How CES devices can help you with your next event

Ah, the Consumer Electronics Show. The good old CES. It’s the show where nerds of all types look to Vegas to see what kind of new, fun tech toys will be coming into the consumer world in the coming year. This year, there were a lot of new devices and different gadgets and interesting tech launched at the event (have you seen how small they can make computers now? It’s insane) but these were the  things that caught our interest: Lenovo Smart Assistant  lenovo-smart-assistant-1The Smart Assistant is another in a line of voice activated, smart speaker assistants like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home. The idea amongst these is fairly simple: a speaker connected with a smart computer device that you can activate by your voice and use it to manage day-to-day tasks. The different assistants can manage anything from purchasing items for you (Amazon Echo does this really well), to streaming music (Google Home has this down with a ton of YouTube playlists) to managing your calendar (Lenovo Smart Assistant seems to have a handle on your calendar and updates really well), these small devices make it easier for you to get things done and set reminders by just using your voice. Great, I can hear you saying to me in a fairly intoned bored voice. But what does this have to do with events and event management? Well that’s the beauty of this device. IoT devices and smart assistants make streamlining your life so much easier. Let’s say you’re throwing a fundraiser for your local animal shelter and you’ve got an Amazon Echo in your home. Like many fundraisers, you’re probably trying to put the event on and raise money by yourself. With just your voice you can set your Echo to remind you about sending out email blasts, to book the location, to call about the food truck showing up, to verify with volunteers the right location. You can even set up your assistant to purchase extra dog shampoo and towels, all while you’re busy working on other parts of the event (like the budgeting. Ugh.) Are there other ways of setting reminders? Sure there are. But I’m never able to remember to write something down when inspiration strikes me at that moment and half the time if I remember to write it down, I won’t remember where I left it. Having a smart assistant makes that a lot easier AND saves on paper. It’s like a win, win all around. Hover Camera [video width="580" height="380" mp4="https://www.ticketbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Hover-Camera-Passport-Auto-Follow-f87eeee9e3-2.mp4"][/video] There are drones and then there are drones (pretend that you can hear the inflection there). The hover camera is a drone with a high powered sensitive camera that can follow you around. Imagine having an event and you want to go through and take pictures but having a huge camera is bulky in a music festival! Flying a drone is cumbersome and difficult and also hard with a ton of people all around you. With the Hover Camera all you need to do is walk around the music festival and the camera will take photos of everything, following along behind you at a set height. It truly makes it so much easier to capture aerial shots of any type of event. Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 VR 527961-qualcomm-snapdragon-835Yes this is not a product just anyone can buy. Yes this runs at a steep $800 so it really isn’t for the faint of heart (or wallet) but the things you can do with this! What makes the Snapdragon so different from current VR setups is that there is no connection to a phone or a computer, everything exists in the headset. It is all in one and the future is now! While a device like this would be completely awesome at just any kind of event (I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t want to test one of these out to be honest– motion sick people, maybe) what this headset would be perfect for are events where you need to transport people. Are you running a home expo? Or a conference with home builders? Maybe your event-goers want a chance to fully experience the homes and see for themselves exactly how everything can look– more than what just looking at plans on paper or a tv screen WYSIWYG CAD can be. This allows for full immersive experience without lag time. LG Transparent 55-Inch TV samsung-display-55-inch-transparent-oled_1_1-100611476-origMost conferences have some form of presentation right? There is the set-up most of us are familiar with: a podium, a dais and a bunch of bulky, ugly screens. This is different. This is cool and completely futuristic and frankly we want 12 in our house right now. This screen is transparent, allowing anyone to see through it when it is not projecting and then for it to me semi-opaque when it is. No longer will you have huge, ugly screens blocking sight lines making it so much easier on your event attendees to see what you are saying (and to see you!)         (This post was not sponsored by Google, Amazon or Lenovo. We just really like cool things. If they want to send me a device though or sponsor us, that’s totally okay by us.)]]]]> ]]>

Ticketbud Introduces New Mobile Point of Sale

I wanted to interrupt the normal blog posts that we do today to announce a really cool new feature we have for event organizers using Ticketbud. AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Ticketbud, the Austin based online ticket sales and event registration company today announced that it has a new mobile Point of Sale solution for events selling tickets at the door. The Point of Sale solution is a credit card reader that works specifically with Ticketbud’s internal processor. As always, event organizers using Ticketbud capture revenue daily from their event. We have a simple and clear mission that informs all of our decisions at Ticketbud, said Kayhan Ahmadi, CEO of Ticketbud. “We enable event organizers to have successful events. We listened to our customers and built a point of sale that makes selling tickets at the door quick, easy, and reliable.
Using Ticketbuds mobile point of sale was an easy decision, said Chief Financial Officer, Clint CampbellThe point of sale technology allows us to integrate onsite operations with back end financial reporting with ease. The Ticketbud Mobile Point of Sale System – Affectionately referred to as “Acorn,” the Point of Sale credit card reader attaches to an iPhone,  iPad or iTouch device via the headphone jack. The credit card reader is able to process both chip and swipe cards. All net sales go to the event organizer’s account. Ticketbud designed the Acorn mobile Point of Sale system to work specifically for event organizers. Instead of charging credit card processing fees to the merchant, Ticketbud absorbs the processing costs out of the ticketing fee. This is different than traditional out-of-the-box mobile point of sale solutions which charge fees to the merchant. The Point of Sale is embedded in the Ticketbud event organizer App, which can also be used to check in attendees. Currently, the Mobile Point of Sale is iOS only. Event organizers can purchase the equipment to rent at Ticketbud’s online store, ticketbudstore.com The Ticketbud App – The Ticketbud app for iPhone allows event organizers to check in and verify attendees. It also provides real time sales and revenue reports that are essential for ensuring a successful event. You can learn more and download the Ticketbud event ticket app here. About Ticketbud Ticketbud helps manage ticketing, promotion, and attendee management needs so that event organizers can focus on actually running their events. Ticketbud offers user friendly event registration and management software, ticketing services, and point of sale systems for successful events. For larger events, Ticketbud can provide custom design work, event consulting and optional white glove customer support. Event organizers worldwide use Ticketbud in order to manage events efficiently and sell more tickets online. If you would like to set up your event or receive more information visit ticketbud.com. You can read the whole release here too. We have a lot of exciting things planned for 2017, so stay tuned!
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How-To Host a Dog Friendly Event

So you’re looking at throwing a dog friendly event but you’re not sure where to start or what you need to do to get going. Sound familiar? No problem. We’ve worked with multiple groups who have thrown dog-friendly events here in Austin and we’re all very passionate dog people that we can help you properly prepare your event so that two-legged and four-legged event attendees are all taken care of.

LOCATION AND VENUE – The first thing you need to worry about is location and venue. Do you want to host the event yourself? Or are you looking for a venue? What about being inside versus outside? First figure out if you need to be indoors versus outdoors and keep an eye on the weather. If you know you’re going to be hosting an event in the middle of the afternoon in July, maybe you don’t want to be outside the whole time. Once you know what type of place you’re looking for, give local venues a call as not every place is dog friendly (sad, we know!). (We have yet to call a roller rink and ask about dog friendly options but now we think it would be a great idea for your next high school reunion. You should totally do it.)

PUP-MENITIES – Once you’ve found a place that allows dogs, ask if they have any dog amenities on hand. If they don’t, you’ll have to provide for your canine event goers yourself. This includes having multiple water bowls, fresh water and potential doggy snacks. A good rule of thumb is to have one large water bowl for every 3 medium sized dogs. If you’re having an outdoor event, it would be a good idea to create a shaded area where dogs (and humans!) can get away from the sun if needed. Obviously, dogs can get hotter easier with their fur coat so providing shade while outdoors is a great way for everyone to cool off. If you live in a hot area, it will be preferable to host your event on a field rather than asphalt, which heats up and will be become uncomfortable. Overall, soft surfaces are a better hosting opportunity. And let’s not forget the most important thing – waste bags. Although you should be proactive and tell pet owners to bring bags to pick up after their animals, some might forget. This is where you can have some waste bag dispensers at the entrance to ensure that cleanup afterward goes smoothly.

THINGS TO AVOID – We all know there are things that dogs really really don’t like (mailmen and UPS delivery guys being one of them) but there are also things that you should remember to keep from your event. Loud noises Dogs hear better than we do and loud noises are not good for them. Also, for many dogs they are scary and disorienting. If you plan to have loud music at your event, consider putting a quiet area where dogs (and people!) can escape if the music and noise of the people become too much. Fireworks Fireworks are disorienting for many dogs. They are loud and bright and can startle even the most sedate of pups. And unfortunately, we do not have a way to explain to dogs that they are fun (not yet anyways). Some dogs can become fearful with loud noises and bright lights which can be bad for a large gathering. Others can jump and try to flee, also not a desired outcome for your party. We recommend not using fireworks at all when you have a dog event but if you absolutely must have dogs and fireworks at your event, you should let event goers know that way if there are any fearful pups, they can stay at home. Chocolate As awesome as chocolate is (and we think it is really awesome), it is something that should probably be avoided at a dog friendly party. Chocolate does not do well with dogs and even the most conscientious of event goers may inadvertently leave something that is CLOSE enough to dog reach that a dog may grab it and scarf it down before anyone can stop them. We don’t blame them, chocolate is tasty. Still, it’s best to keep these things from happening so plan to switch to other sweet flavors if you’re looking for a dessert. If you are really wanting that chocolate flavor, check out carob which tastes very similar to chocolate and is very dog friendly. Bones If you’re doing a pet focused event, please avoid these. They can be perceived as a fun treat, but bones (even synthetic) can break down into small parts and cause choking and suffocation. There are a variety of other great treats you can give to dogs that won’t cause any of the other problems you’d see here. If you plan on having food at your event that will have bones, ask your attendees to throw them away rather than give them to their pets – or someone else’s.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND – If you have dogs and kids interacting, it is good to provide a space where kids can be without dogs and dogs can be without kids. That gives both of them a chance to relax on their own if necessary. Not all dogs are good with a bunch of off-leashed dogs running up at them. Make sure you let people know ahead of time if you plan to let dogs off leash to run around. And while most people would only think to bring a dog-friendly dog with them, it’s never bad to remind people on your event invite information to make sure that the dog is good with others. Dog-friendly events are a great event idea and are a lot of fun. It just takes a little extra pre-planning to ensure that your event goes great for you and your canine companions.

Always remember Ticketbud is one of the leading platforms for event ticketing. So if you are planning to host a dog-friendly event, we’d love for you to use our solution. Give it a try it’s free to signup!

How To Run An Eco Friendly Event

When it comes to learning how to run an eco friendly event, Leaving No Trace is the most powerful motto of all. The famous Burning Man festival espouses this creed not just for its event, but as they say on their site, “it’s our ethic about the whole planet. Burners are environmentalists. It’s just our nature”. Because I think that Burning Man is the epitome of running a sustainable event, I want to talk about some of their practices and how you can use them for your next event. I’ll also preface the tips by saying that it’s not just a chore that has to be done, because it’s not about you, or me, or anyone. I think we have a great privilege to create and take part in these events, and we should want to make sure that future generations can also enjoy time together. Some environmental practices can even end up saving you money or time too, since that will be something you are also concerned about.

Pack It In, Pack it Out Burning Man has another statement called “Pack It In, Pack It Out”. The point of this statement is that each Burner should only bring what they’re going to take back with them. Ultimately, people only bring things that are biodegradable or recyclable, as nothing should be left there to preserve it for future shows and generations. What does this mean for your event?

It can’t be called an eco friendly event unless it has multiple waste receptacles, with each being present for different types. Normal trash, glass and plastic, and aluminum should be a bare minimum, for 3 receptacles per location. You and/or your team will need to come up with a plan not only for where these will be, but also for how many different types. Take it a step further with Organics, Paper/Cardboard, Glass, Plastic, Steel, Aluminum, and so on.

Of course, make sure that each of them are labeled differently – different colors are easy, and you also should have in bold print what goes in where. At Burning Man, they use one central location for the different places to emphasize the communal aspect. However, if you’re running a convention, that goes right out the window and you’ll need to have different areas. It all comes down to where you’re actually holding the event.

Event Transportation Urge your attendees to carpool, or to take a bus or train. If it’s a local event, encourage attendees to ride their bikes and offer a discount at the gate if they do. If you’re running an event out of a convention center, make sure to encourage attendees book hotels that are within walking distance. The more you can encourage people to be close to the event, the less impact on the environment they will have.

Some events require transportation of attendees – if this is the case, try and use electric or hybrid vehicles. Now, I know that there is a lot of controversy regarding exactly how these vehicles are constructed. There is certainly evidence supporting the case that the batteries for these vehicles are just as damaging to the environment as a gasoline powered car. Unfortunately, when it comes to long-range transportation there is no “perfect” option. However, public perception normally places electric and hybrid vehicles as being more environmentally friendly, so this would be a good idea for you to consider. And for what I’ve read, these vehicles are over long periods of time better for the planet, so you should take heart there.

Take Out The Trash In regards to the eco friendly event, there are certain “tiers” of packaging that are going to be more respectful of the environment than others.

Materials that are more easily recycled should be more highly considered. When it comes to drinks, for example, aluminum is always going to be better than plastic. Glass will be better than plastic too, but glass has the issue of breaking. In any case, try to avoid plastic at all costs. If you do need to use plastic, look into using plastics developed from non-oil sources. There are new breakthroughs in technology that allow corn and methane to create materials known as “bioplastics”. These bioplastics also require less carbon than normal, oil-derived plastics. Anything that helps reduce landfills is great, as they are rapidly expanding.

When it comes to vendors and transportation, you should be strict in being eco friendly with them as you are with your own staff. You won’t look very good if you’re presenting one front but you’re not having vendors or other guests follow the same policy.

There is no need for paper tickets if you can avoid them. Online ticketing sites can send emails, allowing you to check in attendees with a scanner. Many of these registration companies allow you to sell tickets at the door with a mobile Point of Sale solution, too. This also alleviates another use-case for paper tickets. Sometimes of course, especially for festivals and conventions, having some sort of identification like a badge or wristband is unavoidable. With this, try and look for recycled paper options. Spend extra time talking with suppliers to learn about how they manufacture the goods you’re using. You may find that you can educate them and as a result benefit all future events, not just yours.

Conclusion There is a lot you can do to make your event more sustainable and eco friendly. While it might take extra time for you to do so, the benefits far outweigh any sort of perceived disadvantage. Attendees will appreciate you trying to be mindful, and if you’re an event planner, you can make a name for yourself as someone who does their best to preserve the environment.]]]]> ]]>

Picking the Best Online Ticket Sales Software

The Business of Event Planning by Judy Allen, here is a checklist of items you should be looking for in your software: -What are the costs? The vendor must spell it out out from the beginning to end. There can be no surprises. Most event ticketing software companies are upfront about their costs. Generally, most service charges get broken down into two components: The amount the ticket company takes, and then the amount that the credit card processor takes. Generally, most charges are percentage based. If you have expensive tickets, it will make sense for you to choose a company that has an upper limit on their service charge. Some companies say $10 is the most they’ll take, others say $15. Of course, credit card processing rates will never have an upper limit. If you are running a non-profit event, there are several service providers that offer a discounted non-profit rate.  Many software companies allow you to pass the charge onto the attendee. This means the attendees pay for the total service charge rather than yourself. Discuss with your team (or by yourself) if you’d rather take the charge yourself or pass it on. It all comes down to the type of event you are running. -Do they offer custom event web page design? We live in an age where branding has become more important to fight against the white noise and to retain customers. Because of this need, custom web page design is a must. There are several ways in which event ticket sales software can achieve this for you, each with their own pros and cons. -Themes. Themes are a good option for a non-technical user, and can provide some flair to the event. However, as they are themes, the options are going to be few and it may be that none of them fit your event’s brand.  -Self Design. Some websites may allow you to alter the page any way you want using CSS. This is great for events that need particular branding, as you can customize the colors, format, layout, and more. The downside is you will need someone who is knowledgeable of HTML and CSS to do the design for you. -White Label. A White Label option is going to be the best (and potentially, only) option for large corporations or events that require complete brand management. Websites that offer self design can likely offer white label features. Again, the downside will be the upfront cost required. In any case, when it comes to complete brand control, price is a small factor. -Can their features be integrated with an existing web site? As an alternative to custom event web page design, you can instead see if the website allows you to post your ticket page onto your own event’s website. Often, the “ticket widget” will be a piece of code that you paste into your site. Again, as branding becomes more of an issue, this might be an avenue that you want to take, especially if you want to be able to track everything happening before and after the purchase. -Are the sites secure and private, password protected member account sites and reports? You don’t even need to turn on the news these day to hear all about what is happening with Wikileaks spreading emails, DDOS attacks taking down sites, and identity theft. Because people value their privacy and are already concerned about what might happen if someone steals their credit card info, it is paramount that you choose a site that is secure. You should take extra care to choose a ticket sales software that has demonstrated an ability to withstand a large volume of visitors, and offers PCI Compliance at a minimum. PCI Compliance in particular means that the site never gets access to credit card info nor does it store it, meaning that purchases are completely safe in the case of a hacking or other unfortunate happenstance. Two other items to look are is if credit card information is encrypted and the hosting environment of the site. These will protect against hackers and DDOS attacks. -How Are Funds Collected and Deposited? One of the main reasons you might be running an event is to raise money or to simply make money. If this is the case, then you need to care about how your service collects funds for you and then deposits them. Many sites will store your ticket revenue until after the event, and then deposit it into your bank account or Paypal account. You can choose the processor for a lot of sites and they will collect the revenue for you. Depending on how your event’s expenses are, you may want to look into a software solution that sends you revenue from your sales before your event ends. -Can their system handle complicated events that stretch over several sessions and days? Many conferences take place over several days. Yoga classes don’t just happen one day a year, they happen every week. Multi-track conferences require different purchase arrangements. What it all comes down to is having a software that -Has their system ever sold more tickets than seating available? This one is self-explanatory. You need a reliable system and one that cannot prove to be a reliable system is something you should not use, especially if you’re a high volume event that is going to sell out quickly. -Can reminder e-mail messages be sent to participants? People might like going to your events and they can be excited, but life gets busy and things can come up. Even if they’ve paid, people can forget, especially if they purchased far in advance. Email reminders are the best way to help keep people in the loop of your event. No matter what event you’re running, you need reminder services to help make sure that the most attendees show up. -Do they offer technical and customer support? Although most ticketing providers strive to create a system that is easy to use, there will always be bugs and breaks. It could depend on the browser or operating system you’re using, or it just happens to be the site. While you should first and foremost choose a site that runs smoothly, having technical support standing by is a burden off your back, especially when it comes to selling tickets. Customer support is another option they need to have so that they can direct attendees to how to correctly purchase tickets or answer any questions you or they may have otherwise. -Do they have a working demo of the software? Planners and organizers may be wary of asking for a demo for each and every platform that they are considering, but it’s seriously the best option. In fact, having demos can do the legwork for you: ask the inside salesperson or demo-giver to show you why they are better than the other platforms you’re considering. What may appear to be extra time spent might end up saving you time. -Will the custom web page domain named for this event be registered? If you’re selling tickets online, you want to be found online! A custom web page name is needed for search engine optimization (SEO), which will enable attendees to find your site online. -What are their value added features? When doing your research, think of the things they talk about that I haven’t mentioned here. Those are “value added features” because it goes beyond the status quo. Some companies will offer expert 24/7 customer support, some of them will have features like reserved seating and RFID wristbands and on-site support. Whew, that’s a lot of stuff to go through! To reiterate, we talked about why knowing costs are important. Security is required nowadays, as is customizable sites and integrations. Support is another crucial element. At the end of the day, remember that any online ticket sales software that you are using should streamline what you are doing, not complicate it. “Back in the day”, people would take registrations over the phone, receive payment by check, and use notepads. Everything was done by hand. The funny part is that this “back in the day” wasn’t 50 years ago, it was closer to 10 years ago. While testing out different software and using the guidelines I’ve presented, you must continually ask yourself if the solution you’re using is actually going to be a solution and not a headache. Technology has presented us with some fantastic opportunities, and I firmly believe that every event planner and organizer should be using an event ticketing option to sell tickets online free. It’s smarter, and faster. You just need to figure out which one is right for you. Have a great day and see you next Wednesday!]]]]> ]]>

Why You Should Sweat the Small Stuff

People Can Sense The Difference Malcom Gladwell’s book Blink details how people can sense things via their adaptive unconscious. It sounds fancy, I know. This is a psychological term in which people can make snap judgments with little info that are actually accurate. In one example, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles received a rare Greek statue called a kouros. Although experts were skeptical of it being real, they conducted tests which showed that the statue was legitimate. After more research, the Getty discovered that the origin of the statue was false and that it was a forgery. The experts couldn’t explain why they thought the statue was fake. Instead, most of them stated that they “felt it looked off”. The human intuition sure is amazing! Example two. Van Halen was famous for a stipulation in their contract calling for a bowl of M&Ms in their room with the brown ones removed. The logic behind this act was simple. The wild shows put on by Van Halen required pyrotechnics and many technical details to be correct for the safety of the band. If the venue couldn’t bother to follow through on something as small as the M&Ms, they likely wouldn’t put much attention to detail into some of the more important parts of the show. What can you take away from this? Humans have the ability to sense if something is off, and this includes skimping on event details. You can use this to your advantage too, by using the best materials available to you within your budget. People will sense the difference in a positive way. Let’s talk about why this is important. You Could Affect Your Reputation It seems like it happens every month. A large corporation gets a lawsuit because it failed to follow safety protocols. Or someone gets hurt because it was lax with regulations or it used substandard materials. Don’t let this happen to you. There is no downside to spending some extra time to make sure everything is in place. As Benjamin Franklin said, “a stitch in time saves nine”. Make sure that if you’re serving alcohol, you have the proper permits. If you’re using event tech, be sure to test it all out beforehand. Oh yeah – and don’t forget the WiFi if you’re checking people in with an event app. When you work to ensure that every aspect of your event is solid beforehand, you create a fantastic reputation for yourself as someone with an attention to detail. One anecdote that stuck with me about reputation comes from Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography. In this biography, Isaacson details how Steve Jobs’ adopted father, Paul Jobs, taught Steve a lot about carpentry. The point of interest is that Paul Jobs went the extra mile and would add in frames and other details to the back of desks although nobody might see it. It didn’t matter to Paul that nobody would see it because was the right thing to do and it enhanced the piece. This influenced Steve Jobs, who wanted the inside to look as good as the outside of Apple products. Older Mac products even had Jobs’ signature on the inside. Now that’s true love! As for affecting your reputation, there’s no worse story than the Ford Pinto. If you’re not familiar with the Ford Pinto, what happened is that it had an issue with the safety of its fuel system that could cause fires and major leaks if it was rear-ended. The real issue wasn’t this – it was that they were aware of this and the car still went into production. Several people died as a result of this, and Ford received many lawsuits as a result. Now, this might be a crazy example, but I hope this gets the point across! It’s not hard to see how just taking a little extra care can influence the perception of your events, as well as your career. You only have something to gain by putting in effort to ensure that your event has all  its i’s dotted and its t’s crossed. Furthermore, you’ll stand out amongst the rest of the competition.]]]]> ]]>

7 Reasons Why Ticketbud is the Best Alternative to Eventbrite

A lot of event organizers have been asking, what are the best alternatives to Eventbrite? It makes sense – as the biggest company in the self-service ticketing industry, there will be a good number of people that find its features lacking. Not to say that our competitor is a bad site, it’s just that it’s geared to try and be as encompassing as possible on a low level. There will be certain, specific features that are missing and this can cause someone (in this case, you reading this article) to look for something that fits them better.

I get another question just as often: Is Ticketbud a good Eventbrite alternative? Or even, why use Ticketbud at all? There are some key reasons as to why we’re the best alternative out there: expert customer support, competitive rates, and daily payouts. These three key reasons aren’t just a reason for an alternative but are strong in and of themselves.

1.Expert Customer Support Go to a lot of ticketing sites, and you’ll notice that you have to fill out a help form and then you’re stuck waiting for a response, by email. This is unacceptable, especially if you’ve run into an issue with the system you’re using and it’s urgent. No software is perfect, and having support on standby ready to assist is extremely important. Ticketbud offers phone, email, and chat support and is expanding its team all the time.

We’ve had clients in New Zealand and Australia comment how quickly we’re able to help them. Other times, an organizer just might have a question about the best way to implement features such as custom questions and polls, and our well-versed customer experience team is ready to offer suggestions.

In addition to our customer support team, we also have a Ticketbud Help Center to inform you more about Ticketbud and get all of your feature questions answered.

“The customer service has been second to none. Nothing has been an issue, and all of my queries from the other side of the globe have been answered super promptly. I’m impressed.” -Jonathan Powles, GS Adventures New Zealand

2. Competitive Rates – We’re Free to Use Let me start off by saying that Ticketbud is free for free events. Other systems might make you pay a monthly charge for your event, but not us. You can see in the image below that compared with our main competitor, we offer a significantly reduced fee. Credit card processing is something that we don’t make money off.

Ticketbud defaults to passing the service charge off onto your attendees, which makes Ticketbud 100% free for you to use! If you’d like, you can choose to incur the charge yourself.

Are you running a non-profit event? You can get an even better rate for the service charge that’s passed on – 1.75% + $0.99. Just contact our Customer Experience team with details regarding your event, and we will get you all situated.

“We researched a number of options like Ticketmaster and we found that the best bang for our buck was with Ticketbud. You deliver a great value for the fees you charge!”
-Clark Crook, Owner of 189 Public House

3. Daily Payouts
The third advantage that Ticketbud has over Eventbrite and other ticketing companies is that we offer daily payouts. When you sign up with our internal processor, you will get access to daily payouts for free. This means that you’ll be getting revenue from the previous day deposited directly into your account. No more waiting until after your event to get paid. Eventbrite does offer the option of weekly payouts, but you have to go through a rigorous process and you’re not guaranteed it. Most other alternatives to Eventbrite are similar in this approach. Plus, it’s still weekly – you have venues and caterers and other expenses to pay. Getting paid daily is the best and only choice.

 Convinced that Ticketbud is the right platform for you? Sign up Now!

4. Repeating Events
Plan on running a yoga studio every Wednesday? Have a show that runs multiple days a week? Ticketbud’s got you covered with our repeating events feature. Because we’re so focused on the organizer, everything that we build and everything we do revolves around helping you achieve success.

5. All The Third Party Services You Could Ask For
Anything you want, from reporting to sales to email, is available to you with Ticketbud’s integration with Zapier. Some of our most popular connections are with Salesforce and Mailchimp. You can also import lead lists into Google Drive and Gmail.

6. Your Event Isn’t Competing With Everyone Else’s
A major style break occurs with Ticketbud versus Eventbrite – we are organizer focused, whereas they are attendee focused. Unfortunately, this has some implications for the organizer. Any event on Eventbrite will have a section on the bottom informing the potential attendee of other events happening in the same area, at the same time. So they might have been interested in your event at one point, but then they might see something they like even more down below. As we are Organizer focused, each event page is self-contained and there is no possibility that a potential attendee could happen upon a different experience.

7. Infinitely Customizable Event Pages
Your event isn’t a cookie-cutter template, your event page shouldn’t be one either! Once your event is activated, you can edit the CSS of your Ticketbud event page to your heart’s desire. We’ve had one corn maze edit their event page to include dancing scarecrows!
Want to get started selling? Watch this video showcasing all of the cool features we have to offer. Or, follow along as you create yours!


Conclusion
We hope that you learned a lot about what makes Ticketbud as the best Eventbrite alternative, but one of the best ticketing softwares in general. Ticketing software with live customer service is hard to come by, and we offer some of the fastest payouts in the industry. There are also a lot of cool features like repeating events, and custom CSS editing you can take advantage of.  Why not try us out?     Sign up Now!

2 Trends In Event Registration Software

“The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed.” -William Gibson, author of Neuromancer

The more things change, the more they stay the same. You might find that funny as an intro for a piece about trends in event software, but it’s true. When you think about why event registration and ticket sales software were invented, it was for one purpose: to make it easier for organizers. At the same time, it was devised to make it easier to count and check in attendees.

Trends in the event software space are still pointing towards the goal of making it easier for organizers and attendees alike. As a writer at Ticketbud, I keep my eyes on trends not just in the event space, but in the overall software and technology spaces. For this particular piece, I have been working with Justin Guinn, Market Researcher at registration software reviews company Software Advice. I spoke with him briefly on two trends he’s noticed.

Trend 1: Social Marketing Sean: “You spoke of two big trends that we’re seeing in events. What’s the first?” Justin: “The first is already happening every day…or really every second. Social marketing is growing into a hugely viable attendee acquisition channel. Event managers can leverage social to engage not only with targeted professionals but also with brands and industry thought leaders in the event’s respective space. And with some event registration software offering integrations into social platforms, attendees can convert right where they are without having to visit an event’s registration site.”

We’ve been seeing this more and more with Facebook, who’ve announced that they are now working with ticket providers to sell tickets directly through their event pages rather than having to go to the website of the event. Ticketbud is one of the few companies that actually has a widget that integrates directly with Facebook.

Make no mistake: Facebook in particular has created a complete ecosystem replete with social interaction, pages, news, shopping, and events. If you’re creating an event, it’s a smart idea to go with a platform that gives you the ability to sell tickets on Facebook. Advertising with Facebook is also a smart use of marketing dollars, as it can be extremely cheap as well as targeted. One thing that our Event Success team at Ticketbud has noticed is that events selling tickets on Facebook always end up selling more, simply due to the fact that they’re reaching more people. In the same vein, you’ll be wanting to choose event ticketing platforms that allow you to do more social marketing. Some event platforms allow you to input analytics code so that you can track where buyers are coming from so that you can attribute marketing money more accurately.

Trend 2: iBeacons Sean: “What’s the second big trend that you’ve been seeing amongst event registration companies?”

Justin: “The second tool is the highly innovative iBeacon technology. iBeacon technology uses Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) signals to engage with iOS and Android smartphones that come within a designated location.” Sean: “That sounds neat, but what would you use it for?” Justin: “These beacons will be huge for the event space because they can prompt attendees to take certain actions and just offer a differentiated experience. For example, let’s say a beacon is placed by the entrance to an event. As attendees enter for the morning, a prompt could be sent pointing them in the direction of coffee, which happens to be right next to a sponsor booth. So the beacon could also send attendees fun information on the sponsor to help promote conversation as they’re getting their coffee.”

As you can imagine, iBeacons are without a doubt the way of the future. In my opinion, it’s the one piece of event tech that will have the greatest impact on events and has applications in many different industries. Imagine there no longer being lines for checkin in, because everyone checks in themselves. After checking in, they are directed to sponsor booths or are alerted of the speakers they have signed up for. We are moving into a space where technology reduces friction for the attendee as well as for sponsors. Everybody wins, especially the organizers that now no longer need to hire people to check in attendees.

Of course, with the trend of iBeacon comes an increased need for attendee app tools. If you’re running a conference or convention or anything that requires attention of attendees, you’re going to want an iBeacon. You’re also going to need an app that makes the best use of the iBeacon. Many events already have attendee apps, so this is another logical progression. In conclusion, the newest trends in event registration software aren’t out of left field at all. Instead, they are trends that are following where people are spending time (online), and moving to reduce the friction for attendees. The best part? These are all things you can take advantage of, now. As Gibson said in the quote at the beginning, the future is already here. While these may be trends, you can, as an event professional, be an early adopter and make your events even more successful.   Ticketbud offers free online event registration software for event organizers to sell tickets online. ]]]]> ]]>

2 Ways to Make Your Event Exclusive

It’s been said before but I’ll say it again here: exclusivity sells. Nothing makes people want something more than to be told they can’t have it (don’t believe me? Talk to anyone with a toddler and they’ll tell you it’s true).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="372"] Telling her no makes her want it more. And scream louder.[/caption]   But how does this have anything to do with your event and ticketing? By using discount/promo codes and access codes you can create different ticket types that are hidden from the general public and exclusive to only a select few people, making them more enticing. To make this work, you need to understand the difference between promo codes and access codes and when to use which. Access Codes Access codes are exactly what they sound like: a code that you give out that allows an attendee to plug it in and see a special ticket type that wouldn’t otherwise show up. Access codes have limits on them that restrict how many tickets someone can purchase or even have many times that ticket access code can be used. This use is ideal for something like VIP tickets, which you would want to restrict the number of. In addition, they also allow for an end time where the code will no longer work which works amazingly well for pre-sales which you can make exclusive to members of organization or subscribers to your newsletter. [caption id="attachment_23606" align="aligncenter" width="585"]access Access codes: the gateway to ticket exclusivity.[/caption]   Both VIP tickets and Pre-Sales are incredibly useful for increasing your ticket sales as they are exclusive: VIP ticket sales are limited in number and allow for more access and pre-sale are only available to certain people who are in the know. Trust us, it totally works. One of our event organizers made over 60% of their ticket sales just in presale alone with access codes.   Access codes also work well for: Convinced you need access codes? This help article makes access code set up a breeze!   Promo/Discount Codes If there is anything people love more than anything else, it’s saving money. Who doesn’t love keeping more money in their pocket? Discount codes are another way to increase ticket sales by 1) offering a way to save money and 2) rewarding and reinforcing the idea of exclusivity. Just like access codes, you can limit the discount codes to VIP members, newsletter subscribers or sponsors. It’s a great way to say thank you, you’re awesome and we appreciate it. Discount codes require you to create a unique, specific code that you can then determine if it has a specific percentage off, specific dollar amount off or even allowing the ticket to be free (though that may increase the number of tickets you sell, it really won’t help with making more money). [caption id="attachment_23607" align="aligncenter" width="583"] Discount Codes: Rolling back prices. But only if you’ve got the right code.[/caption]   Like access codes, discount codes also allow you to set number of uses or a window of time for the code to be used. This can limit your code, keeping people from sharing it with their friends and it having an unlimited number of uses. Totally down with discount codes? Great! Check out this help article for how to implement them! Whether access codes or discount codes work best for you, you still have options for increasing your ticket sales through targeted exclusivity. Now go forth and use your codes. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="285"] All about the codes.[/caption]  ]]]]> ]]>

4 Ways To Use Influencer Marketing For Your Event

You’ve reached out to event blogs to create listings for your event, you’ve done our checklist and even done some Google AdWords and retargeting and you’ve totally got the social media marketing thing down. What do you do? Well, you need to reach more people. It’s a law of averages: the more people who know about your event, the more tickets you’re likely to sell. While skywriting may be an interesting way to capture attention, and potentially some viral-ity, just blanket targeting anyone isn’t the best way.

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Sell More Tickets With This Checklist

testAt Ticketbud, you have the opportunity to use sub-domain’s to customize your event ticketing page. Awesome right? Absolutely, but only if you make sure to use it. Customizing your sub-domain does a lot of things:

It is important to also remember, that your sub-domain doesn’t change! So don’t name it after the event, name it after your organization. So, if I was part of a rebel alliance determined on overthrowing a totalitarian regime with an obsession with black and wanted to host an event talking about their latest superweapon and sell tickets to the event, my URL would be: https://therebelalliance.ticketbud.com/so-what-is-the-deathstar Now when people google for “the rebel alliance” this URL will show up in their search, increasing odds of them purchasing tickets and you getting money. tbcheck2 screencapture-ticketbud-com-admin-events-1d7627f6-49ef-11e6-93a5-1315e502a949-interactive-1468520149822 Having too many ticket options sounds great in theory. You offer people a lot of options so that no matter what they’re looking for, they have it right? Makes everyone happy! Wrong. The more ticket types you have the more difficult it is for your customer. Now, instead of deciding if they want General Admission or VIP they have to decide between multiple things and can lead to customers getting frustrated and leaving. Don’t let this happen to you. If you have more than 5 different ticket types, look at what types of options you’re offering. Do you need to offer a 3-person group ticket, a family of 4 ticket and a family of 5 ticket? See what you can combine and what you can get rid of. Your customers will thank you. tbcheck3 Your Facebook page already has fans and followers, so why wouldn’t you make it so much easier for them to purchase tickets there? Our Facebook widget allows customers to purchase right there from your Facebook page or a button that will take them to your event ticketing page. Either way it makes it so much easier to convert that we think it is one of the most important things you include. In fact, events that used the Facebook widget to sell tickets had a 14% increase in sales before the event. Earlier ticket sales means earlier money in the bank. We even made an awesome how-to guide, just click here! tbcheck4titleYou would think having a title is a no brainer but you’d be surprised how many people seem to jump past it and straight into the meat and potatoes of the event page. We don’t blame you, putting the images and tickets together is super fun but a title is necessary. How necessary? Events with no title sell 28% fewer tickets than their titled counterparts. When an event comes up in search, the first thing displayed is the title, without that, no one knows what your event is about at first glance. Having a title also indexes your event better in Google search (all about that SEO) which, again, makes it rank higher in search results, ensuring more of your customers will come across it when they’re looking for tickets. So make sure your title is descriptive but also engaging! “What Is The Death Star About” let’s everyone know exactly what our event will be about and also makes it seem open and appealing to a general audience who may not know what the Death Star is. Also it looks good. tbcheck5 map2 Having a map with location up on your event page may seem unnecessary but here me out. Let’s say you have someone that wants to go to the event you’re having at the Mos Eisley Cantina but they’re based in Coruscant and aren’t sure what part of the back rim Mos Eisley is in. Well, having a map below allows your customers to see where your event is, how to get there and all without having to leave the ticketing page. It makes things easier for them and better for you. Be sure to add your event location in under your title and Ticketbud will automatically use Google Maps to drop a pin in the location for you! Super easy. Also, if your having an event in a well known venue (like Mos Eisley Cantina) you’re able to add venue name in under the location as well. tbcheck6 descriptionThe description box is the place to go nuts with information. The more information, the better (mostly) and will give the customer everything they need without leaving to find it somewhere else. The obvious things like Where and When and What are obvious but other things to include:   tbcheck7 If a picture is worth a thousand words then consider these your event pitch. We know people are visual; we all respond more viscerally to an image than just to words so why wouldn’t you use this with your event? Remember back when I said that you have to be heard in a crowded ocean of events and stand out? This is one of the best ways of doing so. A well placed banner can inform an opinion on your event. It can change the look from “this is a small band of uninformed and unskilled resisters” to a legitimate organization dispelling important information and leading an organized rebellion. tbcheck8 payout Payout set-up is important to make sure that at the end of the day, you get paid. If you’re in the US, we recommend using WePay as it allows for daily payouts and getting your money faster is always better. If you’re outside the US, your best payment processor option right now is through Stripe, though we do accept multiple forms of payment processors. Make sure that your monetary denomination is the same as the country the bank processing the payments is located in, not necessarily where you are or the event is located. That means, if I’m running an event on the farthest moon of Endor, but I’m based on Yavin 4 along with my bank, then my bank needs to be in Yavinese notes. Also, keep in mind that all banks and processors have their own rules and regulations regarding out of country transactions. tbcheck9 time2 Ticketbud is based in the best city in the galaxy (as far as we’re concerned), Austin, so the timezone on your event page is automatically set to Central U.S. but we understand that you may be anywhere. Make sure you’ve adjusted the time zones for where the event will be. Not necessarily where you are so that all tickets and information display correctly. And that’s it! That’s all you need to get started with your event page in making it successful. Pretty soon, you’ll be selling tickets right and left! bb8 thumbs up]]]]> ]]>

Event Budgeting for the Budget Adverse

Planning an upcoming event is overwhelming and exhausting. There are so many moving parts to keep track of and the worst thing that could happen is that the entire event flops and no one comes and your entire career as you know it collapses in on itself like a black hole. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] That center section? Yeah that would be your career as you know it. (credit: Fox)[/caption] So. There is that.  We don’t know astrophysics and we can’t do anything about being crumpled into oblivion by a black hole, but we do know events. So in a way, we’re almost defenders of the galaxy. A galaxy of events. You’re welcome. As a ticketing company, we also know how the event budget can get overwhelming. No wait, come back! Don’t leave yet! I know the B-word is scary, it is to me too, but let’s be honest, we all know we have to deal with budgeting when getting an event off the ground. If we didn’t we’d all probably have $2,000 Swedish floral centerpieces on each table and gold dipped silverware. At least I would. And then we’re back at careers crumbling in on themselves. So to stop an intergalactic incident, we consulted event planners, event textbooks and some event infographics to put together this handy post to make figuring out your next event budget easier and to keep you from losing your mind and our galaxy not spiralled into a black hole.   First things firstNeed a place to be. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="436"] Pro tip: Don’t have your event on Jakku. (Credit: Disney)[/caption] You probably already know what the most important thing for your event is as you’ve been agonizing over it for some time now. If you don’t know what the key part for your event, you’ve got some catching up to do. We’ll give you a moment to think about it. Good? Okay. For most people, the main part to the event is the where; where is the event going to take place? And the answer will be [insert name of venue location here]. So naturally, the first thing you should have on your budget and the thing you should make sure your money goes towards is venue. It should be noted that just because something is first or most important doesn’t mean it is the most expensive. To have an event you need a location and venue, but this is does not mean it will be the largest expense on your budget sheet. Event planners suggest that a venue rental should account for 15% of your budget. Your venue could be a reception hall, a hotel ballroom, a backroom in a hipster bar or outside on some winery’s gorgeous rolling hills. No matter where it is, you’re probably going to have to pay something to be able to use it. If you already know exactly where you’re going to hold your event, great, skip on down, otherwise we have some more thinking to do. There are three main things you need to think about before you go looking for a place:

  1. How many people does it need to hold?
  2. Does it need high tech hook ups?
  3. Do you need/want liquor sales?
Once you know the answers to those we can move on to the really important part here: how much money do you have to spend on an event space? You can look up different venues and call for quotes and make a spreadsheet and go from there or you can use an awesome platform like EventUp which lists venues by city and need. Putting in Austin, TX pulls up a variety of different places and price points, but on average, most venues ran around $1,500 for Monday through Thursday with a premium being spent on Friday and Saturday nights where you could spend closer to $5,000. Clearly, it is much better for your budget if you decide to go with an event in the middle of the week during the day. Some venue rentals come with amenities included like: Which is awesome. If you can get a venue with many of these added in then that cuts down on your expenses elsewhere. It also makes it much easier on you and not having to figure out how you’re going to take care of everything. But we like to live dangerously, so let’s pretend that the venue you’re using doesn’t really have these set aside for your use, then you’ll need to make room for them in the budget elsewhere. But we’ll get to that in a minute.   Next part of the budget. Food. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="434"] How most of us feel regarding food, lets be honest. (Credit: Buzzfeed)[/caption]   What is an event without a food? Not an event I’m at. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way (admit, you do too), so expect that catering and food should come to around 20% of your budget (though you should plan for more if you are looking to also have liquor sales). Finding the right food type is its only difficulty, thankfully one we don’t actually have here in Austin (Morning? Breakfast tacos. Any other time? BBQ. Done.) but finding the food and caterer is only part of the expense. Make sure that your budget also leaves room for:   Now for the fun one. Entertainment! [caption id="attachment_23546" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Hit button, get party. (Credit: NBC)[/caption] Entertainment is going to be a big part of your budget. You’ve got a place to put people and you’ve fed them and given them a nice libation, but you need a reason for them to be there, other than the free food. For many corporate events this can be a no-brainer. If you’re hosting a symposium on stopping event-related black holes, you’ll likely have a rather knowledgeable speaker or two there to give a lecture (happy to talk, contact my people). Or maybe it is a bit more of relaxed and fun event, with music and a band. Either way the entertainment is going to cost and depending on how specialized you want it, it will end up costing more. You may not have all of these items but you should keep them in mind. They all fall under your entertainment section. Because of the high price of some of these, expect your entertainment budget to run about 25% of your total budget.   Rentals, because buying all of that is unnecessary. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="395"] Rent all the swag you can! (Credit: NBC)[/caption] Rentals are a necessity, especially if your chosen venue doesn’t have a lot of them on hand already. Hopefully they will at least have a few of these on hand which will cut down on this expense but if they don’t, your rentals can range from the high-tech: To the low-tech: Hopefully your venue is helping out with silverware and tables and chairs. If not you may want to talk to them about how they’re kind of a crappy venue. Depending on how and what you need to rent, your rental budget will probably run you 10-12% of your full budget with the higher end being necessary if you are renting everything. It is possible to have a smaller rental budget if your venue has all inclusive packaging, so it may be more beneficial for you to have a smaller rental budget and a slighter higher venue budget, all depends on what works the best.    Make sure to have everything look pretty! [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="381"] Perhaps don’t go with this theme. Maybe. (Credit: Disney)[/caption] Don’t forget, you want the place to look nice! You may have the best DJ and the tastiest catering but the event will look blah with normal house lights and the generic scuffed up tables and Boringly Beige walls. Make sure to add another 10% to decor to spiff the place up with:  Keep in mind that some of your decorations can go under your rental budget (lights, presentation screens, etc.). No one wants to have to buy a crazy amount of theatre can lights when you can just rent them after all, so there is a bit of movement between these two sections as well.   Everything else and the kitchen sink.  Then there are the expenses that don’t fit in anywhere else but you still need to account for them. The random detritus that accumulates somewhere whenever you plan an event. It is the final 8-10% of your budget and will likely include any: There could be any number of things that fall in under the misc tab. If it doesn’t fit in anywhere else, it could go here. Be careful though, you don’t want this to go higher than 10% of your budget! If this category starts to get out of hand, be sure to step back and look at what you have in here. Likely it could go somewhere else (or it may not be really necessary).  The nice thing here, your tickets will totally be free because you’re using Ticketbud and you won’t need to pay for anything extra to scan tickets at the door. So, that’s a relief.   Break it all down.  [caption id="attachment_23543" align="alignright" width="379"] Entertainment and food will take a good portion of the budget. Everyone loves good tunes and good food and they make or break your event.[/caption] This breakdown of your budget is a rough estimate. As mentioned previously, every event is going to be slightly different. Some events you may want to splash out more on rentals and electronics and in others you may need more for food or entertainment (or perhaps your venue has a lot of built ins and they save you a lot of money, who knows we can always dream). These are good parameters to start with when it otherwise feels overwhelming to start your budget. No matter how much money you are working with, your average percentages will be very close. Don’t let your next event budget overwhelm you, keep to this breakdown and you’ll keep everything from spiralling out of control.      ]]]]> ]]>