Use These 9 Simple Tips & Tricks to Take Your Event Page to the Next Level

If you want to make a good first impression on attendees, you need to have an engaging, informative, and visually appealing event page. Savvy event organizers follow tried-and-tested strategies to plan events that meet their attendees’ expectations from the very start and a helpful event page is a great place to start.

In this article, we’ll share nine great tips and tricks, plus a few bonus tips that you can use to take your event page to the next level and potentially increase registrations and bring in more event revenue.

#1: Customize Widgets

Event Espresso comes with two widgets right out of the box which you can add to any widgetized area on your event website. Depending on which event theme you’re using, you might add it to the sidebar or footer.

The Upcoming Events widget lets you list all upcoming events in the sidebar (or any other widgetized area) on your event site. It displays the title of the event which links to the relevant event registration page and gives you the option to display expired events, waitlist events, deleted events, and recurring events.

The Calendar widget adds a small-sized calendar to widgetized areas and displays tooltips on hover for event name along with a tick icon. You can choose to show or hide events that have expired and display all events from a selected category.

#2: Add Images

Event pages with vibrant images immediately captivate the visitor’s attention and encourage them to find out more about your event. The event description is a great place to add event-related photos such as your logo or photos from past events.

The event image you choose to add to your event page is a representation of your event experience and should therefore let attendees know what they can expect to get from your event.

Event Espresso’s built-in WYSIWYG [what you see is what you get] editor lets you easily add images to your event pages just as you would in a WordPress post. If you’re familiar with HTML, you can further format images to make them standout.

Here are a few actionable tips to help you find images for your event site:

• Take photos at events. If you’ve hosted events in the past, you might consider repurposing some photos for your event page. Make sure that the photos are high quality, capture the essence of the event, and feature event attendees in them.
• Create custom graphics using Canva. If you don’t have photos from past events or this is your first time organizing an event, consider creating custom graphics using a tool like Canva. It’s easy to use and you don’t have to be a proficient designer to create high-quality graphics for your event site.
• Grab images from sites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay. You can use free-to-use images taken from sites like Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay. These sites typically contain high-quality images so you won’t have to worry about image sizes.

#3: Display Social Share Buttons

Adding social share buttons directly on your event page encourages visitors and registrants to share event details with their followers. If you make it easy for visitors to share an event on Twitter or Facebook with a single click, they’ll be more likely to do that than if they had to copy and paste the event page URL.

Event Espresso lets you easily add social share buttons to your event page. All you have to do is enable the option in the plugin settings and add your account information.

Along with the social share button, you might consider adding a call to action that encourages registrants to share event details with their friends and followers. To make it even easier for visitors to share, you could add pre-populated text to the tweet or social message.

#4: Venue Details and Map

Your event’s information should be clearly displayed on your event site. This includes the location of the venue, how attendees can get there, and whether they’ll need to drive there themselves or if public transport is available.

Event Espresso’s Venue Manager makes it easy for event organizers to set up venue profiles or display all events taking place at a specific venue. Additionally, you can opt to display a visual map of the event location within your individual event pages with the Google Maps integration.

#5: Create Event Categories

A great way to enhance your event page’s user experience is by making it easier for attendees to find the event they’d be most interested in. One way to do this is by organizing your events into categories – such as free, paid, musical events, training events – and recommending new (or related) events.

Bonus tip: using color-coded events with the Event Espresso’s Events Calendar can help you increase your event page’s visual appeal.

#6: Display Events in a Table View or Grid View

Arranging your events in a table or grid view helps your guests easily browse events and see event details at a glance. It also enhances your site’s user-experience and makes your event page engaging.

With Event Espresso, you can choose to display your events in a:

Table view. Events Table View Template automatically displays all of your events in a table layout as they’re created in Event Espresso. Attendees can view an event listing and click on it to find out more.

Grid view. The Events Grid View Template allows you to showcase event listings in a grid format. An attendee can hover over an event and click on it to find out when registration starts.

#7: Add iCal Download Links

iCal lets you store information about upcoming events in a way that can be imported directly into a calendar. In other words, registrants can use the iCal download links on your event listings page to add the events they’ve registered for to their own calendars.

Event Espresso lets you integrate your event website with iCal-compatible calendars including Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook, and Google Calendar. By default, iCal download links are displayed in Event Espresso’s event listings page, registration confirmation page, and event details page.

#8: Built-In Template Options

Event Espresso comes with full-page Event and Venue custom post types and single page templates that let you display your event and venue details on your event page. This includes the event description, event date and time, event tickets, event venues, event venue location, event venue details, and more.

Event Espresso also offers a number of theming options for developers. If you’re looking to match your events page with your site’s theme, you can do so using CSS. Alternatively, you can install a CSS builder plugin and use it to customize your event theme with CSS.

#9: Display Attendee Testimonials

If you’ve run events in the past, you could reach out to attendees and request a testimonial. Displaying testimonials on your event page builds trust and lets registrants know what they can expect to get from attending your event. 

Bonus Tips

Use Emojis

Emojis are great for communicating emotions and capturing the visitor’s attention. Event Espresso offers support for all Unicode libraries, including emojis. You can add emojis to your event page and registration forms directly from your computer. Here’s how:

• Using Mac: Press Command + Control + Spacebar
• Using Windows: Press Windows key + Fullstop

Set Up a Waiting List

You might consider setting up a waiting list for your events if your events are popular in the community or you need a way to restrict the number of attendees (for example, if you have a smaller venue).

You can use Event Espresso to create a waiting list that people can add themselves to. You might even consider asking attendees to pay for their spot on the waitlist if it lets you add more capacity to your event, for example by renting out a bigger venue.

Create Promotions and Discounts

A great way to enhance attendee experience and boost registrations is by using promotions and discounts to offer various kinds of discounts such as: 

• Percentage based discount
• Flat amount discount
• Limited time discount

 

And there are several ways you can offer promotions and discount codes to your attendees. For example, you can share them on social media to encourage early registrations, offer speakers and sponsors discounts, or include promotional codes in email marketing campaigns.

With Event Espresso, you can display the Enter your discount code textbox and button directly on your event registration page to let people avail the discount at registration.

Conclusion

Your event page gives you an opportunity to make a good first impression on your site’s visitors, registrants, and prospective attendees. You can use this space to:

• Provide helpful information by adding iCal download links or sharing venue details and maps.
• Increase your event page’s usability by creating event categories, adding social share buttons, or displaying events in either a table or grid layout.
• Captivate the visitor’s attention using engaging images or by sharing testimonials.

 

Are you excited to try any of these ideas on your event page? Let us know in the comments below!