by ClearEvent Support | Event Management
Deciding between tickets and registration is confusing. It’s hardly surprising because tickets and registration are similar in some ways and quite different in others.
In this first of a three part series of short articles, I’ll clarify the difference between tickets and registration. In Part 2, I’ll show you when to use tickets or registration. In Part 3, I’ll show you what to look for in an online ticket and/or registration system.
Let’s start with the basics for tickets and registration.
Tickets and Registration: Let’s break it down
An Online Ticket System allows you to:
- create and publish your tickets
- sell tickets online and accept payments
- collect information from ticket buyers
- send purchased tickets and a receipt to the buyer
- receive the revenue from ticket sales in your bank account
- provide you with key reports and status information about ticket sales.
An Online Registration System allows you to:
- create and publish your registration forms
- accept online registrations and payments
- collect information from registrants
- send registration confirmation and a receipt to the buyer
- receive the revenue from registrations in your bank account
- provide you with key reports and status information on your registrations.
They sound pretty similar, right?! No wonder it’s confusing!
Tickets and Registration: How to Decide?
Some event planners use tickets and others use registration for the same situations because of the similarities between tickets and registration. However, for most situations, you’ll need to determine which is the better approach.
There’s an important difference between tickets and registration that is the key to deciding when to use tickets and when to use registration.
It comes down to Personalization
Decide between tickets and registration by considering how personalized is the attendee experience? The more you provide a personalized experience for attendees, the more registration will be the better option for you.
We can break personalization into four key factors which make it really easy to tell whether to use tickets or registration.
1) Individual or Group Signup?
Will you be signing up individuals or groups or both? Tickets work well for individual and group sign ups while registration is better for individual sign ups.
2) Signup Approvals
When someone signs up for your event, will they automatically be approved, or is there a manual review or curation process to determine if the applicant may attend your event? Automatic sign up can be used for both tickets and registration, whereas manual and special approval options only apply to registration.
Thinking about this from the attendee perspective, it is very unusual to purchase tickets but not be approved to attend the event. Tickets are always an automatic approval. On the other hand, it is quite common that registrations must be manually approved by organizers before an attendee is permitted to attend the event.
3) Collecting Information
To personalize the experience for each attendee, organizers collect information from their attendees when they sign up. This information allows organizers to provide the personalized experiences for participants and attendees based on the information they provide to the event.
Collected information may include any of the following examples:
- Contact info
- Company info
- Background
- Experience
- Preferences
- Affiliations
- Interests
- Event-related selections
Registration works great for collecting information.
Many ticket systems only have limited ability to collect of information for each ticket holder. This is intentional because ticket buyers expect a fast purchase experience. The ticket buyer may not have, or may not be willing to enter, all the information you request about each ticket holder.
The more information you collect from your attendees, the more registration will be the better option for you by a wide margin. If you’re collecting limited or no information, tickets or registration could be used.
4) Attendee Participation
Events have many different types of attendees such as audience members, delegates, exhibitors, volunteers, performers, VIP’s and event staff. Think about the level of personalization for each of these participant types. It varies from no personalization to a very personalized experience for the attendee, depending on the type of attendee.
For example, audience members participate in the event in much the same way after entering the event.
When the level of personalization is low, use tickets.
On the other hand, each delegate can select their own combination of activities offered by the event. Each delegate’s participation is personalized to them. In this scenario, it’s not sufficient for delegates to all have the same entry ticket as each delegate selected and paid for a combination of event selections such as courses, tours and so on.
When personalization is high, use registration.
Tickets and Registration Table
To make it easy for you, these key aspects of personalization are organized in a helpful table below. For each type of attendee coming to your event, use the table to determine the overall degree of personalization and whether tickets or registration will be better.
The table helps you quickly clarify whether tickets or registration is better.
When most of the answers fall under ‘Tickets’, (i.e. on the low end of personalization) use tickets for that type of participant. Likewise, when most of your answers fall under ‘Registration’, (i.e. not on the low end of personalization) then use registration.
The table also helps you see when it’s not clear which to use, and why it’s not clear. For example, ticketed attendees can have personalized badges, registration may collect almost no information, ticketed attendees may have some personalized participation based on ticket type. If you have answers in both columns, go with the column with the most answers.
Some may say the choice between tickets and registration comes down to the capabilities of your online tickets and registration system. Not true! Don’t use a ticket system for registration and vice versa. More on selecting a system in Part 3.
Show me some examples!
Let’s look at examples using tickets and/or registration. We’ll start with a simple example you may be familiar with, where tickets and registration both work. Then in Part 2 we’ll look at when it is better to use one over the other. Lastly, we’ll look at an example of using both tickets and registration for different purposes in the same event.
Example 1. When Tickets and Registration Both Work
When personalization is low, it is perfectly ok to use tickets or registration.
Consider the following example. Signing up attendees to attend a seminar. No additional information is collected from attendees. Attendees will sign up as individuals and possibly a few small groups. As an organizer, you just need to know who had paid and is coming. Attendees just want to know they are signed up and have proof of payment and admission.
Tickets or registration both work in this situation.
Why is this true? It’s because the degree of personalization is low. The following marked up table makes it clear.
Answers for each of the four factors fall under Tickets AND Registration. So, for this scenario, either approach could be used.
If both tickets and registration are an option, go with the method that is simpler for your attendees
The signup experience is somewhat similar when tickets or registration is used. However, even in this simple case, tickets will be simpler for your attendees, especially for people who are signing up for a group of people. (More about attendee experience in Part 2.) So, while both could be used, tickets is a better option based on the possible need to sign up small groups.
So, not all events are like the simple example above. And we don’t want to just memorize all the situations when registration is better than tickets and vice versa! Fortunately, by using our handy table, you don’t have to.
In Part 2 Tickets and Registration: When to use them? we’ll show examples of when to use tickets, when to use registration, and when to use both for different parts of the same event.
Interested in other topics?
As an event planner, knowing what options are available to you is key. Let us know the topics you’d like to hear about that could help your event planning success, at support@clearevent.com.
In the meantime, happy planning!
by ClearEvent Support | Event Management
What’s New In ClearEvent For April?
Last month the ClearEvent team shipped a number of great new features to help improve event manager productivity, as well as reduce friction for registrants in the event registration experience. A lot has been happening, so we thought we’d recap what we accomplished in April. All of these features are available today, so be sure to check them out!
Streamlined Registration Experience
We’ve improved the registration experience by removing the requirement for participants to sign in to a ClearEvent Account before they can complete a registration form. This approach means that there is less friction for registrants, no password needed, and registering for your event is event simpler & faster!
To take advantage of the new streamlined registration workflow, you’ll simply need to update any links to your registration forms to use the new registration form Share Link format.
Registration Form Permalinks
Registration form permalinks (permanent Share Links) can now be used to share registration forms links that will not change if/when your event is rolled over.
In the past, when your event was rolled over, event organizers were required to update any registration form links to point to the newly rolled over event registration forms. Now, the same registration form Share Link will still work, even after your event is rolled over.
Here’s an example of the new, simplified registration form Share Link:
https://app.clearevent.com/register?form=23456789-2345-2345-2345-234567890123
Manually Register Event Attendees
Event Organizers can now easily sign up on behalf of event guests. This is great if you have guests that are unable to register themselves, or if you already have event registrants that have been manually registered for your event through some other means. Event Organizers can simply open the desired registration form and then use the registrant’s email address & name to complete the registration form on their behalf. ClearEvent will automatically send the registrant an email confirmation when their registration is received by the system.
Learn More
Auto-Linking In Plain-Text Fields
Any web links pasted into common text fields (e.g. description, summary, etc.) will now be automatically converted into clickable hyperlinks. This includes event setup, forms, tickets, schedules, messages and products description setting fields. For example:
Learn More
Happy planning!
P.S. If you enjoy using ClearEvent, please tell a friend about us! 😀
by ClearEvent Support | Event Management
Organized events are a great opportunity to make new connections. This is a key objective for attendees. Including opportunities to network on the agenda contributes to the overall success of your event. Participants will remember your event as educational, fun and most importantly provided value to them with connections that live on beyond the event itself. Look for ways to build in specific networking activities during your event to help your attendees get the most out of your event.
“Attendees taking a random walk in a crowded space may not meet the folks that could be most helpful to them, not to mention getting stuck talking to the wrong people.”
Traditional networking usually involves some kind of social dinner/drinks activity at the beginning or end of the event. Attendees taking a random walk in a crowded space may not meet the folks that could be most helpful to them, not to mention getting stuck talking to the wrong people! No one wants to appear rude in a fun, social setting. Some attendees may not feel comfortable with it. Some may feel frenzied and overwhelmed. Or, attendees may simply not want to spend all their time networking at a social function. So when is enough?
“attendees may not feel comfortable networking, sometimes feeling frenzied and overwhelmed”
Other styles of networking involve team activities or other group gamifications. However, these scenarios limit attendees to only their immediate team for the entire activity. This reduces access to other key people with whom an attendee may want to connect.
“beyond traditional options is the use of speed networking”
A new alternative beyond traditional options is speed networking. With similarities to a speed dating format, speed networking allows attendees to meet a lot of people in a very short time period. This can be especially helpful if the event has a full agenda with limited time available for making connections. This approach is an additional opportunity beyond the dinner/drink social style activities.
Speed networking is a structured process with facilitators. The “speed” element brings in a fun and efficient aspect to the event. Networkers have a few minutes to connect one-on-one. Then it’s on to the next person. This format has the added benefit that if you’re not connecting well with someone, or you discover they are not the right person to connect with, it’s very easy to move to the next conversation. Each round is only a few minutes long. There is no need to appear rude to move onto a new conversation. It’s fast and efficient. After the session, attendees can expand the connections from the speed networking session during the rest of the event. This is a good reason to include speed networking early in your agenda.
“Technology can further enhance the success of any speed networking activity”
Technology can further enhance the success of any speed networking activity. One example is a company that goes by the same name, Speed Networking. They offer a full-service speed networking solution which includes matching software that minimizes situations like getting stuck talking to the wrong folks. They also measure trackable results and an ROI analysis so you can ensure you’re adding tangible value to your events. Then, to ensure attendees take full advantage of the session, the event planner should remind attendees in advance to bring business cards and have an elevator pitch ready to go regarding who they are and what they’re interested in.
Ensuring your event generates great connections is easy. Build opportunities into your agenda to network, especially in the early stages. Help your attendees by providing fast and efficient methods to network such as speed networking. Leverage technology to make it effective and provide you the feedback you need to keep improving your events!
As an event planner, knowing what options are available to you is key. If you would like to hear about other topics that could help your event planning success, please let us know at support@clearevent.com.
In the meantime, happy planning!
References:
by ClearEvent Support | Event Management
What’s New In ClearEvent This Month?
March has been a busy month for the ClearEvent Team and we’re excited to announce a number of new and highly requested product features that are available today!
Copy A Form Between Events
Quickly copy an existing registration form between multiple events that you manage.
At the click of a button, you can now build new events using forms you created for previous or concurrent events as templates. Once you copy your registration form, just open the copied form and made any necessary adjustments needed.
Learn More
Promo Codes
Offer promotional discounts on ticket purchases to encourage early purchases and increase sales.
There are many benefits and uses of Promo Codes. Here are just a few ways you could use Promo Codes for your event.
- Create time-sensitive Promo Codes to encourage event guests to sign up early.
- Create special one-off Promo Codes for friends of your event, sponsors or special guests.
- Use different Promo Codes for various advertising channels to help track ROI.
Learn More
Fee Groups
Organize multiple fees and customize which form fields & products are shown to registrants based on the fee they select during checkout.
Learn More
Free Tickets
You can now sell both free and paid tickets to your event on the same ticket order. Even if you don’t charge to attend your event, or have a gate, setting up free tickets are a great way to help you collect and build your contact list for future events.
If you have a chance, please jump in and try out these new features and let us know what you think!
For a list of all recent release notes, click here.
Happy planning!
P.S. If you enjoy using ClearEvent, please tell a friend about us! 😀
by ClearEvent Support | Event Management
There are many good reasons why we all stopped using film cameras. You had to wait to get results, there were a lot of manual steps and you never knew if you got the picture till later, after processing. Check payments for registration are the same way! Payments by check cause delays, involve wasteful manual steps and increase risk for your event. Even though only a small percentage of your attendees may ask to pay by check, check payments are a bad idea!
Before you offer check payments for registration and other payments, consider the following 3 essential points.
1) Checks mean delays in receiving your money
It takes time to receive check payments. It takes more time for you to manually process the payment and get it to the bank. The bank then takes time to process the funds. All up check payments can add weeks to your receipt of funds.
Most event planners prefer the speedy payment of credit card payments which puts registration and ticket proceeds into your bank account in as little as 2-5 days for most regions.
2) Check payments create work for you
Who needs that? You’re busy and this is why you got event software in the first place – to let the computer take care of detailed jobs like payments.
With check payments, you must do multiple manual tasks for EVERY check you accept! You have to:
- Watch to make sure your all checks are received before the event
- Collect the check
- Process the payment and receive funds
- Deal with bad checks
- Enter each check payment received in your event software
- Communicate and coordinate with your buyer when there is a problem
3) Check payments are riskier
A small number of all payments will have problems. With check payments, this becomes your headache to sort out. This often leads to awkward and uncomfortable conversations with your registrant and your bank.
Simple things like poor handwriting on the check itself can cause processing delays. More serious issues like bounced checks can cost you money as most banks will charge you a fee for each dishonored check.
Check payments are a bad idea!
Check payments
- create delays in receiving your money
- create work for you
- are less certain
The best thing to do is eliminate check payments altogether. If that is not an option for you then minimize the impact to you and your event.
It may be tempting to accept checks but most planners quickly realize the pros of check payments are quickly outweighed by the cons.
Protect your valuable resources of time, money and stick to credit card payments wherever you can!
Happy Planning!
Easily accept credit card payments for registration and ticket sales with ClearEvent.
Interested In Other Topics?
As a conference planner, knowledge is key. Let us know the topics you’d like to hear about to help increase your event planning success, at support@clearevent.com.
In the meantime, Happy Planning!
