The 5 Top Event Apps for Associations

Managing events, whether live or online, can be challenging for growing organizations. There are many moving parts, such as registering guests, arranging speakers or entertainment, and keeping track of different tiers for events. There are some useful apps that can automate many event-related tasks, save you time, and help everything run more efficiently. The following are five of the top event apps for associations. 

GoTo Webinar

In 2020, many live events were redesigned as virtual events due to the pandemic. However, many organizations are finding that it’s more economical and efficient to run virtual events. GoTo Webinar is one of the leading services that provide full support for online events. They offer many helpful features and several price plans.

• Simple Signup Process — Up to 3,000 attendees can join events from their browsers without having to download any software. 
• Promotion Tools — List webinars on GoToStage, where potential audience members from around the world can see your event. 
• Live and Prerecorded Webinars — The advantage of prerecorded webinars is that users can access them at their convenience. You can also make them available for as long as you choose. You can have live webinars and record them for future viewers.
• Interactive Features — Audience members can interact with polls, surveys, comments, and handouts through webinars.

Pricing for GoToWebinar is based on the number of participants you have. The Lite plan, at $49/month, supports 250 participants. Standard, which is $99/month, gives you 500, Pro at $199/month, gives you 1,000, and Enterprise, at $399/month supports 3,000. You can try the Pro plan for free for 7 days.

Swoogo

Swoogo is an event management platform that provides full support for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. 

• Simplify Registrations — All plans support unlimited events and registrations. There’s unlimited ability to customize, such as participants signing up for different tiers or features.
• Event Management Tools — Track all aspects of the event, including check-ins, badge printing, mobile experience add-ons, payments, hotel management, and more.
• Many Convenient Integrations — Swoogo works with Salesforce, Zoom, GoToWebinar, Google Analytics, HubSpot, Stripe, and many other applications.
• Marketing and Branding — Swoogo helps organizers market events with a hosted website, email scheduling, white label branding (i.e. your brand rather than Swoogo is listed), and customizable sponsor pages.
• Detailed Analytics — Use attendee data for more targeted outreach. Customized reports provide you with the data that’s most relevant to you. Scale your events based on data collected from prior events. 
• Manage All Your Events From the Event Hub — All of your events, whether live, virtual, or hybrid, can be managed from a single hub.

Pricing for Swoogo is based on the number of users supported. All plans include unlimited events and registrations. One user is $9,800/year. Three users are $15,000/year. Five users are $24,000/year. Custom plans for additional users are also available. 

Accelevents

Accelevents supports all types of events, live, online, and hybrid, including conferences, fundraisers, trade shows, career fairs, seminars, and more. 

• In-Person Events — Print and electronic ticketing, seamless check-ins, custom registration forms, landing pages, and payments online or at the event.
• Virtual Event — Manage every phase of online events. Customize your event with keynotes, live chat, breakout sessions, and workshops. Manage post-event emails. 
• Hybrid Events — A hybrid model lets you get the best of both live and virtual events. People globally who can’t attend in person are able to attend virtually. Live stream in-person sessions. Integrate on-site and virtual chat rooms. Create flexible ticket pricing for live and virtual attendees. 
• Mobile App (add-on)— Attendees can access events, whether live or virtual, from their mobile phones. Registration and payment can all be handled via mobile. Interactions such as questions and answers to polls can be sent in via mobile. People can check in with their mobile app, as at an airport. You can even check other information such as vaccine cards. 
• Networking — The AI-powered Accelevents platforms support intelligent networking. Match up attendees based on similar interests and goals. Create breakout rooms with targeted themes. 
• Lead Capture — Exhibitors can easily capture leads and store relevant information about attendees. Integrates with popular CRMs such as HubSpot, SalesForce, and Marketo. 

Accelevents offers two types of pricing, Scale and Enterprise. The Scale plan starts at $125/month, which includes 20 sessions, one or two-day events for up to 250 attendees. Enterprise starts at $1,250/month and includes unlimited sessions and event days for 1,500 attendees. There are also quite a few optional add-ons, such as pro exhibitor live streaming, dedicated event support, and a mobile app.

RegFox

RegFox is an economical, streamlined event software that makes it easy for attendees to register for events. It lets users quickly create pages and forms for events without the need for coding. 

• Build branded, user-friendly event registration pages in minutes. Pages can be customized with conditional logic. For example, ask registrants questions or set different pricing based on the criteria you set. 
• Transparent pricing with no setup or recurring fees. You only pay a flat rate per attendee.
• Branding — Customize event pages with your brand’s layout, fonts, and colors.
• Manage Contacts — Easy to create and manage leads, vendors, and attendees.
• Upsell Registrants — Seamlessly upsell merchandise or event add-ons when people register.
• Simple Reporting — Get detailed, easy-to-understand reports on registrants, payout statements, summaries of events, and other essential data.

Pricing for RegFox is a flat 99 cents per paid attendee, along with a 2.99% credit card processing fee. There are no charges for free events. 

EventBrite

EventBrite is one of the most popular event apps. Many people use it to find and register for events in their area. Organizers can use it to list and manage their own events.  For free events, you can use it for free. There is flexible pricing for paid events. 

• Leading Events Platform — The widespread brand recognition of EventBrite can make it easier to publicize events. Widely used for concerts, corporate events, festivals, classes, workshops, and more.
• Mobile App — EventBrite Organizer app makes it easy to track ticket sales in real-time.
• Virtual Event Tools — Provides a seamless experience for virtual and hybrid events from registration to post-event marketing. Works with all leading video streaming platforms, such as Facebook Live, Zoom, Vimeo, YouTube, and Twitch. 
• EventBrite Boost Marketing Suite — Email and social media templates help you create professional and targeted campaigns. Access smart targeting based on extensive event data. Boost Marketing services are priced separately from EventBrite packages and range from $15/month to $100/month.

Pricing for EventBrite tools depends on the features you need, the size of your event, and the types of pricing for tickets. All plans include unlimited events. The Essentials plan, which supports one ticket type (such as General Admission), is 2% of the ticket price plus 79 cents. The Professional plan, which provides unlimited ticket types (e.g. Early Bird, VIP), is 3.5% plus $1.59 per ticket. The website has a calculator to help you estimate the cost of an event. 

Choose the Right Event App

Finding an app or platform with the features you need can make it easier for associations to have a successful event. They also let you gather valuable data on registrants, which can be used to plan future events.  The above are some of the best choices, whether you’re planning live, virtual, or hybrid events. Depending on your budget and the features you need, they can help make every aspect of event planning and management more efficient. 

Did you know AMO has its own Event Management System and an Event Mobile App?

Alternatively, AMO has a dedicated Event Management system that ties into your Membership Database. You can offer non-member pricing and member pricing, and even present an option to become a member at the same time as registering for an Event to help convert non-members and take advantage of feature-rich member pricing options in AMO.

We recently made updates to our event system that includes Member Type specific pricing, scheduled Event Messaging, Twilio Text Messaging integration, and API integrations. On top of all that we have a Mobile App add-on built on a cutting-edge Progressive Web App platform that serves a customizable application experience served over a URL allowing you to install it to a device and tie it back over the Event Management system in AMO.