This page is about selecting an online event booking engine for your training course, seminar, convention or conference. If you already have one, and want to explore ways to increase bookings see How to Grow Your Bookings/Ticket Sales.
As a training course/event/seminar/conference organiser you will want clients to be able to book a place when they find it on your website or on the websites of other parties who are assisting you to promote your event. If you are also the trainer or speaker, your primary focus will be on preparing your material. You want to have to spend minimal time on getting an event booking engine configured.
Here are some things to look for when choosing an event booking engine:
- It should be easy and reasonably quick to configure an event.
- You don’t want to have to install software packages onto your computer or server to configure your event.
- You will want the ability to copy and paste an event booking widget from the event booking engine’s control panel onto your webpage. This should display detailed information about the event including:
- the topics you plan to cover
- for a training course/seminar: the learning outcomes (what the students can expect to be able to do after completing the course)
- for a conventions or conference: the advantages and benefits which people attending can expect to receive
- any prerequisites courses or material which the attendees need to be familiar with before taking the course
- any items that the attendees need to bring to the event with them
- images which you upload to the control panel
- The location where the event is to take place
- The start date & time of the event and also the end time or duration
The booking widget must also enable the visitor to book their place and make an online payment.
- Attendees booking a place should be able to book and pay anytime of the day or night, 24×7. They should also receive a confirmation e-mail within a few minutes of making their booking.
- From the point of view of the attendee using the booking form, the booking process should be straightforward with the minimum number of steps and requesting the minimum amount of information to be entered. It should be easy to use from mobile (smartphone, tablet), laptop and desktop devices.
- It should prevent overbooking: If your training class/conference/event has capacity for 100 attendees, then it should not allow more than that number to be booked.
- If you plan on running the event multiple times, on a regular basis, the booking engine should enable you to make the event recurring so that you only have to enter the event details once. You should be able to specify the regularity of the recurrence, for example, “every two weeks on Tuesdays”, or “the first Wednesday of each month from September through December”.