UIDG EE TTE OL PMOC A EventManagement

Software

Eventdex

Introduction to event management technology

Benefits of event management software

Buy or build: Is that the question?

Things to consider while buying event management software

Conclusion

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Introduction To Event ManagementTechnology

The pace at which the meetings and events industry's landscape is changing is very evident

with the smartphone boom and the coming of event technology. If no two events are the same

and one size doesn't fit all, then how can your in-house systems support the different needs of

your events? A crucial step for any event planner is to take a decision if he/she wants to use

event technology to manage events. Microsoft Excel can help you manage simpler events like

a small board meeting, but for complex events that involve a lot of stakeholders, online

registrations, housing and travel and attendee engagement you may want to weigh your

options. Let's see what event management software can do for your events and how it can

make you look like a star of your events.

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Event organizer's job is stressful, with countless tasks to complete at an impossible pace.

Event planners are blessed with a unique gift of being able to visualize both the larger picture

as well as the minute details needed to execute their events. They are both a people person

and a task master, a quality which is extremely rare to find. However, human brain has its

own limitations and chances of errors can always creep in. No wonder Forbes in 2017 called

“event coordinator” the fifth most stressful job. With an endless task list to complete in such a

short span of time, event management software and systems have become a necessity for

event pros around the world. Of course, in house systems can help you manage tasks, but

these systems may not always help you achieve the level of sophistication your attendees

expect today.

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Benefits of Event ManagementSoftwareWhile many organizations rely heavily on event management software to run their events,

others still depend on manual processes or disconnected systems. Event management

technology can streamline your entire event planning process, right from budgeting, event

registration and marketing to attendee engagement, post event feedback and event reporting.

Here are the top benefits of event management technology that we just cannot overlook:

Event management technology can streamline the

process of setting up and managing registrations. It

can also increase your registration numbers by

providing potential registrants a smoother and easier

event registration experience. You can also boost

attendance by spreading the word of your event with a

little help from social media and email marketing

tools. Event management software allows you to send

personalized emails based on the actions that your

registrants take.

Boost Event Registration

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Quick Attendee Check-In

Engage Attendees

Moderate Content For VIPs

First impressions create an ever-lasting impression. On the event day, use event

management technology to speed up the check-in process and eliminate long queues of

attendees. Event technology can replace your printed attendee lists with portable devices

like laptops and tables that can check in attendees just by a single click or swipe. It will

also instantly sync registrant data with your contact database.

Boost attendee engagement with the help of various capabilities of event mobile apps.

With mobile apps, you can host engaging games like scavenger hunt or even conduct live

Q&A and polling sessions. Some apps also allow you to leverage social media feeds of

your event posted by attendees. Display these posts live at your event and make your

attendees feel important and valued.

Event management technology allows you to moderate content according to the attendee

type. You can send special messages to important guests at your event and even alert

your attendees when special guests arrive. Technology can help you send customized

event fee as well as different offers or pricing for different types of attendees.

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To improve future events, event technology allows you to gather post-event feedback

from attendees. Technology simplifies the method of sending these surveys and records

results in an efficient manner. It also gives you a deeper insight to measure and

benchmark your events with past events.

Launch Post-Event Surveys

Measuring event success is a crucial part to determine which events performed better.

Whether your event aim is to boost sales by lead generation or provide memorable

attendee experience, event technology simplifies the way you track important event data.

With the help of event technology, you can see event results and create customizable

dashboards to show it to your c-suite and senior management. It also allows you to

analyze results and highlight what worked and what did not.

Measure Event Success

Now that you've understood the key benefits of event technology, the obvious thing that comes

to the mind is whether you should buy it or build it in-house. The next chapter draws a

comparison between the two to help you take a much better decision.

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Buy Or Build: Is That The Question?The dilemma of buying or building an event management software is not new. Many planners

struggle to find the right business solution approach to implement it. Event planners need to

take several factors into consideration, including strategic goals, required software support and

external partners. Here are the top six reasons why you should buy an event management

software instead of building it in-house.

Before your organization even begins to build an

event management solution, you will have to do a

thorough research to determine the industry

standards. While knowing industry standards is

critical to your events' success, the process of

collecting data is time consuming and you already

have so much on your plate. You just cannot afford

to devote more time on this rather than spending it

on planning your events. On the other hand, buying

an event management software gives you features

specifically designed keeping in mind industry

standards and best practices.

Know Industry Standards

?

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Creating an integrated event management software is time consuming and requires tons

of expertise and resources. However, buying it can not only save your precious man

hours but also give you a much higher ROI in the long run. An integrated event

management platform not only helps you streamline and automate manual event

planning tasks, it adds more time in your day to help you plan your next event. The

platform covers the entire event lifecycle and provides an enhanced experience before,

during and after the event.

Integrated Event Management Platform

Reporting with an in-house system can be time consuming if not inaccurate. Proper

reporting requires years of right data to prove ROI and understand the performance of

events. An integrated platform, on the other hand, can provide easy access to several

customizable reports with key metrics. With the right metrics, get the necessary insights

to understand your events better and improve them year after year. The platform saves

all your events information to help you analyze your events year on year, quarter on

quarter or even month on month!

A dedicated team of developers are always working on enhancing the user experience of

an integrated event management platform so your events are always up to date with the

advancements in the meetings and events industry. The team not only upgrades existing

features, but also introduces new features and functionality alongside better user

interface. In contrast, updating an inbuilt event management technology can incur

substantial recurring costs of maintaining and adding new features to software and

websites.

Robust Reporting

Frequent Upgrades

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Against popular belief, an event management solution can integrate with several leading

software solutions and CRM and marketing automation solutions. Moreover, in most

cases a technical team of highly skilled people work closely to monitor the platform to

ensure stability and security. In contrast, building a web-based system with a backend

database can be quite expensive and tedious and you'd require more staff in the team to

ensure a stable and reliable database backend.

Integrations And Reliability

An inbuilt event management system can develop a snag and hiring addition staff is an

expensive and temporary solution to the problem. Having robust documentation and

training as well support are imperative for the success of your software. On the ip side,

most companies that provide an integrated event management software have a

dedicated team of people always there to help you when you need them the most.

Companies provide online, phone, chat and email support so that customers can reach

out whenever required.

Customer Support

These were our top six points that you should consider while choosing to buy or build an

event management software. If you consider buying the software then the next chapter will

help you with the key things to consider while buying an event management software. With so

many options available in the market, it is easy to get lost and end up with a solution that

doesn't really work for you and your events. Read the next chapter to understand and know

the common pitfalls event managers need to avoid before spending their money on a thing as

important as an event management software.

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Things To Consider While BuyingEvent Management SoftwareWhile many organizations rely heavily on event management software to run their events,

others still depend on manual processes or disconnected systems. Event management

technology can streamline your entire event planning process, right from budgeting, event

registration and marketing to attendee engagement, post event feedback and event reporting.

Here are the top benefits of event management technology that we just cannot overlook:

Key points to consider for pre event activities

While having a robust event technology is critical for your

event success, the easy accessibility and user interface of

the software is equally a must. The event management

solution has to strike a balance between functionality and

accessibility. There may be software solutions that are easy

to use, but those often have limited functionality. In

contrast, a highly sophisticated system may have all the

functionalities you need, but might not be easy to use.

Therefore, look for a solution that is easy to use and has all

the features that you need to plan awless events.

Is Your Event Tech Provider User-Friendly?

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The right event tech provider should have all the event marketing and promotion tools to

support targeted marketing campaigns and increase visibility, attendance, and

engagement. Your event marketing solution should be able to send automated

personalized emails based on contact information. With the right tools, you can create a

buzz around your events and deliver memorable events year after year.

Does Your Tech Provider Have Essential Event MarketingAnd Promotion Tools?

For event pros, budget management is absolutely necessary to prove the ROI of their

events. However, tracking budget and meeting spend can be time consuming and

inaccurate if done manually or with a makeshift technology. A comprehensible budget

management solution can help you collect accurate budgetary information, manage

savings, increase event ROI, and take informed business decisions.

Your event management technology should be customizable to deliver personalized

registration process for your attendees. It should be able to reect your brand and design

across various channels like event websites, mobile apps, name badges, etc. Try to look

for an event tech that can differentiate between clients, VIPs, prospective leads or a

business development partner. A comprehensive event management technology creates

different registration paths and pricing based on the attendee criteria.

Can Your Event Tech Help Track Your Budgets?

Is Your Attendee Registration Process Customizable?

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Key points to consider for onsite activities

Attendee check in without proper technology can be very frustrating and result in long

queues. During your event tech evaluation process, ensure you check how your future

tech provider can check attendees at your events and collect registration fees. There are

several tech providers that can allow attendees to self-check in, saving valuable man-

hours for your event staff.

Tracking attendees at sessions is important to measure the ROI of your events. This will

help you analyze which sessions and speakers were a hit amongst attendees and give a

detailed digital footprint of attendees' interests. When you know what your attendees are

interested in, your sales team can follow up with them based on their interests, thereby

closing more deals for your company.

Attendee engagement should be one of the top considerations when looking for an event

tech provider. To give your attendees a world-class experience, your event management

technology should offer relevant, engaging and personalized experience. One such

solution doing the rounds today is mobile apps. With mobile apps you can eliminate

printed, and often misspelt, brochures and event schedules. With mobile apps, you can

also provide engaging content to attendees with inbuilt features like gamification, live

polling and interactive Q&A sessions.

How Do You Check In Your Attendees?

Can Your Event Tech Track Attendance?

Can your event tech boost attendee engagement?

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When evaluating event management software, see what event tech can do to highlight

the sponsors at your event. This will increase sponsorship opportunities in different

aspects of event planning, including emails, websites, name badges and mobile apps.

The more channels you use to promote your sponsors, the more value they'll get from

your event. The happier your sponsors are, the more they'll continue sponsoring your

events for years to come.

If you hosts large conferences, consider an event tech that can help exhibitors capture

and score leads, gather the right information, take notes against each lead and forward it

to their sales team for follow up. The right event management technology will help you

see exhibitor lead counts in real-time, the booths attendees are attending and the most

visited booth on the oor (only in the cases of tradeshows). These insights will help you

ensure exhibitors get the lead ow they want.

Can Event Tech Provide Event Sponsors?

Can Exhibitors Capture Lead Information?

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Key points to consider for post event activities

Due Diligence is equally important

Before you select any event management software, ensure that it provides you key

metrics and trends to help your team take the right decisions on ways to improve your

future events. The right event management platform can help you understand event ROI

and give you standard reporting options. With standard reports, extract customized

reports depending upon your organization's needs and goals.

A comprehensive event management solution should help you manage all aspects of

your event, including managing budgets, finding venues, checking in attendees and

collecting post-event feedback. An integrated platform that can handle the entire event

lifecycle will increase your efficiency by streamlining and automating event planning.

Check for event management software that integrates with your internal systems to have

a complete, action-driven insights. This will save those precious man hours used in

manually updating information from one system to another and also reduce any typos

and data miscalculation.

How Robust Is The Reporting And Analytics Tools Of The Event Tech Solution?

Can The Event Technology Handle Your Complete Event Lifecycle?

Is Data Integration With Your Internal Systems Possible?

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Event technology has been evolving and so has your event needs. Choose an event tech

partner that have enough resources to keep up with latest events industry trends. Make

sure you understand how their staff can help you improve your events over time.

Your event tech partner should not only provide software solution to streamline your

events, they should have a clear long-term vision of where the events industry is headed.

It's absolutely crucial to know the track record of the company and feedback of their

products before making any investment. Doing this will safeguard your interest and

ensure your continued success.

Does Your Technology Company Have Enough Staff To MeetYour Growing Needs?

What's The Track Record Of Your Event Tech Partner?

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ConclusionEvent management solution can help you become more efficient and put more time back in

your day to plan future events. Whether you plan to buy it or build one, it can streamline and

automate your planning processes and increase attendance and turn your attendees into

participants. Whether you are hosting one event or a series of events, a small gala dinner or a

big conference, an integrated event management platform is your one stop solution to handle

the event lifecycle. It is a magical potion that not only revitalizes you, but also your attendees,

sponsors and even exhibitors!