eventsair.com EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE

Transcription

1 eventsair.com EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE

2 CONTENTS Introduction... 3 The Company... 4 Implementation and Support... 5 Technology... 6 Security... 7 Pricing... 8 Product Features Additional Resources EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // CENTIUM SOFTWARE // 2

3 1 INTRODUCTION There are a lot of choices when considering event and meeting management technology solutions. Technology is growing at a rapid pace and options are expanding and changing every month, so how do you choose? Your attendees are more sophisticated than ever before, and today s environment includes smart phones and tablets as well as more traditional personal computers. You want to be able to communicate and interact in ways that leverage the latest technology and formats. Security is also a growing concern with more and more transactions occurring in the cloud, you want to assure your attendees that personal data and credit card transactions are absolutely secure at every step. While features and technology are extremely important, so are the financials. How is the technology licensed to you? Are you paying per registration? Are long term contracts required? There are many options and licensing formats available and you want to make sure you are getting the best options and licensing arrangements as possible. This guide has been written to provide you with a list of important questions to ask when researching vendors and publishers of event and meeting registration technology you are considering for evaluation. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 3

4 THE COMPANY 2 What background does your company have in event management? For more than 30 years, EventsAIR has developed some of the most significant innovations in the event management industry. We re different from other software organizations, because we have years of hands-on experience in event management. Our solutions address the largest challenges that event planners face, along with the lesser-known ones that we know about from first-hand experience. We build robust solutions to solve challenges, improve processes, increase productivity, boost profits and ultimately enhance the event experience for everyone involved. What is the size of your company? 80 fulltime staff across offices in US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. How much experience does your company have in developing event management solutions? Over 30 years - our CEO and Chief Software Architect started developing event management software in 1987 and our business has grown from then. Our team has delivered technology used at 3 Olympic Games, United Nations World Summit, G20 and many other world events as well as providing technology for over 30 years to thousands of meeting planners globally managing tens of millions of registrations. What is the company ownership? EventsAIR is a debt-free, employee owned, private company What awards (if any) have you won recently? 2017 Gold Stevie Award for the Best New Product or Service - Event Management Solution 2016 CV Magazine Best Event Management Software Company 2015 SIIA CODiE Award for the Best Event Management Solution 2015 Silver Stevie Award for the Best New Product or Service 2014 Consensus Award for Innovation What industry bodies are you a member of? MPI, PCMA, ICCA, MEA, PCOA, CINZ, ABPCO, MIA, CAUTHE How do you support the meetings Industry? EventsAIR is committed to the education of students entering the meetings industry. We have developed our EventsAIR Rising Star courseware that is used by Universities and Colleges worldwide. We also provide 10 scholarships per year. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 4

5 IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPPORT 3 What type of technical support do you offer? 24/7 Free Technical support is provided by our in-house support teams in US, UK and Australia. We do not outsource our support. Clients also have 24x7 to a dedicated support portal that includes an extensive FAQ library of support topics. Do you charge for credit card processing? No - EventsAIR supports over 40 credit card gateways. If you have an account with one of these, there are no additional charges. Does the credit card revenue go directly into my bank account? Yes - all funds collected, go directly to your nominated back account via your ecommerce gateway provider What training is available? Several options for training are available to our clients. EventsAIR Academy Training EventsAIR Academy is a self-paced web-based training course consisting of 23 classes. With over 5 hours of instruction, EventsAIR Academy leads students in learning all aspects of the technology supported by a dedicated coach to assist you, comprehensive workbook with student assignments and a resource library. Instructor Led Web-Based or On-site Training Optional EventsAIR instructor led training is web-based and modularized. Each learning module runs approximately 2 hours, followed by exercises to practice what has been taught. This training is flexible and can be scheduled to suit your needs. In addition to web-based training, we can provide onsite training if required. EventsAIR Master Classes For more experienced users, we offer a series of Master Classes which consist of four 30-minute sessions on a variety of topics. Each completed Master Class earns the user a certification for the acquired Master Class topics of choice. Additional Training and Resources To supplement the training options, EventsAIR also provides training notes, help tools, a library of videos, online support and a Getting Started Guide written specifically for your industry. What customer engagement do you offer? We hold three live customer webinars each month, user group meetings at major international industry events and annual User Conferences in US, UK and Australia. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 5

6 4 TECHNOLOGY Is your system an app or browser based? EventsAIR is the most modern event management system in the world. It has been developed using the latest software technology, which combines the freedom of cloud computing with the power and streamlined user experience of a native App. The App experience significantly increases event manager productivity, strengthens security and allows for much more sophisticated functionality not available in browsers. Of course participants access all the functionality they need via their favorite browser (e.g. online registration, exhibitor portal, abstract submission portal) and all websites are mobile-ready responsive pages. How do you provide updates and upgrades? Upgrades are released every 8-12 weeks and are accompanied by release notes and a short training video. Customers not wanting to receive upgrades if they are at an event, can pin themselves to a version and catch up later. How does the system respond during very active registration periods? To minimize cost during quiet times and maximize performance during busy times, EventsAIR uses proactive and reactive resource scaling where it will automatically scale your resources up when needed. You can literally be scaled up to the size of a bank during your event if needed. Do you offer a guaranteed uptime? Yes - our guaranteed uptime is 99.95% Do you offer a service level agreement? Our SLA is 99.95% Uptime and Severity Level 1 is responded to within 1 hour How does your system assist in enhancing productivity? EventsAIR has been designed to perform in line with the way an event manager operates. Use of state management means users can move easily between records, events and tasks as necessary when they are challenged with multiple requests and interruptions throughout their busy days. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 6

7 SECURITY 5 Is your solution PCI compliant? EventsAIR is PCI DSS Version 3.1 Level 1 compliant, which represents the highest level of compliance possible. To achieve this, each year we undergo a series of rigorous audits and tests -including full penetration tests - performed by certified independent third parties. Is all of my attendee and financial data stored with PCI compliance? Yes - Not only is credit card processing done with PCI Compliance, all data stored in EventsAIR meets the same stringent requirements and is included in our PCI audit. Who can see or use my data? Nobody - aside from members of your own event management team to whom you assign access. You have your own dedicated cloud environment and your entire system has several levels of isolation to provide you a very high level of security. Does your technology follow industry practices for spam protection? Yes - EventsAIR follows all industry practices to ensure that communications are not flagged as spam or malicious. We employ a powerful technology that allows for opting out of marketing communications and track important details such as sent, opened, failed and bounced s. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 7

8 6 PRICING Do you have contract requirements? EventsAIR is available in either Flexi options that allow unlimited users and come with a pre-set number of registrations (additional registrations available), or Unlimited packages that provide unlimited registrations with a pre-set number of users (additional users can be added). All packages require a minimum 12 month contract commitment. What are your package options? EventsAIR Essentials includes all the features you need for a typical event and includes registration, accommodation and attendee mobile app. EventsAIR Professional adds travel, accounting, run sheets, organizer app and the powerful App Store. EventsAIR Professional Enterprise Edition designed for larger corporate clients who need large numbers of users, EventsAIR Professional Enterprise Edition offers unlimited users with included registrations ranging from 10K to 100K in size. Additional registrations can always be added on demand for a nominal cost per registration. EventsAIR Premium adds speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, meeting matching and off-line mode. Regardless of your license, you can cost effectively upgrade for just one event Do you charge for speakers who also register? No - Speakers who also register are only charged as one record. Many of our competitors consider this multiple registrations and charge accordingly. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 8

9 PRICING CONTINUED 6 Will you raise my price at the end of my contract period? We offer a Price Lock Guarantee so you will never see a price rise greater than 5% when you renew your subscription, and if our published prices drop, you fees may even decrease. Do you offer multi-year discounts? Yes - on all of our packages, a 10% discount is available on a 2 year plan and 20% on a 3 year plan. Do you charge a fee for credit card transactions? No - you have your own ecommerce gateway account. Do you offer a money back guarantee? Yes - EventsAIR offers an unconditional 30-day money guarantee. We are so confident that EventsAIR will meet all of your requirements and far exceed your expectations, that we offer a 30 day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with EventsAIR, we will happily refund any money paid within the first 30 days of provisioning your service and cancel your contract. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 9

10 7 PRODUCT FEATURES BRANDING Do you offer private branding and white labelling? Yes - EventsAIR supports full private branding for our clients. EventsAIR logos or text do not appear anywhere in EventsAIR. Clients are able to obtain their own custom domain name and can be placed in EventsAIR s default registration URLs as well. Can I use my own style sheets and branding? Yes - The innovative brand editor in EventsAIR lets you easily define and create multiple Brands based on style sheets. Each brand can be formatted and defined for colors, fonts, font sizes, logos and much more. Once a brand is created, it can be used over multiple applications such as registration sites and communications. Do you support custom domains? Yes - Clients are able to use their own custom domain name for both registration URLs and domains. INTERNATIONAL Is the system multilingual? Yes - EventsAIR offers you great flexibility for publishing registration forms, merge docs and attendee apps in any language - with all submitted data still residing in one central database. Does the system have multi-currency support? Yes - EventsAIR supports multiple currencies and tax rates for all countries and structures around the globe. MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT Does EventsAIR offer membership management services? Yes - EventsAIR offers an optional Membership Management Module that let s meeting managers provide additional services for associations and not-for-profit organizations. Annual membership renewals, billing, member communications, event history tracking, a dedicated membership portal and integration with EventsAIR events provides a comprehensive solution for membership management services. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 10

11 7 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED COMMUNICATIONS What Communications are supported? EventsAIR includes a variety of tools that allow you to send targeted communications before, during and after the event. These include the powerful Merge Doc tool that will merge any attendee information into an attractive, personalized presentation; HTML communications for marketing communications, comprehensive surveys; text messaging and messages (multiple text message services are supported), alerts and news sent to the Attendee App. All communications with participants are logged. REGISTRATION Am I able to use my own terminology and define registration components in line with my specific needs? Yes EventsAIR is extremely flexible and allows you to configure an unlimited number of registration types, sessions, activities, hotels, travel types, marketing tags and your own customized fields to capture any data required during the registration process all using your own terminology. Does the system support group registration? Yes - EventsAIR offers a suite of dedicated Group Registration tools and portals, making it easy for group leaders to register, import group details and generate invoices, accept group payments, resend confirmations and run group reports. EventsAIR also includes a powerful group accommodations portal. How is accommodation management streamlined? EventsAIR lets you manage multiple hotels, track inventory by hotel or room type, manage sub-blocks and publish images for hotels and rooms. There are powerful reports to manage booking changes and inventory as well as room release managment tools to help you maintain contractual obligations. EventsAIR s powerful alerts system will proactively let you know when your room inventory falls below your defined preset limits as well as before room releases are due. The Hotel Portal allows your hotel partners to log in and extract rooming lists real-time, as well as access attendee room guarantee credit card data via the PCI Compliant Credit Card Vault. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 11

12 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED 7 Does the system manage travel? Yes - EventsAIR lets you to manage the many details surrounding travel. You can track in-bound and out-bound flights, handle airport transfers and provide detailed itineraries with multiple flights. You can easily cater to fully independent travelers (FIT) and group travel, including seat blocks with airlines. Flight details can be imported directly from a GDS or Excel. Does the system manage speakers/program/abstracts? Yes - With our Speaker Presentations tool, you can capture and manage all information relating to event speakers, including presentation details, room, time, audio-visual requirements and special requests. If you need the speakers to supply something, such as a bio or high-resolution photo, that can also be easily managed and tracked on checklists. Additionally, you can manage a sophisticated review process for presentations. You can set it up to process presentations according to key words, themes, presentation types and sessions. You can also include panel reviewing or blind reviewing, and create a portal for reviewers to log in and perform their tasks. The tool allocates sessions and rooms, and manages the entire delivery of presentations. You can also correspond with speakers, reviewers and chairpersons. Does the system manage exhibitors/tradeshows? Yes - The Exhibition Management tool is a one-stop resource for the sale and delivery of exhibition booths and/or stand space at events. As booths get sold, the information is tracked, including booth size, payment information, logo requirements and forms. Exhibitors have an online portal where they can easily update their information, view a floorplan, select their preferred stand, add product brochures, post the company logo and provide descriptions. The information they supply then publishes on the event s website and in the Mobile Attendee App. Does the system offer Exhibitor Lead Retrieval? Yes - EventsAIR includes at no additional cost a comprehensive Lead Management technology that allows exhibitors to easily collect leads at their stands. Using the Attendee App, Exhibitors can scan the badges of visitors, ask custom profile questions, and once complete, EventsAIR sends a followup to the stand visitor. Data can be viewed and accessed in real time and graphically tracked. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 12

13 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED 7 Does the system offer appointment setting between exhibitors and attendees? Yes - EventsAIR offers a sophisticated Meeting Matching technology to allow attendees and exhibitors (as well as attendee to attendee) to request meetings with selected parties. A powerful Meeting Matching algorithm makes matches based on preferences and rankings provided by attendees and/ or exhibitors and creates meeting schedules for all parties. This flexible technology can also be set up to allow attendees and exhibitors to request additional meetings and all information is available via online portals. Does the system manage sponsorship? Yes - You can manage the sponsors for your event and the sales cycle for those sponsors using the Sponsorship Management tool. It handles everything included in their sponsorship package. It manages payment schedules and payments, along with default inclusions and additional items that sponsors might want to purchase, such as event registration fees, accommodation and optional functions. A powerful sponsor portal can be deployed to automate sponsor registrations, purchases and deliverables. Does the system manage continuing education? Yes - The optional Continuing Education (CE) module manages courses and the numerous details regarding venues, instructors, ongoing communications, certificates and more. It offers an easy registration process, manages budgets, tracks credits or points, coordinates with instructors, communicates with attendees, gathers feedback through surveys and generates reports. Does your system handle a shopping cart environment for ongoing programs such as continuing education or workforce development? Yes - EventsAIR Continuing Education module pairs with a portal environment for both students and Instructors, to manage their course registration history and transcripts. Does your system track continuing education credits? Yes - multiple credit types and variable credits are supported in the Continuing Education Module of EventsAIR. Can registration packages be created in the system? Yes - EventsAIR has a robust package process where you can create inclusions for registration types, exhibitors and sponsors. You can include many items in a package, including event registration, functions, accommodation, travel and exhibition booths. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 13

14 7 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED FINANCIALS Does the system manage the event budgeting and accounting? Yes - The EventsAIR Accounting platform helps you manage all things related to your event s financials. The Budget tool will help you to create the final budget easily, and it also allows you to calculate different scenarios. For example, you can explore the impact of different pricing strategies for registration fees and forecast how attendance numbers will impact costs and profits. You can store all of the budget variations you create and compare them to the actual numbers. The numbers update in real time, so you can see exactly what s happening with your income and expenditures. Can multiple attendees be combined on one invoice? Yes - Multiple attendees can be combined and paid under one invoice. Does the system support discount codes? Yes - EventsAIR supports discount codes based on percentage or currency discounts, and offers additional features such as group discounts, date and inventory limitations discount codes applicable to specific registration types. REPORTING What are your standard reports? EventsAIR offers a powerful report technology that lets organizers filter data and print reports about every aspect of their meetings and events. Reports are easily customized, generated and exported in many different formats. There are over 120 standard reports. EventsAIR also supports ad hoc reporting capabilities using our export options Do you offer custom reporting? Yes - In addition to the standard reports, you can easily customize your own by adding or removing fields. You can also create a custom look by adding a logo or other branding elements. Do you offer global reporting? Yes - you are able to search, view, export and report on a variety of data elements across multiple events, such as users, suppliers, event details and financials. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 14

15 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED 7 Does the system provide proactive statistics and alerts? Yes - EventsAIR lets you stay up-to-date in real-time through two types of Alerts. The first type automatically issues an alert when important information needs to be communicated to you, such as when inventory is low, the event sells out or a waiting list starts. The second type of Alert ties into pre-planned alert that the organizer wants to receive, such as an alert when a speaker or VIP registers or checks in onsite. Data snapshots are also provided in the EventsAIR Dashboard, Financials Panel, and integrates real-time Google Analytics on all online activity. What type of website analytics are available? EventsAIR is fully integrated with Google Analytics, which allows you to collect detailed analytic data on all your functions that have a presence on the web this includes Interactive Registration pages, websites, mobile applications, surveys and other portals generated from the EventsAIR App Store. Separately, EventsAIR utilizes a tool that tracks open and bounce rates. EVENT MANAGEMENT Does the system provide any project and task management? Yes - Designed to serve as your virtual assistant, the Project Manager tool will help you map out your master plan. It lists tasks, dates, deadlines and keeps track of how the event is progressing. Your team members can also be alerted whenever a task is due to begin or be completed. Does the system manage run sheets? Yes - The Run Sheet hosts all of the micro tasks needed for all aspects of your event. It lists the tasks assigned to team members, and shows exactly what tasks need to be done, when, where and by whom. As your team members complete tasks, they check them off and the Run Sheet updates instantly. The Run Sheet appears in EventsAIR and on the Organizer Mobile App, so you can monitor tasks in real time from anywhere. Does the system allow badge and name card design? Yes - EventsAIR offers complete name badge design and production, and can merge any attendee data onto the badge. 1D bar codes and 2D QR codes are can be added to badges for easy scanning for access control. Powerful logic can be added to control what items print on the badge. Multiple badge types can be created for each event as necessary. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 15

16 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED 7 DATA MANAGEMENT Does the system allow for custom workflows or processes? Yes - Leveraging the power of the EventsAIR App Store allows organizers to customize work flows and processes at unprecedented cost and time savings. The innovative App Store in EventsAIR provides our customers with both pre-written custom apps and the ability to create unique and individualized apps to provide custom workflows and processes for their meeting requirements. This totally unique approach to custom development provides a cost-effective and powerful way to leverage the core EventsAIR technology with custom-developed apps unique to specific requirements. Does the system support surveys and audience polling? Yes - EventsAIR offers a powerful survey tool that can be used for general conferences as well as session specific surveys. Session surveys can be deployed through the Mobile Attendee App once a session ends, and detailed reporting and data analysis of survey results is provided in the Survey Manager. The survey tool lets you build libraries of questions which can be easily deployed in multiple surveys. Surveys can be cloned as well to speed up new survey publication. Another feature provides an audience polling component to the Attendee Mobile App. Using this tool, speakers can ask questions and receive immediate feedback from participants using the Mobile App on their smart phones or tablets. Does the system support graphical seating assignments? Yes - EventsAIR provides a graphical floor plan designer for any seated event you may organize. You can define any size or shape of table, number of seats, and other elements for your room layout. Once defined, you are able to drag and drop attendees who have signed up for a specific function. This drag and drop function can be filtered and sorted in many ways to make your allocation of table seating extremely fast and easy. Can the system easily import/export data? Yes - new contacts can easily be imported and registration data and marketing tags applied. Extensive data export is available in Standard Export format (pre-set combinations of data) and Comprehensive Export format, which allows you unlimited export options across most modules in EventsAIR. Are any data cleansing tools available? Yes - A full data de-duplication utility is included in EventsAIR. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 16

17 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED 7 Are any bulk data manipulation tools available? Yes - EventsAIR offers powerful Bulk Data Creation and Bulk Data Cancellation functionality. Additional bulk processes include Bulk Delete and Bulk Change. These tools save significant amounts of time. Does the system support wait-listing? Yes Wait-Listing for activities with inventory limits such as functions, accommodation and travel etc., is fully supported in EventsAIR. Does the system support attendee replacement? Yes - A flexible Replace Attendee function is included in EventsAIR. AT EVENT What onsite management tools are available for the event organizer? The native Mobile Organizers App lets you put a streamlined version of EventsAIR onto a mobile device. You can then manage the event onsite or anywhere. To ensure that EventsAIR runs efficiently as a mobile app, we pared it down to the features you need most during the event. You can access the agenda, perform session and function check-ins, monitor your Twitter feed, search for attendees, send out alerts, communicate with your staff, manage Run Sheets, run reports and more. You can still access the full version of EventsAIR, but the app offers a lighter version of essential tools ideal for when you re on the go. The Native Organizer App installs natively on ios and Android devices and also has an HTML5 version as well. Does the system support native mobile apps for attendees? Yes - In less than five minutes, you can set up a native Mobile Attendee App that allows you to communicate with all attendees or a group of attendees. When attendees install the app onto their mobile phone or tablet, they can find all of the event information they need, including their daily schedules, session data, event layout, important phone numbers and more. They can also search for attendees and message one another. Some functions do not require the Internet, so attendees aren t subject to slow connection speeds. You can send news articles, schedule changes, reminders and even load information such as local restaurants and points of interest. The Mobile Attendee App is included at no additional cost and is deployed as a native app for all smart devices. The Mobile app can also be deployed and installed outside on any App Store environment. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 17

18 PRODUCT FEATURES CONTINUED What tools are available to streamline onsite registration and check-in? The Onsite Portal provides a powerful set of tools to check attendees into an event. This portal is for staffed check in desks, and includes the ability to take a photograph for inclusion on a name badge, edit attendee details, collect payments and print name badges on demand. The Self Check-In Kiosk App lets you organize as many self check-in kiosks as you require. Each kiosk can scan QR codes or bar codes, allow attendees to type in their details, and generate an automatic name badge print. The kiosk can direct attendees with payment due to another location for assistance and can also let you display custom messages for specific attendees. The Access Control Portal lets you manage access to specific events or functions, even it if is offsite. It can run without a connection to the Internet and lets you scan bar codes or QR codes quickly for large numbers of attendees to access an event quickly. A simple Green/Red alert lets you know if the attendee is allowed into the event or not. The Mobile Organizer App allows you and your team to check attendees into the conference, scan/ check in for functions, and scan in/scan out for sessions where you need to track actual attendance. Other Apps in the EventsAIR App Store include the Function Table Allocation App, Presenter Prep Room App, AV Technician App, and the Onsite Item Collection App. Can the system be operated off-line? Yes - EventsAIR exclusively offers Onsite Advantage Packages as an option to all clients. These comprehensive packages include the Continuity Server, which maintains an offline synchronization of important event data so onsite activities can continue in case of an Internet outage. Data is automatically synchronized back to the cloud once an Internet connection is resumed. Other tools in the Onsite Advantage Package include a Server Boost to accommodate periods of high onsite usage (such as check-in and Mobile App usage), Unlimited Users so you can easily add all the additional staff that your event requires and Priority Support Access so you can quickly reach a support person during the time frame of your package. Multiple options allow for different levels of Server Boost and packages are available from 3-14 days in length. EVENT TECHNOLOGY BUYER S GUIDE // EVENTSAIR // 18

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