Eventbrite for Beginners

Our goal is to encourage our Facebook audiences to attend more virtual events and provide them with the exact information and details they need, all housed in one concise place and Eventbrite has been the perfect tool for us. The analytics and reporting are very robust, especially for a free plan.

Pros

The setup and ease of use for a first time Eventbrite user/manager was incredibly easy and seamless. The feature that is most useful to us is the Facebook event integration - and the best part - it's free. This way, our social media audiences can register for tickets directly through the Facebook event published on Facebook. It's such a powerful feature and so incredibly easy to setup.

Cons

I wish there was an abilitty to make updates to the address after an event has already been published. With COVID-19, we had to shift from an in-person event to make it a virtual event and because we had to change the address, Eventbrite woudn't allow it. Suggestion - if an address needs to be changed, Eventbrite could automatically send an email to the list of attendees or a calendar notification of the change. The Mailchimp feature is extremely limited and I have trouble understanding what exactly the purpose of it is. I have not doubt that Eventbrite will enhance it in the future with incorporate more robust functions because Eventbrite is really great with continually improving their tools.

Great option, depending on your needs!

I am very pleased with the services provided with Eventbrite. It streamlines and centralizes so many processes involved in planning a conference. It also helps us keep on track, advertise with social media, and track data on attendees. It's an incredible option worth considering, especially if you are hosting/leading a free event.

Pros

Eventbrite is an incredible platform for managing events and conferences. Here are a few reasons you'll enjoy it: - It's extremely user-friendly. Of course basic, background tech skills are helpful, but it's easy to get up and going and learn to navigate. - Similarly, the user interface is nicely designed. Nothing tricky or odd in my opinion - the webpage design just makes sense. - You can use it across multiple types of devices - not just limited to your laptop. - As long as your event is free, you can use Eventbrite for free - that's pretty incredible. - The web platform has always been quick and responsive with no glitches/errors. - It integrates seamlessly with many other platforms that you may be using when organizing an event (Sched, social media, etc.). This is great for promoting! - There are lots of customization features. I feel like I've only scratched the surface with all that's available. - Effortlessly creates scanning systems for participants. - Although not as powerful as the website, there is a mobile version that is growing with features. - I just love that Eventbrite streamlines so many things for me. Instead of having to jump between multiple tools/platforms for multiple purposes, Eventbrite centralizes a lot involved in our process.

Cons

I have very little to complain about with this platform, but I do think there is room for improvement with customer support. There response time was good, but could improve. It might be helpful to build out a better FAQ or help system in the website, since there isn't a lot of blogs or help available from other sources. Next, we offer a free event for educators, but I think the service charge would be expensive and cut into profits if our event was a paid conference.

Fast Event Planning and Management

The actual event turned out to be a big success. Eventbrite played a key role in that success. I would definitely consider Eventbrite for future events.

Pros

Eventbrite is easy to understand and use. The feature-set is not too broad so it's easy to quickly understand everything they offer. I was able to quickly wrap my mind around its scope and deploy an event. I appreciated how easy it was to setup a website for reservations and payment. Although I did not have alot of design options for the payment and reservation pages, the pages were streamlined and worked well. I was able to find good third-party support for lanyards and printed name badges. Being able to sell tickets at the entrance was a nice feature as well. Pricing felt right. I received good value for the money I spent.

Cons

I did not have alot of design flexibility for the payment and reservation pages. I pretty much had to stick with their default template that makes all Eventbrite sites look the same. The event management UI was slow and awkward to use. I did have a couple of periods of site outage that caused me some pain.

Crazy High Ticketing Fees - Froze My Payouts During COVID - Won't Stand By Agreement

Extremely painful.

Pros

Eventbrite is easy to use. It's designed well.

Cons

Customer service really stinks at Eventbrite. They're just looking to get paid. Their fees are high, sometimes 15-20% depending upon your ticket price. They had agreed on our festival to payout daily leading up to the event but changed their mind when COVID hit (to hoard cash and save themselves while screwing their event organizers.) Now they are expecting people to pull off multi-million dollar festivals without collecting any of their ticketing money up front. The worst part is they froze our payouts without telling us, until one day we noticed the lack of deposits and logged into Eventbrite to find it. Surprise surprise! They have refused to renegotiate the contract but also refuse to release funds so we can pull off our event. Eventbrite is going to bring the event industry crashing down due to the way they handled COVID.

Truly the best event ticketing software out there.

I'm so glad to be able to continue using Eventbrite. The value for the product is really exceptional. I'd especially recommend to nonprofit users who produce live event programming.

Pros

There's something about the Eventbrite platform that feels particularly inclusive. I really like how customizable it is, and it's easy to train on. I'm also a big fan of their reporting and analytics.

Cons

I have nothing bad to say about this particular software. I've never experienced an issue while using it. I'd say it would be great if Eventbrite had more software integrations.