Reduce Event Management Cost With Online Registration Software

In today's events industry, with the rising price of materials and services, it can be a real challenge to grow your event and maintain the quality experience that your loyal attendees have come to expect. If inflated costs are contributing to a slow-down in growth for your event, event management software may be just the thing you need to streamline administration and do more with the human resources and budget you already have. Here are some ways that online registration software can help streamline event management:

Reduced Printing Costs

It used to be that all event registration, marketing and communication were done on paper. The event would print advertisements and post them all over town, the attendee would fill out a paper registration form, the event staff would mail a paper confirmation back to the attendee, and after the event was all over, the event organiser would send out a flyer to his attendees with an announcement about following year's event.

Taking your event online with event management software will easily cut your printing costs and paper consumption in half. Pre-event marketing can be done with email advertising campaigns that have been proven to be more effective than post. Your event participant can register online and submit their data and payment through a customised online entry form.

Registering online means that the attendee will receive an automatic confirmation email eliminating the need for your staff to print one and mail it off. After the event, a good event management software will allow you to send an electronic survey form and notification about the date for next years event.

Reduced Staff Hours

As mentioned above, one of the great advantages to offering event registration online is that your participants will receive an automatic confirmation email immediately following the submission of their data and payment. This not only eliminates the event staff's need to print and mail a confirmation but also puts the registrant's mind at ease. If your participants are currently registering on paper forms, your staff probably spends a good portion of their day answering phones and email from registrants who are concerned that you have not received their payment. If you are hosting registration online, the automatic confirmation email should reduce registrant inquiries considerably.

Event management software will also dramatically cut the number of hours your staff spends manually entering participant data into a spreadsheet or event database. Offering online entry for your event means that all data collected on the online registration form will be automatically sent to a secure database. If you currently collect paper forms you know how many late nights are spent transferring data from the hard copy over to the database. Those last days leading up to the event will be much less hectic with a system that automatically sorts and houses your data. You only need to log in to the event administration area of your software and check your numbers.

Reduced Over-Purchase of Merchandise and Food

One of the most challenging things any event organiser encounters in those last weeks leading up to the event is accurately predicting the number of event shirts he should order from his vendor or the number of hamburgers he should buy as opposed to hotdogs. Collecting event participant data by way of paper form means that there is lag time between when the form is received by mail and when that data is available in your database. In those last few weeks before the event, the speed at which you are able to get your participant data updated in the database is crucial.

With online event management software, this is a non-issue because attendee data is automatically added to your database and available for viewing with real-time online reports. Adding shirt size and food preference questions to your custom online entry form will allow you to get quick accurate reports and email them on to your vender or caterer at a moments notice. This will eliminate the need to guess how many orders to place which oftentimes ends up being more than you actually need and a waste of money.

In conclusion, growing your event without an increase in staff, payroll, and hours in the office is possible! Cost efficiency without a cut to the services you offer the attendee is the smart way to grow your event. A good event management system will help you streamline the logistics involved in planning your event and enable you to get more done with the money and staff you already have.