Online Event Registration

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Increase your registrations with an eye catching 'register now' button

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:47:00 +0000

In this month's tip on how to increase your event registrations, we're going to discuss the importance of ensuring you are promoting your event with an eye catching graphic. In particular, the 'register now' button that needs to stand out amongst the crowd of other text and images.

Why the 'register now' button? Although there are plenty of marketing and promotional materials that are important in helping your event succeed, the call-to-action is one of the most important. On many occasions I have found myself wondering how to complete an action I set out to accomplish, simply due to the fact it was buried deep in website navigation or had simply been linked out in a text paragraph that was hard to see.

When creating your button, here are a few items you may want to include:

An eye-catching base colour that will immediately catch someone's attention
Make your image look like a button
Simple and effective action words like 'Register Now!', or 'Sign-up Here!'
An icon that supports the action, perhaps an arrow or a target
A mouseover effect that changes the text or colour of the button when hovered over

Here are some examples to help you get started (feel free to use them):

Once the button is complete, ensure you add it to your website and email campaign in a noticeable place. Don't forget to link it to your registration form, and watch the registrations start rolling in!

Make a top ten list of reasons to attend your event

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:13:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

To start off 2010 off we'd like to talk about the value of a simple promotional idea, that when formulated correctly, can have a huge impact on the number of registrations you receive for your event.

Making a top ten list of reasons to attend your event is a great way to point out all the smaller details that you may not have included in other promotional materials. To start your list, grab a piece of paper and start writing down all of the things you feel are attractive about your event, for example:

Free speaker sessions
X number of meals
Free networking events
An excuse to come to (insert name of great city)
Meet current clients
Mention CE credits
An opportunity to be the first to see...
Free parking
Discount on hotel rooms
Mention entertainment
Opportunity to visit local attractions
Find new suppliers
Learn new industry trends
Door prizes
Mention keynote speakers
Closing party!

Try recording at least 20 points. If you're stuck, maybe do a quick web search and see what other events are offering. Do you remember prepping to attend a conference or event and thinking "I wonder if the facility has free Wi-Fi". Brainstorming from a delegate's point of view may make your list easier to compose. When complete, go back to the top of the list and rank them from 1-20. The last 10 won't make the cut and now you have the list you can use to promote your event.

If possible keep the list items short in description. This way it can be added to virtually any medium, like a box on your event website or printed material. Or maybe a banner ad on a website or support material for your event newsletter.

A simple list can go a long way in sparking interest from potential attendees.

Sell More Registrations With a Good Cancellation Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:53:00 +0000

At ePly, we want to help you sell more registrations and fill your event. With that in mind, we're now starting a series of tips to help ensure your events' success.

Tip 1 - Make friendly cancellation polices that encourage people to register early, that don't scare people away and still protect the interests of the event planner.

Here are a few points to consider when formulating your cancellation policy:

Clearly state important dates

Ensure dates for full refunds, partial refunds, changes, etc. are clearly stated. This will help to reduce disputes and give you something to refer to if an issue does arise.

Clearly state refund or change fees

You may not want to charge a fee in the name of good customer service, but remember that if the transaction was on a credit card, the credit card processing fees on the initial transaction cannot be recouped, so you must be prepared to absorb this amount.

Keep it simple and professional

Try to provide a brief explanation as to why you have selected certain dates and policies. A statement like "Any change requests must be made before November 24th as we need to confirm meals and seating with the venue" may get a better reaction than "No changes after November 24th".

Provide change request instructions

Be sure to state that cancellation or change requests be made in writing. At a minimum, provide the name, phone number and email address of the person to contact.

Give alternatives

Allow event participants to send an alternate person to the event
Provide a credit towards another event if applicable
If working with a charity, reiterate that in the policy, so registrants know the reason you may not be providing a refund is due to the funds going to the particular cause

Remember, in most cases the main goal is to get people to register for your event. By adding some flexibility to your refund and cancellation policies and giving some alternatives, you are likely to attract more registrations.

Here are three sample cancellation policies.

The registration deadline is March 23, 2010. Full refunds are available prior to January 31, 2010. After this date you may send an alternate to the event without additional charge. To request a cancellation or to make a change please send an email to the Event Planner at eventplanner@theevent.com.
Refunds less a $25.00 cancellation fee will be provided for cancellations received in writing to eventplanner@theevent.com prior to January 31, 2010. Following this date, no refunds will be given, but a credit will be issued to use towards another event within one year.
Sorry, tickets are non refundable as all proceeds go to charity, so please consider your purchase as a donation.

We have plenty of tips of our own, but if there is one in particular you feel the world needs to know, send it over, or contact us.

ePly Online Event Registration Launches a Pick Your Own Price Campaign to Benefit the United Way

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:06:00 +0000

Vancouver, BC - November 23, 2009 - ePly Services Inc. (@ePly), an online event registration software company based in North Vancouver, B.C. is excited to announce they have launched a new holiday season campaign designed to assist the United Way in generating much needed donations.

This unique campaign, a first in the event registration industry, has captured the attention of many event planners, and allows current and new clients to decide on the price they want to pay, per registrant, to use ePly registration software. In addition, 10% of the proceeds will go to the United Way chapter of their choice.

"We wanted to come up with a fun way of generating funds for the United Way, so we decided to allow our clients to pick the price they want to pay as their per registrant fee." Explains Jim Romanik, President at ePly Services Inc. "This past year has been difficult for many event planners and charities; by allowing our clients to pick their price with a portion going to the United Way they can feel good knowing they will be supporting their local community."

"The United Way has many chapters across the U.S. and Canada. This makes the impact of our client's generosity that much greater as they can contribute to their local chapter." adds Jim. To learn more about how you can help your local United Way through this promotion visit www.eply.com/pick-your-price.

About ePly: ePly has been providing online event registration software to their clients since 2001. ePly's registration software was developed to assist event planners in their registration process for events, conferences, meetings, tradeshows etc. For more information on ePly's online registration software, visit www.eply.com.

About the United Way: United Way supports vulnerable people and works to prevent social problems. It's priority for United Way to provide hope and opportunity for children and seniors. United Way leads change in the Lower Mainland region by understanding social issues through research and dialogue; bringing together partners and coordinating action; influencing public attitudes, systems and policy; measuring community change and evaluating investments.

Media contact:
Rob Smith
Marketing Manager - ePly Services Inc.
P: 604-484-0585 ext 904
E: rob@eply.com

ePly Online Event Registration Software Launches New Self-Serve Version of their Software

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Vancouver, BC - November 12, 2009 - ePly Services Inc. (@ePly), an online event registration software company based in North Vancouver, B.C. is excited to announce that they have begun allowing clients to set up their own registration forms using their new self-serve software.

Since the company started in 2001, ePly has always built registration forms for their clients based on the requirements that have been set out. The system that ePly used to build these forms was created in-house, and has evolved as client requirements and registration forms became more and more complex. The self-serve software is another evolution of this system that was developed solely with the client user in mind. Now the software allows users to set-up and maintain their own registration forms via a simple to use interface.

"As clients can now build and maintain their own registration forms, this effectively eliminates their set-up cost with ePly." says Jim Romanik, President of ePly Services Inc. "Of course, should clients want us to build their forms for them we are happy to provide a quote."

With this new update ePly has simplified their pricing; all of the details can be viewed on their website at http://www.eply.com/event_registration/pricing.html.

With the launch of the self serve system ePly has also added three free bonuses for each registration form; the ability to create a save-the-date form and follow up survey, and a review of your form by an ePly expert. Support will remain free of charge as it always has.

"Over the next few months we will roll out several new features that will automatically be available to our clients. These include a registration button generator to help promote your form, updates to the reporting features to give you the timely information you need, and an automated form validator to help ensure your registration forms have no mistakes before going live." explains Jim.

ePly has been in business since 2001 providing online registration solutions to their clients. For more information on ePly's software and new self-serve release, visit www.eply.com.

Media contact:
Rob Smith
Marketing Manager - ePly Services Inc.
P: 604-484-0585 ext 904
E: rob@eply.com

I'm dreaming of a GREEN Christmas...event!

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:22:00 +0000

The snow is beginning to fall, spruce trees are being transformed into Christmas trees, and invitations are being sent - the holiday season will soon be upon us.

Last month we brought you tips on how to ensure your holiday party is a success, this month we continue with tips on greening up your holiday event from the experts at e=mc2 event management inc.

As event specialists we must consider every aspect of a holiday party, especially as green and eco-friendly practices become an industry standard. The season is a great opportunity to highlight eco-friendly event ideas and focus on making 2009, a green Christmas.

e=mc2 event management inc. is committed to the cycle of life, in products, in events, and in services. In our dedication to eco-friendly practices we have created our e-green team. Our unique team of experts focuses on facilitating, educating and supporting all events and meetings with green initiatives.

Our e-green team has put together some unique and practical green ideas that will ensure a green Christmas:

ELECTRONIC INVITE - A formal and sleek style of invitation that will suit any event, an electronic invite is an eco-friendly option that meets all the requirements of a printed invitation, and even exceed it! It can reflect any theme, provide vast information, act as a database, provide a convenient RSVP process, and is cost effective, especially with large Christmas parties.
SERVICE WARE - For decades, plastic has been a versatile and durable product in making service ware, but the environmental impact is severe. New products made from corn syrup and bamboo are becoming available that have the same quality of plastic, but also have the capability to cut waste significantly. Check out Earth Distributors, a great place to find earth friendly service ware.
SUSTAINABLE DECOR - The idea of reusing and re-purposing elements of an event is an easy and eco-friendly approach. A centerpiece is an excellent example of sustainable decor. Creating centerpieces that use re-purposed household items or vintage pieces are unique and can always be donated.
GIFT WRAP - Gifts are a fun and memorable part of a family holiday event, especially for children. Unfortunately, gift-wrap is a major contributor to event waste, so this season try to rethink wrapping! It could be as simple as using newspaper, or even putting gifts in reusable bags. There are so many ways to re-purpose items or create gift-wrap that can be branded and reused.

For more green holiday ideas contact Jocelyn Flanagan at 403.770.1383 or info@emc2events.com.

10 Tips for a Successful Holiday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:46:00 +0000

The leaves are turning, pumpkin flavoured hot drinks have shown up, and children are looking more bundled up than they did two weeks ago. These signs all point to the terrifying realization that summer has officially come to an end. Don't fret, it's almost Christmas! What!? Ok, so it may be a little early to start talking Christmas, but it is the perfect time to start formulating ideas for your holiday parties.

To ensure your holiday party success, we've invited Sharon Bonner, President of Bright Ideas Event Coordinators Ltd. to share her 10 tips for a successful holiday party.

Venue - Choose a venue location that will work well for your group. Keep in mind where the guests live and find a central location if possible.

Timing - Keep the timing conducive with the group dynamics. For example, be sensitive to the average age of your group, shift workers or staff with young families, and plan accordingly.

Theme / Décor - Pick a theme and carry it throughout the entire party planning from invitation to theme décor at the event. Choose from many unique Holiday themes and don’t be afraid to try something new. Consider an “Around the World Holiday Sampler” highlighting Christmas celebrations in many cultures. Or how about a Caribbean Christmas Celebration complete with Palm Trees and real sand?

Entertainment – Match the entertainment to your group. If your group enjoys passive entertainment, then a comedian or ventriloquist is perfect. However, if your group is interactive try choosing Theatre Sports or a Game Show to keep them engaged.

Activities – Activities are by far the most important component of your event, next to the quality of the food. Once the formalities of the evening are complete, make sure you schedule an action packed agenda for the remainder of the evening. So many companies forget this, and merely hire a DJ for the portion of the evening after the dinner, and this is a big mistake.

Menu – Think about your group and choose the type of menu that will work best for the evening agenda, budget and type of guests. A formal high end event will most likely be best suited to a plated dinner, whereas other events do best with a buffet. If budget is a concern, offer hearty appetizers and plan a stand up cocktail reception.

Seating - Mix up departments with reserved seating so that guests meet new people. Make sure to plan for single guests and schedule so that they are seated with other single guests.

Master of Ceremonies – This is a critical component of the evening and should be a professional actor or entertainer, as there is rarely someone in house that is comfortable addressing the group for several hours.

Taxis / Buses – Be proactive and offer taxi vouchers or bus service, especially when offering a host bar.

Guest Gifts - Take home items don’t have to be expensive to be memorable. Get creative and offer a parting theme gift as guests leave the event. It means a lot to your guests as they leave with a thank you gift. Hint: Chocolate items are ALWAYS a big hit!!!

For more Bright Ideas contact Sharon Bonner @ 604-303-7707 or sharon@brightideasevents.com

What About Building My Own Online Event Registration System?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:55:00 +0000

Building your own online event registration system sounds like a great investment, but programming and maintaining your own system can be much more expensive and time consuming than you might expect.

As an online registration company, it would appear biased for us to recommend not building your own online registration system. That aside, we truly believe that you’ll be much further ahead if you use a professional registration system (even if it’s not ours) than building your own.

For us, we would rather lose business to a quality competitor than hear we lost business due to someone planning on building their own registration system. Although well intentioned there are some very important business requirements to consider.

1. A basic online event registration system can take months to build. Every possible situation must be considered, designed, built, tested and documented.

2. There are many potential and actual costs involved with building your own online event registration system:

Quality programmers will start at $75,000/year
Management time to administer programmers, designers etc. $60,000+/year
Testing and “bug fixing”
Server hosting – $1000+/month ($9.99/month shared hosting doesn't deliver professional results)
Software licensing for server operating systems and database software, $4000. Additionally, the software will need to be updated as your business requirements and technologies change
Server and system maintenance – 20+ hours a month
System support (tech support and troubleshooting for clients and their customers)
System updates/adding features
PCI certificate and audit each year – $3000+
System backups
Lost business/additional staff costs (for manual or assisted event registration) if the system is down

When you consider all of the time, work and cost involved with programming and maintaining your own event registration system, it makes sense to have an experienced company do it for you.

High-quality, efficient online event registrations systems, such as ePly’s, are guaranteed to work right from the start—and at a fraction of the time and cost for you to build your own.

Save time and money, and get it done right.

Questions?

We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

How Effective Form Headers Increase Registration Count

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:53:00 +0000

Have you ever gone to a website and had a difficult time finding what you're looking for, so you end up leaving? The same thing can happen with your registration form. The first thing people see when they land on your registration form is the top of the page. So you’ll want to make a great first impression and provide all necessary information for them to complete their registration.

So, what makes a good header? There are many things you can include in your header to make it more informative and appealing. Over the years we have seen a lot of headers, so we know what works, and have compiled some suggestions on things to be aware of when creating your registration form headers.

Attention grabbing - Try to incorporate your logo and any graphical elements that keep in line with your website, or conference branding. Your registrants will recognize your brand and be more inclined to complete registration.

Opportunity to sell your event - Point out some highlights of your event. Perhaps a well-known speaker is coming, or you're offering a free off-site event. These are all things that entice your registrants and should be clearly outlined so they don’t miss out.

Include basic details - Make sure the header answers the 5 W's - who, what, when, where & why.

Avoid excessive details - Too much information can scare people away, remember, your goal is to have the user register. Try to hit a balance between informative and quick to read. You'll also want to avoid including so much information that your registration form is pushed below the fold (the part of any web page that is shown in your browser before you need to scroll).

Avoid linking away from the form - If you need to include links to outside materials, try to set the link up to 'open in a new window'. This way, the registrant does not navigate 100% away from your page, but can view any supporting material in new tabs or windows, and is able to switch back to the form when needed.
Include a privacy policy - This is very important in the online world as you want to ensure your registrants feel secure when entering their data. If anyone has questions as to the security of their information ensure that is included in the privacy policy.

Questions?

We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

Increase Your Event Registrations With Email Invites That Work - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:45:00 +0000

Last month we provided you with five easy steps to help increase your event registrations with email invites that work. This month we will cover part 2 of that post, with five more tips that will help you to create successful email campaigns for your next event.

Test - If you have a large email list (rather subjective I know...typically I consider large to be 500+), try taking 10% of that list and sending one version of your email to one half, and another version to the other half. Whichever receives the highest response rate will be the version you send to the other 90%.

Sending - if you can avoid sending bulk email from your personal email application, then do. This can be a red flag and could result in your email being blacklisted by the recipients' firewall, or worse, the recipients Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you work from a home office and rely heavily on your email, the last thing you want is your email being lost in cyberspace.

Unsubscribe - It is extremely important to respect your email list by providing the option to unsubscribe. It is also required under CAN-SPAM compliance.

Forward to a Friend - Suggest a forward to a friend option to help increase your distribution and ultimately your registrations!

When to Send - There is always some debate on when the best time to send your email is. Do I send it at PST or EST? Do I try to get the recipient after their first coffee of the day, or will they be too wired to pay attention?!? Don't fret, there is endless data on this, and what I have taken from it is that Tuesdays to Thursdays between 8:00am and 11:00am is the best time to send. Of course, this is ultimately up to you and who your target recipients are, but using the above as a guideline is a great place to start.

Lastly, include the name and phone number of a real person to call if questions come up about the event and the registration process.

There are many factors that make up a successful email campaign. Follow some of the tips from this month, and last, and you'll be well on your way to creating one of those successful campaigns.

Questions?

We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

Increase Your Event Registrations With Email Invites That Work - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Email is a great tool and arguably one of the biggest leaps forward for business in the last 20 years. As we become more and more attached to this form of communication we must also become more aware of the pitfalls that go along with it. This month we're going to cover some important things to consider when sending out an email invite for your next event.

If you typically send your event invitations through the mail you may be used to the traditional process of proofing copy, images etc. before the final version is printed and sent. With email invites the process is similar. However, it is important to remember that unlike paper invitations your email has many hurdles to overcome, such as spam filters, grabbing the attention of the user before it's quickly deleted and whether or not the email recipients software downloads it as it was meant to be seen...to name a few.

Before you send your next email campaign, use this checklist to make sure you have some of the basics covered :

Subject Line – this will make or break your campaign. You have two important tasks here. One, get through the spam filter, and two, catch the readers attention...quickly. Descriptive subject lines are great for both of these goals. Which of these subject lines would prompt you to continue reading "2009 Computer Conference" or "Registration for the 2009 Computer Conference is Now Open"?

Spam filters keep an eye out for certain words. So when creating your subject line and copy (#3) try to avoid words like 'Free', '$$$', 'Save', 'Discount', etc. And yes, I do realize the irony in that sentence.
Images – Although the designer in all of us would love to have an image rich email it can be a red flag for Spam filters, and not all users have 'allow images' turned on. Get your message out with text and support it with images (not the other way around). If you create a good balance between these elements more potential registrants will receive your message.
Well Written Copy – This seems basic, but I regularly receive emails that don't seem to be written for a human being. If you were to send your email to anyone, right now, would they know what it's about? If you do not have a good in-house copywriter that's okay, contract it out with all that money you saved ditching the paper invitation campaign!
Call to Action – Now that the email has reached the recipient and they are engaged, what do they do? Ask yourself, "Why am I sending this email?" If that's not clear in the body then your call to action is not clear and concise.

Make sure the reader is doing exactly what you want them to do. This is where an image is great! Have your designer create something eye catching (Note to designers: This is my version of an apology for #2), or, feel free to use this button in your next campaign (right click then 'save as').

Links - Although the above button is eye catching and it's no mystery what action to take, it is always good practice to include a text link to your registration form just in case your recipient's inbox does not download images.

Next Post : Part 2 of Increase Your Event Registrations with Email Invites That Work - five more items to check...

Questions? We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas – 1-800-507-3759.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

Does Your Registration Form Do These Eight Things?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Romanik) — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:10:00 +0000

The answer to the question “What should a registration form do?” might seem obvious, but if you respond with “Collect registration data”, there is a good chance that you can improve your registration forms to increase registration count and put on memorable events.
From our experience, here are eight things your registration forms should be doing in addition to collecting data:

1. Make you look good – Your registration form should reflect your professional image by having consistent branding, flawless formatting, well positioned text and of course, look the same in all browsers.

2. Convert the people who arrive at the form into paying customers – Getting people to your form is only the first step. Usability headaches such as too many required fields, confusing registration options, incorrect pricing or dates all contribute to people abandoning the registration form.

3. Give people a second taste of your event – The first taste comes from your marketing materials, so now you need to reinforce it. Your form should have a similar look and feel to your marketing material and be well organized, error free and work as intended, just like the event will be.

4. Make people feel safe and secure – Having a professional looking form is a great help, but you also need to ensure you have a clearly displayed privacy policy and that your form is hosted on a secure server.

5. Prevent mistakes – Let’s face it, people don’t read instructions, so even if you add text to your form explaining what to do and what not to do, it likely won’t be read. Your form needs to be set up in a way that mistakes cannot happen in the first place.

6. Reduce calls to the event planners – Event Planners are busy people, they don’t need more calls about registration form issues. Always have a contact phone number on your form in case people do need to call, but try to anticipate common questions that might come up and make sure they are answered on the form. Also, test, test and test your form. Many calls are a result of a problem encountered on the form,o make sure yours is perfect before going live.

7. Make people say, “Wow! That was easy!” – Even registration forms with lots of options, categories and workshops can be made to seem simple with the right planning and layout. Invest the time, before you start, to eliminate frustrations and problems later on.

8. Collect data the right way for meaningful reporting - There is more than one way to set up a question for many of the fields you find on typical registration forms. All of the question types may get the data into your database, but you need to consider whether the format of that data will provide you meaningful, consistent and reliable reporting for your requirements.

Questions? Call One Of Our Solutions Experts – We are always happy to offer some free advice and give you some ideas – 1-800-507-3759.

8 Alternatives To Extending Early Bird Deadlines When You Need More Registrations

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Last month’s article called “5 Reasons Not To Extend Your Early Bird Pricing Period” advised against extending early bird deadlines to encourage people to register for your events and promised to come up with a list of alternatives.

We have put together our list of ideas and also invite you to send us some of your own ideas. Anyone who sends us an idea will be entered into a draw for a coffee card and with your permission we will publish any unique ideas along with your name in our next newsletter. See below for the details.

8 Alternatives To Extending Early Bird Deadlines When You Need More Registrations

Reinforce the benefits of attending your event. Highlight different benefits when you send out registration reminders. Be sure to write these benefits in a way that will appeal to the demographic you are marketing to. For example, promoting that the conference is next to a world class golf course won’t be a benefit unless most of your group are avid golfers.
Pick up the phone and make a sales call. It can be time consuming, but the payoff can be big. Start by calling the people who registered for your last event, but haven’t registered for the current one. They probably have it on their to-do list, but remind them why they should register today. Maybe you can even enter their details into the online form while you have them on the phone to secure the registration right away.
Reveal new details about the event in each registration reminder. Rather than repeating the same information in your reminders to register, let people in on some of the new details such as surprise guests, newly added workshops, or door prize announcements.
Use testimonials from previous events. Make sure people know how great the last event was so they attend this year.
Find discounted deals for your participants. Rather than discounting your price, find deals on attractions, restaurants, accommodation, etc. that your participants can take advantage of if they attend your event. Some of these deals may already be offered and you just need to find them, or you may need to call businesses in your area to see what they are willing to offer.
Add a second tier price break. If you really feel that extending a price break is needed, then consider making it in between the early and regular rate. For example, if the Early Bird deadline is Dec 15th for $100, then go up to $125 before reaching the final price of $150 rather than extending the original early bird price. This ensures that people who registered early still get the greatest benefit.
Be honest about your situation and address concerns that people may have. It’s usually better to address the concerns that people may have than to let imaginations runs wild and allow rumours to start. For example, if you think people are not registering because they are unsure if the event will happen, let them know that registration is down due to the economy, but that you aren’t cutting any programs. Fill them in on what you are doing to ensure the event happens. Always remember to highlight the positives without making it look like you are being unrealistic.
Offer an incentive to registering early besides saving money. Items such as an entry into a draw, a free white paper or a book related to the event could be just enough to get people registering. Make sure that the real early birds get the same benefits too!

Remember, it doesn’t take much to convince people who are sitting on the fence to take action and register. I hope that you will be able to use some of these ideas or that they get you thinking about some other ways to encourage registrations.

ENTER TO WIN!

Send us your ideas, tips and strategies on how get people to register.

If you send us an idea, we will enter you into a draw for a $20 coffee card and with your permission, we will publish your unique idea, name and company in our next newsletter. Please send you ideas to jim.romanik@eply.com.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.

What to Expect When Working With ePly!

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Not knowing when to expect to hear from a supplier can be very frustrating. Did they get my email with my requests? Are they giving me the priority I need? Do they know I’m under a deadline? What should I tell my client or boss who is asking, "When the form will be live?"

At ePly, we understand that receiving updates and meeting deadlines is imperative to maintaining a great reputation with your client or boss. And, because we create hundreds of registration forms a year, we know approximately how long each step of the process takes.

A first draft of your registration form within two business days after we receive your signed contract and all of your event details, unless we provide a specific date.
Once you review the first draft of your form and send us the changes, we will have the form updated within one business day unless we provide a specific date.
Your form will be ready to go live within two business days after you give your final approval on the layout and content. This gives us time to go through our 150 point checklist to ensure everything is perfect. If your form requires custom JavaScript programming (we will tell you if it does), up to three additional business days may be required to complete the programming and testing.
We will respond to all voicemail and email within two business hours. If the person you are contacting is out of the office we will provide you with an alternate contact in case you need an immediate response.

If you have comments about this article, please contact us.

5 Reasons Not To Extend Your Early Bird Pricing Period

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:20:00 +0000

A lot of events incorporate early bird pricing to encourage people to register early and it usually works. In some cases an Event Planner may extend an early bird period after registration has started, but after a recent experience I think that this strategy should be avoided.

Here's why.

This past fall, I was considering attending a conference, but kept putting off looking into the details, checking into flights and hotels and making a decision. I knew that the early bird pricing ended December 10th, so I set a reminder for myself to make a decision by that date.

The morning of the deadline, just as I was about to finally look into the details and decide whether to register or not, I received an email stating that the early bird deadline had been extended until January 15th.

I immediately re-scheduled my reminder to register and was happy that I could hold onto my money for another month and wait to see a better opportunity arose.

I understand the organizers of this event were trying to encourage more people to register, however, I now realize the problems an Early-Bird extension can cause.

Consider these problems:

Delayed registrations and revenue from fence sitters - If you allow a reasonable amount of time for people to take advantage of your early bird pricing anyone who is serious about attending will register. If people are undecided or putting off the decision as I was, extending the period just gives more time to delay.
Lost registrants to competing events or other commitments – The longer someone waits to register for your event the more likely they will make other commitments and be unable to attend your event. Get people registered early so they will schedule other things around your event rather than at the same time.
Gives the impression that your event is struggling – When I found out that the early bird period for this recent event was extended, I concluded that they must be getting less registrations than expected and needed to offer another incentive. This thinking made me sceptical about registering since there might be less networking opportunities, cancelled workshops and other changes as a result of less revenue.
Frustrate people that registered before the early-bird deadline – If people registered and paid their money early only to find out that the procrastinators will get the same deal they did, you could get some complaints or leave a bad impression in their minds.
Set a precedent that waiting until the last minute pays off – People will remember what happened with registration for a previous event and if you are known for extending early bird deadlines, it will become harder for you to get people to take immediate action when you send out your marketing materials.

Since we believe that extending early bird deadlines isn’t a good way to get more registrations, we’ve come up with a list of our recommended alternatives for the March newsletter.

If you have comments about this article or want a sneak-peak at our ideas, please contact us.

An Easy Way to Secure More Registrations for Your Event

noreply@blogger.com (ePly Online Event Registration) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Have you ever come across an event that you wanted to attend but registration wasn’t available yet? What did you do? Did you remember to go back in a few weeks to register or just forget about it?

If people are starting to think about registering for your event and you don’t have a way to capture that interest, you are losing potential registrants. Seizing every opportunity to make a sale is critical to a successful event, especially during a time when people are spending less.

Use A Save-The-Date Form

A Save-The-Date form is a simple form designed to collect contact information of people interested in attending your event before registration opens. Once you have the email address and/or phone number of people interested in attending, you can proactively follow up to encourage them to register.

A side benefit of the Save-The-Date form is the number of responses you get may help gauge the interest level for your event.

Over the last few weeks, while the ePly team was snowed in, we brainstormed what a really good Save-The-Date form should include:

Keep it simple and easy to complete.
Limit the fields to name, phone number and email address; ask for other details only if you really need them.
Make email address the only required field.
Give clear and easy-to-read instructions on how the save the date form works such as “Registration for the “event name” is not yet open. Please enter your name and email address below and we will contact you once registration opens”.
Have a privacy policy on the form so people feel safe providing their information.
Make the form branded to match your organization or the event, so people feel comfortable.
Put the name, phone number and email address of a contact person on the form. You probably won’t get many calls, but just knowing that there is someone to contact will help make your form seem more legitimate.

Here is a sample Save-The-Date-Form:

The next time people express interest in your event and you are still finalizing the details, make a Save-The-Date form a part of your event marketing plan and proactively follow up to secure those registrations.

At ePly we want to see our customer’s events succeed, so we are offering to set up a free Save-The-Date form to anyone using our system. Contact us for more details.

In the next newsletter we will be writing about extending early bird registration deadlines. Does it really encourage more registrations or does it just give the procrastinators more time to think about it and frustrate the people who have already parted with their money before the original deadline?

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.

8 Ways To Get Attendees To Book In Your Hotel Room Block

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:23:00 +0000

During one of the sessions at a recent CanSPEP conference, I overheard several of the event planners talking about how their conference attendees continually book hotel rooms through online services, rather than booking rooms within the conference hotel room block.

This causes problems because room blocks aren’t being filled and event planners are still charged for the rooms.

As I sat in the session, I thought of several reasons why a registrant should want to book in the room block. I encourage event planners to consider adding some, or all, of the following wording to their registration forms and confirmation emails to help fill the room block.

Reasons to book in the room block and not online:

You don’t have to pre-pay for your room if you book in the block, but you do if you are booking through a discount service.
The room you book online may not be comparable to the rooms in the conference room block. Remember, you get what you pay for!
Booking in the block will allow you to make changes to your reservation if needed.
If you book online through a discount service, you can’t cancel and get any of your money back.
If there happens to be a room drop (i.e.: conference message, schedule change or gift), you may miss out.
If you book in the block, you get to claim award points.
If you are using a discount service, your hotel may not be close to the conference hotel, so you won’t be able to sneak back to your room for a nap, snack, or to check email between sessions.
If your hotel is not within reasonable walking distance of your event, you will incur cab costs which may offset any savings that you received.

At ePly, we are always making suggestions to our clients on how they can increase the success of their events. By using some, or all, of the eight ideas above on your registration form, you have a better chance of filling your room block and avoiding attrition fees.

In next month’s newsletter, we’ll explain how using a simple “Save-the-Date” form can help you secure more registrations for an event.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.

Does AVS Affect Your Event Registration?

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:46:00 +0000

You may have heard the term AVS or encountered a situation when buying something online where your shipping address needed to match the address on your credit card. In this article we will explain what AVS is and how it could be affecting your online event registration.

AVS (Address Verification System) in a nutshell is a system used to verify your identity as the owner of the credit card you’re using to pay for something online. Essentially it protects you if you’re card is stolen and someone tried to use your card but does not know your address.

However, AVS can become frustrating when you’re trying to pay online with a credit card and for one reason or another are entering a shipping or contact address that does not match the address that is on file with your credit card company.

For instance, I was trying to purchase a product online recently, and my credit card was rejected each time I tried to submit my order. The reason was that I was trying to purchase a product with my credit card and have it shipped to my office.

So what? AVS can increase the potential for transactions to be declined when using online registration. Transactions that would normally be approved might be declined because the registrant is using an address to register that is different than the credit card billing address.

Since AVS is mostly used to make sure merchandise is being shipped to the proper person (ex: Amazon or eBay), it may not be necessary to use for online event registration since there is no merchandise being shipped (ie: the person committing online fraud cannot receive anything from the registration and most likely won’t turn up at your event!)

Then what? You’ll probably want to check your AVS settings if you are receiving a lot of declined credit cards for your event and you aren’t also using the merchant account for selling merchandise. Talk to your online registration provider for more details on your settings and if you want to change your AVS settings you will need to contact your gateway company.

If you are concerned about your settings or would like more information about AVS feel free to contact us and we will help to point you in the right direction.

Written by Katie Laughlin

What To Do With A Fraudulent Registration

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Over the past two issues we’ve been looking at types of online event registration scams and how to spot fraudulent registrations in your database. Now that you can easily identify when a scammer has targeted your event, what should you do about it?

If you missed last month’s article or would like to review it, go to:

http://www.eply.com/event_resources/online_registration_articles/
fraud.html

A couple of years ago, while planning an international conference in the Caribbean, I was bombarded daily with fraudulent registrations from all over the world, specifically from Africa.

I had to pay close attention to registrations from Nigeria, since we were actually expecting delegates from Nigeria. I had to verify each registration so that I wasn’t sending Visa letters to scammers.

Sometimes it was clear who the scammers were once we made contact with them. They would refuse to send us money for the conference (most chose to pay by cheque because they only wanted Visa Letters) and claimed that they needed a letter of invitation in order to get the money from their organization to attend.

These responses tipped me off immediately.

Here is how to handle a fraudulent registration:

Refund the payment immediately if it’s by credit card. This will prevent you from getting hit with a chargeback as it is most likely a stolen credit card.
NEVER send a cheque to refund a credit card payment because if it’s a stolen credit card, then the perpetrator gets the money and you end up paying the credit card company when the card is reported stolen.
You may want to consider reporting the fraudulent registrant to your local or national Internet Crime Centre.
US – http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
Canada – https://www.recol.ca/intro.aspx?lang=en
Be sure to let everyone you work with know about the fraudulent registration, how to spot them, and what to do if they spot one incase there are others.
Instead of ignoring the registration, mark the registration as deleted. If you have a maximum number of spots for your event, you don’t want fraudulent registrations taking up spots.
NEVER send letters of invitation or other documents to registrants unless you’ve verified their legitimacy. If you have already sent these documents and realize the request was a scam, alert the proper authorities immediately.

Be proactive!

Deter scammers from even registering for your event. Depending on your expected audience, you may have less of a chance of being scammed if your event is local, as it is quite unlikely that someone from Russia is going to register for a Seattle Business Professionals Conference. However, scammers are found in every country, so here are some ways to make your event unattractive to scammers:

Limit the list of countries in your drop down menu to only those you expect to attend your conference.
Ask registrants to enter a code that only they would know or have access to in order to complete their registration. For instance, the code could be emailed out to those invited to register. If a potential registrant needs the code, they can ask for it via email. Then, you can verify their email first, before they even have a chance to register. Keep in mind that although this helps prevent scammers, it may complicate the registration process and deter people from completing the registration.
Ask for a unique piece of information such as a member number that only legitimate registrants would know.
Similarly, you could have the link to the registration on a secure page of your website that is only accessible by username/password.
Be sure to ask for the CCV number if you are collecting credit card information.
Add text to your form that states credit card refunds can only be made back to the original credit card or that international registrants will be verified by phone.

If you follow the advice we have offered in our last three articles, you should be able to avoid being a target of a registration scam. In many cases online registration will allow you to deal with a potential scam more efficiently than a paper based registration system.

Be sure to check out next month’s newsletter when we explain what an AVS is (Address Verification System) and how should it be used with event registrations.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.

Written by Katie Laughlin

A new hire at ePly!

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:15:00 +0000

ePly Services Inc is please to announce the hiring of our newest team member, Katie Laughlin.

Katie lives here in Vancouver, and comes to us with many years of local and international event planning experience. She will be working with our clients as a Software Specialist.

Katie’s hobbies include reading, cooking, dog-walking and frequent trips to Ikea.

Three Event Registrations Scams to Watch Out For

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Internet scams have become an expected, albeit annoying, intrusion on our personal and business lives. While online event registration is certainly not exempt from scams, simply being aware of the types of scams that are circulating should minimize any repercussions that they could have on your event.

That being said, some incredibly creative person is always dreaming up a new type of scam, so don’t let your guard down. A recent personal experience got me thinking about how scams also infiltrate online event registration.

Recently, I was checking house rental ads that I had posted online and saw our house advertised for $500/month less than our asking price! At first, I thought that I had made a huge mistake, but it soon became clear that I hadn’t posted this ad at all. Somebody had copied my ad and photos and had posted it along with a few revised “instructions” about how to send through applicant information. After some research, it soon became clear that this was yet another internet scam coming out of Nigeria.

Fortunately, over the past five years of doing business in the field of online event registration, there are just a few scams that have come under ePly’s radar.

Registering with a Stolen Credit Card and Refund Requests

Event registration is somewhat exempt from credit card fraud because no merchandise is being shipped and it’s fairly unlikely that somebody is going to pay for their event fees with a stolen credit card and then show up at the event. However, if somebody registers for your event with a stolen credit card and then requests a refund, you could fall into a trap if you are persuaded to refund the registration fees by cheque rather than by applying the refund to the original credit card.

If you mail a cheque to the scammer, they will have your money. When the person who owns the credit card sees the fraudulent transaction on their credit card statement, they will contact the credit card company to have the charges removed. The credit card company will take the funds from your bank account and you will be out for the amount of the cheque. As a general rule, you should always refund a transaction by the method it was paid.

Registering to Get a Visitor’s Visa

If your event is open to international registration, people may register for the event as a pretense so that they can gain access to the country. If this occurs, the registrant will most likely contact you requesting a letter of invitation which will be required as part of their visitor’s visa application. Once your event has been targeted, there may be multiple registrations coming in from the country in question.

You should question registrations from countries that you don’t expect registrants from. Based off our experience, these fraudulent registrations originate from African countries, particularly Nigeria. Fraudulent registrations may have been submitted using a stolen credit card, so you will want to be aware of any with approved credit card transactions.

Requesting Personal Information

While registration data is generally of a public nature (such as name and address) as opposed to personal information (such as passwords and account information), it's good practice to establish policies about how you give out registrant information.

If somebody contacts you by phone or email indicating that they have registered for your event, ask some questions to verify their identity before offering them any information. If handled properly, these scams should not have any impact on your event other than the annoyance factor.

In the next newsletter, we will discuss how to spot fraudulent registrations in your database and what to do about them. The following month, we will discuss measures that you can take to avoid being targeted by scammers. If you have any questions about this topic, don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you would like to research this topic further, the following websites provide more information about internet scams:

Spamhaus: http://www.spamhaus.org/
Crimes of Persuasion: Schemes, Scams, Frauds: http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/

ePly Company Dinner on Picturesque Grouse Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:29:00 +0000

ePly Services Inc. is located in beautiful North Vancouver, British Columbia. Framed by the North Shore mountains to the north and English Bay to the south, North Van features an almost unlimited number of options for the outdoor enthusiast, including the world famous Grouse Mountain (seen below).

Recently, the staff at ePly had a chance to go to Grouse Mountain for a company dinner (thanks Jim and Terry!) While Sharon and Kirsten elected to take the gondola up:

Kimmy, Terry, and Jim decided to climb up via the Grouse Grind, a "hike" that gains 853 meters over 2.9 kilometers. It took us about 68 minutes, although Jim claims to have done it in 35 minutes (?).

On top of the mountain are a number of fun and interesting activities, including the zoo enclosure for Coola and Grinder, Grouse Mountain's resident grizzly bears:

Cute, huh?

For more pics of Grouse Mountain, check out ePly's Flickr account for more photos.

ePly Services Inc. is looking for an Event Registration Software Specialist!

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:56:00 +0000

Who are we?

ePly Services Inc. is a growing North Vancouver-based company that provides online event registration services to event planners. We focus on making the lives of event planners easier. We look after all aspects of online event registration from planning, designing and programming registration forms to managing payments and refunds to event reporting, and more. For more information on what we do, visit our website at http://www.eply.com/.

What is an Event Registration Software Specialist?

A big title for a big job… You are the cornerstone of our business. You are the online registration expert who coordinates with our clients, the event planners, to develop the online form that will be used for tracking their event registrations. The position will require you to:

Coordinate with clients to design, set up and test online registration forms and payment processing using the ePly software.

Teach clients how to make use of the collected registration data using ePly’s online reporting.

Respond to support calls and emails.

Provide general office support including invoicing, processing refunds, conducting internet research and sales and marketing support.

What skills do you need?

Our business is built on exceptional customer service. We do what is outlined in our client contracts and then take steps to exceed the customers’ expectations to help make their event a success. To excel in this position, you need to be prepared to deliver outstanding service by having:

Excellent interpersonal and written and verbal communication skills.

The ability to proactively keep a project on track and solve problems as they arise.

Exceptional computer skills working with multiple software programs, including Excel, Word, Outlook and Salesforce (our CRM software) and our HTML programming software.

Strong ability to multi-task and work under pressure. You will be working on up to 25 client projects at once and will need to coordinate client support calls, emails and concerns on an on-going basis.

Understanding and knowledge of the event planning industry is a definite bonus.

What we offer our employees?

We give you great independence in your job, provided you get the job done. We are a technology company with an exciting product offering. If you like working on cutting edge technology, while at the same time, enjoy the interpersonal aspect of being the prime contact with our customers, this job would be perfect for you. ePly also offers exciting opportunities for growth. We have grand plans for growing the company and want the right people to come along for the ride.

How to apply?

Please email your resume to Jim Romanik at jim@eply.com and complete the application form at
www.eplyevents.com/application.

Online Event Registration Equals Success for Event Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (ePly) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:15:00 +0000

NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. –- July 10, 2008 –- Having difficulty getting people to respond to an invitation? Not enough people registered for an event? ePly, an online event registration service, makes it simple for people to register and maximizes results.

ePly provides online event registration forms for conferences and events. All of the conference registration forms ePly creates are confined to one page, making the process short, sweet, and simple.

“Almost all other companies who offer the same service have a system where people have to click through several pages to complete the various online registrations,” Jim Romanik, president, ePly, explains. “Systems with multiple pages can cause people to get lost in the process and information can also be lost if the browser’s back button is used.”ePly's one-page conference registration forms eliminate these problems. This practical and easy-to-use online event registration form allows people registering for events to scroll up and down to see what information they need to provide before they start entering their details. They can review their information before they click submit and since it is designed much like a paper-based registration form, it’s attractive to less Internet-savvy users.

Meeting and event planning professionals will also benefit. ePly covers every phase of the online event registration process from form planning, design, programming and testing to payment processing and refund management. It provides all the necessary tools for reporting so planners can focus on what they do best -- planning the actual event.

“The ePly tool made dealing with conference registration, refunds, and reporting a breeze,” Laurie Monserrat, one conference planner, explains. “It was a great solution for the ‘joys’ of event planning.”

ePly will also custom design conference registration forms to resemble company websites. They understand that branding and image is important and that a successful event is the bottom line.

In addition to standard credit card processing, refunds and check payment facilitation, ePly also offers tax reporting and tracking, group registration, and more, all within a single conference registration form. They even have real-time management of limited seating to prevent overbooking.

“We can virtually meet any requirements that special event and conference coordinators may have,” Romanik says.

The ePly website also offers tips for successful event planning; how to avoid common event planning pitfalls; and much more.

For more information, visit: http://www.eply.com/.