Happy Halloween! It’s come to our attention that our arch nemesis, Eventbrite has raised their ticketing fee pricing. So we have taken it upon ourselves to offer Event Managers an escape from high fees and vendor lock-in that has been experienced with Closed Source Event Ticketing Platforms.
To combat the evil scourge of high ticketing fees that is taking over the world of Event Organizers everywhere, we encourage Event Managers to adopt Open Source Event Ticketing.
All kidding aside.
We Believe in the Freedoms that Open Source Event Ticketing Provides
We are dying to know, are Eventbrite fees putting a dent in your pocketbook? Is your non-profit organization suffering through the latest round of Eventbrite ticketing fee increases? Have your ticket sales have been shut down for violating Eventbrite’s TOS?
If you have answered yes to any of the above, then we welcome you to our open source, event ticketing platform, Event Espresso, with open arms.
At Event Espresso, we believe in Open Source Software and the rights it provides users. So, it saddens us to see closed-source platforms, such as Eventbrite, increasing their fees, even for their non-profit customers.
Earlier this year, we reported on a quilting events and workshops company that is losing $21,000 in ticketing fees annually, by using Eventbrite. That means, if fees are increasing, the quilting company will stand to lose well over $40,000 in ticketing fees, next year.
As we start planning for spring and summer events, we want to be sure you know that Event Espresso is your Event Ticketing System for WordPress. Whether you are hosting Art Classes, Car Shows, Conferences, Quilting Retreats, or any other event, Event Espresso makes it simple to sell tickets to each of these events – or all of them at the same time – right from your WordPress website.
Since our event app announcement back in February, our team has been busy building brand new event mobile apps for onsite check-in & ticket scanning. The new Event Espresso 4 event app allows you to transform your Android and/or Apple device into an onsite attendance management tool for events. Allowing event managers another option to manage check-ins at the door of their events.
Quickly check-in attendees and view information about your events and attendees. Built-in ticket scanning capabilities allow you to scan tickets (optional upgrade) at your classes, meetings, conventions, concerts, and everything in between. Event managers can also login to the website to view attendance records, generate an attendance list and export the list to a report in CSV format.
Benefits
Use the event app to check attendees in/out of events, view attendee/registration and event info. Additional benefits of using the Event Espresso 4 Event App at your event include:
No more messy attendee lists to deal with, just search for an attendee names and check them in from the app
Integrates in real-time with the attendee list in Event Espresso, within your own website
Easily view attendee/registration info, such as:
Attendee list per datetime
Ticket purchases
Payment status
Check-in status
Allows for multiple check-in “stations”. Eg, use multiple Android/iPhone devices to log into to the same attendee list so employees can check-in attendees using multiple different devices
Device-to-device QR Code scanning helps to keep your events “Green” by providing an environmentally friendly ticketing solution
Makes your organization efficient and innovative with easy access to event info, such as:
Event list
Venue info
Datetimes
Registration totals
Capacity statistics
Who is this for?
Anyone using Event Espresso 4 to manage events/classes and accepting registrations on their WordPress website can use this event app to scan tickets, monitor attendee access, view registration details, and more.
Event Smart Customer?
You can use the event app with Event Smart, too. Just let us know so we can turn on your REST API feature.
Screenshots
Events Overview
The event app design team took a some extra time to give the event overview a few nice design updates this time around. Including the use of featured images, event descriptions, better datetime display, and selecting among multiple datetimes.
Attendee Overview
The registration overview screen allows entry staff check-in/out the attendees from within the event app. If you allow your attendees to leave, then re-enter later, you can easily check the attendee out, then check them back in from the attendee overview screen. This also updates the check-in/out records in your website database.
Check-in & Ticket Scanning
Ticket scanning allows entry staff to easily scan tickets at the door (EE4 Ticketing add-on required). When a ticket is scanned, a response is sent back to your event website checking that attendee into the event.
We also owe a big shout out to the Event Espresso community (customers, support team, third-party developers, and non-profits organizations) for believing in us for over 7 years.
Contribute
Help shape the future of Event Espresso mobile apps. If you’re a user or developer and would like to leave feedback about the Event Espresso mobile apps, contact us on our support forums. Your feedback is invaluable and helps us to improve the experience, each and every day.
We are happy to announce a new beta version of Event Espresso is available in the pre-release channel. Event Espresso 4.9 is a major update that brings a new message queue system, new registration question types, and a 20-30% performance increase for page loads. These updates lower the time and resources it takes for your server to process registrations and lays the groundwork for highly requested features, such as automated reminder messages.
New Features in Event Espresso 4.9
Message Queue System
This new system tracks and prioritizes when messages are generated and when they are sent. When messages are triggered, they are no longer generated immediately and sent on the same request. Instead, they enter into a queue and all processing happens on separate requests. This makes your registration process faster, especially when processing more registrations at the same time.
All outgoing messages will still be delivered as expected. However, with the new message queue system, you can now track the status of all outgoing/sent messages, and resend previously sent messages.
Here are a few screenshots that help you see the improvements.
Message Activity tab This tab allows you to see messages that have been sent, queued, failed, and more.
Message Activity – Actions
The actions column gives you the option to: generate a message now, send messages immediately (if queued), resend messages, view transactions, and view failed messages, view messages and more.
Message Activity – Legend
Easily view see recognize the status of message actions.
New Registration Question Types
In Event Espresso 4.9 we’ve introduced several new question types, such as “Email”, “Integer”, “Decimal”, “URL”, “USA – Format Phone” and “Year”. These new fields add the ability to validate questions based on the type of the question. For instance, site admins can have questions that need to be validated as email addresses or URLs.
Breakdown of New Field Types
“Decimal” only allows decimal numbers
“Email” only allows proper email addresses (or blank if its not required)
“Integer” only allows full numbers, no letters or special characters
“URL” only allows valid URLs (the server-side validation of this requires that those URLs actually work; but the client-side Javascript just checks their format is correct)
“USA – Format Phone” only allows 10-digit numbers (or blank if its not required)
“Whole Number” validates numbers such as 1, 23, 334, negative numbers such as -1, -23, and -334 will be invalid
“Year” creates a dropdown of available years
These new question types allow you to customize your online event registration forms even more and get the information from your attendees to make your event successful.
How To Get EE 4.9
Existing Customers
If you’re still reading, that means you’re probably excited to check it out. If you aren’t signed up already, you should sign up for the pre-release channel on your account page to get access to Event Espresso 4.9. If you have signed up for the pre-release channel, you will already have access and all you need to do is download it.
Please report any issues related to Event Espresso 4.9 in the Pre-release section in our support forums, where you can post any questions, problems or bugs you find after downloading/installing EE 4.9.
Developers
Please create a new issue in the Github repository and be sure to prefix it with the text “EE 4.9”. That way our developers are aware the issue is related to Event Espresso 4.9.
In Event Espresso 4, if you manage the online event registration and ticketing for a category of events (e.g. volunteering opportunities or an on-going writing workshop) you can configure ONE event page and let the multiple datetime and multiple ticket names specify the different dates and ticket options.
Configuring your events this way allows you to:
have one event page with a specific url where you can refer people to time and time again via email or over the phone or in social media, etc
Optimize this special event page for your particular type of event to increase your search engine optimization ranking and ticket sales
Present more volunteering/purchasing options to people at once rather than making them view multiple pages or check out/purchase multiple times
Here is an example of this strategy with all the upcoming volunteering opportunities for a non-profit organization.
In this case your organization offers multiple types of volunteering opportunities that occur on different dates. Once you have configured your event registration and ticketing for these similar types of events, your potential customers/attendees/volunteers will be presented with all the volunteering opportunities on ONE page. This is what the front-end would look like (click to enlarge).
You can only get this type of control with Event Espresso.
Take a look at this Event Espresso 4tutorialif you want to see how it’s done.
The fifth installment of our monthly hangout, Espresso Bar, will be tomorrow at 10am MDT (4PM UDT). Seth and Chris will be talking about several new add-ons that are now available in the pre-release channel, new badge templates for the Ticketing add-on coming in 2.1 and the user experience improvement program. If you have questions for us or are interested in being a guest on the Espresso Bar, fill out the form below to send us your information.
As always, we’ll be taking questions via Twitter with the hashtag #EventEspresso. We look forward to seeing you there!
Wow, we have a lot of updates going out. I was going to split this out into separate posts, but there’s just too much stuff. It would take a month to separate things out. Instead I’ll give you the highlight reel.
Event Espresso 3.1.32
The big new changes with Event Espresso is the database optimization. Some serious database optimization. Admin pages in this version load 200% faster, even with a lot of events or attendees. We’ve also fiddled with the event overview ordering so the stuff you want to see is in front of you, rather than having to page down to it.
There are four new gateways introduced in 3.1.32, including Google Wallet and the Canadian gateway, Moneris.
But the thing you’ll see right away is the UXIP Program.
The main reason for this is that now that we have finished the beta version of Event Espresso Arabica (which, as has been mentioned previously, is the “decaf” — or “lite” — version, with no premium gateways added) and have moved on to Event Espresso 4.1, we need to start gearing our development toward how the plugin will be best used. We have no real idea, for example, how many people are using the eWay gateway, or how many people are using 2Checkout as compared to, say, FirstData. And since there may be gateways that no one is using, we are trying to optimize our development by building the gateways that are being used most first for 4.1. In the future, this will give us information about what features you are using, so we can get an understanding of how you are using Event Espresso which will help us gear our development more toward your needs. Surveys are great, but you only get a limited number of people responding to surveys and that might not be representative of the whole picture. This will securely transmit information to our server that we can aggregate and use to directly guide the future development of the plugin. You can read more about the User eXperience Improvement Program here.
Event Espresso 3.1.33 Pre-release
A new version in the wild means a new pre-release. 3.1.33 will be a smaller release but adds three new gateways, including an Infusionsoft integration and a Quickbooks gateway. Oh, and a cool new function, espresso_get_event that can be used to get all the information for an event when passed an event_id (e.g. espresso_get_event($event_id). This is used by the updated Espresso Social add-on, described below.
Espresso Mailchimp 1.1 Pre-release
This update adds only one thing, but it’s a biggie. The Mailchimp 1.1 add-on adds support for Mailchimp Groups. You may have heard us talk about it on the Espresso Bar hangout with Eric from IvyCat (if not, go check it out). This is a sweet little feature that we thought warranted a major feature version bump and came out of some real-world scenarios and uses of Mailchimp and the Event Espresso Mailchimp Integration add-on. You can thank Eric in the forums or send him some love via the Event Espresso Pros page.
Infusionsoft Integration 1.0 Pre-release
This one was probably largely inspired by Seth’s insomnia. We’ve had requests in the past to integrate some kind of CRM into Event Espresso. Infusionsoft is great because they have an open API that made it really easy to do some really interesting things. If you’re already an Infusionsoft user, you can basically use your Infusionsoft dashboard instead of your Event Espresso dashboard in the WordPress admin. Customer records are created automatically even when the attendee was registered with a manual or offline payment. Payment records are updated automatically and you can use any of the built-in Event Espresso gateways or your Infusionsoft Merchant Account.
Espresso Social Media add-on 1.1.5
Here’s one that I worked on. This update fixes the Facebook like button! However, even more exciting is that it will roll out a feature, when combined with Event Espresso 3.1.33, that will add opengraph tags to the header of your site, allowing better and more specific information to be sent to Facebook with your like. What information, you ask? How about support for event thumbnails? Or descriptions that pull from your event descriptions? This is made possible by the new espresso_get_event function added to core.
But wait, there’s more
What else got some love? I’ll tell you:
JSON API 2.0
The Event Espresso JSON API is officially available to download. If you didn’t sign up for the pre-release channel when we first added the API, you can get it now with your regular downloads. The latest update fixes some minor bugs as well as speeding up some of the queries.
WP User Integration 1.9.7.1 HOTFIX
A minor update that adds a security fix to the My Events shortcode.
Roles & Permissions Basic 1.5.4 and Pro 2.0.6
These have been available for a month on the pre-release channel and add some minor fixes.
Espresso Ticketing 2.0.10
This update fixes some minor issues as well as addresses the Venue Address 2 line that was not displaying on the ticket by default. It also takes care of some issues with the iPhone app as well as fixes some untranslatable strings.
Attendee Reassignment Add-on 1.0 Pre-release
The plugin formerly known as the Attendee Mover Tool, this add-on allows you to migrate attendees from one event to another. Pretty cool, huh? This is something we’ve been asked about for a long time. Seth made a video where you can see the plugin in action.
Price Modifier Add-on 0.0.3 Pre-release
An early version of this plugin, it adds the ability to attach a price to a question. Why would you need this? How about adding a question like “Do you want dinner?” to your event, and if the answer is yes, it adds $15 for a meal. This is a pre-release, so we’re anxious to hear your thoughts about how this plugin can be improved in the pre-release forums.
Espresso Calendar 2.0.5 and 2.0.6 Pre-release
2.0.5 adds some new tooltip styles to the calendar as well as fixes some issues with displaying events and other minor issues. 2.0.6 adds the updated styles and javascript from fullcalendar.js.
What about that Arabica thing?
Don’t worry, we’re still busy working on the next generation version of Event Espresso. Development has moved on from the decaf version (4.0) to the regular version which will make it’s first appearance as 4.1 and include a migration script to get you moved over from the legacy (3.1.x) versions of Event Espresso.
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think in the forums or the comments below.
Event Espresso is a powerful event management and registration system that is perfect for many different types of events, including everything from Yoga classes to hockey games. However, I bet you didn’t know it has been used as a haunted house ticketing system?
Manage your haunted house ticket sales from your website
Why go through the hassle of using a third-party ticketing system when you can manage your ticket sales right from your website?
Haunted houses are fun and booming, but many haunted houses (like thesetwo based locally in Salt Lake City) waste your money by using a third-party online ticketing system. These third-party ticketing systems tack on a “Ticket Surcharge” or “Booking Fee” for each ticket purchased, in addition to transaction fees that are incurred by the company hosting the haunted house company. Not good!
Use a calendar to sell tickets
Event Espresso gives you many tools, right at your fingertips, to handle your haunted house ticketing. Right out of the box, you have access to a ticketing and payment system through your favorite merchant gateway. Many haunted houses will change their schedules, running more shows/admissions the closer you get to Halloween. With the Calendar add-on, you can let your visitors know what nights your haunted house will be open and let them purchase tickets for the evening they want to attend.
Make your life easier with multiple dates, tickets & pricing packages!
To make your life easier creating events, you can use the many ticket and pricing options available to you. Our system enables event managers to create a variety of ticket options to accommodate the maximum number of attendees and collect the right fees.
Ticket Selector
An unlimited number of tickets can be configured with the following options:
Use the Promotions add-on for Event Espresso 4 to add powerful and flexible promotional pricing features to your website. You can create discount codes and promotions that can be applied when registering for an event. The promotions feature gives you the ability to send your audience a discount code, or receive an automatic discount that reduces the price of a ticket(s)/registration(s).
As a haunted house owner, use the promotions feature to allow you to:
Target and re-target attendees with banners or email campaigns offering automatic discounts or giving them special discounts with a code
Distribute and promote your event through partners (speakers, sponsors, venues, affiliates, etc.) by offering them an exclusive coupon code they can share with their audience
Track and measure the performance of marketing campaigns and advertising
Reward loyal customers by offering them a special discount and incentivize them to attend again
Encourage customers to take action now by providing limited quantity or limited time discounts
Test and discover what pricing, distribution, marketing or advertising strategy works best for your audience(s)
Offer discounts to different target audiences so that your event is priced correctly
Here is a brief screencast demonstration for the Promotions & Discount Codes in Event Espresso 4:
Event Espresso’s customizable and printable tickets can make your organization look smart, capable, entertaining, and prepared. In addition to the Advanced Printable Tickets where you can change the default ticket, Customized Printable Tickets from Event Espresso will let you create custom ticket designs for each event separately. You can have one ticket design for one event and another ticket design for another event, plus maintain the default ticket type all at the same time.
You can customize the default look of your ticket for all events, with custom:
Logos
Colors
Layouts
Images
Dimensions
Attendee information (including their Gravatar image)
Event information
Ticket details
and more!
Your ticket can be any shape or size or color and contain almost any information you want to match your brand.
Mobile ticketing apps for attendance tracking
Our event app allows you to transform your Android or Apple mobile device into an onsite attendee management tool. The event app gives event managers the ability to manage check-ins at the door of your events. You can even use the event app to scan tickets (optional upgrade), check attendees in/out of events, view attendee/registration and event info.
Event managers can also login to the website to view attendance records, generate a list of participants and export the file to a report in CSV format.
The Event Espresso 4 event app allows you to transform your Android or Apple device into an onsite attendee management tool. It also lets you quickly check-in attendees and see information about your events and attendees. Built-in ticket scanning capabilities allow you to scan tickets (optional upgrade) at your classes, meetings, conventions, concerts, and everything in between.
Integrates in real-time with the attendee list in Event Espresso, within your website
Quickly view attendeS/registration info, such as:
Attendee list per datetime
Ticket purchases
Payment status
Check-in status
Allows for multiple check-in “stations”. Eg, use multiple Android/iPhone devices to log into to the same attendee list so employees can check-in attendees using multiple different devices
Mobile-to-mobile QR Code scanning helps to keep your events “Green” by providing an environmentally friendly ticketing solution
Makes your organization efficient and innovative with easy access to event info, such as:
Event list
Venue info
Datetimes
Registration totals
Capacity Statistics
Event Espresso No Fee Ticketing Software Saves You Money
Best of all we do not charge you per-ticket fees – a hot button issue for many haunted house managers! If you have not yet chosen an online ticket software for your haunted house ticketing, know that our yearly subscription based pricing can potentially generate additional revenue for you.
Ready to Buy a Support License for Event Espresso? All the tools you need to get started are included in the EE4 Everything Support License.
Get Your Money Sooner
Unlike other event and attraction ticketing companies, who hold on to your ticket sales money until after the party, Event Espresso allows you to choose the payment processor, so the money goes straight to you as soon as tickets are sold – just like a product sale. That gives you the money you need to cover bills, pay for venue rental, and even earn interest.
And if your current haunted house ticketing system doesn’t provide the tools mentioned throughout this post, please contact us at your convenience, or post to the pre-sales forums and we’ll do our best to help explain how it can work for you.
We’d like to announce today that we have released the Event Espresso Mobile Ticketing Apps for iphone, iPod, and Android mobile devices. These mobile platforms bring event managers and organizers even more autonomy and power to setup their own registration system.
The Event Espresso plugin for WordPress and our iOS and Android apps:
Speed up registrations at the door
Integrates in real-time with the attendee list in Event Espresso
Allows for multiple check-in “stations”. Eg. Use multiple iPhones/Android phones to log into to the same attendee list so employees can scan tickets using multiple different mobile devices
Send an e-mail to the ticket holder with a “Thank you for Attending” – This will save time from currently having to check the name off and having attendees sign a confirmation that they were present at the event. This will help to avoid refund situations (coming soon)
Keep your events “Green” by providing an environmentally friendly ticketing solution
Custom tickets can double as a name badge
Makes your organization very official and innovative
Requirements: Event Espresso version 3.0.19.p.34 or greater and purchase of the QR Code ticketing addon. Note: the ticketing app will work with some earlier versions of Event Espresso, but 3.0.19.p.34 has the ability to check people in/out of the event if the ticketing addon is installed.
