Does your company currently run or plan to run events that need handling bookings, such as seminars, training classes, not-for-profit fundraisers, social events, or even a big event like an exhibition, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to book to attend or participate?
Co-ordinating event registrations is a complex process. You will most likely have to manage scheduling, dates, attendee numbers, data administration, collecting payments and sending invoices, confirmations, reminders and notifications, cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special requests and delivering tickets to participants.
There are many benefits to setting up a web-based event registration system. It can streamline your business processes, save time and reduce costs, help you easily copy settings for previously-run events, give you more control, create a more enjoyable customer experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that setting up an online event booking system can be quite expensive.
The good news is that if you run a WordPress-based web site, you can install a very inexpensive and highly professional web-based event registration system.
Introducing …
Event Espresso
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration WP plugin lets you easily set up multiple events and begin receiving registrations in a few minutes.
(Event Espresso lets you set up multiple events and accept online event bookings)
Event Espresso is a versatile and feature-rich software that gives you full control over your event registration management process.
Event Espresso lets you customize your event registration forms
You can use a number of event registration strategies, from simple online bookings and straight up selling tickets, to creating custom registration forms in order to better understand your participants, or integrating your event bookings with social media and email marketing software.
Access detailed information about event attendees
Note: Currently, Event Espresso offers 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 platform is being rebuilt 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 company plans to eventually phase out EE 3, so keep this in mind as you read more about the benefits and features of this plugin.
More info:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your web site:
Hands-Free Event Registration Management
Event Espresso provides you with everything you need to turn your current online presence into a feature-rich and professional event management site … from custom registration forms and automated emails, to maximum seating limits, multiple price levels and discount codes, to printable tickets and seating charts.
Higher Business Productivity
By using an online event registration solution like Event Espresso, you save time and improve your business productivity by literally eliminating the chore of processing registrations and bookings manually.
Basically, you are enabling attendees to enrol on their own.
Allowing your attendees to do all of the data entry frees you up from doing administration and lets you invest more resources on creating a more enjoyable event.
Complete Control Over The User Experience
As you will discover in a moment, Event Espresso gives you more control over the event management process that you want your customers to experience.
Additional benefits of the plugin include:
- Less Costs: Event Espresso provides you with an inexpensive online event registration management solution compared to developing your own solution or using a third party provider. This is made possible by using a model where you buy the core plugin (which suits the requirements of most users) and buy optional add ons when you need added functionality.
- Higher Sales: With Event Espresso you can accept new event bookings 24 hours a day. In addition, Event Espresso social and marketing features and add-ons (see below) let people who are interested in registering for your event invite their friends who may also be interested.
- Paperless Event Sign Up Process: With Event Espresso, the event booking process can remain entirely in digital form, reducing typical paper waste from tasks related to enrollment.
- All Information Belongs To You. You own all the data collected from event attendees.
Plugin Features
The Event Espresso software provides functionality to its customers through standard features (these come with the software) and additional features that customers can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso offers many features to web site owners. Here are just some:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Be up and running in very little time.
- Multiple Ticket And Pricing Options. Event Espresso lets you set up as many kinds of tickets as you need and specify separate prices, maximum number of tickets, etc.
- Event Calendar. Registrants can easily see your upcoming events and add these to their schedule using the WordPress calendar.
- Tax Admin And Reporting. Event Espresso 4 provides several options to administer taxes for an event and report tax fees to customers who purchase tickets. You can administer taxes globally or on a per-ticket basis.
- Google Maps. Google Maps integration enables you to configure the settings of Google Maps on your event listing and event details pages.
- Spam Protection. Prevent the risk of spammers and bot software programs making bogus registrations on your website with reCAPTCHA option to provide human authentication.
- In-App Documentation. Event Espresso 4 comes with 3 built-in in-app documentation systems: Help Tours, Help Tabs and Tool Tips.
- Contact Profiles And Contact List. EE 4 provides you with the tools to gain a better understanding of who your clients are and how they’ve done business with you.
- No-Ticket Events. You can promote events without requiring registrants to select tickets. Use Event Espresso for any form of event, not just those that accept tickets.
- Public Commenting. Add “social proof” by allowing potential registrants to interact with you online via commenting and past customers to post feedback that can help others choose whether or not to register. Moderation settings for public commenting are set in the WP commenting system.
- Works With The Most Recent Version Of WordPress. The EE 4 user interface follows the WordPress guidelines to help you create beautiful event pages that are easier to use and mobile-friendly.
- Easy Event Management. Event Espresso puts event managers in complete control of every aspect of your event’s registration and ticketing, and allows you to automate the process with event management tools that include staff and venue manager, custom event designs, payment processing and handling, list waiting, attendee limits, print-ready tickets and more.
- Bulk Edit Events. Event Espresso 4 provides a CSV-based importing feature that allows you to import a lot of event data all at one time. You can export, edit and upload details about events, datetimes, tickets, prices, custom registration questions, venue info, terms, taxonomies, term relationships and more.
- Venue Management. The venue manager in EE 4 lets information about a venue to appear throughout the Event Espresso admin and the front end of your site to inform site visitors of your event’s location. The venue profile displays many standard WordPress settings such as tags, categories, discussion settings, comments, etc., but also displays details such as venue seating capacity, venue site URL, venue phone number, venue address, location map, etc. You can also display all of your venues in specific areas in your theme and on a venue archive page on your website where you can set up and display venue profiles for multiple events or display all the events for a specific venue.
- Event Espresso Community. Event Espresso provides users with access to a community of experienced event managers, developers, designers, web marketers and businesses who also use the plugin. You can engage with other members of the Event Espresso community via their community chat room, user support forums, job board, and social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google+.
- Invoice Payment Reminders. Follow-up potential event customers who have not made payment for their admission with a standard but personalized invoice with one click of a button. Your invoices will reference registered customers who have not paid their registration in full by name, give them the balance they owe, and include a link to the event, a payment link and a link where they can download a PDF invoice.
- Categorize Events. If you have multiple event types like free and paid, workshops and mastermind sessions, different types of courses, etc. you can categorize these to help event attendees to locate what they’re searching for. You can list all events in a category on a custom event category page, make the events searchable by category, and color-code your events on the Event Espresso events calendar to make these easier to find, as well as suggesting other events in the categories that appeal to your visitors.
Additional features include:
- Define Extra Meta Information. This feature allows developers to have more control and options over your content and how your information displays to your visitors.
- Full Logging & Remote Logging. Event Espresso 4 lets you generate a log file with debugging data that can be useful for web developers who are troubleshooting.
- Flexibility, Autonomy & Value For Money: According to the philosophy stated on their website, Event Espresso’s aim 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 provides you with 40+ added features, including:
- Live-filtering when you search for events inside the Event Espresso admin.
- Default surcharge (similar to adding a service tax to tickets).
- Option to skip the confirmation page in registration.
Event Espresso Add-Ons
As well as a very large range of features, Event Espresso provides “addons”, which allow users to further enhance the functionality of your event management process.
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 the event does not have a featured image, it will use a default image.
- Recurring Events Drop-down Custom Template Addon: The Recurring Events Drop-down custom template organizes events with many datetimes into a dropdown list.
- Events Category Accordion Template Add on: The Category Accordion template displays categories as a simple list. Clicking on a category name shows the events related to that category and closes previously open categories.
- Social Coupons Integration Addon: If your website 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 Addon: The Custom Files add-on lets you override certain aspects of the Event Espresso plugin.
- Seating Chart Add on: The seating chart add-on is suitable for venues and events that sell and reserve seats for attendees in advance. This is perfect for venues and events such as theaters, concert halls, play houses, sports arenas and stadiums. The Seating Chart add-on allows you to promote reserved or assigned seating to your events and venues right from your WordPress site. The Seating Chart addon lets you control the experience for your attendees and design assigned seating charts and attach single pricing to each seat.
- EE4 Event Ticketing Addon: The Ticketing add-on adds the ability to generate tickets with bar codes. The Bar Scanning add on adds the ability to scan ticket barcodes. The ticketing add-on includes the ability to customize event tickets. Multiple barcode types are included for managing check-in scans at venues. Registrants 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 attendees and to validate tickets.
- EE4 Events Calendar Add-on: This WordPress events calendar displays events and event categories via an attractive graphical calendar.
- MailChimp Integration: The MailChimp add on allows you to automatically register participants to a chosen autoresponder list or group within MailChimp.
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to its software, including new addons.
For complete details about the newest Event Espreso features and addons, check out the plugin here:
Plugin Users – Feedback
Here are some of the many great testimonials that satisfied plugin users have posted about Event Espresso:
”Event Espresso rocks! I use it for my dance class registrations. Unlike most dance studios where people have to call or send an email in advance, Event Espresso puts a registration form right there in front of the user and allows me to collect valuable information from the user during the registration process with custom questions such as “Do you have previous dance experience?” or “How did you hear about us?”. It also gives my site a professional look and feel.” Ral, Ral’eau Salsa Dance Company
”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 can’t even imagine what I would want the plugin to do that it doesn’t already do. I’m really happy with the features.” Jim Harmer, Improve Photography
Useful Tips
Whether you are a motivational speaker, trainer, event planner, or event professional, there are simply unlimited possibilities of what you can achieve with the Event Espresso software.
After downloading your copy of the plugin and becoming a registered owner, visit the user forum for inspiration and practical ways to improve your event management and registration process or improve the experience of your event attendees.
Plugin Support
Event Espresso works with with all WordPress plugins and themes that follow standard WordPress coding guidelines. If you have problems with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides excellent support, as so many of its clients attest:
”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 software provides amazing support including access to support forums, comprehensive online documentation with faqs, knowledgebase and how tos, premium 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 web developers with a solid track record of support, so this is definitely a solution you can rely on to manage your events.
Plugin Pricing
Event Espresso is available in various editions, including a FREE basic edition (called Event Espresso Decaf). For support and advanced plugin features, however, you need to consider purchasing one of the paid plugin versions below:
- Personal Edition – This option allows you to install Event Espresso on one site only. Includes 51+ Premium features, (add ons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Price = $69.95.
- Everything Licensing – This option lets you install Event Espresso on 1 domain only. Includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium addons and 1 year of upgrades and support. Cost = $279.95.
- Developer Licensing – This option allows you to run Event Espresso on five sites. Pricing includes 51+ Premium features, (add-ons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Price = $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. Presently, the software is selling for the pricing shown above. Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Event Espresso – Event Espresso
Note: The pricing above was current when this article was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin author when you visit the website.
Event Espresso – Additional Info
Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to the software. Make sure to remain subscribed to their customer update list to receive the latest information and updates.
Search the plugin’s online documentation pages for answers to common questions about setting up and using Event Espresso, and visit the support forums if you have questions related to a particular situation, or to report errors and leave feedback.
For all installation and support documentation, demos, downloads, videos, tutorials, FAQ and more, visit the Event Espresso product web site.
Our Recommendation
Event Espresso is the leading WP event booking and ticketing manager software, used by thousands of users.
If you are a WordPress site owner and you intend to run events that require scheduling dates, times and venues (offline and online), enrolling participants, or reserving tickets or seating, then you will probably not find a more suitable software for your needs than Event Espresso.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Event Espresso – Event Registration & Ticket Management
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