What is an event management tool?
An event management tool is an application or software designed to make the event planning process smooth for your attendees and your team. Examples of event management tools are event ticketing or registration, communication and engagement, venue and resource management, and more.
The use of a reliable event management tool can significantly improve your event planning, increase your team’s productivity, help automate event management tasks, and improve your attendee’s event experience. The success of your event can be greatly enhanced by having a reliable event management tool as a part of your event management process.
In this article, we will orient you on what you need to know about an event management tool and how it can help in your own event planning.
What to look for in an Event Management Software
Online Registration
Getting your attendees to register smoothly for your event is an important first step for the attendee’s journey for your event. An organized registration system in place will save event professionals from lots of potential headaches throughout the event planning.
Payment Collection
Ticket sales will be integrated into your event website or registration page. Choose an event management platform that is safe for your money.
For example, Event Smart is an event management tool that offers ticketing and registration solutions for event planners. What’s great about it is its ability to give you your funds instantly. Another thing is it’s no commission fees for an unlimited number of tickets sold, unlike other ticketing platforms.
Event Website Builder
Your event website is where your event details will be. Choose an event website builder that is easy to customize and has helpful SEO capabilities.
Agenda Management
Displaying the agenda for your event can help align all your attendees and stakeholders. This feature allows for the easy customization of sessions, speakers, and tracks, accommodating last-minute changes without hassle. Additionally, a robust agenda management system can integrate with other event components, such as attendee registration and mobile apps, enhancing the overall participant experience by providing real-time updates and personalized schedules.
Venue Management
If you’re organizing big and complex in-person events, a venue management feature will be something you might want to consider in an event management tool. An effective venue management tool streamlines the process of sourcing, booking, and managing event venues, ensuring a seamless experience for event organizers and attendees alike.
With features such as venue search functionality, interactive floor plans, and booking management capabilities, these tools empower organizers to find the perfect venue for their event, whether it’s a conference, trade show, or gala dinner. Additionally, venue management tools often include communication tools that facilitate collaboration between event organizers and venue staff, ensuring clear communication and efficient coordination throughout the planning process.
Marketing and Promotions
Promoting your event can also be done through your event management tool. These tools typically include event marketing features such as email marketing capabilities, social media integration, and digital advertising tools. Organizers can create targeted email campaigns to reach potential attendees and keep them informed about event details and updates. Integration with social media platforms allows organizers to easily share event information and engage with their audience across various channels.
Reporting and Analytics
Having a standard of truth for measuring and evaluating event data is an important part of replicating successful events. Choose an event management tool that integrates with reporting and analytics platforms like Google Analytics. This integration enables you to gather comprehensive data on various aspects of your event, including website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. By analyzing this data, you can gain valuable insights into attendee engagement, ticket sales performance, marketing effectiveness, and more.
List of Event Planning Tools and their Uses
Here’s a list of event planner tools that can help with event planning. events. From project management platforms to graphic design tools and web analytics software, the event marketing tech stack encompasses a range of solutions designed to meet the diverse needs of event planners.
Event Smart
Event Smart is the ideal event registration platform and event ticketing solution for all your event planning needs. Among the other ticketing platforms, Event Smart is the most affordable option because it does not charge any commission fees for an unlimited number of tickets sold.
With Event Smart, event managers can have all the features they need from an event registration like customizable event websites, customizable registration forms, secure payment collection, and many more.
Asana
Event planning requires managing a lot of moving tasks. Asana can be one of the go-to event planner tools that can keep track of all activities related to the event. Its intuitive interface and collaborative features make it easy for event planners to communicate with team members, share files, and coordinate tasks effectively. By using Asana, event planners can ensure that every aspect of their event is well-coordinated and executed seamlessly.
Slack
Slack is a popular communication platform that event planners use to facilitate real-time communication and collaboration among team members. Team members can share updates, ask questions, and brainstorm ideas in these channels, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals. Slack also integrates with other tools and services commonly used by event planners, making it easy to share files, schedule meetings, and automate repetitive tasks.
Zoom
Virtual meetings with teams, partners, and stakeholders can be done via the video calling application Zoom. To make an event happen involves brainstorming, dialogue, and coordination. Meeting virtually can help save time and resources because of its convenience.
Canva
Posters, social media materials, short-form videos, email newsletters, and other visual needs are part of an event’s marketing strategy. Canva is a user-friendly tool for every event marketer. Canva’s drag-and-drop interface and extensive library of design elements make it easy for event planners to bring their creative vision to life and create professional-looking materials that capture the attention of their audience.
Airtable
Airtable is a flexible collaboration platform that event planners use to organize and manage event-related information, such as guest lists, schedules, budgets, and vendor contacts. With Airtable, event planners can create custom databases, spreadsheets, and calendars to track and organize various aspects of event planning.
Meta / Preferred Social Media platform
Using social media in event marketing is an effective platform for your event to reach your target audience. Event planners can asses their event’s target audience and see what social media platform will be the most effective to use.
Each social media platform has the ability to do paid advertising. Event marketers can run ads that are targeted to the specific demographic, behavior, and interests of their target audience.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that event planners use to track and analyze website traffic, user behavior, and conversion metrics related to their events. With Google Analytics, event planners can gain valuable insights into how attendees are finding their event website, which marketing channels are driving the most traffic, and which pages are performing the best.
Integrate Google Analytics to your event website for easier tracking. Event Smart has a feature that allows this.
Google Calendar
Keep track of all important meetings, errands, and important events with Google Calendar. Once you’re signed in to your account, you can synchronize your calendar with all your devices.
With Google Calendar, event planners can create and share event schedules, set reminders, and coordinate availability with team members, clients, and vendors. Its integration with other Google Workspace tools, such as Gmail and Google Meet, makes it easy for event planners to schedule meetings, send invitations, and join video calls directly from their calendars.
List of Event Management Tools and Their Cost
We’ve researched and made a section here on the cost of the available event management tools in the market. Going through the pricing can help you determine the best event management software that is right for your business. Each of these is focused on event registration or event ticketing.
Event Smart Pricing
Event Smart is the most affordable event registration platform because it charges no commission fees on an unlimited number of tickets sold. Unlike other platforms, the platform either charges a flat fee per ticket sold or a percentage of the ticket price.
Event Smart has a free plan and you can get individual add-ons for as little as $5/month. Top. Tier plans Pricing starts at 80/mo paid annually. Features include unlimited events with no tickets or commission fees, selling multiple ticket types or event registrations, moving content around your event site, asking custom registration questions from your attendees, and more.
Cvent Pricing and Fees
Cvent is one of the event management tools that do not display their pricing information on their website. If you wish to know more about their pricing, you still need to fill up a request for a demo.
Eventbrite Pricing and Fees
Eventbrite is a more expensive option for event ticketing. The service fee for the US is 3.7% + $1.79 per sold ticket plus a payment processing fee of 2.9% of the total order.
If a customer is paying $7 total for a ticket, the total fee is $2.25. The event planner will receive a net of $4.25, which is around a huge 32% deduction from the total ticket price.
Ticket Tailor Pricing and Fees
Ticket Tailor has two billing options. One is the Pay-as-you-go and the other is the pre-pay option. The Pay-as-you-go option will get the fee as a ticket is sold. The pre-pay option gives event planners the option to “pay upfront for ticket credits and gives you access to significant discounts compared to Pay as you go” and is slightly cheaper.
The Pay As You Go Option costs $0.75 per ticket and the Pre-Pay option costs $0.28 per ticket.
Eventzilla Pricing and Fees
Their basic pricing starts at $1.5 per ticket. However, this plan is limited to one paid/ registration type only and has no customization option for registration forms. If you want to have these upgrades, you would need to get the Pro plan which is 1.9% + $1.50 per ticket sold.
RegFox Pricing and Fees
RegFox has a more straightforward pricing of 99 cents plus 1% per paid registrant. The cap of fees is $4.99 per ticket sold. While it offers a flat fee for tickets sold, Event Smart still outshines pricing because of its no-commission fees for unlimited tickets sold.
Bizzabo Pricing and Fees
Bizzabo does not publish its pricing for selling event tickets on its website. Some reviews from users say that it is more affordable than Cvent. No options are available for a free plan and you need to request a quotation for pricing.
Market Trends
Events are one of the most lucrative industries and event management tools are constantly adapting to become relevant to customers. Here are some trends we see on event management platforms:
AI and Data-Driven Analytics
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data-driven analytics are revolutionizing the event management industry by providing deep insights and enhancing decision-making processes. Event management tools now leverage AI to analyze attendee behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns. This data helps organizers optimize event schedules, personalize content, and improve overall event efficiency.
Predictive analytics can forecast attendance trends, helping in resource allocation and budgeting. By utilizing these advanced technologies, event planners can deliver more targeted and impactful experiences, ultimately driving higher attendee satisfaction and better return on investment.
Personalization
Event management tools are well-researched and customized to fit what their target audience needs. The ability to customize and personalize specific touchpoints for your attendees, customized notifications, personalized email campaigns, and more.
Sustainability and Humanitarian Practices
Sustainability is no longer a mere buzzword; it’s a crucial aspect of modern event management. Event management tools are increasingly incorporating eco-friendly practices, such as digital ticketing, paperless communication, and virtual events, to minimize environmental impact. Features that track and reduce carbon footprints, promote recycling, and optimize energy use are becoming standard.
Another trend is how event management tools donate a percentage of their profit to charity or nonprofit organizations. This shift towards corporate social responsibility reflects a broader movement within the industry to become more human-centric.
Focus on Networking and Community Building
Some event management tools offer features that aid in community building. Community forums, attendee matching algorithms, and virtual networking lounges are some of the innovative features integrated into event management platforms. By prioritizing networking capabilities, event organizers can create vibrant communities around their events, leading to increased attendee satisfaction and long-term loyalty.
Integrations with Different Applications
The ability to integrate into an event’s marketing tech stack is a key feature of event management tools today. Event management tools often integrate seamlessly with popular email marketing platforms or customer relationship management software such as Mailchimp, Google Analytics, and HubSpot. Additionally, event management tools can also integrate with social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, X, etc.
Event Smart has integrations that allow you to print professional badges with QR Codes for Scanning. You can also embed your ticket selector on your websites like Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, WordPress, or Weebly.
Transparency
Event planners seek transparency, especially on pricing. Transparent event management tools are committed to eliminating hidden fees and unexpected charges that can catch organizers off guard. They provide upfront information about any additional costs, such as payment processing fees, ticketing fees, or service charges, so organizers know exactly what to expect when budgeting for their events.
Event management tools can share their core values on their page and capture feedback. This transparency builds trust and confidence among organizers and ensures a fair and transparent pricing structure for all users.
The Most Cost-Effective Event Management Tool
With so many event management software solutions available, the first thing you can consider is your event budget. When choosing your event registration, we recommend you choose Event Smart as your event management software.
Aside from it being the most affordable, event planners are satisfied with Event Smart’s features like unlimited events with no commission fees, a customizable event page, customizable event registration forms, and more. Event planners can enjoy a seamless experience as they register their attendees without a hassle.
Book out your future events with Event Smart. Check out our 14-day free trial now to see for yourself. No credit card is required.
Leave a Reply