In the brave, challenging world of proving ROI and staying on budget, meetings registration software may be one of the most essential implements in the planner's toolbox.
Today's systems are so sophisticated that they can integrate with online travel booking systems, housing services, meeting management applications, and more. Roommate matching, pre-meeting e-mail marketing, and links to meeting and destination information are further examples of the value electronic registration systems offer.
Software experts and planners who use various applications that are currently available in the marketplace say organizations with simple to complex needs, and everyone in between, can realize significant savings and ROI with the adoption of electronic registration software.
"Online registration is the killer application for the meetings industry," says industry technology consultant Jeff Rasco, CMP, president of Wimberley, Texas-based Attendee Management and a partner with meetings industry tech consulting firm Tech3 Partners. "At its most basic level, it takes a task as menial and labor intensive as anything a meeting professional might do and automates it."
Rick Borry, chief software architect for San Francisco's Certain Software, whose flagship product is Register 123, says there are several major points of savings and value an organization can achieve with the adoption of online registration. Among them:
äSaves time in performing data entry. Attendees enter their own data and complete payment. Data accumulates at a central source so the planner can run reports with the click of a button.
äSaves labor costs, especially for large events that require temporary staff to manage traditional methods of phone, fax and mail-in registration.
äSignificantly reduces paper and postage expense. Conference promotions and follow-up communication get integrated with e-mail system.
äIntegrates online credit card processing with address verification to save in bank processing fees.
äGenerates profit for the event. The online method presents multiple opportunities for ad space sales on the conference website or with e-mail confirmations.
"An average cost per online registration is between two and three dollars," Borry says. "The traditional call center registration is between eight and 15 dollars. Obviously, your savings scale upward as the number of attendees increases. If you have less than 15 attendees, the online method is not usually a savings. But if you have over 50 or 100 attendees, it will be. For events with thousands of registrants, online is now mandatory."
Systems such as StarCite's product, RegWeb, gather registration and housing data all in one place. They can also lead registrants to an electronic air booking tool, says Mark Phillips, vice president of strategy for StarCite in Philadelphia. This will reduce travel agency booking fees.
"Instead of paying a $65 agent fee for an air transaction, you pay an electronic booking fee to an agencyusually a fraction of the manual cost," Phillips says. "The sponsoring organization then has all its data in one system whereas a manual process has registration, housing and arrival/departure lists in three bodies. You can order up a report and it's all right there."
An added time savings, Phillips says, comes from having individual attendees fill out their own online form.
"Online methods yield fewer entry mistakes than with the traditional re-typing of data from a print form," he says. "The data gets transmitted to hotels who will upload it. You save on their charges for re-entering data and get better quality control in the process."
Cvent users usually see ROI within four months, says Matthew Fisher, vice president of marketing for the Arlington, Va.-based Cvent.
"We are focused on meeting the needs of any organization, whether it be a small association or large multinational corporation," Fisher says. "Pricing is based on the number of events they do each year. Because everyone is so focused on ROI these days, we assist them in demonstrating the value of our product in a very short time."
Getting StartedBefore registration software shopping begins, it's imperative to know current costs, according to both Borry and Rasco.
"An organization may be spending $50,000 doing what they are doing now, but they need to know that," Rasco says. "Years ago, when I was with a health care organization, we did a time and motion study over a week's time. We tracked every move people made in the registration process. Even back in 1990, we were saving $25 per person on registration. Nowadays, some leading providers say the savings can be in the 70 to 80 percent range."
Transition costs are one item to factor into the evaluation equation, Borry advises.
"The process of moving from traditional registration methods to online involves big change, like maybe moving away from traditional printed material, and there is a learning curve for everyone involved," he explains. "This must be factored in while searching for the best tool for the best value. The bottom line is, you really have to be flexible enough to evaluate your traditional processes to make an informed decision."
Rasco says the evaluation step can best be handled by someone outside the organization who knows the technology ropes. An expert will save a lot during this phase, produce results faster and probably come up with the best solution for an organization's needs. There are consultant programs from $1,000 per year and up, he says. In some instances, there may not be money for a consultant's input, but others can save money and ensure proper application selection with an expert's assistance.
"Even if you've done online registration for 10 years, there are probably new ways to be strategic with it, to get faster, cheaper and better," he says.
Achieving AcceptanceOne of the big considerations in software selection and evaluation is knowing your constituency and anticipating its acceptance of an online registration environment.
"There's a lot of reticence to force people to register online," Phillips says. "Planners and meeting sponsors say they want a person on the other end of the phone for people who don't like technology, a sort of safety net. Most organizations end up doing the hybrid approach, but even they don't encourage people to use the phone. And they don't use two systemsthey just offer assistance in filling out the online forms."
Denise McFarlane, registration coordinator in the meeting planning department of NASDAQ stock market's Rockville, Md., office, says she believes planners are often quicker to embrace process change brought by online registration than their attendees. Her office started with Cvent electronic registration in 2000 and acceptance has been gradual. This year, she anticipates about 90 percent of her people will use it.
"In the beginning we had a lot of debate about whether online is useful," she says. "But we have embraced it because we have seen it work and seen it give us big savings and efficiencies. We've stuck with Cvent the entire time, though we have looked at other products that are very good.
"Yes, there is a learning curve," she continues, "and some people are intimidated by any online process, but we try to show them it is not as hard as some believe it is. People still call me and I register for them, though this is pretty rare now. Depending on your constituency, getting universal acceptance can be a long process and a downside of adoption. But the benefits are worth going forward."
Rasco says one of the easiest ways to encourage attendee acceptance of online methods is to give them a discounted registration fee for going electronic.
"Discounts are something everyone understands," he says. "We do find if there's payment involved, it's better to give attendees the option of mailing in a checkregister now, send us a check later. Most people aren't afraid to register online, but some are still reluctant to give out personal information like credit card and Social Security numbers."
Value Beyond the BasicsOnline registration systems not only save users money, they add value elsewhere.
One example of those value added features is the capability of generating customized business reports, which can be used outside the meetings department.
"We had one client who needed to track employee attendance at training meetings," Phillips says. "That component of our system helped the HR department because it cut down the need for a number of different systems."
E-mail marketing is a function of most registration software products that planners use to increase attendance. E-mail reminders, confirmations and personalized messages to individuals or groups enhances event communications. Inviting attendees at previous events is easy, too, as you capture name, address and phone information from your database.
If reduction of hotel costs is a priority, some systems enable roommate matching and room sharing, based on demographic information collected at registration, including gender and smoking preference. Matches then get assigned to appropriate hotel rooms via an interface feature.
As value features get added to software products and vendors feel ever encroaching competition, Rasco says buyers become the beneficiaries. Transaction costs are getting lower, he adds, even as optional services get added. There's little if any debate now that online registration is an integral and money-saving component of the meetings industry. As the marketplace widens, the wise buyer will come to the table armed with a list of their organization's needs, costs of current processes and the intent to save money and add value.