Ticketbud launches Reserved Seating Ticketing

Ticketbud has announced the launch of its Reserved Seating Ticketing, opening up to a wider range of event organizers wanting to switch to the ticketing provider emerging as a new industry favorite. Reserved Seating is now available to all Ticketbud users. Whether it’s a gala dinner, theater, stadium, or more custom seating requirements, Ticketbud can now better support these events.

Reserved Seating by Ticketbud includes venue mapping and custom seating charts, with interactive selection allowing ticket buyers to choose their preferred seats with ease. This feature elevates the attendee experience and gives organizers flexibility to set custom pricing for various seating areas, maximizing revenue potential.

Eve Mason, of Velocity Dance Competition, who utilizes Ticketbud Reserve Seating for their year end Gala in Las Vegas said; “Having tried other ticketing services, I was seeking a more tailored experience. Ticketbud surpassed my expectations by offering customized ticketing sales, prompt assistance from a representative, and on-site support for our event. They truly went the extra mile to ensure our event was a success.”

Ticketbud is rapidly gaining popularity with more event organizers wanting to move away from ever restrictive providers and their high ticketing fees. Ticketbud CEO, Kayhan Ahmadi explains, “It’s not just the venue mapping and reserve seating, but the granular features that our event organizers love. The ability to pick your own seats at a gala table, or book out a whole table at a discounted rate. Our goal at Ticketbud is to continually innovate and provide solutions valuable to event organizers. We are committed to making advanced ticketing solutions accessible”.

Sell out reserved seating venues with interactive venue maps

Ticketbud will help you build and map your venue or reserved seating event.

For more information visit www.ticketbud.com/features/reserved-seating

Ticketbud is not a ticket reseller

We help event organizers with registration and ticket sales.

No you can’t resell your concert ticket. We’re not a resale platform.

However, we do like to be helpful, so we have highlighted below some ticket resellers that might be able to help you sell that concert ticket.

Ticket resellers are also helpful for event organizers. It’s inevitable that some ticket buyers won’t be able to attend your events after purchasing a ticket. You determine your own refund policies. In some circumstances you may want to recommend a secure ticket reseller solution for your attendees, as an alternative to refunds. It’s better for your events to be well attended and not have people upset about being stuck with tickets they can’t use.

Here are some ticket resellers to consider:

Ticketswap – Ticket reseller designed as a fair place to buy and sell tickets for concerts, festivals, sports events and more. Ticket markups are capped to a maximum 20% above the original sales price. Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and founded in 2012. View current Trustpilot rating.

Ticketcity – Ticket reseller that highlights strong customer service and offers a 100% buyer guarantee, with tickets on time or your money back. Based in Austin TX and founded 1990. View current Trustpilot rating.

SeatGeek – Mobile-focused ticket resale platform for live sports, concerts and theater events. Based in New York, NY and founded 2009. View current Trustpilot rating.

Vivid Seats – Independent online ticket exchange and resale company based in Chicago IL and founded in 2001. View current Trustpilot rating.

Stubhub – A market leader in the ticket resale space. Based in San Francisco, CA and founded 2000. View current Trustpilot rating.

Event Organizers: If you are looking for simple solution for registering attendees or selling event tickets, sign up to Ticketbud or learn more here.

The 9 Most Popular Ticketing Features and Tools for Event Organizers:

1. Real Human Customer Support

This has without a doubt been one of the most valuable features a ticketing platform could offer this year.  Event Organizers have been dealing with new challenges, adapting events, or creating ticketed events for the first time due to capacity restrictions. Getting a real person on the phone makes all the difference when you need it. 

Ticketbud’s platform flexibility and real human customer support has set us apart this year. 

“We really value the flexibility of being able to work with the Ticketbud team and saying, ‘this is the problem we’re dealing with, and we need a solution for it,’ then they come back and say, ‘Here’s your solution.’ It’s really nice to be able to have that level of support.” 

Amber Gunst, CEO of the Austin Technology Council.

2. Timed Access Ticketing 

As live events return, event organizers are looking for solutions to facilitate social distancing and manage capacities. Timed ticket access allows a specific number of attendees at allocated time slots, preventing overcrowding and maximizing ticket sales safely. Learn more about timed access ticketing.

3. Refund Protection

Refund Protect is the broadest optional refund protection program available to ticket buyers, and now includes Covid-19 coverage. By integrating refund protection, Ticketbud can offer enhanced terms of sale where customers can request a 100% refund should they not be able to attend their event due to unforeseen circumstances.

4. Contactless Ticketing

Digital tickets make it easy to scan without contact or exchanging paper. Getting people to buy tickets online gives you the ability to collect all their details before the event and quickly scan their digital ticket when they arrive to check them in. 

Ticketbud tickets are also integrated with Apple Wallet, making it easier for attendees to store and find their digital event ticket quickly. 

5. Early Payouts

Getting early access to event funds is always something desirable to event organizers, but with tighter event budgets this year it has become a  major priority. Some ticketing companies hold on to your money until after your event, sometimes months after. This just doesn’t work for a lot of event organizers who need early payouts to help fund promotion, pay vendors and cover other upfront event costs. 

Ticketbud offers flexible payout options (daily, weekly, monthly).

6. Online Ticketing for Virtual Events 

Virtual events hit an all time high this year with many organizers having to figure out the logistics of an entirely online event for the first time. Ticketbud made it easy for organizers to quickly set up an event page and start selling tickets right away. Then using our inbuilt communication tools and your chosen video platform (such as Zoom), an event access link can be sent to attendees after they have purchased a ticket.  Learn more about  virtual events

7. Inbuilt Promotion and Communication tools 

Tools that make it easy to promote, manage, communicate and track are important to save valuable time. Custom link tracking, referral and promotional codes (including discount and access codes) are very useful, as is the ability to send email invitations. Communication tools that allow for individual or group communication,  including the ability to target those holding specific ticket types.  Event organizers want to keep in touch with attendees leading up to and after the event, particularly important if any contact tracing is required after an event. 

Ticketbud Ad Engine is an optional advertising extra. Access powerful social advertising with advanced targeting features, made easy for events. Optimizing Facebook and Instagram ads based on your ticket sales data, automatically focusing ad budget on ads that sell more tickets.

8. Simple Custom Event Pages 

Event organizers generally need to create an event web page, unless they have an existing  website and are just looking to sell tickets from it. Ticketbud has a simple ticket widget that allows you to sell the tickets right from your own website. However many event organizers are looking to create a custom event landing page where they can sell tickets. Organizers want something that is quick and easy to set up, with no technical skills required. 

Ticketbud provides organizers with a simple template for creating a custom branded event web page that is search engine and mobile optimized.

9. Unlimited Ticketing Types 

Event organizers want the freedom and flexibility to create effective ticket programming with multiple ticket types to help maximize sales. 

With unlimited ticket types you can create early bird sales, exclusive VIP experiences, group packages, tiered pricing, family passes, food and beverage packages, event merchandise, donations, complementary and sponsor tickets, and more.

Even Organizers want to be able to create multiple ticket types without paying more for it. Many have been caught out in the past with ticketing companies that limit the number of ticket types you can have before they charge more. Ticketbud allows organizers to create unlimited ticket types at no additional cost.

Get started creating an event or request a demo

Learn more about ticketing with Ticketbud or check out our FAQ page

Ticketbud Helps Convert 400,000 Attendee Holiday Festival into a Timed Access Drive-thru Experience

Austin’s largest holiday event that attracts 400,000 attendees each year, has reinvented itself for 2020. Austin Trail of Lights, the city’s second largest event, has been converted into an hourly timed access drive-thru experience.

To accommodate the new format, Austin Trail of Lights will extend from a two-week opening to a five-week event, running from November 28 until Jan 3. Attendees can purchase entry passes online through Ticketbud, with an allocated hourly time slot for a designated evening. The timed entry restricts the number of vehicles entering the experience, facilitating a smoother flow of traffic. 

“Ticketbud has been the trusted ticketing partner of Austin’s Trail of Lights for the last few years, and in 2020 we’ve relied on Ticketbud to help switch our walk-through holiday light show experience into a socially distanced drive-thru event”.


“The Ticketbud team has been a great support helping us create timed access ticket programming with scheduled drive-thru times. By limiting the number of vehicles able to enter each hour, attendees can secure their time and plan their evening without everyone turning up at once. This new programming will help us distribute and maximize tickets over our now five-week event.”

Teri Smart, VP of Marketing, Forefront Networks.
Forefront Networks produces the Austin Trail of Lights on behalf of the Trail of Lights Foundation.

Like so many other events and festivals, this local favorite has had to adapt, but it’s set to be an exciting new experience.

“We’re all doing our part to ensure this local holiday tradition continues to shine. The Ticketbud team is really proud of the support we’ve been able to provide so many event organizers this year, helping them navigate significant changes to how they run their events.”

Kayhan Ahmadi, Ticketbud CEO.

Ticketbud’s great features make managing large events easy with flexible ticket programming, promotion, communication and sponsorship tools. We’ve also extended our Refund Protect coverage, providing extra peace of mind for ticket buyers.

Our event page calendar feature makes multi-day timed entry ticketing much easier for ticket buyers to navigate to find the convenient date and time they need.

The Trail of Lights Experience 2020

Now celebrating it’s 56th year, Austin Trail of Lights actually began as a drive-thru light show experience, evolving into a walk through event over the years. It’s now going back to its drive-thru origins due to the current need for social distancing to maintain a safe family friendly environment.

The trail’s themed light displays include over 2 million lights illuminating Austin’s Zilker Park. Visitors will be able to tune in via their radio for the Trail of Lights holiday music, highlights, history and more as they drive through the park. 

The Trail will host private nights allowing limited free entry through the STARS at the Trail program for over 30 non-profit community partners. As well as providing vehicle passes to eligible families throughout the Austin Independent School District.

The Trail will be open to guests from November 28, 2020 – January 3, 2021. There are two ways to attend: 

General Admission

Prices range from $25-$35 per vehicle depending on entry time and night with timed access each hour starting at 7pm.

Dash Pass

$60 per vehicle, dash passes allow for early entry between 5:45-7:00pm. Guests will receive a box of holiday cookies and the ATX Lights Savings Card. (Presented by Northern Trust)

All Dash Pass, Fun Run & Premiere Night ticket holders will receive the ATX Lights Savings Card to use at some of the best restaurants, food trucks and shops in Austin. Your card will provide 20% off or BUY ONE, GET ONE.

Tickets On Sale NOW!

As Live Events Return, Event Organizers Embrace Timed Access Event Ticketing

Event organizers are looking for solutions to manage capacity restrictions, as live public events slowly return. Timed ticket access, enables event organizers to allow a specific number of attendees at allocated time slots. This prevents overcrowding, while helping organizers safely maximize ticket sales.    

“Access to a reliable system for managing event capacities has become a big priority for organizers. Ticketbud has been partnering with events across the US to provide these solutions, with great results. Many events are selling out, people want to attend events if they’re managed safely”.

Kayhan Ahmadi, Ticketbud CEO.

Attendee tracing and communication made easy

Scheduled access also gives organizers a mechanism for tracing exactly who was at their event and when. If organizers needed to contact attendees that attended during a certain time period, this is made easy with timed tickets  and Ticketbud’s inbuilt communication system.  

Community events partnering with Ticketbud 

Ticketbud has been working with local event organizers adapting their offerings to the new climate. Big holiday festival partners such as Austin’s Trail of Lights pivoted to a drive through event in 2020. While smaller community events and attractions have found working with a supportive ticketing partner, makes a huge difference right now.

Event organizers started making the switch to timed access in Fall. This included pumpkin patch visits, as well as haunted farms and Halloween drive through events. Ticketbud is excited to help event organizers get back on their feet by making the return to live events easier to manage. Right now it’s vital for people to have a system for managing capacities.

A safe return to family events

In New Jersey, state guidelines required family run Abam’s Farm Barnyard Petting Zoo to limit their barnyard capacity.

“The Ticketbud team have been nothing short of amazing in helping create and facilitate online ticket sales for our Barnyard Petting Zoo during the pandemic. The restrictions and guidelines given in the State of NJ forced us to limit the capacity of people in our Barnyard at one time, so we had to rethink how we could keep our barnyard open, while ensuring our patrons and employees safety. 

Our partnership with Ticketbud provided us with a ticketing system that allows customers to purchase online tickets that go on sale each morning, for same day purchase at a specific time slot. This allowed for less contact, no lines or groups of people waiting and a controlled environment that complied with restrictions.

I can’t say enough good things about the Ticketbud team with their superior customer service and efficiency. It’s been a pleasure to work with them and would highly recommend Ticketbud to anyone looking for ticketing solutions.”

Cailin Ptasznik, Abma’s Farm

Tickets for entry into Abma’s Barnyard Petting Zoo come on sale on the morning of the activity. They manage this with the Sales Schedule in Ticket Settings.

Below you can see an example event page for Abma’s Farm Hayride experiences.

Maximizing ticket sales for show house capacities

Home shows have been another popular user of the timed access option. The Junior League of Detroit Designers Show House have made great use of Ticketbud’s calendar feature and timed sessions throughout the day.  

“Selling timed entry with a limited quantity is an efficient way to manage social distancing at an event. Typically we would have crowds in the  mornings and then a big lull in the afternoon. Now we find that we have an even distribution of patrons all day. 

We can also add extra tickets for time periods that sell out quickly, search for lost tickets, access email addresses of ticket buyers, and send promo codes as perks to sponsors. We were pushed to use this platform because of the pandemic, but I cannot imagine going back to our old way of selling tickets next year”. 

Liana Dabir, Junior League of Detroit 2020 Designers Show House

To learn more about what you get with Ticketbud visit our How It Works page.

Coronavirus Update – 3/20/20

Refunds

Dear Ticketbud Event Organizers and their Ticket Holders.

We know many of you have questions given the current state of affairs regarding event cancellations as a result of the Coronavirus (CODIV-19). We want to assure you that event organizers on Ticketbud are still able to process refunds for their events, and we are helping people do this. 

We are however notifying Ticketbud customers of an update to our Terms of Service to change our refund policy, effective immediately. While we do not charge a fee for processing refunds, the Ticketbud fee from the original transaction will not be returned. Ticket buyers will still get a refund for the rest of the transaction. This is in line with standard industry practice during a Federal State of Emergency. 

These refunds will be labeled as a ‘partial refund’, however it is only the original transaction fee that hasn’t been included. This will not apply to duplicate transactions, voids and most disputed transactions. You can review Ticketbud’s Terms of Use for more information. We continue to be committed to our customers and only make changes to our policies that we believe are fair and in line with our business values. 

We understand this is a difficult time for many. We are doing everything we can to support our customers during this time. 

Your Ticketbud Team

How to Create a Virtual Event Online

Moving to virtual event options amid the Coronavirus Outbreak

Event organizers worldwide are facing a tough period of uncertainty amid the coronavirus outbreak. Most are now making difficult decisions about postponing or cancelling live events. Many event organizers are also now exploring the option to pivot to an online virtual event. While this isn’t a viable option for everyone, it’s definitely worth consideration for those that can.

This is an unprecedented time in our history for online events, and those that move quickly will benefit the most. With more people around the world each day facing the new reality of home isolation, they are looking online to connect and engage with each other. If you’re in a position to adapt and move content online, now is the time to consider this option. You have never had a better chance to capture an online audience than now.

Types of events that can be moved online

While big conferences such as the Adobe Summit and Facebook F8 are going digital, there are plenty of other event types that can also consider this option.  The most viable event candidates for moving online are educational events and conferences, Q&A and panel sessions, speaker tours and podcasting events. There are also entertainers looking at bringing their live shows online. People are getting creative, you can too.   

If you had a live event scheduled, don’t waste all the work that went into it if that content can be repurposed and shared online. If you have an audience of people already interested, keep that interest and take your event online. You also have the potential to reach a wider audience, with attendees able to participate from anywhere.  

Benefits of online events

The usual benefits of an online event still hold true and may be particularly appealing given the current climate. 

Start with value and be authentic

The emphasis should be on good content that provides value, whether that be educational or entertainment. You can live-stream or create interactive sessions from your home office and connect with people anywhere via the internet. Shift your thinking toward what will work for a virtual event. You don’t have to have polished video assets ready to go to run a successful online event. But this also isn’t a time for boring PowerPoint presentations and long speeches. This is an opportunity for authentic engagement with your audience.  

Steps to get started planning your online experience 

  1. GOALS: Clearly define the goals for your event. What do you hope to achieve?
  2. TARGET MARKET: Be clear about your target market. Who is the event for?
  3. VALUE TO AUDIENCE: What do you want your audience to gain from this event experience?
  4. TOPICS/CONTENT: What topics will appeal to this audience? Choose an overarching event topic, a content structure and schedule.  
  5. FORMAT: What formats will best facilitate engagement among your target audience? (Live-stream, interactive, smaller groups or session selections). 
  6. TOOLS & TECH: Identify the right tools and technology to run an online event. Simple cost effective options are available. Zoom has a great range of video conferencing options for various event types.
  7. HOSTS: Depending on your event you will need to organize hosts, speakers, moderators or performers.  
  8. SPONSORS: Do you have existing sponsors for which you can still offer value? How can your sponsor packages be adapted? Are there now new sponsor opportunities that would make sense for an online event?
  9. EVENT LANDING PAGE: Create a landing page where you will direct all promotion and highlight all your event details. (You can create a free event landing page with Ticketbud or add our ticket widget directly onto your own website).
  10. TICKETING: Set up a secure ticketing and registration option. Ticketbud offers low fees, unlimited ticket types and a range of helpful inbuilt tools for event management, communication and promotion.  
  11. PROMOTION: Promote your event across digital channels and networks.     

Promoting your online event with Ticketbud

Benefits of event ticketing and registration with Ticketbud 

Five fast tips for your online event

  1. Record any live streamed sessions for later use.
  2. Create an event hashtag and share this widely among participants, before, during and after your event.
  3. Encourage presenters to help promote the event by discussing and sharing it online with their networks.
  4. Ensure everyone understands the event format, their role and the flow of the event. Especially hosts or moderators.
  5. Test, test, test! Leading up to the event, test that tools and technology are working and key players know how to use them. 

You can do it!

There is going to be a huge gap left by the immediate loss of live events. This void will need to be filled and you have a chance to create a unique online event experience that’s right for your audience. Ticketbud is here to help you set up your online event ticketing and registration for your virtual event.

Coronavirus Update (COVID-19)

We understand this is an uncertain time for everyone, impacting event organizers and event goers worldwide. We know you may have questions, and as always we’re here for you every step of the way.

Recommendations for Ticket Holders

Watch Event Pages for Updates and Reach Out to Event Organizers for their Current Event Status

To learn the status of an event you have tickets for, please first check the event page where you bought the tickets. If there is no update there, reach out to the event organizer. Every event page on Ticketbud has a Contact Organizer button.

Some event organizers using our ticketing platform are postponing events, some are cancelling, we don’t have a complete status for all of them. If you have questions about event status or refunds, the event organizer is best placed to answer. Please be patient, as you can imagine there are a lot of enquiries heading their way.

What does it mean if my recent refund is listed as a partial refund?

Recommendations for Ticketbud Event Organizers

Stay Informed and Communicate

We understand this is a tough time for our event organizers. We want to reassure you that we are here to help, and you can reach out to us if you have questions or need advice.

Stay Informed – Keep up to date with news from local public health officials in your area, as event restrictions and advice is being updated daily. Up to date advice about gatherings is provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Communicate with your attendees – Ticketbud is receiving calls from ticket holders regarding event cancellations. We recommend updating your event page to let people know if your event is currently still going ahead or if it’s postponed or cancelled. We recommend highlighting your refund policy to reduce email enquiries. 

Ensure best hygiene practices –  For events that are not cancelling, please take steps to ensure good hygiene standards for your guests. Make hand sanitizer available for guests. Encourage guests to regularly and thoroughly wash their hands, and ask them not to participate if they’re unwell with cold/flu symptoms. 

Good hygiene practices you can share. 

Handling Postponements, Cancellations and Refunds

We want to support you to make the best decision for your event, whether that’s postponing, cancelling, or moving to an online or virtual option.

Postponing Events 

If you need to postpone your event to a later date, you can simply change the date and also halt ticket sales. As a best practice, first, we recommend using the Email Attendees tool to let your customers know of the event postponement.

You can change the date and time of your event on the Edit Event Page of your Event Dashboard. If you are unsure of the new date, reach out to our support team and we can hide the date and time from populating on your event page. Additionally, if you need to halt ticket sales, you can do so with the Close Sales button located on your event dashboard. You can reopen sales at any time.

Upon changing the date and/or closing sales, all tickets sold for the event will remain valid. The QR codes generated on tickets will not change and will be valid for the new date.

Refunding Events 

Review notice about Ticketbud’s updated refund policy.

If your event is cancelled, you can provide customers a refund for their tickets. As a best practice again, first, we recommend using the Email Attendees tool to let your customers know of the event cancellation and refund. Your customers can expect their funds to be credited back to their original method of payment in 3 to 10 business days.

If your event is using WePay or Stripe to process payment, you can simply refund orders via the Orders page on your Event Dashboard. Check out our help article to learn more about issuing refunds. If your event has over 50 orders, reach out to our support team and we can help you issue a batch refund.

If your event is using PayPal to process payment, you can refund orders by logging into your PayPal account directly. Check out this article on how to issue a refund via PayPal.

Thank You for being a Valued Ticketbud Customer

Events are about connecting people through shared experiences. Ticketbud is proud of our partnerships with charity fundraisers, social, business and community events. We continue to be here for you during this challenging time for the events community.     

Your Ticketbud Team

CONTACT: TICKETBUD SUPPORT

Get the cheat code to one of the most powerful social advertising networks – with Ticketbud Ad Engine

Designed for event organizers, our mission is to make it as easy as possible for organizers to successfully create, manage and sell tickets for their events. Now we’re making event advertising easier, with the launch of Ticketbud Ad Engine.  

Ticketbud is excited to introduce our powerful new advertising feature, designed to make highly targeted social advertising easy and intuitive for event organizers. Ticketbud Ad Engine seamlessly integrates social media advertising with Ticketbud events. 

While the audience targeting capabilities of social advertising is powerful for reaching specific audiences, they are rarely easy to navigate. Busy event organizers who have a long list of elements to coordinate, often miss valuable advertising opportunities and don’t get optimal return on investment. 

“Knowing the power of social advertising for events, we wanted to offer the best resources to help event organizers sell more tickets. The Ticketbud Ad Engine powered by ToneDen gives event organizers access to one of the most powerful ad tech networks, in a simple and intuitive way.”

Ticketbud CEO Kayhan Ahmadi.

Access advanced social advertising tools for events

Everything you need to run successful ad campaigns that sell more tickets. Use sophisticated tools to easily identify and target the right audience, with the optimal ad content to drive sales.  

What you get with Ticketbud Ad Engine:

Powerful Audience Targeting and Retargeting – easily set up and test multiple audiences to identify those that lead to more sales. Ad Engine curates the best tools to target the right audience for your event. 

Build Ads that Drive Sales – automatically test various ad content combinations to find the perfect ads that sell more tickets.

Stronger Call to Action buttons – drive action on ads encouraging people to “Buy Tickets”.

Automatic Budget Optimization – smart budgeting ensures advertising spend is shifted toward ads that sell more tickets, maximizing return on investment.

Conversion Tracking with clear ROI – know exactly how much in ticket sales your ads generate. No more advertising in the dark.

Ticketbud customers see amazing results with Ad Engine

Ticketbud event organizers love what they can do with Ticketbud Ad Engine and have been blown away by the results. From the simplified set-up, to great functionality and trackable return on investment, customers are thrilled to have an easy solution to their event marketing challenges.

“The new Ticketbud Ad Engine was piloted with large and small events and delivered impressive results for both. Across the board, customers were able to increase ticket sales, and create over 10x ROI from ad spend to ticket revenue.” Ticketbud CEO, Kayhan Ahmadi.

Now available for all Ticketbud customers 

Create the most effective event advertising on Facebook and Instagram and sell more tickets. Ask us about Ticketbud Ad Engine, or get started today.

Ticketbud Ad Engine Powered By ToneDen

How to Promote Your Event on Facebook

Are you an event organizer looking to promote your event on Facebook? Do you just need a simple how-to? We’ve got you covered!

In the next 5 minutes, learn the basics on how to create a facebook event and promote it. Let’s get right into it and you’ll build your attendance in no time!

What is Your Event Story?

When planning and promoting an event it helps if you can create a unique story around it, something that makes it stand out from the rest. If you have a good story angle, the media are also more likely to pick up and cover your event.

Answer these questions:

Once you’re clear about your unique story and how you want to communicate your event experience, next you want to promote it! Although there are many tools an event organizer can choose from, one of the simplest and cheapest ways to share your event is to utilize social media platforms, like Facebook.

Facebook Pages vs Hosting Events from your Personal Account

If you’re hosting a social event or fundraiser and you don’t mind it being linked to your personal facebook account, you can easily create the event from your personal account. However if your event is for an organization, club or business, it makes sense to create the event from that facebook page. If there isn’t a facebook page already, you might want to consider creating a separate page for your organization or business. 

A Facebook Page is essentially a place for businesses, organizations and public figures to engage with their audience and customers. A Facebook page allows you to create an event that isn’t attached to your personal Facebook account. From there, you’ll be able to add your event to your Page’s calendar and post updates for all of your followers to see in their News Feed. 

Creating an Event on Facebook

Now it’s time to create your Facebook event! Facebook offers a free event creation tool that makes it easy for first time event organizers to use. 

  1. From your facebook profile or facebook page, locate and select the ‘Create’ button in the top navigation bar. Then from the drop down menu click ‘event’. 
  2. Decide if you want your event to be public or private and choose that option from the drop down at the top left (as below).
  3.  Then add an image and your details and you’re done. Hit create event!

Find more information on how to create or edit a Facebook event here.

Tips for Promoting your Event on Facebook

Once your event and event page have been created, you can utilize Facebook’s features to promote your event across different news feeds while keeping costs down. To make your event promotion process a little smoother, we compiled a list of four free ways to promote your event on Facebook.

Share with friends

Facebook was made to connect with friends, so why not just do that? All you have to do is make your way to your event page, find the buttons labeled ‘share’ and select whether you want to invite your friends, share it in a message, or share it as a post on your timeline. This is one of the most effective ways to share your event across multiple News Feeds, as people will be more likely to click on your event if they notice their friends are interested as well.

Post about your event regularly

While this seems intuitive, you can attract more attendees by simply sharing updates, announcements, and photos leading up to your event. Encourage conversation and questions in the comment section of your posts and interact with your audience by responding and reacting to their remarks.

Add your event to your partners Facebook pages

Depending on the size of your event, often times there is more than one organization participating. For additional promotion, you can request for your event to be added to other organization’s calendars on their Facebook pages. 

To take advantage of this feature, click the three dots next to ‘share,’ and in the drop down menu click ‘add to page.’

This is a great feature, especially if your event is working with sponsors, artists, restaurants or any other partners. By adding your event to more Facebook pages, you are exposing your event to a wider audience, increasing your event discoverability.

Add external links to relevant platforms and information

If you’re using Facebook as one of the many ways to promote your event, it’s important to highlight other platforms you might be promoting on as well. Whether it’s your website, ticketing platform, or other social channels, you can make those links visible and accessible to your audience.

By simply adding your links to the details section of your event page, your audience has a quick and easy way to discover more about your event.

Other Promotion and Advertising Options

Facebook has an Ads Manager feature that enables you to create paid ads on Facebook. You can advertise to specific audiences and demographics, as well as track analytics. However some of the more advanced audience targeting tools can be challenging and time consuming, especially for a busy event organizer. 

Ticketbud offers some great solutions to help evert organizers save time and money. With Ticketbud you can:

  1. Create a free event webpage customized for your event.  
  2. Add unlimited ticket types to your event page (with early bird sales, flash sales, tiered pricing, family pricing and donation options).
  3. Promote your event with a range of free inbuilt tools
  4. Advertise your event on Facebook and Instagram with Ticketbud’s Ad Engine

Ticketbud Ad Engine

If you are selling tickets to an event with Ticketbud and want to boost promotion with some paid ads, our Ad Engine is the best way to maximize your return on investment. Designed for event organizers to get the best results from Facebook and Instagram Advertising,  Ad Engine makes it easier to create ads that are highly targeted to the right audience for your event. This might be based on their Spotify music preferences, or creating lookalike audiences from past attendee lists, or retargeting people who have visited your website. 

While Facebook Ads manager can tell you how many people clicked on your ad, it’s harder to track which ads are performing better in terms of converting sales. Ad Engine is designed to automatically optimize ads that sell the most tickets, by linking the power of Facebook advertising to your sales on Ticketbud. 

Ad Engine will save you time and increase your ticket sales by offering powerful audience targeting, automatic budget optimization, and providing a stronger call to action that isn’t available on standard Facebook ads. Get started on Ticketbud today and check out our new Ad Engine, the best social advertising option for busy event organizers. 


Ticketbud Tidbits Ep 24 – SHOW NOTES… Event Management for an Outdoor Concert

Overview

In this episode we chat with Berenice Guzman, event organizer and marketer for Austin City Limits Radio’s summer concert series Blues on the Green. This family friendly event includes four concerts with different homegrown musical performances, held over the summer. Berenice shares what goes into organizing a large-scale free concert series such as this.

During the podcast, Berenice talks about all things planning, including infrastructure, event organization and production, vendor maps and sponsorship packages. Berenice shares what it takes to keep costs down to maintain this type of event, ensuring it remains free for attendees. She also highlights the key planning and cost differences when operating a free versus paid event.

Listen now or read the show notes below to learn more about organizing this type of event.

About Bernice

Berenice is a Marketing Coordinator for Emmis Austin Radio. She has experience with sales, promotions, and events. Berenice works closely with event coordination and marketing for Austin City Limits Radio’s Summer Concert Series, Blues on the Green, with a focus on promotion, event planning and fulfilling sponsorship agreements.

TIDBITS TOPICS:

Primary Costs of Producing a Summer Concert Series

“You want to ask yourself, what kind of event, and what scale you want to have it at. Those are big, big questions.”

Berenice Guzman

The event production company hired for Blues on the Green is their biggest expense. They work with Austin company Event Production Services who supply materials such as the stage, screens, tents, and signage for the event, as well as stage management expertise.

A concert can also come with significant artist costs. However, Blues on the Green works with local artists supportive of this beloved free community event, enabling organizers to keep artists costs reasonably priced.

Infrastructure can make or break an outdoor event. Equipment such as stages, speakers and screens are big expenses. Setting up a relay so that people at the back of the park can still get quality sound is another expensive component, but hugely important to the attendee experience. Other infrastructure costs include electrical setup, restrooms, structures, tents, signage, security and other staffing.

For this event ACL Radio staffing includes about 10 people, while the event production team they work with is made up of 40 to 50 people. When you add hospitality and security staff on top of this, you can see staffing becomes a significant expense.

Another area to consider is if your event requires police involvement, to manage traffic or protect key areas (backstage, artists, attendees). Blues on the Green has a police presence at the concerts and also hires their own security company. There are also city costs to consider such as permits and parking.

Keeping it Free is Key!

When it comes to free versus paid events, there are some key differences in terms of event planning costs. For starters, if Blues on the Green was a paid event, it would have to be gated in. Gating an event like this would then include significant fencing costs, extra road closures and extra security.

While the event does provide alcohol as part of its hospitality package, this is a small area that is gated in near the side of the stage. One of the main reasons Blues on the Green doesn’t sell alcohol at the event is due to the extra costs involved. Once you sell alcohol you then have to close the event in with fencing, check IDs and hire bartenders. Blues would then also have to pay the city for the park, taking away the benefit of getting Zilker Park for free as a community event.

Paid parking is an additional revenue source that organizers rely on to keep Blues on the Green a free event. With limited parking availability, Blues on the Green rents parking lots from the city and offers prepaid ticketed parking through Ticketbud. This enables people to buy and secure their parking ahead of time. By using Ticketbud, organizers also have the option to create custom parking maps on tickets, as well as the ability to transfer or refund tickets at their discretion.

“Ticketbud have been an awesome partner and we couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Bernice Guzman

Event Production Considerations

There are a lot of different elements that go into event production and management. While many were managed by the production company hired for this event, ACL radio staff also managed a range of tasks. Berenice mentioned:

Site-maps, Traffic Maps and Vendor Maps, Oh My!

Berenice is in charge of creating site-maps for Blues on the Green. These are like blueprints showing where everything needs to be, from staging to vendors, to fire extinguisher locations. Vendors get their own map, clearly showing them where to go and where to set up. Other important maps include those for attendees, with an event map, as well as traffic maps with road closures, driving and parking instructions.

The Sponsorship Lifecycle

1) Creating Great Sponsorship Offerings

Sponsorships are of significant importance to free events like Blues on the Green. Potential sponsors are approached with tiered sponsor package opportunities, as well as given the option to have something tailored to them. It’s important to understand their budget and what they hope to get out of the opportunity. Last year’s Blues on the Green event included 25 different sponsorship packages.

Examples of tiered sponsor packages:

2) Delivering on Event Sponsorships

When you are managing 25 different event sponsorship packages for various sponsors, the next challenge becomes keeping track of it all. How do you ensure you don’t forget a detail of a sponsorship such as a piece of signage or promised social promotion?

Berenice shares that an excel spreadsheet with tabs for each sponsorship type is how she stays on top of the details. Create a checklist of what has been agreed to and when it’s been delivered (with evidence for the sponsor recap which we will talk about in a moment).

Berenice also creates a spreadsheet of onsite sponsorship requirements with what needs to happen on event day. This was printed and attached to the back of the site map, so it’s clear what each sponsor was doing, where they are, and if they needed anything special on event day.

3) Sponsorship Recaps

After the event a Sponsorship Recap is important to show sponsors what value they got from their participation in the event. It also plays a significant role in ensuring you will be able to secure that sponsor again next year.

A Sponsorship Recap is essentially a PowerPoint breakdown of everything that was done for them at the event, including photos, any on-air or social promotion, branding on website pages, and organic marketing. At the end of the recap, the sponsors are given the chance to get first rights to sign up for the next years sponsorships.

Connecting a New Brand with an Established Event

The radio station running Blues on the Green recently rebranded from KGSR to ACLRadio. The Austin City Limits name has significant value and legacy, so it’s an exciting rebranding opportunity. However, there are always challenges when introducing a new brand into the market. One of the big branding challenges for Blues on the Green is that while the event itself had huge recognition, but there was little awareness of it being run by a radio station. This meant there was a lot of work to do in branding the event.

Event Promotion

Event promotion has shifted in the last couple of years to have more focus onInstagram. The digital team worked on making it easier for people to find and share the event. They faced the challenge of their desired Blues on the Green handle already being taken. This led to everything on Instagram needing to come under the @ACLradio Handle.

ACL radio promoted the event on air. They also had Fox Austin as a platinum client this year, who were doing shout-outs to the event on their morning news program.

Merchandise

Along with the usual branded merchandise, one novelty idea was the creation of branded patches for each event, available for free at the ACL Radio tent. The collectable patches were created for each show, designed to connect the ACL Radio brand with Blues on the Green in people’s minds.

Event Day

Although event production services begin to set up at least a day or two in advance, there are things such as drinks and signage that are brought in the day of the event. It’s important to stay flexible and be ready to help with any client setup needs. Have someone available who can collect anything that has been forgotten, or something you or clients realize they need on the day.

When organizing an outdoor concert event, a key consideration for the show going ahead is rain. Sometimes it can be called off when the grass is still wet from the previous day, as the city wants to protect the park and its grass. If the event was to be cancelled, a communication plan would need to be executed on the day to let everyone know.

Don’t forget – 3 things easily overlooked on event day:

Ticketbud has Holiday Festivals All Lit Up Over Their Online Ticketing

Ticketbud has established successful partnerships with a wide range of events and festivals, from smaller pop-up events to large scale multi-day festivals. We are fast positioning ourselves to be the provider of choice for holiday festivals, food festivals and family events. 

Ticketbud’s completely customized ticketing platform has helped us create a better event experience overall, especially thanks to the fully integrated point of sale experience. We look forward to better data tracking and analysis to help us throughout our event planning and marketing.”

Dawn Robinette, Marketing Director, Old West Christmas Light Fest.

Why Holiday Festivals are Choosing Ticketbud

Ticketbud is designed to manage the needs of high-volume multi-day festivals. Our clients include festivals running over two weeks with over 500,000 attendees. We are built to handle high traffic on-sales and heavy scanning needs at check-in. Organizers are switching to Ticketbud to take advantage of service, features and tools that maximize sales and year on year growth. 

“Ticketbud’s multi-day event calendars enhance the ticket buyer experience and convert more sales. Event tags make multi-day reporting clearer with customizable data segmentation. Our unlimited ticket programming gives organizers greater flexibility, while our ongoing customer support really sets us apart.”

Kayhan Ahmadi, Ticketbud CEO.

Multi-day Event Calendar When you have an event scheduled over multiple days, calendar functionality that makes it quick an easy for ticket buyers to select the day (and potentially time) they want to attend. Ticketbud’s multi-day calendar functionality allows organizers to show events and activities clearly over a number of days. 

Event Tags – This feature allows organizers to tag events with custom labels that enables them to group their events for reporting or promotional purposes. Events can have multiple tags so they appear in different reports. Organizers can also promote specific tagged events on a promotional landing page. 

Unlimited Ticket Types – Good ticket programming helps you sell more tickets, so you don’t want to have limited ticketing options. Some competitors only allow you 1 ticket type before charging more. Ticketbud automatically includes this flexibility for everyone. You can create early bird sales and special promotions, scheduling when tickets go on sale and off. Offer adult, child and family tickets, weekend passes, whatever you need to maximize sales opportunities without having to pay more. We also have functionality for ticket access codes and discount codes.

Customizable Ticket Layouts – Customize what appears on the ticket for each ticket type, including relevant maps and directional information. You can also add your sponsor logos. 

Holiday Festival Custom Ticket
Holiday Festival Custom Ticket

High Volume Capacity – A reliable system that can handle high volume on-sales without your site crashing. We work with large festivals that have huge sales the day of their event. One of our holiday festivals sells 40,000 tickets a day leading up to Christmas.     

Fast Ticket Scanning – Our enhanced scanning and processing capacity ensures a quick and reliable check-in process, particularly valuable for high volume festivals and events. While you can download our app and scan from any mobile device, our new rentable scanning guns are ideal for fast point and shoot scanning on busy festival gates. 

Sell tickets at the door with an integrated POS – Our rentable mobile point-of sale devices make it quick and easy to sell tickets at the door. You can also log cash sales into our system to ensure full picture reporting. 

Event ProtectAn optional cost effective coverage for ticket revenue, built into the ticket price.  Important for outdoor holiday events subject to adverse weather. 

Mobile Optimized Event Pages – Sell more tickets with our mobile optimized event pages and checkout, including Apple Pay and Google Pay integrations.

Comprehensive Reporting – Quickly and easily access to all your event data and attendee information with no additional charges. 

Rentable Wifi Hardware – Boost your wi-fi with our powerful mobile routers running off multiple networks to ensure a reliable connection at your event. 

Ongoing Customer Support – When you have invested in a large event, you want to know you can get a hold of your ticketing provider when you need them. At Ticketbud you will always be able to speak to real people who can help via phone, email or online chat. This is part of our service, we don’t charge more for it. 

Inbuilt Communication tools – Send out invitations as well as communicate with attendees before and after the event, all from within our ticketing system. You can also create custom communications based on ticket type, to ensure attendees get the most relevant information to them. 

Some Key Advantages of Ticketing your Festival with Ticketbud

Related Links:

Ticketbud Tidbits Podcast Ep 32 – Holiday Festival Marketing and Customer Experience, with Dawn Robinette from Old West Light Fest.

Press Release – Event Ticketing Platform Ticketbud Has Holiday Festivals All Lit Up Over Their Online Ticketing

It’s free to sign up and get started on Ticketbud

Free events are always free. Paid events only require payment set-up when you’re ready to start selling tickets. Until then, get started building great events on Ticketbud, with access to all features and customer support. Learn more about the Ticketbud experience or request a personalized demo today.