Using EventBrite for Event Registrations
David Coursey, N5FDL Thu, March 22, 2012 at 7:28PM If your group puts on training and other events — which I sure hope it does — you might look at using EventBrite to handle your registrations. I have recently begun using it for HamCrams and am starting to use it for other events as well.
Previously, to register for a HamCram, an attendee had to follow a two-step process here on the website. You would fill out a form (created using the Squarespace form tool) and then click on a PayPal link to make payment.
Usually, this worked pretty well but given a large group — like the 38 we had a few weeks ago — problems could occur. Like only about 30 followed the registration properly. Some registered but didn’t pay, others paid but never registered.
This create both unhappy customers and an unhappy organizer. Immediately after the HamCram, I started looking for a better way. Since we are now doing more than 16 HamCrams each year, plus a number of other events, automation is a help. EventBrite has many options, lots of features, and makes creating events quite easy.
EventBrite gathers reg data, manages attendee lists, sends invitations and reminder, manages mailing lists, handles on-site check-in, prints attendee lists and name tags, creates event information web pages, easily links to emails and websites, and “more!” as they say.
Visit my sign-up page here (this is the overview for all our events) and feel free to explore.
If you charge for events — EventBrite offers credit card billing and works great with PayPal — you pay for the service: $99 cents plus 2.5 percent of the registration fee. That is on top of credit card or PayPal fees. I think EventBrite is worth it for the convenience it offers both me and our attendees. And if you do free events, they don’t charge you to use the service at all.
Over the course of a year, if you do only free events, EventBrite is a huge win. If you do a mix of paid and free events, as I do, the overall cost-per-attendee is quite bearable.
Just a suggestion that I hope you will find helpful.
eventbrite in Events, Management, Training 
Reader Comments (2)
David, I have to agree with you. We recently moved the Wireless Communications Alliance (www.wca.org) over to Eventbrite and while it costs a bit more than our old event reg system (Constant Contact) the extra cost is justified by accounting for the amount of time that we no longer spend dealing with reg system glitches. In addition, Eventbrite offers apps for iOS and Android which can be used to check-in attendees via barcode scanning, and tools for taking credit card payments on site. We typically deal with in excess of 100 attendees, so getting everyone through check-in quickly is a huge benefit for us.
Thank you for this info. I am grateful you.