Find the best Event Management Software

What is event management software?

Event management software helps event planners plan, organize, and execute events, such as conferences, trade shows, and workshops. The software automates event management tasks, such as event planning, registration, ticketing, scheduling, and promotions. It provides a centralized platform for monitoring all tasks and communication related to planning, promoting, and executing events, making it easier to track progress and make changes if needed. 

An event management platform also provides features, such as multi-channel communication, live interaction with attendees, and integrated surveys to facilitate communication throughout the event lifecycle. Several event management tools also provide features for venue selection and virtual platform setup in case of online events.

What are the core features of event management software?

• Registration management: Simplifies the event registration process by helping organizers set up and manage the registration workflow, including setting registration limits and configuring pricing tiers. The features allow event managers to create customizable registration forms, send personalized confirmation emails, manage registrant information, and boost registrations through built-in tools, such as email marketing and social media integration. 

• Attendee management: Handles all aspects related to attendees, such as event registration, ticketing, and check-ins. The features allow event managers to maintain a centralized list of all attendees with their details, send targeted emails to specific attendee groups, track attendance numbers, and ensure a smooth check-in process with barcode scanning and QR code verification. An event manager can also generate reports to gain insights into attendee demographics, registration trends, audience engagement, and more. 

• Event scheduling: Helps an event manager plan, organize, and coordinate events. The feature offers a calendar view to visualize event schedules, set dates, create timelines, book venues, and manage resources from a single platform. Event Scheduling feature also lets users make changes to an existing schedule and communicate updates to attendees via the platform or automated notifications.

What are the benefits of event management software?

• Facilitates ticket sales and registration: Event management software enables organizers to create different ticket tiers with varying prices and design event forms to collect attendee information. It also offers a centralized platform that helps attendees register, select tickets, and make secure payments online. Several event management tools also facilitate mobile-optimized registrations, enabling attendees to register and access their tickets on their smartphones. All these features help increase efficiency while making ticket sales and registrations an easy process for organizers.

• Enhances attendee engagement: Event management software offers interactive features, such as live polls, Q&A sessions, event surveys, and networking tools to enhance attendee engagement and overall satisfaction levels. These features allow attendees to actively participate in the event rather than just passively absorbing information. Several tools also facilitate on-demand content sharing and presentation recordings to help attendees revisit key takeaways, allowing them to stay connected to the event experience for long.

• Provides real-time event analytics: Event analytics offers organizers the insights to understand their audience, measure success, and make informed decisions. Users can leverage the tool to monitor key metrics, such as lead generation, website traffic, attendance rates, engagement levels, and ticket sales in real time. This further helps them track the revenue generated through ticket sales, sponsorships, and merchandise, improve operations, and plan future events.

What are the potential issues with event management software?

• Inadequate scheduling features: Effective planning is crucial for the success of events. If the software does not offer detailed or flexible scheduling options including multiple timelines and automated scheduling reminders, it may lead to scheduling conflicts, complex last-minute adjustments, and inefficient resource allocation. This can further lead to operational inefficiencies, logistical challenges, and negative attendee experience. 

• Limited ticketing options: Limited ticketing options in event management software can restrict the organizer's ability to offer varied pricing tiers, discounts, or packages to cater to diverse audience segments. This inefficiency can further hinder sales performance, negatively impact revenue generation, and lower customer satisfaction levels.

• Steep learning curve: This can be another significant issue with event management software. New users unfamiliar with the functionalities of the tool may find it difficult to navigate the system and might spend considerable time on its training. This can slow down the event planning process and lead to mistakes during execution.

How much does event management software cost?

Most online event management software solutions on the market are priced on a “per month” basis, and their entry-level pricing plans range from $6 to $51+ per month.* An enterprise-level tool that’s priced higher may include additional features such as website creation, badge management, barcode scanning, calendar management, customizable branding, and advanced reporting. 

*The pricing included is for the entry-level or lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of April 9, 2024.

What is event management software used for?

Event management software can have multiple use cases based on the data you feed into the system and the available software features. Some of these use cases could include:

• Event creation: An event management platform allows planners to consolidate all ideas, notes, and to-do lists in one place, facilitating real-time collaboration and progress tracking. Several tools offer event planning templates for creating different types of events, such as conferences and workshops. Event management solutions also include features for venue selection, expense tracking, and task management, enabling users to create and manage events with ease.

• Website management: Event management tools may also include templates and drag-and-drop functionalities to help event planners create event websites or landing pages. Users can leverage these to customize the layout of the website, include event details, and integrate registration forms. The software also offers content management tools and reporting capabilities that allow an event planner to add and update content on their websites and track website performance metrics, such as traffic, page views, and conversion rates. 

• Event payment management: The ability to manage event transactions is critical for several reasons. Event management software allows attendees to pay for registrations, tickets, and merchandise using their preferred mode of payment, such as debit/credit cards and digital wallets. It automatically generates electronic tickets or access codes upon successful registration and payment, eliminating the need for physical tickets. Additionally, the tool enables organizers to create custom payment plans, track attendees' payments, and process refunds when necessary.

Which tools integrate with event management software?

Event management software often integrates with various tools to enhance its functionality. We looked at thousands of reviews from users of online event management software to identify products that users frequently mention integrating with their event management tool:

• Stripe is an online collaboration platform that integrates with event management software to help event organizers accept online payments for ticket sales. The integration enables event management businesses to set up automated payment processing, eliminating the need for manually handling payments and invoices.

• Google Calendar is a calendar application from Google that integrates with event management software to sync event details between the two platforms. An event management business can use this to ensure that all stakeholders have access to the most up-to-date event information with real-time updates. 

• Mailchimp is a marketing automation and customer relation management (CRM) tool that integrates with event management software to automate email marketing campaigns. Event organizers can leverage this to promote events, segment email lists by attendee demographics, and remind attendees about upcoming events. 

• Zoom Meetings is an online live streaming system that integrates with event management tools to facilitate virtual event hosting. The integration allows attendees to join virtual events using meeting links and passwords. It also helps organizers to customize the meeting interface to create an engaging experience for attendees. 

• Zapier is a workflow management tool that integrates with event management software to automate processes, such as attendee list management, email communication, and data synchronization. The integration also facilitates the transfer of event data between different platforms. 

Note: We identified these integrations mentioned most often in verified reviews of event management software published on Software Advice within the past two years (as of April 9, 2024).

Considerations when purchasing event management software

• Assess event marketing features: Event marketing features in an event management tool allow users to promote events, reach a wider audience, and track campaign performance. Before finalizing the best event management software for a business, consider necessary features such as event website designer, social media integration, email marketing templates, and reporting. These can help an event planner manage both online and offline marketing activities. 

• Consider attendee engagement tools: While evaluating the best event software solutions, make sure to check that the software offers features, such as agenda management, audience polls, content sharing, social forums, and gamification to increase participation. The presence of these features can help organizers improve learning and retention, gather real-time feedback to understand attendee needs and facilitate interaction among the audience. 

• Look for multi-event management features: Multi-event management features allow event management businesses to manage multiple events simultaneously. While considering potential solutions, look for features such as an event dashboard, recurring events templates, event cloning, bulk actions, and task management for improved efficiency, enhanced collaboration, and informed decision making.

Source

Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Software Advice’s event management software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in Software Advice’s directory that offer them.

Disclaimer: This event management software buyers guide was authored by Software Advice’s content team. We develop our guides using the author’s expertise, insights from 2M+ unique user reviews, and our proprietary data science algorithms to identify trends in user sentiment, preferences, and priorities. Some text was generated with assistance from AI tools.