event planning

In my last post I spoke of towns doing their own planning instead of subcontracting everything to outside sources. One thing that will help, especially with particular events that need to be thoroughly planned out like conferences, would be to utilize an online event planning service.

Conferences are a great way for a city to gain a reputation for business friendly accommodations. However, on some occasions, visitor and conference centers waste time and expense by hiring multiple event managers to try and keep track of lists of attendees, and make sure that they will have enough provisions and supplies on hand for everyone. If they overshoot, they waste money on unneeded supplies. If they undershot, you end up with some very crabby attendees who want their money back.

RegOnline is one such software service that can take the hassle (and much of the cost) out of tracking the attendance and registration process that precedes conferences and large events. In addition to offering online registration, credit card processing, customizable forms and email notification, they also streamline the process by including oft-missed details like name badge generation, early-bird pricing, and management of room blocks and waiting lists. Heck, the price that you'd pay for hiring a bunch of temps to put together name badges would probably cost you as much as this service, and you'd still be left trying to manage your attendance lists and payment processing. The service can even handle group reservations.

You can view their site and online registration at regonline.com. As you can see, it is pretty easy to use.

Event planners who understand the advantage of having all of your registration data in one easy to manage place should check this company out. The time and hassle that it saves will likely more than cover the low cost per user registration (as low as $3.50 a person).