Do you currently run or plan to run events that need managing bookings, such as workshops, training courses, charity fund raisers, marketing functions, or even a big event such as a school concert, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to book to attend or participate?
Co-ordinating event registrations can be a complex process. You will probably have to manage scheduling, available dates and seating, registration numbers, data administration, payment processing and sending invoices, confirmations and reservations, reminders and notifications, refunds and cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special needs and delivering tickets to event participants.
There are many benefits to setting up a web-based event registration system. It can streamline your business processes, save time and reduce expenses, help you easily duplicate recurring events, give event managers more control, create a better user experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that setting this up can be quite costly.
Fortunately, if you own a WordPress-based website or blog, you can easily set up an inexpensive and highly professional web-based event registration system.
Introducing …
Event Espresso
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration plugin enables you to easily schedule your event and begin processing bookings literally in a few minutes.
(Set up multiple events and process online event bookings with Event Espresso)
Event Espresso is a feature-packed plugin that gives you full control of the event registration management process.
Create custom registration forms
You can employ a range of event registration strategies, from simple online registration and straight up selling tickets, to creating custom registration forms for collecting detailed information about your attendees, or integrating your event registration forms with social media and autoresponders.
View detailed information about your event attendees
Please Note: At the time of writing this article, Event Espresso provides two different versions of their software: EE 3 and Event Espresso 4. The new Event Espresso 4 is considerably different than the older Event Espresso 3, as it is being revamped using a different structure to enable 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 retire EE 3, so keep this in mind as you read more about the benefits and features of using this plugin.
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your web site:
Automated Event Registration Management
Event Espresso provides you with everything you need to turn your current website or blog into a fully-featured and automated event management site … from custom registration forms and automated emails, to seating capacity limits, multiple price levels and discount codes, to printable tickets and even seating charts.
Increased Business Productivity
By using an online event registration solution like Event Espresso, you save time and improve your business productivity by practically eliminating the need to process registrations manually.
Basically, you are enabling attendees to enrol on their own.
Allowing your enrollees to do the data themselves frees up your time and lets you spend more resources on organizing a memorable event.
More Control Over The User Experience
As you will soon learn, Event Espresso gives you complete control over the event management and registration process that you want your customers to experience.
Additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Significantly Lower Costs: Event Espresso is an inexpensive online event registration management solution compared to developing your own software or using a 3rd party provider. The cost is kept low 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 extra functionality.
- Increased Sales: Event Espresso allows you to accept new registrations 24/7. Not only that, but, Event Espresso social sharing and marketing add ons (see below) let people interested in registering for your event share your information with friends who may be interested.
- Green Event Registration Process: With Event Espresso, your event registration process remains wholly in digital form, reducing traditional paper consumption from tasks related to administration.
- Own Your Information. You control all the data acquired from your event participants.
Event Espresso Features
Event Espresso provides functionality to its users through standard features (these are included with the plugin) and optional features that you can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso offers many unique built-in to WP users. Here are just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Multiple Ticket And Pricing Options. Event Espresso allows you to create as many different types of tickets as you need and set separate prices, limits on ticket quantities, etc.
- Customizable Event Designs. Create the look and feel you want for your events and enrollments page using Event Espresso’s unlimited template options and elements, plus HTML and CSS.
- Ticket Selector. Present multiple ticket options to prospects and let them choose the ticket(s) that will best fit their needs.
- Custom Post Types. Integrate Event Espresso into your theme and display events details throughout other areas of your site.
- Default Prices. Create events quickly and easily with pre-configured system-default ticket prices.
- Mobile Ticketing Apps. The Event Espresso mobile registration system lets you validate tickets, speed up door registrations, set up multiple check-in “stations” and track participants.
- Contact Profiles & Contact List. Event Espresso 4 lets you understand who your customers are and how you’ve done past business with them. The Contact Profile page records the name, biography, contact information, event registration information, comments, and more about each attendee.
- Waiting Lists. Prospective participants can join a waiting list if your event has reached maximum attendance. You can also make it a requirement wait-listed attendees pre-pay if you plan to expand capacity for your event.
- Public Commenting. Add social a new level of engagement to your event pages by allowing potential attendees to interact with you online via commenting and past participants to post reviews that can help others decide whether or not to register. Moderation settings for commenting are set up in the WP native commenting section.
- Draft (status) Events. Draft events enable you to develop an event in your own time-frame without publishing it to your website. You can continue working on your event pages until you are ready to publish it live on your site, or schedule your event to publish at a future date and time.
- 15+ Languages. Event Espresso is is available in more than 15 languages, with more translations coming soon.
- Exportable Information. You can export all of your information gathered from your event customers into Excel or CSV format for creating advanced reports, implementing new marketing strategies, analyzing attendee statistics, etc..
- WP Visual Editor. Event Espresso uses the standard WordPress WYSIWYG editor, allowing you to quickly and easily add graphic images and stylize your event descriptions without knowing HTML or CSS, just like any WP post or page.
- Automatic Software Updates. Event Espresso provides easy 1-click upgrading to make sure that you have the newest features and to keep your software installation working with the latest version of WordPress.
- Social Sharing. Event participants and site visitors can spread the word about your event using social sharing buttons.
- Accurate Event Attendee Management. You have control of your attendees’ date; who has registered, which event they have registered for and how much they have paid. With the attendee manager, you can get a quick overview of registered participants and their payment status, easily add/edit attendee records and payments, export a list of attendees to an Excel spreadsheet for additional uses, send custom payment reminders and receipts and communicate with your attendees on a person-by-person basis or all at once.
Extra features include:
- Hooks, Actions And Filters. These features allow web developers to implement safer and more reliable customizations and extensions to the Event Espresso software that are compatible with the WordPress development platform.
- Full Logging, Remote Logging. EE 4 allows you to create a log file with debugging data which can be helpful for web developers who are diagnosing software errors.
- Flexibility, Autonomy And Value For Money: According to the philosophy stated on their site, 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 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 includes 40+ added features, including:
- Email shortcodes that includes customer data in confirmation emails and updates.
- Default surcharge (the same as applying a service tax to each ticket).
- Category titles and descriptions on event listing pages.
Event Espresso Add-Ons
In addition to an amazing number of features, Event Espresso provides “add-ons”, which allow you to further expand the functionality of your event management process.
Some of these addons include:
- Events Vector Maps Template Add on: The Vector Maps custom events list template allows you to display the scheduled events by location. There are four maps available: USA, UK, Canada and Australia.
- Recurring Events Dropdown Template Addon: The Recurring Events Drop-down custom template organizes multiple datetime events into a dropdown list.
- Events Date Range Template Add-on: The Date Range custom event list template allows your users to browse for events that take place in a certain date range.
- EE4 Events Social Sharing Add-on: 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 add-on lets you take full advantage of the WordPress user system. With the WP User Integration add-on you can give users a special incentive by offering member pricing and overriding event prices when your members are logged in. You can even set up member-only events where only registered users of the site will have access to your special events. Members can also add personal details into their profile page allowing them fast registration for events by auto-filling in their personal information on the event registration form. Your users can also view past events and make payment for events.
- Seating Chart Add-on: The seating chart addon is 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 addon lets you promote reserved or assigned seating to your events and venues right from your WordPress website. The Seating Chart add-on lets you manage the experience for your attendees and design assigned seating charts and attach a single price to every seat.
- Event Ticketing Addon: The Ticketing addon adds the ability to create tickets with bar codes. The Bar Scanning add-on gives you the ability to scan ticket barcodes. The ticketing add on includes the ability to customize event tickets. Multiple barcode types are included for handling 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 Table View Template Add on: The Events Table Template addon 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 enables web developers to build their own custom templates using one of the included templates as a base template.
- JSON API Add-on: The Event Espresso JSON API add-on enables other applications, web sites, mobile applications, etc… to access your Event Espresso details through an Application Programming Interface (API).
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to the plugin, including new addons.
To learn more about the newest Event Espreso features and add-ons, check out the plugin here:
Testimonials
Here are just some of the many great testimonials that satisfied plugin users have written about Event Espresso:
”Tri-South, Inc is using Event Espresso to manage the course catalog, event ticketing, and class registration. [As their developer] I have customized a few items to make the site and plugin a seamless integration. The client is very pleased!” Jenifer Design
“I just completed my first event using Event Espresso. I really believe without Event Espresso my event would not have been the success it was.” Cathy Earle, Women Only Weekend
”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, presenter, event promoter, or event consultant, there are simply unlimited possibilities of what you can achieve with the Event Espresso plugin.
After purchasing the plugin and becoming a registered owner, visit the user forum for inspiration and practical ways to improve your event management process and enhance the experience of your event registrants.
Support
Event Espresso works with with all WordPress plugins and WP themes that follow standard WordPress coding rules. If you experience issues with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides highly responsive customer support, as so many of its satisfied clients 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
Event Espresso provides comprehensive support with 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 developers with a solid track record of support, so this is definitely a solution you can rely on to run your events.
Software Cost
Event Espresso is available in various plugin editions, including a FREE basic edition (referred to as Event Espresso Decaf). For support and advanced plugin functionality, however, you should consider purchasing one of the paid plugin versions below:
- Personal Licensing – This allows you to set up Event Espresso on 1 site only. It includes 51+ Premium features, (add-ons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $69.95.
- Everything Licensing – This edition lets you run Event Espresso on one site only. Includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium add ons and one year of upgrades and support. Price = $279.95.
- Developer Edition – This lets you set up Event Espresso on five sites. Pricing includes 51+ Premium features, (addons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $249.95.
Price details for 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 retails for the amounts shown above. Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Event Espresso – Event Registration And Ticketing Management
Note: The above reflects the pricing when this article was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the website.
Additional Information
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.
Search the plugin’s documentation tools for answers to common questions about setting up and how to use Event Espresso, and the support forums if you have questions related to a particular situation, or to notify developers about issues and share feedback.
For all 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 plugin, used and trusted by thousands of WP site owners.
If you own a WordPress-powered web site and you intend to run events that require scheduling dates, times and venues (offline and online), enrolling attendees, or selling tickets, then you will probably not find a more suitable software for your needs than Event Espresso.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Event Espresso – Event Registration & Ticketing Management
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