Best of Texas Event Vendors

Events reflect the reputation of the organizers. Partnering with reputable vendors helps protect your reputation, reduces the planning stress and limits the risk of encountering unexpected issues, such as last-minute cancellations or subpar services.

Trusted vendors have a proven track record of delivering high-quality, professional products and services on time. Their experienced staff can bring a wealth of knowledge to developing the intricacies of your event, and their communication and reliability is crucial for ensuring that all aspects of your event run smoothly.

To help kickstart your event planning journey, we’ve compiled a list of the Best of Texas Event Vendors, based on reviews and event organizer feedback. It includes:

Event Planners

Fauxcades (Dallas)
fauxcades.com 
Offering a full service event design, custom fabrication, production and rentals, Fauxcades focuses on the experiential aspect of every event. In addition to helping with your planning needs, their services include graphic design and print shop, paint, carpentry, welding, lighting and sculpture studios. The team was awarded the silver award for Best of DFW Event Planners in 2021 by the Dallas Morning News.

Red Velvet Events (Austin)
Weareredvelvet.com
For more than 20 years, event planners at Red Velvet Events have focused on their mission to “create compelling human connections through insight, design and collaboration for brands on the cusp of disruption.” The full service industry specializes in a strategic, collaborative planning process and has been recognized through 25 international event awards. 

Printing/Signage

ProGraphix (Austin)
pgaustin.com
ProGraphix is a woman-owned, eco-conscious print shop established in 2002. From design to delivery and installation, their team can help with any print project for your event, be it invitations, brochures, postures, directional signs, window decals or murals.

Minuteman Press (National)
minutemanpress.com
Minuteman Press International has been rated the #1 Printing Franchise in the printing industry by Entrepreneur Magazine more than 30 times. The national chain of print shops offers a wide variety of services, including small paper prints or posters to unique swag or branded food items. 

AV/Tech Support

ATX Event Systems (Austin)
atxes.com 
ATX Event Systems is a full service audio visual company specializing in conferencing, brand activations, concert production and installation. Plus, the company has several studio spaces to host your in-person or online event, as well as a staffing arm to relief in areas beyond technical support, such as food and beverage services, janitorial and security.

Karana Audio Visual (Houston)
Karana-audiovisual.com
Established in Houston in 2015, Karana Audio Visual was built by two musicians with an in-depth understanding of the technical needs of putting together a successful event. They offer a full suite of event production services, including lighting, live streaming, audio, video, as well as video production. The company has garnered an Award for Excellence from the Better Business Bureau. 

Photography/Videography

Bennett Creative (Austin)
bennettcreative.co
Whether you need a conference opener video, a highlight reel, or anything in between, Bennett Creative has got you covered. The Austin-based team provides a bounty of event services, including photography, livestreaming, capturing b-roll, multi-camera set-ups, interviews and timelapses. Beyond event work, Bennett Creative is a great asset to any marketing team looking to bring life to their strategies.

Saturn Photography (Austin)
saturnphotography.com 
With more than 300 5-star reviews, Saturn Photography can help your guests relive your event in high–resolution in the days and weeks after the event. The company’s online gallery system makes it easy to share images with guests to view, download and print, with no watermarks included. Their services also include video production for private and corporate projects. 

DTX Media (Dallas/ Fort Worth)
dtxmedia.com
Though located in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the team at DTX Media will travel across Texas and Oklahoma to capture photos and video of your next commercial or corporate event. Their services include photo booths and event photography to drone footage and video production for any size of event. 

Catering/Bartending

Glory House (Irving)
Gloryhousecatering.com 
Whether you’re looking for pick-up catering, a full-service reception or to host an intimate bistro gathering, Glory House is a go-to vendor for corporate and private on or off-site events. The company has served the DFW metroplex for more than 20 years, earning the title of Best in Irving Caterer every year since 2011. 

The Heights Catering (Houston)
theheightscatering.com 
Completely customize your event day menu with The Heights Catering, serving clients in Houston and surrounding areas. The Heights chefs offer a versatile menu, including African, Asian, British, Middle Eastern and American. The business also offers service from food trucks to bring a unique flair to your next event. 

la Barbeque Food Truck (Austin)
labarbecue.com 
Bring a local Austin vibe to your next event with a BBQ food truck. The female–owned and operated food truck la Barbeque is an Austin staple, consistently appearing on the city’s best BBQ lists. Invite them to your next event to dish up some delicious, locally sourced beef cooked low and slow for 8 hours for that melt-in-your-mouth goodness. 

Event Staffing/Security

5 Star Event Services (Houston, Austin, San Antonio)
5starstaff.com
Established in 2000, 5 Star Event Services has provided security officers, ushers, ticket takers and event staff personnel at more than 41,000 events throughout the surrounding areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio. Their teams are trained in customer service and have undergone background checks to ensure a positive and safe experience at each event. 

Trinity Event Staffing
trinityeventstaffing.com 
Rated as a top staffing company in the DFW area, Trinity Event Staffing can cover any of your personnel needs for small private events or large seated dinners or conferences. Easily assemble a food service team, brand ambassadors, or extra security staff to help ensure no one staff member feels too much pressure during your event. 

Event Rentals and Decor

Marquee Event Rentals (Austin, Dallas, Houston)
marqueerents.com
Marquee Event Rentals serves any size of event across Southern and Midwestern markets. The company, which recently culminated from six separate vendors, touts the largest inventory of event rentals in the industry, including tables, tents, china, linens, kitchen and serving appliances, crowd and climate control equipment, lighting and more.

Loot Rentals (Austin)
lootrentals.com
Looking for a unique, curated look at your next event? Look no further than Loot Rentals, a boutique event rental company serving Austin and North Texas. The company’s rental catalog includes bars and tables, dining sets, seating, outdoor furnishings, decor, vintage items and more.  

Entertainment

Texas Entertainment Group (Dallas, Houston)
texasentertainmentgroup.com
No matter the fun you’re hoping to add to your event, Texas Entertainment Group is there to help. Their team will work with you to determine what entertainers, extreme sports, or inflatable games might enhance the experience at your next corporate, school, or community event.

GigSalad
gigsalad.com
If you’re looking to hire an entertainer for your next event, check out GigSalad. The nationwide talent search database will help identify an extensive list of potential musicians, DJs, speakers and entertainers to suit your event needs and budget. 

Venues – Austin

The Sky Lounge on Lady Bird Lake (capacity 35-150)
skyloungeonladybird.com
Located in the heart of downtown, The Sky Lounge on Ladybird promises astounding views of the city and Ladybird lake, as well as convenient access to many popular downtown attractions. Whether you’re hosting a small holiday gathering or a larger community function, the venue offers additional amenities, such as bar and catering services, staging and sound systems, as well as convenient parking and security. 

The Austin Convention Center (capacity 7,000+)
austinconventioncenter.com 
The Austin Convention Center has a bounty of space and resources, and is equipped to handle any of your technological, catering, and security needs. The venue is homebase for many massive events, including the annual SXSW festival, but can also host much smaller events within its 50+ meeting rooms.

Venues – Dallas

Texas Ale Project (capacity 28-600)
texasaleproject.com
Give your guests a local experience by hosting your next event at one of Dallas’s hometown breweries. The Texas Ale Project has a variety of unique event spaces to host anywhere from 28 to 600 guests. The biggest benefit of the venue? The drinks, of course, as well as its AV, catering, wifi and parking amenities. 

Southfork Ranch (capacity 2,000)
southforkranch.com
Nestled on 300 acres of groomed ranch land, Southfork Ranch gives event organizers plenty of room to spread out for large events, or scale down for small gatherings within its private meeting spaces. The venue, which was made famous for its appearance on the TV show “Dallas,” is the perfect place to blend boots and business and has staff onsite to help with your next event. 

Venues – Houston

Ronin Art House (capacity 50-150)
rentalsatronin.com
Hundreds of Google reviews reiterate the same sentiment: If you want to host an intimate event in a unique and beautiful space, look no further than Ronin Art House. Event organizers can choose from three venue spaces based on the size and vibe of the event. Each space is architecturally designed to play with angles and light to present a new definition of industrial chic. The venue is willing to work with any outside vendor or caterer.

Asia Society Texas (capacity 1,360)
asiasocietytexasrentals.org
The stunning cultural center, designed by world-renowned Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, is consistently recognized with Houston’s Design Award for its elegant blend of Japanese and Western the design. The inviting atmosphere hosts five indoor and outdoor event spaces, or planners can choose to rent out the entire building. 

Keep in mind that the event industry is dynamic, and vendors may change over time. It’s crucial to research and contact vendors directly to inquire about their current services and pricing for your specific event needs. Additionally, reading reviews and getting recommendations from event planners, venues, or other trusted sources will help inform decisions when selecting vendor partners for your next event.

How to Sell Tickets for an Online Event

Though much of the world has returned to in-person get togethers, online events remain a relevant and practical way to connect with audiences and communities around the world. But, getting people to sign up and tune in can be tricky. 

Online event planners may face an uphill battle in reaching and recruiting event attendees, as well as dispelling preconceived notions that online events lack both entertainment and engagement. To help organizers work through these challenges, we offer the following advice:

Set up online registration for your virtual event

To sell tickets to any event, you need an eye-catching event website and a ticketing platform with trusted payment processing capabilities. Even if the event is free, a ticketing platform can help ease registration and manage attendee communications.

Fortunately, Ticketbud makes it easy and affordable to create both. That way your audience can learn about and register for your event all in one place, eliminating any barriers to completing registration. 

And, setting up an event with Ticketbud does not require any knowledge of html or design. Use the intuitive page editor to plug in relevant event information. Then browse through the site’s all-inclusive toolkit to create unique ticket types, set timelines for registration, and link to your preferred payment processor (if paid event). 

An example of a virtual event registration page, hosted on Ticketbud.

Once the event is live, use your Ticketbud URL to promote your event across your marketing channels. If you’re hosting a series or multiple events, consider creating an organization landing page through Ticketbud that directs others to your entire event calendar. 

Promote across all communications channels

It’s not enough to have an event website. You also have to market and promote it in order for the world to see. 

These days, the average person uses more than six social media platforms. So, being present on social media and keeping your messaging and marketing consistent across your channels will make it more likely that your audience will recognize and respond to your branding. 

As you work to promote on social media, it’s important to tap into the network and followers held by any of your event partners, speakers, or sponsors. Use these connections and their channels to help elevate and expand your marketing efforts. You can do this by tagging them in relevant posts or by providing them with visual and written content to post organically. 

Remember, the purpose of social media is to engage. So, be creative in ways that you can get people to interact with your content. The more people who interact with it, the wider your potential reach.

To tap into audiences who already know and trust you, it’s also important to build robust newsletter and email campaigns. These folks may be helpful in referring others to your event. 

Offer incentives to sell more tickets

One of the most influential tactics to promoting sales is creating the idea of scarcity, or the idea that time or quantity is limited. According to Cornell psychology expert Michael Lynn, this tactic increases desirability in the product by making it feel more exclusive and valuable to the consumer. 

Consider ways you can easily induce a sense of scarcity within your ticket sales or registration:

Ticketbud offers a suite of promotional tools within a users event page set up, including the option to create discount codes.

You can manage both tactics with Ticketbud’s ticket editor, which allows you to create multiple ticket types, set and automate sales and registration timelines, and create discount codes and timed promotions for running exclusive sales. 

Additionally, the tool also enables you to track the success of your sales tactics and marketing promotions through referral codes. These codes generate special links to your website so you can monitor what posts or campaigns are generating the most traffic to your site. 

Research and select a ticketing software that makes sense for you

When choosing an event ticketing system, look for one that makes selling tickets as easy and secure as possible. A reliable event ticketing platform should provide useful tools such as: 

A Complete Event Planning Checklist

Planning an event can be an exciting but daunting task. Whether you’re planning a fundraiser, corporate conference or a private gathering, making your event a success requires meticulous planning. 

Below, we offer a complete checklist to help you plan and execute a memorable and successful event. 

Pre-Planning: 4-6 Months Before the Event 

Before diving into the details, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your event’s purpose and objectives. Ask yourself what you aim to achieve with this event. Are you raising funds for a cause, celebrating a milestone, or launching a product? Consider who the right people are to help achieve those goals – think: partners, vendors, sponsors, staff, volunteers, etc. Having the right people in place and clearly defining your objectives sets the tone for the rest of the planning and process. 

In this stage, be sure to: 

Get the Ball Rolling: 3-4 Months Before the Event

At this point, the event date is set and you should be rolling full steam ahead with planning. It’s important to secure partnerships, such as sponsors and collaborators, early on. These relationships will help amplify your event promotions as you build interest and anticipation for your event. Consider hosting early bird sales to lock in audiences that are already engaged with you. These folks can also help spread the word about your event. 

In this stage, you’ll need to: 

Ramp up Sales and Promotions: 1-2 Months Before the Event

It’s time to spread the news far and wide about your event. Finalize and use event details, such as partnerships or novel experiences, to pique interest and build interest in your event. Tease your audiences with news about what they can expect and encourage those who have already committed to refer others to your event. 

During this phase, it’s important to:

Tie Up Loose Ends: 1-3 Weeks Before the Event

The last month leading up to your event is your chance to make sure all of your ducks are in a row. Start thinking about what your event will look like from start to finish, run it by all who are involved and ensure you have all the people and mechanisms in place to execute it successfully. Additionally, if your ticket sales have become stagnant and you’re worried about attendance, it may be time to consider last-minute sales or promotions. 

During this time period, complete the following: 

The Calm Before the Storm: 1 Day Before the Event

Today is the culmination of all of your preparation, when all the pieces come together to show the exact potential of the event you’ve been planning. During set-up, work closely with your event stylists to create a cohesive and visually appealing atmosphere that matches the theme and purpose of your event. Pay attention to details like table settings, lighting, signage, and seating arrangements to enhance the overall experience.

To prepare:

It’s Showtime: the Day of the Event

Take a deep breath. The day you’ve been preparing for is finally here. And because of your careful planning, you’re ready for it. On the day of the event, coordinate with your team and vendors to ensure everything runs smoothly. Assign someone to manage logistics, oversee the schedule, and handle any unexpected issues that may arise. Be prepared to adapt and make quick decisions as needed.

Follow-Up: 1 Week After the Event

After the event, be sure to show gratitude to all of your attendees, partners and vendors while the experience is still fresh in their minds. This is important to preserve trusting, working relationships. Use your follow-up as an opportunity to gather feedback from everyone involved. This information will help you evaluate the success of your event, identify areas for improvement, and allow you to make informed decisions for future events.

Within the a week of your event, consider the following:

Post-Event Analysis: 1 Month After the Event

After you’ve had some time to decompress, take time to look back on the experience, measure your success and identify any lessons learned. What you determine in this phase will go towards improving events for years to come. 

During your post-event analysis, be sure to: 

Planning a successful event requires careful preparation, attention to detail, and effective teamwork. By following this comprehensive guide, you can create an event that not only meets its objectives but leaves a lasting impression on your attendees. 

Remember that flexibility and adaptability are key, as unexpected challenges are a part of event planning. But through dedication, trusting partnerships and the right planning strategies, you can host a memorable and successful event.

Minimize Lines and Maximize Ticket Sales with Timed-Access Event Ticketing

As we look toward a season of haunted houses, corn mazes and holiday pop-ups, it’s important for event managers to consider how to organize their crowd flow to maximize ticket sales across the duration of the event and avoid bottlenecks at check-in. 

Enter timed-access ticketing, a feature on Ticketbud that enables event organizers to allow entry to a specific number of ticket holders during allocated time slots. This prevents everyone from showing up at once, which can cause issues with capacity restrictions, create long delays and lead to having to ask attendees to come back at another time. It also ensures the entire event runs more smoothly, creating a safe and enjoyable experience for all.

Benefits of timed access for attendees:

Benefits of timed access for event organizers:

“The Ticketbud team was 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 could secure their time and plan their evening without everyone turning up at once. This new programming helps us distribute and maximize tickets over our five-week event.”  

Teri Smart, VP of Marketing at Forefront Networks, which produces the Austin Trail of Lights.

Below you can see an example event pages offering multiple time slots for events. Check out this video for a more detailed view on how organizers can set up their profiles and events with timed-access ticketing.

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

To learn more about working with Ticketbud visit the How It Works page.

What are Organization Landing Pages on Ticketbud?

Ticketbud’s Organization Landing Pages is a free customizable page for event organizers to promote all their events in one place. This is separate to your event page, it allows you to showcase multiple events. 

This feature is ideal for organizations running multiple events (and those spanning multiple days), allowing ticket buyers to view all events quickly and easily. Perfect for multi-day festivals, venues, a large multi-location brand, or organizations holding multiple events per year. 

The page includes an interactive calendar view feature, which can also be embedded on an organizers website. Links have been added at key points in the customer journey to increase cross promotional opportunities.

The Organization Landing Page includes:

Landing page for Multi-day Event (live preview)

Customer Feedback

The cross promotion between festival events is invaluable, and the interactive calendar view provides a user-friendly option for ticket buyers to see the events on each day.

Alaska World Arts Festival runs 100 events across 50 venues in Homer Alaska, over two weeks in September. The festival features music, dance, theater, film, visual arts, literature, and comedy events. We needed a solution that enabled us to profile the festival, it’s wide range of events across multiple days, and sell tickets easily. Ticketbud’s new showcase page allows us to promote all our shows and events on one festival page.  Having no prior experience with a ticketing platform, the customer support I received getting set up with our showcase page and ticketing was greatly appreciated

Organizer of Alaska World Arts Festival

Ideas for Fall Festivals and Events

Fall is one of the busiest times of year. With school events, holidays and travel, it can be easy to lose touch with communities and audiences. But the season also provides many opportunities to connect through specially timed and themed events. 

According to Bizzabo, most marketing professionals (95%) recognize the value events hold for creating in-person connections. An Eventtrack industry study also found that 74% of attendees had a more positive opinion about a company, brand or product after a great event. 

“Event marketing facilitates customer engagement with brands in a meaningful and multi-sensory way, building a strong, memorable emotional connection between brands and audiences,” says Gabrielle Mratinez, Managing Partner of the agencyEA. “Additionally, live experiences are invaluable opportunities for content generation and data collection to inform future campaigns.”

To help stay engaged with your audiences this autumn, consider the hosting a fall-inspired event like those outlined below:

Community Events

Tis the season for gathering. So consider hosting family-friendly events that bring together the community, such as a pumpkin carving contest or a movie night. 

A pumpkin carving contest could offer a range of prizes – think, “most creative,” “funniest,” “scariest” or “best overall.” Just be sure to come prepared with carving tools or paint, stencils, and trash cans for all the pumpkin guts. 

A movie night also offers a fun and relaxing way for families to get out of the house and meet each other. To really get into the fall spirit, consider hosting the event in a park with a projector screen and offering popcorn or even hot chocolate if it’s a little chilly outside. But have a back-up plan in case the weather doesn’t cooperate with your event. 

Get Started

Create a free event website with Ticketbud and upload your entire community contact list. Then, send invitations to your contacts directly from the site. 

School Events

With school back in session, fall is buzzing with dozens of exciting social and sporting events. So consider ways you can enhance regularly scheduled events with fall touches. 

Turn your homecoming game day into a fall festival, with a parade, games, booths, and more. Make it an event alumni and families will want to flock to by getting the entire school involved. Student organizations can be in charge of creating their own parade floats or game-day activities to raise funds for their organizations. 

Get Started

With a day or a weekend full of events, it’s expected that some people may not be able to attend every activity you put on. So use the breakdown of events as an opportunity to raise more money. With the Ticketbud ticket editor, create multiple ticket types so people can purchase festival, game or homecoming dance tickets all in one spot.  

Fundraiser Events

The holidays always bring about a giving spirit. So, consider hosting a fundraising event to round out the year. How about a Thanksgiving Turkey trot? Or a pumpkin-spiced bake sale? 

When hosting a fundraising event, make sure your audience knows who the benefactors will be. Include any sponsoring or partnering organizations within the branding and descriptions of the event and offer a brief background on any organizations receiving funds from the ticket sales. These details help influence people to buy. 

Get Started

Create a free event registration page using Ticketbud. In addition to allowing users to set up multiple ticket types, event organizer’s can also create a donation button for the registration page. This will allow those who want to give a little extra or donate in lieu of their participation a chance to do so. Ticketbud can also help organizers manage any race day needs with easy mobile check-in and race bib assignments. 

Pop-up Events

Pop-up events are an exciting way to draw in new audience members and get a brand in front of new customers. If you’re thinking about hosting a fall pop-up, why not stick to the theme?

Host a haunted house. These events are temporary in nature and always hosted in a unique location. To make it a success, recruit some helping hands. Consider hiring theater actors from a local high school or university to play the scary parts and get ideas from your contacts on their best haunted house experiences. 

Get Started

Set-up an account page for your organization using Ticketbud to keep track and showcase multiple events to the public. Customize each individual event page’s set-up so that other events in the series are promoted on each event’s page. 

Conferences and Trade Shows

Spruce up your conference or expo with fall-centric foods, activities, swag and recommendations. 

If people are traveling from out of town to your conference, provide a list of area recommendations of where they could find fun fall activities or good eats outside of conference times within your printed or online program. Hosting a day-long or multi-day event? Pick a fall harvest inspired menu to make your attendees feel at home during their visit. 

Get Started

Since conferences and trade shows draw in attendees from around the world, get ahead of event marketing. Create a cohesive brand for your event that is recognizable across all the platforms your audience might learn about your event – website, social media, email. Use the design to develop your own custom banner for your event ticketing page. Here’s a template to help get started. 

Chamber of Commerce

As businesses wrap up and evaluate the activities of the entire year, their leaders must use that data to prospect for the year ahead. Give local businesses the resources they need to be successful in the year ahead by introducing them to others leaders in the area through a fall mixer. 

Networking events provide ample opportunities for people to make meaningful connections with others who can support their business pursuits. Plus, the event itself makes for a great opportunity for a chamber of commerce to get the word out about the organization and recruit new members. 

Get Started

Utilize the power and influence of your current audience to create buzz, excitement and ticket sales for your event. Set up special promotions for event registration, offering discounts to members of your organizations or special discount codes they can pass on to their contacts who they’d like to join the networking event.

Virtual Events

Stay engaged with audiences throughout the busiest travel season by hosting virtual events, such as a series of mixology, baking or cooking events. 

Mix up the next online event with some audience participation and invite guests to recreate a drink or food recipe together from the comfort of their own home or travel destination. The recipes could be suited for fall, such as mulled wine or pumpkin pie. Just make sure the guests are prepared with the appropriate ingredients ahead of time. 

Get Started

Build the cost of the ingredients and shipping into your budget, and plan out how to get the recipe packages to the audience ahead of time. If using Ticketbud, utilize the custom questions tool to ask audiences for their shipping address. That way, everyone is ready to make the recipe as soon as they click “join meeting.”

Private Events

Get into the Halloween spirit at your next private event. 

Hosting a costume party? Special themes have a way of getting people excited and talking about an event as they plan out how they’re going to dress the part. Give guests ideas for how to dress the part or offer prizes for those who go above and beyond. 

Or, lean into the spooky season by planning a murder mystery party designed around the interests of your entire group, such as the Roaring 20s, the Wild West, or Harry Potter. Take extra time to plan out the details so the decor, food and even your guest’s characters are all on theme. 

Get Started

The devil is in the details when hosting themed events. To ensure your guests are in the know about what to expect and how to prepare, create an event website with a detailed description of contests or game play. Ticketbud makes creating and editing an event website easy with its intuitive page editor, which allows you to customize your event details and see how they appear to your guests in real time. 

Fighting Fyre: Epic Event Fails and How to Avoid Them

Event fails come in all shapes and sizes, from minor mishaps to epic messes. When high profile events go wrong, they make the news and we all get to learn from them. 

Below, we showcase five examples of epic event failures and lessons learned, from serving fast food at a national championship dinner to leaving high-paying festival attendees stranded on a remote beach. Though these mistakes may seem obvious, they happen when proper planning and risk assessments are not at the forefront of the event organizing process. 

Better to learn from the mistakes of others, than make them ourselves. Read more below about how to prepare for and avoid common event failures, including how Ticketbud can assist in your event success.

FAIL 1 – Not Living Up to the Brand 

In January 2019, the Clemson University football team was scheduled to be honored with dinner at the White House after their National Championship win against The University of Alabama. But instead of a 5-star, multi-course meal plated and served, the champs were met with a buffet of “everyone’s favorite fast foods.” 

Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

The assumption was presumably that college-aged men would like popular fast foods, or more likely there was a catering fail that led to a last-minute fix. Regardless, the honorary meal was subject to criticism from a national audience, many of whom believed the winners deserved better. What was delivered did not meet the expectations for what the White House brand represents, and the brand took a PR hit because of this. 

How to avoid this epic fail:

When planning your event, it’s important to be clear about your brand positioning, who you’re planning the event for and why. Whether you promote yourself as a luxury brand or a family-friendly brand, your event needs to reflect that. Revisit these ideas throughout your planning process to ensure each decision aligns with your brand, event goals and audience. 

Ask yourself: What is the purpose of the event? What are we hoping to achieve? How does our brand align with that? 

If you choose to use Ticketbud as your ticketing or registration provider, you can create a custom webpage from an easy to use template. Add all your event details, graphics (artwork, photos, videos and maps), ticketing information and clear terms and conditions to ensure attendees get a clear picture of the event experience.

FAIL 2 – Busting the Budget

Financial shortfalls are sure to cause event failures, which is why defining a clear budget should be one of the first steps in your event planning process. Not every event needs to offer a swanky, over-the-top experience. But if you promote a premium experience, you need to build a budget for it with a firm understanding on how expenses and revenue streams (vendors, tickets and sponsorships) might make or break your bottom line.

Take it from the organizers of DashCon, a convention hosted for Tumblr fans in 2014. Marketing for the event touted celebrity guests, top-level speakers and a highly anticipated ball pit. When the reality of the costs to achieve what was promoted was realized, the organizers did not have the funds to cover what was promised. 

The only way organizers avoided canceling the highly-anticipated event was by asking attendees to fork up $17,000 to the hotel venue – by midnight! Somehow, they were able to crowdfund the debt; but then, speakers who were left unpaid began to drop from the conference. Those who stayed and assisted with the unexpected payments were rewarded with raffle tickets for extra time in the ballpit, which turned out to be a half-deflated kiddy pool (and the butt of the biggest meme of the year).

While some found humor in the crisis, most participants got angry. Organizers were forced to refund registrants who paid through PayPal, but those who paid cash were out of luck.

How to avoid this epic fail:

To avoid repeating a massive financial mistake like this, you need to create a comprehensive budget and balance sheet. Know your upfront costs, from the venue to construction, lighting, sound, security and catering, as well as speakers and entertainment. Take into account hidden costs like permits, production costs, extra security and safety requirements.

Review and understand your budget and costs from the beginning, so you are clear about how you will cover expenses  and make a profit.

It’s ok to expect to cover some upfront costs with ticket revenue. If you need that early cash flow from ticket sales, you will want a ticketing provider that ensures early payouts, so you’re not scrambling close to billing deadlines. 

Ticketbud offers daily, weekly and monthly payouts, so you can access those funds before your event.

FAIL 3 – Overpromising and Under Delivering 

We couldn’t talk about the ultimate event failures without mentioning the infamous Fyre Festival, an overhyped, luxury music festival set to take place in the Bahamas in May 2017. With endorsements from the likes of Kylie Jenner and Ja Rule, the festival promised beachfront parties, gourmet food, private jets, and performances from Migas and Blink 182. 

This was a classic case of big dreams and no follow through. The organizers were inexperienced with grand ideas but no practical execution plans. Attendees paid between $500 and $1,500 for day tickets, with VIP packages that included flights and accommodation costing around $12k for the once-in-a-lifetime event. In the end, the high price tag got them stranded on an island, fed FEMA sandwiches, and set up in shabby tents. The event was a failure of epic proportions and organizers faced jail time for fraud and $26 million in fines.

Similarly, organizers of the New York City Pizza Festival, also held in 2017, created a recipe for hanger with its promise of “a day-long celebration for the dough, cheese, tasty sauces and delicious toppings.” The event was dubbed the “Fyre Festival of NYC Food Events,” when attendees showed up to a parking lot with mostly empty booths with small samples of cold pizza. This was nowhere near the expected value of the $75 ticket price.  

Slices from the New York Pizza Festival. Facebook.

In both cases, trust was shattered between the organizers and their audience, as well as everyone witnessing this unfold in the media. The lawsuits and documentaries that followed not only damaged the reputations of those involved, it also made the general public extra cautious about events that could be a scam.  

How to avoid this epic fail:

If you promise something, know exactly how you are going to deliver on that promise. Know how it will be funded and executed. It’s ok to be vague on some elements of your event until you have fine tuned the details, but don’t make promises you can’t keep. 

Also, don’t scam people, it’s not nice! 

FAIL 4 – Being Reactive Instead of Proactive

No matter how much time and effort you put into planning your event, something is bound to go off-course. However, failing to have any backup plans in place, especially for common issues such as weather, is just setting yourself up for unnecessary stress.  

Need convincing? Take TomorrowWorld 2015 for example. It was meant to be the perfect event: a weekend of music set on 8,000-acres of Georgia farmland. But what the organizers didn’t account for was rain, and lots of it. 

TomorrowWorld 2013 in Chattahootchie Hills, Atlanta Georgia. MixTribe, Flickr

The rural resort quickly transformed into a vast mud pit. And because organizers closed off transportation access to the festival grounds, attendees were trapped and “left to rot like the walking dead,” as one festival goer put it. Many who set off to find rides outside of the festival grounds were forced to pay high-surging rates for rideshares, while others spent the night on the side of the road.

How to avoid this epic fail:

While being adaptable to the unexpected is a useful skill of event organizers, an even better skill is being able to put contingency plans in place. Avoiding another TomorrowWorld is reason enough for you to complete risk assessments on all aspects of your event beforehand. 

When things get out of hand and there is no back-up plan for your back–up plan, you may have to cancel or close your event. If mother nature or something outside your control takes place, it helps if your contingency planning includes coverage for your ticket revenue. Ticketbud has integrated event cancellation protection through Event Protect. So in the instance of a qualifying event cancellation, the organizer can claim ticket revenue back through the coverage, saving funds to help cover sunk expenses. 

FAIL 5 – Mispricing Tickets or Registration 

In 2009, two young blokes in Australia were sick of high-priced tickets and drinks at events and decided to take matters into their own hands by creating their own music festival. Thus, Blueprint Festival was born, promising the best three days and nights you could get in Victoria without breaking the bank. 

Marketing was a huge success, attracting 5,000 attendees looking for fun on a budget. But the 23- and 20-year-old organizers with no event experience ran out of money before paying the performers, vendors and the venue. They claimed they expected to make more money from food and drink sales than they did. But perhaps setting a higher ticket price could have also helped. In the end, the organizers faced bankruptcy and even death threats. And their performers, vendors and venue were left thousands of dollars out of pocket . 

How to avoid this epic fail:

We are back to proper budgeting. While it might seem that a low- or no-cost ticket would be popular with attendees and make your event a sell out, it cannot be at the expense of your event partners. Determining the right pricing strategy is critical to an event’s success. 

If you have a diverse audience, and want to limit barriers to entry, consider offering multiple ticket options or tiered pricing for your event (think: General Admission, Gold and VIP). Ticketbud makes it easy to create multiple ticket types for your event, or create ticket packages that include drinks, catering and other experiences. 

This allows you to offer different pricing levels and experiences to your various audiences. It also gives you opportunities to work with sponsors or partners to design branded, exclusive experiences that can bring in extra cash flow if people are willing to pay.

Additionally, Ticketbud helps you host and schedule ticket promotions or sales, further limiting barriers to entry for those within your customer base that are more price sensitive. The further out from your event you can see revenue the better. Consider hosting an early–bird special with lower ticket prices to get people excited and engaged early-on in your event planning, or schedule a limited-time sale with a holiday to boost interest and sales.

Nine Cool Technologies to Help Plan Your Next Event

Event coordinator is consistently listed in the top 10 most stressful jobs, along with military personnel, airline pilots and newspaper and broadcast journalists. 

And why wouldn’t it be? Event Coordinators have to plan and execute the experience, juggle vendor, sponsor and attendee management, all while sticking to a tight budget and managing unforeseen circumstances. Event organizers have to be ready for something that doesn’t go according to plan, so they depend on reliable tools to make the job easier. 

We’ve compiled a list of nine helpful apps, tools, and technologies that will save our overworked event organizers time and effort:

  1. ScanGuru

ScanGuru turns your phone into a portable scanner. With it, you can scan any typed or handwritten document, converting it to an editable file with no internet needed. Easily turn your meeting notes or run-of-show drafts into typed, editable documents you can share with your team via email or as PDF or JPEG files. The technology also allows you to add your signature to scanned documents, so vendor contracts have never been easier to share, sign and send. 

https://my.scanguru.universeapps.limited/
  1. Tweek Calendar 

Managing weekly to-do lists for your event becomes a breeze with Tweek. The easy-to-use interface allows you to add and rearrange tasks and provides a snapshot to help you prioritize throughout the week. Tweek is free for up to three users. The app allows you to share calendars, to-do lists and tasks and collaborate with teammates. Plus, you can download a printable calendar to take with you to meetings or onsite at your event. 

https://tweek.so/
  1. OpenConf

Hosting an educational or research event? OpenConf is a trusted technology widely used by scholarly events and journals across industries in more than 100 countries. It can help manage abstract submissions and reviews. Easily assign reviewers, monitor scoring and progress, and provide emailed updates to applicants. 

https://www.openconf.com/
  1. Eventpedia

No designer or budget to print a program? No problem. Eventpedia is an interactive event app organizers and attendees can use to manage event schedules and information. Use it to develop and share profiles on speakers, sponsors or exhibitors, and create opportunities to monetize through sponsored advertisements. Through real-time push notifications and social media integration, the app can also enhance the attendee experience and provides a platform for group chats, polls, surveys and networking.

https://eventpedia.com/
  1. Notion

Never lose a planning document or waste time digging through emails or notes again. Notion compiles your entire workflow into one workspace. Event organizers can use it to manage projects, create tasks lists, set due dates and store information for one person or the entire team. The display of the data is completely customizable, with everything accessible in just a few clicks. Need help organizing? Notion has a range of customizable pages and templates designed to help event organizers plan and market their event. 

https://www.notion.so/product
  1. Slack

Slack is a popular resource for team communication that can also be used for attendee engagement during events. The live chat technology allows administrators to create topical channels for organized communication. With more than 2,600 app integrations, the instant messenger technology has the power to bring together all the people, tools and partners of your event and transform your planning workflow. 

https://slack.com/
  1. Canva

Canva is a free and widely used online graphic design platform. Event organizers love Canva because it’s so easy to use, with no design skills required. You can use its tool suite to create engaging graphics and video for social media, email, posters, and more. The site hosts thousands of free-use and premium-rate templates, filters, images, video and fonts to help you design any creative you need for your event. Canva has become so popular it now generates more than 3,000 designs a minute. Learn how to get started creating your event marketing with Canva. 

https://www.canva.com/
  1. Hootsuite

Once you have designed marketing assets to promote your event, you can use Hootsuite to manage your social media calendars across Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, WordPress and LinkedIn. The software allows you to easily schedule and monitor your social media accounts. View trending conversations and topics making it easier to create relevant content and drive interest to your event.

https://www.hootsuite.com/
  1. Monday.com

Event organizers need a project management tool they can rely on. Monday.com is just that. Designed with marketers and creatives in mind, it provides a single space to plan, track and organize entire teams and projects, keeping your event organized from start to finish. The site hosts special tools and templates for organizers hosting one or more events. You can capture and track tasks and projects for an entire event calendar, or dive into the finer details of single events. The site allows you to create and share forms, compile contact lists, communicate with team members, and share updates with event partners and vendors.

https://monday.com/

And, one more for luck – Ticketbud

Create an event website and start selling tickets in less than 5 minutes with Ticketbud. Ticketbud is a user-friendly ticketing platform with all-inclusive pricing and customer support. Organizers are in control with flexible payout options providing early access to funds. We provide great tools and integrations for managing, promoting and selling tickets for your event, with comprehensive event data and reporting. 

It’s free to get started and we make ticketing easy so you can focus on your event. Use our intuitive event page template to plug-in all your event information; create and sell multiple ticket types on your automated schedule with our ticket editor; and connect to a trusted payment processor of your choosing to begin collecting funds. With the flexibility to customize (including white-label solutions), event organizers worldwide trust Ticketbud.

https://www.ticketbud.com/

Go Digital – Easily Create an Online Event Registration Form

Event registration forms help capture important information about the people who attend your event. But collecting and organizing the data can be time-consuming, especially if you’re doing it manually or using multiple platforms. 

Ticketbud can help by providing a simple website to host and manage all aspects of your event registration. Use it to digitize tedious processes, while collating and preserving valuable insights that will help you understand your audience and plan for your event. 

How do I create an event registration page?

Whether you’re hosting a free or paid event, you can create a free online registration page with Ticketbud. It costs nothing and can be up and running in minutes. 

Sign up now to get started.

The site’s page editor gives you an easy-to-use template to create your own event page with your  images, event descriptions, and event partner logos. 

Take a load off your event-planning plate by setting up your event registration with Ticketbud’s ticket editor. You can create multiple ticket types varying in cost and quantity, as well as automate sales timelines.

How can I create a free registration form?

Limited technical skills? That’s ok, you don’t need to start from scratch or understand coding and web design to build your event registration form. With Ticketbud, you can create an online event registration form through the custom questions tool. It’s as simple as a click of a button — in this case, one that says “Add Question.”

After creating your ticket types for your event (such as Show Only and Dinner + Show), you have the option to create and assign questions to any ticket type. If you’re hosting a business event, you may ask about the attendee’s job title or place of work. If hosting a dinner event, you may ask about meal preferences or dietary restrictions. The questions can be required or optional, and can be applied to specific ticket types or all tickets.

Watch this tutorial video to learn how to build your registration form with custom questions:

What should be included in a registration form for an event?

A well-thought-out registration form can help you to tailor your event for your audience and meet specific business objectives. The custom questions on your registration form will help you gather vital information to improve your attendee event experience, as well as provide valuable insights for your marketing, products and services. 

A word to the wise, don’t overdo it. Most people don’t want to fill out an entire survey before purchasing an event ticket. The more complicated the registration process is, the less likely someone is to complete it. So, it’s important to find balance between data collection and a seamless sign-up. 

First, consider what details might help you improve the attendee experience:

Beyond helping plan your event, your custom questions or registration form can be used to collect valuable marketing data and pinpoint future opportunities. For example, you may consider asking your audience how they heard about your event, or give them the option to receive newsletters or other information from your organization. 

Do your best to keep your questions short, clear and concise so you can gain an understanding of your attendees’ preferences and build a future contact base. 

Once an attendee has signed up, you can send them a pre or post event survey if you want to learn more. Ticketbud integrates with Survey Monkey, and you can email a follow up at any time to your database with Ticketbud.

Ticketing for Events

Embracing online ticketing technologies can help streamline event registration, expand your marketing reach, and boost ticket sales.

To help you find a ticketing solution that works best for your upcoming event, we’ve compiled answers to some of the most common questions on event ticketing below: 

What is an event ticketing platform?

An event ticketing platform is a cloud-based system that takes the labor out of selling tickets and registering people for events and activities. From ticket creation and payment processing to ticket delivery and check-in, a ticketing system should handle the entire sale process with limited technical knowledge required from the event planner or attendee.

For example, Ticketbud is a free, online event registration tool that allows event organizers to create free event websites and sell tickets to events. While the platform is free to organizers, a small fee is passed along to the attendee during payment processing – with discounts available for non-profits. 

The online ticketing platform enables organizers to create custom tickets, allowing them to build a multi-tiered ticketing strategy or offer exclusive event discounts to important stakeholders. Ticketbud also helps event managers get paid fast to help cover early event costs. It provides organizers with real–time sales performance data and communication tools to reach their audiences.

The 3 ticketing classifications for event types 

Event ticketing can be described in different ways for various event types. Ticket sales define events geared at generating revenue, while bookings or registrations may describe sign-ups for free or sometimes paid events. 

The requirements for event types and their respective ticketing can vary. Events requiring registration, such as professional conferences or charity races, may need a comprehensive event registration form to gather important participant information or request donations. 

Other multifaceted events may require bookings so attendees can schedule specific sessions or time slots over the course of multiple days, events or locations. Whatever specifications your event entails, all can be managed with a reliable ticketing provider, such as Ticketbud.

How do event ticketing systems work?

Online event ticketing systems will vary, but ideally your event registration platform should enable you to: 

  1. Create an event page with your ticket types
  2. Promote and sell event tickets
  3. Check-in attendees on event day by validating tickets
  4. Report on all your event and attendee data
  5. Access funds generated from ticket sales whenever needed

What are the benefits of ticketing?

Event planning is consistently ranked as one of the most stressful jobs in America, but utilizing tried and tested ticketing technology, such as Ticketbud, offers peace of mind and efficiency. 

A reliable online ticketing system will help you sell tickets around the clock. Attendees are easily able to securely purchase their own tickets online 24/7. And, many event registration platforms allow attendees to opt into event insurance to protect their payment if the event is canceled. 

Ticketing systems, such as Ticketbud, also offer organizers a central management and communication center for their event. These platforms can also assist with event marketing support through email and social media tools, such as Ticketbud’s Ad Engine. 

Ticketing systems also provide day-of support, to smooth check-in and event registration on site. Encouraging online registration or selling tickets for an event ahead of time eliminates the need to process sales at the door. Instead, attendees come with a scannable ticket for easy and efficient check-in. 

Plus, if it’s your first time using an online ticketing system, you can set your mind at ease. Ticketing platforms like Ticketbd come equipped with responsive customer and technical support. 

What is the process of ticketing?

Partnering with an online event ticket seller streamlines the registration for the event planner, especially those who are managing large volumes of transactions and revenue. An online registration tool, such as Ticketbud, automatically tracks ticket sales to help organizers manage, market and grow events. 

Making sure you have reliable secure transactions as part of the ticketing process is key when selling tickets to an event. Ticketbud’s ticketing platform integrates with well-known and secure payment providers to ensure ticket revenue is managed appropriately and efficiently.

Ticketbud doesn’t hold on to the organizer’s money either. Instead, event managers are able to easily track ticket sales and cash in on existing sales ahead of the event. Organizers can also access trackable reporting to see exactly how and when that revenue was generated.  

Which software is best for ticket booking and registrations? 

The best software for your event will depend on your event requirements. However it generally comes down to three key elements: reliability, features and cost.  

To assess reliability you can look at reviews and customer testimonials. You can also request a customized walkthrough to experience how the platform would work for your specific event. When evaluating features, you want to ensure the ticketing software you’re considering can accommodate your needs – whether that’s reserved seating, accepting donations, merchandise sales, event promotion, event discounts or others.     

While many online ticketing platforms can provide many features not all are included in the base price. Many providers will quote low costs that don’t include the features you need. Be careful that your needs don’t require add-on fees.

Here are 11 things to look for when choosing an online ticketing platform. 

What are the features of a ticketing system?

Beyond registration and ticketing, your event registration platform should simplify planning around other aspects of your event. When considering platforms, assess features that support event marketing and communications, event check-in, event management, reporting and analytics. 

Ticketbud for example offers a wide range of ticketing features that can:

Create Custom Event Page Banners

Your banner image is the first impression people have of your event when visiting your event page. So, Ticketbud has put together a custom banner design starter kit, using Canva, to help you create a banner that sets the tone for your upcoming event.

To get started, sign-up for Canva, a free online design tool. All you need is an email and a password to start creating on the site. 

Once registered, use Ticketbud’s banner template to begin designing your event banner within the proper size specifications (1024 x 512 pixels). The design toolbar, to the left of your template, hosts a range of options to add images, graphics and text to your design. 

Need inspiration? Keep scrolling through Ticketbud’s design starter kit for eye-catching templates. Or, check out explore Canva’s templates by searching through the “Design” tab in the top left of the design toolbar. Once selected, elements within template designs can be easily transformed to suit your branding needs.

Upload Your Image

Aligning your event branding across platforms will help build recognition of your event. So, if you already have an image you are using to promote your event, we highly recommend repurposing on your Ticketbud page. 

To add your own image to the banner template, click “Uploads” from the left edge of the screen and select the desired image from your computer files. This will add the image to your “Uploads” collection within the toolbar and make it available to drag and drop on the template. 

Once you add the image to your design, pull on the corners and edges to fit it to scale. Be sure your adjustments don’t harm the integrity of the image by cropping off letters or distorting images.

Adding Text 

Beyond branding, your banner also offers the opportunity to communicate important details about your event, such as registration deadlines or headliner announcements. To add this information, select “Text” from the left-side toolbar, and click “Add a text box.” 

Once inserted, click the text box to edit the copy. And, use the top menu to change the font, color and style.   

Adding Details & Graphics

Under “Elements,” you can search and add specific shapes and images to your design. Options range from simple lines to videos. However, avoid adding any audio or video elements to your banner design as the space only supports image files for now. 

Event Registration Software

People are more comfortable than ever buying tickets and registering for events online ahead of time. So it’s more important than ever for event planners to familiarize themselves with online event registration software and tools that can help them meet their potential attendees where they’re at.

How do you handle event registration?

Websites, such as Ticketbud, provide easy-to-use event registration software for planners to manage and promote their events. The online tool allows event managers to create event pages and host registration and ticket sales for free, with a small fee passed along to ticket buyers for paid-events. Selling and sending electronic tickets has never been easier. 

The online ticketing tool also allows event planners to customize every step of their event registration process – from creating different ticket types (GA vs. VIP) and automating their sales timelines, down to designing the look and layout of each ticket. Ticketbud even allows users to customize questions for ticket buyers to help planners gather and capture important information about their audience. Use this feature to create a custom event registration form. 

What is registration software?

Event registration software provides an online platform where event planners can plan, create and manage paid or unpaid sign-ups to their events. Useful event registration platforms, like Ticketbud, consist of an online back-office for event planners to organize and promote registration, as well as a user interface for attendees to learn more about the event and purchase tickets. 

How to choose the right event registration software

When considering which online event ticketing software to use, take stock of key features that can help ease processes before, during. and after the event. 

With Ticketbud, event planners can create custom event webpages to share across online platforms. The platform’s ticket editor allows users to create and customize costs and sales timelines for multiple ticket types. And its promotional tools can help planners create and track special sales, referrals, or marketing campaigns.

Ticketbud also helps streamline event-day activities, such as arrival or check-in. For example, when attendees register through Ticketbud, they’re emailed a unique QR code that can be easily scanned on-site through a mobile app for secure check-in. It also provides communication tools that allow planners to email attendees ahead of the event with details they may need to know before they arrive, as well as follow-up with any post-event messaging. 

But perhaps the most important feature to consider is cost. While many event registration softwares offer all the capabilities for successful event registration, it’s not all-inclusive in their base-level user’s cost. With Ticketbud, these features are free for all users. 

What is a registration management system?

Ticketbud is a registration management system that streamlines the workflow for event planners and makes it easy for participants to sign-up for events. The online tool allows event managers to create a custom event page for their events and sell tickets or register individuals through an easy online process. 

Registration management systems can vary in cost and features, but Ticketbud’s tools equip event planners with the tools they need to reach strategic sales goals. For example, the ticket editor allows users to create multiple price points for different ticket types or merchandise sales. Use it to automate specially timed sales promotions. 

The online registration system also provides planners with communication and marketing tools. Event managers can email up-to-date information to participants directly through the site, or run targeted marketing campaigns through Ticketbud’s Ad Engine. 

How do I create an online registration form for an event? 

If using Ticketbud to host your event registration, you can easily create an online registration form using the “Custom Questions” options in your event dashboard. 

When drafting your questions, you have the option to choose whether each requires a response and the type of response – be it text, dropdown, radio or multiple choice. And, if you’re selling multiple types of tickets, you can write specific questions for each ticket type, or assign questions to all ticket types. 

As participants purchase their tickets, their responses will be recorded with their order. This way, when you run a report of the ticket sales, you can view individual responses to each prompt. 

Custom questions are also a great way to gather other information from participants, such as suggestions for content, questions for speakers, or info on how they heard about your event.