Tag Golden Ticket Newsletter – Issue 1

Top tips to trim event costs

Every penny counts when planning a successful event in the current economic climate. But what corners should you cut without sacrificing the quality of your event?

M&C Magazine dishes the top ways to trim your event costs.

M&C Magazine dishes the top ways to trim your event budget.

M&C Magazine recently enlisted the help of top meeting planning professionals to compile 50 ways to trim your event budget.  From staffing to food and beverage to décor, M&C details easy, money-saving tips you can implement now.

Here are some tips they shared:

  • Utilize student workers. Hire local college students who require lower wages than an experienced event staff. You may also offer college credit for the work experience.
  • Lower the bar tab. Dramatically lower an event budget by limiting your patron’s alcohol intake at your event. Instead of hosting an open bar, provide a couple of drink tickets per person followed by a cash bar.
  • Scour the D-list. Save money on speaker fees by researching speakers that haven’t made it to celebrity status yet. Their speaking fees are cheaper, but no less inspirational.
  • Reuse name-badges. Recycle plastic name-badge holders and lanyards so they can be used at your next event (have volunteers collect them or set up a well-marked drop-off bin). Or eliminate the cost of holders completely by using name badges that don’t require them, such as TempBadge from PC/Nametag .
  • Make use of free or included resources. Ask the venue to use house table linens, rather than ordering custom linens from rental firms. In addition, instead of renting furniture to stage an event, explore what the venue has to offer from their lobby or other spaces.

Check out the full article on M&C’s website.

What other money saving tricks to you use when planning an event? Feel free to post your tips below.

Stories from Sell Outs: Wizard World increases online sales by 40%

Wizard World Entertainment

Wizard World, a multi-city touring comic convention, reached out to TicketLeap for assistance with resolving their online and onsite ticketing difficulties, increasing their visibility and growing their overall sales. Thanks in part to TicketLeap’s innovative ticketing technology, Wizard World beat the previous year’s online sales by 40%, saved thousands of man-hours and was able to focus on their area of expertise, creating an amazing comic convention. TicketLeap was able to increase sales during a recession due to their immediate identification and resolution of Wizard World’s paint points. Their major challenges included, the frustrations with selling tickets online and onsite, failure to track sales and the inability to capture any valuable attendee information.

“TicketLeap saved us thousands of dollars in man-hours – especially when you factor in customer service, printing, packing, shipping fees, etc. It takes the mess out of fulfilling all our ticket sales. It goes beyond a cost savings, too, as it saves you an incredible amount of headache and does not drain our limited resources.”

Stephen Shamus, Wizard World Chief Marketing Officer

Check out the touch screen kiosks from Wizard World in action.

Challenge: Concerned by their inability to see or track online sales and attendance by not using a true online event registration system.

Solution: TicketLeap’s ticketing technology gave Wizard World the ability to not only track sales in real time, but to also have access to an up-to-date, accurate count of expected attendance before each event.

Challenge: Frustrated by the wasted costs and resources spent preparing paper ticketing packages (stuffing envelopes, etc).

Solution: TicketLeap built a custom, online ticketing system that allowed patrons to purchase and print their tickets online, preventing Wizard World from wasting any man-hours spent fulfilling online ticketing orders.

Challenge: Inundated with countless phone calls from patrons with online ticketing issues, and overwhelmed by time spent troubleshooting onsite ticketing technology.

Solution: TicketLeap took full control of all patron phone calls with their customer service team, and also provided training and support for Wizard World’s onsite ticketing staff prior to the event.

Challenge: Troubled by the chaotic onsite check-in process of advanced online orders.

Solution: TicketLeap Anywhere box office software check-in stations provided staff with multiple check-in options (name, confirmation number, scannable barcode on printed ticket), ultimately making them more efficient and accelerating lines.

Challenge: Overwhelmed by influx of walk-up customers on day of event.

Solution: TicketLeap’s simple, self-serve touch screen Kiosks gave patrons the opportunity to purchase tickets with a swipe of credit card or by handing cash to ticketing attendants, ultimately reducing ticketing staff, faster lines and increasing sales.

Challenge: Unsure of how to get in touch with patrons after the event and gather feedback.

Solution: TicketLeap built online and onsite registration forms that captured valuable information about patrons, such as their email addresses.

Challenge: Confused with and frustrated by using multiple systems to process tickets and track sales, which forced Wizard World to deal with these logistics rather than focus on creating an amazing convention.

Solution: TicketLeap created an all-encompassing system that let Wizard World track online and onsite registration and sales in real-time, while also analyzing revenue via end-of-event sales reports.

Results:

  • Increased online ticket sales by 40%.
  • Saved thousands of man-hours previously used toward preparing ticket packages, resolving ticketing issues and setting up onsite ticketing technology.
  • Captured emails during purchasing process to add to their database (61% of credit transactions & 12% of cash transactions).

Additional Benefits:

During next year’s tour TicketLeap will:

  • Offer pre-selling of event tickets and vendor related merchandise onsite, online and at remote vendor locations (i.e. comic stores).
  • Handle vendor registration, which will save Wizard World a significant amount of time and resources.

TOP 5: Sites for customized event merchandise

Beyond saving the stub or snapping a few photos, customers love event memorabilia. Help them create an everlasting memory by offering customized event meChoice Shirtsrchandise.

Here are our suggested top sites:

1. Choice Shirts for t-shirts

2. LTL Prints for wall decals

3. CafePress for mugs

4. Tattoo Sales for temporary tattoos

5. Zazzle for buttons

What are your favorite sites for custom event products?

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