Does your business currently run or plan to run events that need handling registrations, such as seminars, group courses, not-for-profit fund raisers, social conferences, or even a large-scale event like a music show, a sporting or religious event, or any kind of event where people need to book to attend?
Managing event sign-ups is a complex and time-consuming process. You will most likely need to co-ordinate scheduling, event dates, attendee numbers, data collection, payment processing and sending invoices, confirmations and reservations, reminders and notifications, cancellations … perhaps even accommodating special requests and delivering tickets to participants.
There are lots of benefits to setting up a web-based event registration system. It can streamline your business processes, save time and lower costs, help you easily reproduce previous events, give you more control, improve client experience and increase your sales.
The problem is that setting up an online event registration system can be expensive.
The good news is that if you own a WordPress-powered website, you can set up an inexpensive and professional online event booking system.
Introducing …
Event Espresso – Event Registration & Ticketing Management
Plugin Description
The Event Espresso online event registration plugin for WP enables you to easily set up an event and begin receiving online bookings literally in minutes.
(Event Espresso lets you set up multiple events and receive online bookings)
Event Espresso is a versatile and feature-rich software that gives you complete control over your event registration management process.
Event Espresso lets you customize registration forms
You can use several event registration strategies, from simple online enrolments and straight up ticket sales, to creating custom registration forms in order to better understand your attendees, or integrating your event bookings with an autoresponder system for ongoing updates.
Access detailed information about event attendees
Please Note: At the time of writing this review, Event Espresso provides two different versions of their plugin: EE 3 and EE 4. The new EE 4 is impressively different than the older Event Espresso 3, as it has been redeveloped using a different structure to allow for future growth and expansion. The EE 4 plugin software 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.
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Event Espresso to manage event registrations on your site:
Hands-Free Event Registration Management
Event Espresso provides you with everything you need to turn your existing online presence into a fully-featured event management website … from custom registration forms and automated response emails, to maximum seating limits, multiple pricing levels and discount codes, to printable tickets and even seating charts.
Higher Business Productivity
By using an online event registration system like Event Espresso, you save time and increase your business productivity by literally doing away with the chore of processing registrations manually.
Essentially, you are enabling event attendees to register by themselves.
Letting your customers to do all of the data themselves frees you up from doing administration and lets you focus more of your time on planning a more enjoyable event.
More Control Over The User Experience
As you will learn in a moment, Event Espresso gives you complete control over the event management and booking process that you want your customers to experience.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Reduced Costs: The Event Espresso plugin gives you an inexpensive online event registration management solution compared to developing your own software or using a 3rd-party service. This is made possible through a model where you buy the core plugin (which suits the requirements of most users) and then buy addons when you need additional features.
- Increased Sales: Event Espresso allows you to accept new event signups 24 hrs a day. Not only that, but, Event Espresso social sharing features (see below) let people who are interested in registering for your event invite their friends who may be interested.
- Paperless Event SignUp Process: With Event Espresso, your event registration process can be conducted wholly online, significantly reducing traditional paper waste from tasks related to enrollment.
- Own Your Information. You control all the information collected from event participants.
Features
The Event Espresso software provides functionality to its users through standard features (these are included with the plugin) and additional features that customers can purchase, called add-ons.
Event Espresso provides a number of built-in to WP users. Here are just a few of these:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Ready to use in minutes.
- Multiple Ticket And Pricing Options. Event Espresso allows you to set up multiple ticket types and set separate prices, ticket quantity limits, etc.
- Customizable Event Page Designs. Customize your events and registrations page using Event Espresso’s template options and parts, and HTML and/or CSS.
- Tax Administration. Event Espresso 4 gives you a number of options to administer taxes for your event and provide reports of tax fee components to registrants when purchasing tickets. You can configure taxes globally and on a per-ticket basis.
- Google Maps. Google Maps integration enables event managers to customize the display settings of Google Maps on your event listing and event details pages.
- Default Price Types. Price types allow you to create new prices that adjust the base ticket price for the default ticket.
- Mobile Registration And 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.
- Event Check-In List. Generate an exportable list of event registrants and confirm those who have attended.
- Waiting Lists. Prospective attendees can subscribe to a waiting list if your event is full. You can also make it a requirement wait-list attendees pre-pay if you plan to expand numbers for your event.
- Public Commenting. Add “social proof” by allowing potential prospects to interact with you online via commenting and past customers to post comments that can help others decide whether or not to enroll. Moderation settings for commenting are configured via the WordPress built-in commenting system.
- Optimized For The Latest WordPress Version. The EE 4 user interface follows the WordPress guidelines to help you build beautiful event pages that are responsive and mobile-friendly.
- Multi-Language Software. Event Espresso can be set up in 15+ languages, and more translations are being added all the time.
- Bulk Import Event Data. Event Espresso 4 provides an advanced importing feature that allows you to import a lot of event data at once. You can export, edit and import data for events, datetimes, tickets, prices, registration questions, venue info, terminology, taxonomies, term relationships and more.
- WordPress Visual Editor. Event Espresso uses the standard WordPress WYSIWYG editor, so you can quickly and easily add graphic images and stylize your event descriptions without knowledge of HTML or CSS, just like any WP post or page.
- Attendee Profiles. You can manage your attendee’s profiles and payment history and keep all of their data organized and easily accessible.
- Staff Member Management. Save time and stay organized by reusing staff profiles for multiple events or displaying profile information such as team member’s contact information, resume and photo using a shortcode in any event description.
- Categorize Events. If you have a number of event types such as free and paid, workshops and mastermind sessions, different kinds of courses, etc. you can categorize these to help event participants to locate what they’re looking for. You can list all events in a category on a custom event category page, make events searchable by category, and colour-code your events on the Event Espresso events calendar to make them easier to find, as well as suggesting new events in the categories that appeal to your visitors.
Extra features include:
- Hooks, Actions & Filters. These features allow developers to implement safer and more reliable customizations and extensions to the Event Espresso software that are compatible with the WordPress development platform.
- Maintenance Mode. You can pause registrations for regular website visitors when you need to make updates on your website. You can continue to work on your content during maintenance mode.
- Autonomy, Flexibility & 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 objectives, the software has been built using a 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 over 40 additional features, including:
- Live-filtering when you search for events in the Event Espresso admin.
- Default surcharge (the same as applying a service tax to tickets).
- Category titles and descriptions on event listings.
Event Espresso Add-Ons
As well as a very large array of features, Event Espresso provides “addons”, which allow users to significantly enhance the capabilities of the event management system.
Some of these addons include:
- Events Vector Maps Template Add on: The Vector Maps custom events list template lets you display upcoming events by location. Four maps are currently available: USA, UK, Canada and Australia.
- Recurring Events Management Addon: The Recurring Events management addon allows you to put your events on autopilot by scheduling repeated events weeks or months … even years in advance. You can schedule as many future events as you like. Event Espresso will automatically open and close bookings 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 display the event thumbnail image instead of the date.
- Social Coupons Integration Add on: If your web 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.
- WP User Integration: The WP User Integration addon lets you take full advantage of the WordPress user system. With the WP User Integration addon you can give your users a special incentive by offering member pricing and overriding event pricing when your members are logged in. You can even set up member-only events where only registered users of the site can have access to these special events. Members can also input personal information 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 previous events and make payment for events.
- Roles And Permissions Basic & Pro Add-on Editions: This add-on lets you include others in your organization to help manage your events and give new users the capacity 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 allow them different permissions with different capabilities, allowing staff to help you manage your events or the 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.
- Multiple Event Registration Add-on: The Multiple Event registration addon gives potential customers the ability to register for multiple events at once. In each event listing attendees will be given the option to either register for a single event or add multiple events to their shopping cart. With the Multiple 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 Table View Template Add on: The Events Table Template add on gives you an easy-to-use system that lets you edit the look and feel of your event lists. It comes with a simple table template with category filters, table search, table paging and more. It also lets web developers design their own custom templates using one of the included templates as a source template.
- Infusionsoft Integration Addon: With the Event Espresso 4 Infusionsoft App and Merchant Account integration all-in-one sales and business marketing plugin addon, you can easily automate your customer relations and email marketing campaigns to seamlessly capture registrant data, track enrollments, and accept payments from your website.
Note: Event Espresso regularly adds new features and improvements to its plugin, including new add ons.
To learn more about the latest Event Espreso features and add-ons, check out the plugin here:
User Feedback
Here are some of the many great testimonials that customers have written about Event Espresso:
”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
”I have been using Event Espresso to run my festival and have been very happy with how it has worked out. They have provided tremendous support and their iPhone app is amazing and easy to use. I suggest using it for your event.” Alex Grant, Byron Spirit Festival
”I’m using it on multiple sites and enjoying it. It’s simple and as others have stated… fast service and real help.” Arlen Nagata
Plugin Tips
Whether you are a gym owner, presenter, event promoter, or event management consultant, there are just countless possibilities of what you can achieve with the Event Espresso software.
After downloading the plugin and becoming a registered user, visit the forums for tips and practical suggestions to improve your event management and registration process and enhance the experience of your participants.
Event Espresso Support
Event Espresso works with with most WordPress plugins and themes that follow WP coding standards. If you experience issues with the plugin, however, you will find that Event Espresso provides great end-user support, as many of its clients confirm:
”By far, the customer service experience with Event Espresso has been the best of any WordPress Theme or Paid Plugin that I’ve used in the past two years!” Megan Murray, Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe
The plugin provides great support with access to a support forum, in-depth 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 an established team of experienced web developers with a proven track record of support, so this is definitely software you can depend on to manage your events.
Plugin Price
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 options, however, you should consider purchasing one of the premium plugin versions below:
- Personal License – This option allows you to run Event Espresso on 1 domain only. Includes 51+ Premium features, (add ons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Price = $69.95.
- Everything License – This enables you to set up Event Espresso on one site only. Includes 51+ Premium features, 29 Premium add-ons and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $279.95.
- Developer Licensing – This enables you to set up Event Espresso on five sites. It includes 51+ Premium features, (addons sold separately) and one year of upgrades and support. Cost = $249.95.
The price of the Event Espresso plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin is selling for the amounts shown above. Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Event Espresso – Event Manager & Ticket Registration Plugin For WordPress
Please 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 site.
Additional Plugin 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.
Use the plugin’s online documentation pages for answers to common questions about setup and using Event Espresso, and visit the support forums if you have questions related to a specific use-case, or to report bugs and give feedback.
For detailed installation and support documentation, demos, downloads, videos, tutorials, FAQ and more, visit the Event Espresso product website.
We Recommend
Event Espresso is the leading WordPress event booking and ticketing management software, used and trusted by thousands.
If you are a WordPress site owner and you plan to run any event that involves scheduling dates and venues, booking participants, and booking tickets or seating, then you will probably not find a better WP plugin for your needs than Event Espresso.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Event Espresso – WordPress Event Management And Registration Plugin
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