Do you currently run or plan to run events that need to accept registrations, such as workshops, training courses, not-for-profit fund raisers, networking conferences, or even a large-scale event like a dance party, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to register to attend or participate?
Managing event bookings can be a time-consuming process. You will most likely be required to co-ordinate calendar schedules, date availability, attendee numbers, data processing and storage, collecting payments and sending invoices, confirmations, reminders and notifications, cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special needs and delivering tickets to event attendees.
There are many benefits to setting up an automated online event registration system. It can streamline your business processes, save time and lower expenses, help you easily replicate recurring events, give event managers more control, create a better customer experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that this can be very costly.
The good news is that if you own a WordPress-based website, you can install a very inexpensive and professional online event registration system.
Presenting …
Event Espresso – Event Management & Ticket Registration Software For WordPress
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration WP plugin lets you easily set up multiple events and start receiving online bookings in just minutes.
(Event Espresso lets you set up multiple events and take online registrations)
Event Espresso is a versatile and feature-rich application that gives you complete control of your event registration management process.
Event Espresso lets you customize registration forms
You can employ various event registration strategies, from simple online enrollments and straight up selling tickets, to creating custom registration forms in order to better understand your event participants, 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: EE 3 and EE 4. The new Event Espresso 4 is completely different than the older Event Espresso 3, as the software is being rebuilt using a different structure to enable future growth. The Event Espresso 4 plugin software has different features, user interface, data structure, coding method and pricing. The company plans to eventually retire Event Espresso 3, so keep this in mind as you learn more about this plugin.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your website or blog:
Automated Event Registration Management And Ticketing Solution
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 maximum seating 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 increase your business productivity by virtually doing away with the need to process registrations manually.
Basically, you are enabling event participants to enrol on their own.
Letting your attendees to do the data themselves frees up your time and lets you spend more time on delivering a more unique event.
Full Control Over The User Experience
As you will soon discover, Event Espresso gives you full control over the event management and booking process that you want your users to experience.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Less Costs: Event Espresso is an inexpensive online event registration management solution compared to other options or using a 3rd party service provider. This is made possible by using a model where users start with the core plugin (which suits the needs of most users) and then purchase add-ons when you need added features.
- Higher Sales: With Event Espresso you can accept online signups outside traditional business hours. In addition, Event Espresso social sharing addons (see below) let people interested in attending your event share your information with other people they know who may be interested in attending.
- Green & Paperless Event Sign Up Process: With Event Espresso, the event booking process is completed wholly in digital form, reducing typical paper waste from tasks related to administration.
- Own Your Information. You control all the information obtained from your event attendees.
Plugin Features
Event Espresso delivers functionality to its customers via standard features (these come with the plugin) and optional features that users can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso provides many built-in to website owners. Here are just some of these:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Multiple Ticket And Pricing Options. Event Espresso lets you create as many different types of tickets as you need and set separate prices, ticket quantity limits, etc.
- Custom Notification Emails. Easily set up automatic booking and payment confirmation emails to communicate with event participants.
- Tax Admin And Reporting. Event Espresso 4 provides a number of ways to manage taxes for an event and report tax fees to registrants when purchasing tickets. Event managers can administer taxes globally or on a ticket-by-ticket basis.
- Google Maps. Google Maps integration enables you to configure the display settings of Google Maps on your event listing and event details sections.
- Default Prices. Create events fast by pre-configuring default pricing.
- Mobile Registration & Ticketing Apps. The Event Espresso mobile registration system enables you to authenticate tickets, speed up in-venue registrations, set up various check-in “stations” and track event participants.
- Event Check-In List. Generate a list of participants and check-in everyone who has attended.
- Waiting Lists. Latecomers can join a waiting list if your event has reached capacity. You can also specify that wait-listed attendees pre-pay if you plan to expand capacity for the event.
- Public Commenting. Add “social proof” by encouraging potential attendees to interact with you online via commenting and previous customers to post reviews that can help others choose whether or not to register. Moderation settings for public commenting are configured via the WP native commenting section.
- Optimized For The Latest Version Of WP. The EE 4 user interface follows the WordPress guidelines to help you create aesthetically enhanced event pages that are easier to use and mobile-friendly.
- Your Organization Settings. Configure your organization’s profile to display throughout Event Espresso and your front-end templates. Your organization data include: organization name, street address, city, state, country, zip code, email address, phone, tax number, your logo, Facebook URL, Twitter profile URL, LinkedIn profile URL, Pinterest URL, Google+ URL, Instagram URL.
- Default Tickets. If you create similar tickets for your events, you can set up as your default ticket for the next time you create an event simply by ticking a checkbox.
- Venue Management. The venue manager in EE 4 allows information about venues to be made available throughout the Event Espresso admin and the front-end of your website to inform visitors of your event’s location. The venue profile has many of the standard WP settings such as tags, categories, discussion settings, comments, etc., but also displays details such as venue capacity, venue website, venue phone number, physical and/or virtual location, Google map, etc. You can also list venues on specific locations of your WordPress theme and on a venue listing page on your website where you can set up and publish venue profiles for multiple events or display all the events for a particular venue.
- Registrant Profiles. You can manage each registrant’s profile information and payment history and keep all of their records organized.
- Social Sharing. Event participants and your site visitors can help create a wider exposure for your event using social media share buttons.
- Transaction Reporting. Event reporting gives you information of all of your registrations and transactions, enabling you to measure the performance of your events with the aggregate number of registrations and amount of revenue you have collected.
Extra features include:
- Hooks, Actions & Filters. These allow you to implement safer and more reliable customizations and extensions to the Event Espresso application that are compatible with the WordPress software platform.
- Control Box Management And Organization. Event Espresso lets you leverage the WordPress user interface, which gives you the ability to organize the user interface to suit your workflow. Each control box can be collapsed, re-arranged or removed from the page.
- Flexibility, Autonomy And Value: 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 goals, the company operates on a modular that provides users with great autonomy and flexibility and delivers value for money as a result.
The premium version of Event Espresso also includes 40+ added features, including:
- Email shortcodes that includes participant data in notification emails and email updates.
- Question groups that simplify the process of reusing a series of questions for similar events.
- Default payment status.
Event Espresso Add-Ons
As well as a very large number of features, Event Espresso provides “addons”, which allow customers to further expand the capabilities of the event management process.
Some of these add ons include:
- 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 an event does not have a featured image, a default image will be used instead.
- Recurring Events Manager Add on: The Recurring Events management add on lets you put your events on autopilot by scheduling recurring events weeks or months … even years ahead. You can schedule as many events in advance as you want. Event Espresso will then automatically open and close bookings for all recurring events.
- Events Date Range Template Addon: The Date Range custom event list template lets your users to search for events that occur within a certain date range.
- EE4 Events Social Sharing Addon: Add social sharing features to the end of your Event Espresso “thank you” page that allows your registrants to post a message about their event registration on Twitter and Facebook after booking.
- WP User Integration: The WP User Integration addon lets you take full advantage of the WP user system. With the WP User Integration add-on 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 website users can have access to your special events. Members can also enter personal details into their profile page allowing them to quickly register for events by auto-filling in the personal information on the event registration form. Your users can also look up previous events and pay for events.
- Roles And Permissions Basic And Pro Add-on Versions: This add-on lets you involve other staff in your organization to help manage your events and give new users the ability 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 allow them different permissions with different capabilities, so others can help you manage your events or the events that others create. You can customize roles so that users do not have access to certain areas of your WordPress 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 addon.
- EE4 Event Ticketing And Bar Scanning Addon: The Ticketing add on adds the ability to create tickets with bar codes. The Bar Scanning add on gives you the ability to scan ticket bar codes. The ticketing add-on includes the ability to customize event tickets. Multiple barcode types are included for handling check-in scans at the venue door. Customers can either print out their tickets or display them on their mobile devices. The mobile app can be used for checking in or checking out attendees and to validate tickets.
- Events Calendar Add-on: This addon uses the WordPress calendar to display events and event categories in a nice graphical calendar.
- JSON API Add-on: The new Event Espresso JSON API add-on permits other applications, online tools, mobile applications, etc… to access your Event Espresso details through an API (Application Programming Interface).
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to its plugin, including new add ons.
For more details about the newest Event Espreso features and add-ons, visit the plugin website here:
User Testimonials
Below are some of the many great testimonials that customers have posted 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
”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
”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 motivational speaker, teacher, workshop planner, or event management professional, there are just endless possibilities of what you can achieve with the Event Espresso software.
After downloading the plugin and becoming a registered user, spend a little time going through the user forum for useful ideas and practical ways to streamline your event management and registration process and improve the experience of your attendees.
Event Espresso Support
Event Espresso is fully compatible with all WP plugins and themes that follow WP coding standards. If you have problems with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides highly responsive support, as so many of its customers attest:
”Your plugin saved our client nearly $9000 in development costs because it handled the majority of the functionality we were looking for at a much lower cost. EventEspresso’s staff have been very responsive to our needs when we have them (which has been rare, because the plugin is so well coded). Great job on a great plugin!” Brandon P., Experience Farm
The Event Espresso software provides exceptional support with access to a support forum, in-depth online documentation with faqs, knowledge base and how tos, priority 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 count 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 personal support and advanced plugin features, however, you need to consider using one of the paid plugin editions below:
- Personal License – This lets you run Event Espresso on one site only. Cost includes 51+ Premium features, (add ons sold separately) and 1 year of upgrades and support. Cost = $69.95.
- Everything License – This allows you to install Event Espresso on 1 site only. Pricing includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium add ons and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $279.95.
- Developer License – This allows you to install Event Espresso on five sites. It includes 51+ Premium features, (addons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $249.95.
Pricing for the Event Espresso plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the software is selling for the amounts shown above. Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing: Event Espresso – Event Management And Ticket Registration Plugin For WordPress
Please Note: The pricing above was current at the time this article was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin seller when you visit the website.
Additional Plugin Info
Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to its software. Make sure to stay subscribed to their customer update list to receive the latest information and updates.
Search the plugin’s documentation pages to find answers to common questions about setup and using Event Espresso, and visit the support forums if you have questions related to your particular situation, or to notify developers about errors and share feedback.
For all documentation, demos, downloads, videos, tutorials, FAQ and more, visit the Event Espresso product information pages.
Our Recommendation
Event Espresso is the leading WordPress event booking and ticketing manager software, used and trusted by thousands of users.
If you own a WordPress-powered site and you currently run an event that involves managing dates, times and venues (offline and online), booking participants, and reserving seating, then you will probably not find a more suitable solution for your needs than Event Espresso.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Event Espresso – WordPress Event Manager And Registration System
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