard WP development guidelines. If you have problems with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides great end-user support, as many of its plugin users confirm:
”It’s magical. Support is amazing, plugin is simple to use, a 3 year old could use the iPhone app…it all is very impressive and professional.” David, House of Prayer
The plugin provides incredible support with access to a support forum, in-depth online documentation with faqs, knowledgebase and how tos, custom development support and even a monthly VIP member pass that gives 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 a well-staffed team of experienced WordPress developers with a solid track record of support, so this is definitely a plugin you can rely on to manage your events.
Software Pricing
Event Espresso is available in various editions, including a FREE basic edition (referred to as Event Espresso Decaf). For support and advanced software features, however, you should consider using one of the premium plugin versions below:
- Personal License Edition – This allows you to set up Event Espresso on one domain only. Includes 51+ Premium features, (add ons sold separately) and 1 year of upgrades and support. Cost = $69.95.
- Everything Edition – This license lets you run Event Espresso on 1 domain only. Price includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium add ons and one year of upgrades and support. Price = $279.95.
- Developer License – This enables you to configure Event Espresso on five domains. Includes 51+ Premium features, (add-ons sold separately) and 1 year of upgrades and support. Cost = $249.95.
The price of the Event Espresso plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin is being retailed for the pricing shown above. Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Event Espresso – Event Manager And Ticketing Registration Software For WordPress
Please Note: The pricing above was current at the time this review was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the site.
Event Espresso – Additional Information
The Event Espresso development team is continually adding new features and improvements to the software. Make sure to stay subscribed to their customer update list to receive the latest information and updates.
Use the plugin’s documentation pages for answers to common questions about setup and how to use Event Espresso, and the support forums if you have questions related to a particular situation, or to notify developers about problems and leave feedback.
For detailed documentation, demos, downloads, videos, tutorials, FAQ and more, visit the Event Espresso website.
Our Recommendation
Event Espresso is the preferred WP event registration and ticketing management plugin, used by thousands of WordPress website owners.
If you own a WordPress-powered web site and you currently run any event that involves scheduling dates and venues, registering attendees, or booking tickets, then you will probably not find a more suitable solution for your needs than Event Espresso.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Event Espresso
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