An Online Registration Tool to Save You Time
March 1st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Recently a number of our clients have asked how they will know when someone registers online for their events. Do we send an email to the administrator each time someone new registers? For a number of reasons, we do not. We do, however, offer what we think is a better solution: the Snapshot Widget. SignMeUp’s Snapshot Widget has been available in the More Tools section of the Form Menu since November 2009; however, it’s worth going over its features and benefits.
What is the Snapshot Widget? Because I have yet to think of a synonym for “widget,” I’ll use the Dictionary.com definition: “a small computer program that can be installed on and executed from the desktop of a personal computer.” The Snapshot Widget, then, presents a real-time consolidated picture of your event’s registration statistics. You can embed the widget in your website, which may be helpful if you have an event that fills up. Or, save the widget’s address in your favorites – no need to log in to get a quick update on your numbers. You also can provide the address to your sponsors so they can see how the event is doing.
The Snapshot Widget is customizable as well – you can choose which question statistics to display as well as select from a variety of looks. I happen to like the “Swankster” theme, but others are available:
If you’re seeing the Snapshot Widget for the first time, check out SignMeUp’s resources page, and take a look at the 10 Tools to Use whitepaper. If you have any questions on how to best use our tools for your event, feel free to contact us.
Enhancing Online Registration Security: 3 Simple Tips
January 19th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
After the recent Zappos security breach, in which hackers gained access to the personal information of 24 million Zappos customers (of which I am one), many articles were published on how to protect your online data. Being in the business of online registration and credit card processing, SignMeUp obsesses over security. However, many common security violations are not from hacking (as Matt Allen’s blog article says, it’s easy for the waiter to copy your credit card). No matter how secure we are technically, if you’re sharing your username and password with your employees you are not protecting your own information. Here are a few simple steps you should take on SignMeUp’s system that will enhance your – and your registrants’ – security.
1. Password: I’m sure that it’s been drilled into your head many times that you need to create a strong password and change it often. But what makes a password strong, and how will you remember it anyway? I found Microsoft’s Tips For Creating a Strong Password and thegeekstuff’s Ultimate Guide for Creating Strong Passwords particularly helpful in this regard.
2. Access: Rather than allow your entire office to use one SignMeUp username and password, you can provide different access levels to different individuals within your organization. You can restrict editing capabilities as well as access to certain tools and reports and to payment account information. To take advantage of this feature, contact SignMeUp’s Support Department.
3. Link: Using the correct format to link to your online form will ensure that registrants’ payments are made on a secure page. The correct format, which is always http://www.signmeup.com/NNNNN (where NNNNN is your five digit form ID) is displayed after you publish your form and is in the Form is Ready email.
Do you have any other tips, or have you read any other good articles on online security? Share them with us!
Event Management: Five Tips for Starting Fresh
January 5th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Andrew Wonders is Event Manager for Mudathlon and many other events, and a long time SignMeUp online registration customer.
In 2009, a group of organizers that traditionally had focused on marathons and half marathons was looking to expand its scope and put together a different and unique event. After many potential versions, we settled on an off-road race where participants would be on foot. We would find some terrain that was more difficult than a traditional trail run, throw in a few man made obstacles and make some mud. And party afterward. Pretty simple, right? Right.
In creating and developing Mudathlon®, in which participants navigate a three-mile course with 40 obstacles, we learned some valuable lessons in what to do – and what to avoid – when launching a new and unique event. Here are five of them.
1. Spend time finding the right property. This was an initial mistake we made, we just found land and assumed we could make it into whatever we wanted. We discovered that without advance planning, creating the Mudathlon® courses was a lot of work, time consuming, and costly. A few weeks before the first event we looked more like a cross between construction workers and lumberjacks than race organizers. We weren’t just building the obstacles or making the mud, we were creating the actual path that runners would use over these three miles. Let’s just say we don’t take paved roads for granted anymore!
2. Diversify your marketing channels to include social media. When we started we thought the 20-something thrill-seeker types would just come, so we marketed to your typical runner demographic through traditional outlets such as expos, running store partnerships, and online ads. Marketing to runners was important but we needed to do more for groups of people who don’t run endurance races. The use of social media to reach this demographic is crucial. The power of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. can’t be denied or overlooked in any way. Social networking is no longer an afterthought; rather it is an integral part of our marketing strategy. Our participants love to run through the mud, and they love to talk about it, so they help us further promote the event.
3. Post-race amenities and activities are important. Mudathlon® includes an awesome post-race party where beer flows, the grills are smoking and live music is jamming. Before the party, we offer showers or a rinse area because as much as people like to get dirty, they like to get cleaned off too.
4. People love to have fun in groups. The concept of creating teams and incentives for team size is something that has really caught on.
5. Explain how your event is unique. We found that we weren’t marketing as much as we were educating potential participants about what Mudathlon® is. There are so many mud runs that we needed to emphasize the obstacle portion of the event more, because that is what people really like and makes it worth doing. Now as so many obstacle races exist we need to start differentiating ourselves from them – which is one of our main goals going forward.
As we prepare for 2012, we can look back to 2011, when two Mudathlons® doubled in size and a third event in Cincinnati sold out. We continually search for areas of expansion and actually know what we are looking for. We also know so much more about our Mudathletes. These participants love the opportunity to get out and act like a kid again, essentially, they like to have A Mucking Good Time. They love the obstacles, both natural and man-made. We are happy to be a part of the industry that is running through the mud and look forward to the challenges that are constantly presented.
Have you started a unique event? Let us know what worked, and what didn’t!
Mystery Explained: Six Steps of Online Credit Card Processing
December 12th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Providing your credit card number to a website for merchandise or online registration payment is common these days. I do still get the occasional phone call from a relative who gets nervous about typing in his or her card number for an online purchase, but for the most part online payments have been accepted for everybody except the hardcore Luddites. So how does typing in that credit or debit card number actually translate into a deduction from your bank account?
Finding a neat and tidy diagram summarizing the process is difficult. Just search “credit card processing diagram” and behold the many different levels of understanding represented. CyberSource and Authorize.Net both have easy-to-follow interactive diagrams outlining the process.
I chose this diagram from Merchantequip as it does a decent job simplifying the flow:
Step 1. The basic steps involved start with an “authorization”. The user supplies a card number, expiration date, security code, and address to the website.
Step 2. This data is submitted to the Payment Gateway/Processor and checked for accuracy. It is relayed to the Issuing Bank, and the user’s balance is checked to see if funds are available for the amount requested.
Step 3. If there are adequate funds in the account, the amount is reserved, and an “auth code” is issued and relayed back to the website.
Simultaneously, the address stored on file for the credit card is tested against the address the user provided. Oddly enough, this test is separate. This means the AVS (Address Verification Service) check can fail while the authorization was successful. In that case the user may be saddled with extra authorizations against his or her account. Recent regulatory changes allow those “pending” authorizations to be reversed.
Step 4. In our case, we send confirmation to the user so he or she knows the payment attempt was successful.
Step 5. All that has to occur just for the initial authorization–we still don’t have the money in our merchant bank account yet. That happens with what is called the “capture” or “settlement”. At SignMeUp, we perform nightly settlements. The auth code issued in Step 3 is used to capture the funds.
Step 6. The Issuing Bank transfers funds to the Merchant bank account.
So many steps have to occur for funds to be transferred from a user’s credit card to a merchant’s bank account. And the card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc…) have strict rules in place governing how that card data can be handled throughout the entire process. In my example of the dubious relative above, their interests are well-governed by a set of regulations called the PCI DSS.
One irony I usually point out is that most credit card fraud still occurs on the paper side. Meaning things like stolen statements or lifted cards are more prevalent than somebody setting up a fake website to try and grab your card information. Most people think nothing of handing their card off to a waiter who takes the card out of sight to swipe it. I’m reminded of the old Citibank identity theft commercials from a few years back:
Matthew Allen, SignMeUp’s Senior Software Engineer – handling your credit card payments for the better part of a decade.
A Pro’s Perspective: From Running Marathons to Running a Marathon
November 21st, 2011 § 3 Comments
After a 13 year stint as a professional runner, my day to retire from competition came upon me in the City of Brotherly Love during what was then known as the Philadelphia Distance Classic. I always wondered how it was going to end and in this case a strained calf muscle put my running career over the edge and into the world of the unknown. At the age of 35 it was time to face the music and find my next finish line to cross.
Enter the inaugural National Marathon, a unique proposition of an event but one ripe with challenges. They needed a race director and I needed some direction. With no event planning experience but plenty of years racing (my pro career included 9 marathons), I embarked on a life changing experience that I’ve dubbed my 3 year “boot camp” in event organizing. Here are some of the takeaways.
1) Delegation not frustration. Just when I thought my athletic days were all about me, I realized years later that others helped me reach my goals. Coaches, loved ones, and friends all played a part in my long career. The same holds true in the event world. At some point even the most detailed, type- A event leader has to rely on others to get the job done. Imagine my situation. The National Marathon traveled through 6 city Wards, crossed 4 jurisdictions, and affected streets/avenues that you may recognize like Constitution and Pennsylvania. With the help of an advisory board, interns, and executive staff, our team dug deep and it paid off. The race is now in its 7th year and has grown from 2200 registrants to over 16,000.
2) Dare to be different. Due to strict city- imposed time constraints the National Marathon decided to add a qualifying component to the event. This would help control the finish time of the marathon but it would also hurt revenue. We stuck to this formula and continued to prove to the city that we could finish in the allotted time. In fact, because of the time requirements, the National Marathon had the 2nd fastest median finish time in the country behind the Boston Marathon – a fact that became a marketable asset for the race.
3) What’s in a name? Let’s face it; every race course has its challenging spots and the National Marathon was no different. Instead of downplaying the challenge we embraced it. In fact we branded what became the “Calvert Climb” so that participants could feel familiar with that part of the course. We didn’t stop there. Our team always looked for hidden assets. “Bison Bend” became a feature of our route that encompassed Howard University and played off the school’s mascot.
4) Prevention is better than cure. Our team was outstanding at finding the power players in the city and meeting them well in advance of race day. For example, Washington has a powerful and omnipresent religious community. Holding our event on a Saturday to avoid church congregations was just the beginning. We identified leaders in the community and sat down with them months before the race. Neighborhoods and constituent leaders want to be heard and they want to feel like they are part of the process.
5) Remember, it’s still a competition. One thing I brought to the National Marathon was an athlete’s perspective. Our event put a priority on small details that could enhance someone’s performance. For instance, we measured half mile marks during the first 3 miles of the race. Each half mile had its own marker which ensured that participants could lock into their goal pace early. We also instituted “back bibs” on the half-marathon participants so that the marathoners would not mistakenly get caught up in their pace.
In the end, I realized that despite a lack of event leadership experience I brought an athlete’s focus, tenacity, and common sense approach to organizing a major city marathon. I also realized that it’s easier to run a marathon then to organize one!
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Keith Dowling is SignMeUp’s Regional Sales Manager. Prior to SignMeUp, Keith spent 3 years with Reebok International which followed 3 years as director of the National Marathon. His professional running career spanned 13 years and included 5 national team selections, 3 Olympic Trials, and culminated with a 2:13 personal best for the 2002 Boston Marathon. To speak with Keith about his experiences as a runner, race director, or online event registration guru, click the button below.
Making Lemonade: Portland Marathon takes on Occupy Portland
October 20th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Have you ever been faced with a completely out-of-the-blue, totally unanticipated problem that could ruin your event? Les Smith confronted just such a situation during the October 9 10,000+ participant Portland Marathon and Half Marathon. It was called Occupy Portland – Portland’s version of the current Occupy Wall Street movement. A few days before the Marathon, Occupy Portland set up camp in two parks near the Marathon finish line.
By carefully analyzing and negotiating, Les and his staff managed to turn the near disaster into, according to Les, “the best thing that has ever happened to the Portland Marathon.” In Les’ own words, here’s how.
“I have thought a lot about what we did. It was textbook negotiations much like I tell my clients to do when faced with picketing or a strike (editor’s note: Les is a management labor relations attorney).
1. In these situations always have a general PR person prepared and ready.
2. All persons on the team must communicate, communicate and communicate.
3. Have a spokesperson who is comfortable in front of a camera and knows how to answer the questions and not deviate from the party line.
4. Do not do a “no comment.” To not comment is missing an opportunity.
5. Have a plan that includes a far out reaching goal; have your real goal; and, have a fall back plan.
6. Always have a way to call a “time out” in a way that does not show weakness.
7. Bargain from a position of strength…..line up your allies.
8. Never bargain against yourself……i.e., do not say we will give you X and without a response give up something because you think it will create the deal.
9. Always look the other side in the eye….and dress better than they do. Never lower yourself to the adversary’s level.
10. Do not apologize. Act confident. Do not act submissive.
11. Give your negotiator authority to make the deal you want…but not the deal you do not want. As noted above, when it does not go well be able to call timeout…..allowing the Negotiator to confer with the Owner/Principle.
12. Never allow the Principle at the bargaining table.
Olympians Jeff Galloway, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter with Les Smith
It really was text book… Why? Because one could clearly see the nature and make up of those on the other side. They had lots of slogans and signs but no central core. Plus, you could appeal to their interests and do so truthfully while obtaining the goals we wanted. The key was getting the right group of ‘them’ together; then force the issue and convey our message; and finally, then get agreement. Both sides saw it as a ‘win.’
All of this was done within the guidelines I have outlined. Turned out I was the public spokesperson for the Portland Marathon. I never once answered a question from the press as they wanted an answer. Instead, I used the politician’s tact of just getting our message out…in our terms. In this case, everything good about the Portland Marathon. The few references to Occupy Portland were made in this context….again at great advantage to our side without putting down the opposition.
(See, for example, Occupy Portland protesters working with Portland Marathon organizers)
So what happened: The ‘Agreement’ was:
1) OC would vacate one of the two parks they were in (those by the Marathon finish line…but parks we really never use during the event and in which Marathoners are not permitted…we always fence around these parks…to protect the grass!). The OC said they would leave everything in place in the second park;
2) OC on Saturday helped the Portland Marathon crew build the fencing around the two parks.
3) OC agreed it could not leave the one park they were in after 4 am Sunday morning of the Marathon. They had a corridor they could leave during the day with police escort in the event of emergency but once out they could not come back into the Park.
4) OC could do a “parade” starting at 3:30 pm from about the 25 mile mark of the Marathon course (8.5 hours after the start). But they could not interfere with the 400 or so walkers who were still coming in on the course at this time.
About 4 to 4:30 pm as we were tearing down our finish scaffolding the OCs started to drift back to the parks in our finish area. True to their promise they helped us dismantle fence and they cleaned up trash that the Marathon had caused. (So we got no blame from the city about causing trash etc….preserving our “Green Image.”)
Overnight the other OC folks drifted back into the empty park and by Monday morning nearly everything was back to where it was before we started to build in the area on Saturday. OC wanted the City, OC and the PM to do a joint press conference Sunday evening at 8:00 pm. I told my crew no way…the battle is over and we won.
So we took advantage of the opportunity, get something from it (all the good media attention about the event) and also did not suffer any impact from what could have been an ugly situation. Stated another way, I do not consider us lucky…I believe we saw the situation…made it an opportunity and made the most out of it that we could. And it was fun!”
Has your event ever faced a potential disaster? Comment on this post and your story could become our next blog article.
5 Tips for Better Broadcast Emails
September 27th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Email is without a doubt one of the easiest ways to publicize your event and its online registration page. However, considering the volume of email we all receive on a daily basis, is it really effective? The answer is yes, provided you follow some simple steps. To increase the chances your email will be delivered AND read, think about both its structure and its content.
1. Subject line: not only does the subject need to be catchy, it needs to avoid words that are likely to be caught in spam filters. Most email marketing sites print lists of subject line no-nos (see the Vertical Response blog for a good one).
2. Graphics: keep to a minimum, as overuse of graphics also may trigger spam filters. Additionally, many recipients now read emails on mobile devices, which limit or eliminate graphics altogether.
3. Length: shorter is better. No need to overload your readers with information they can find elsewhere. Include links to your website and social pages where they can read more.
4. Call to action: include at least one easily found link to your online registration form and ask people to register! Big “duh,” right? You’d be surprised.
5. Incentive: consider offering a discount to register by a certain date. SignMeUp’s coupon codes are easy to set up and communicate through broadcast email.
SignMeUp’s broadcast email tool is extremely simple to use to send emails to prior and current registrants. You can even spiff up your broadcasts with some basic HTML code. Check out our 2 minute tutorial on how to use it.
What are your secrets to email success? Share them here.
Online Registration Time-Saver: Auto-Numbering
September 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
As an event manager, you’re always looking for ways to save time managing the online registration process. Have you checked out our auto-numbering tool? Found in the More Tools section of your Form Menu, auto-numbering, as its name indicates, auto-assigns numbers or codes to each registration. You can upload a list of numbers or codes to be assigned, or they can be assigned sequentially starting with any number you designate. The numbers or codes you assign will display on the registrants’ screen and email confirmations.
Many clients already have discovered the benefits of automatically assigning numbers or codes during the online registration process. “As the nation’s largest half-marathon, the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon has more than 35,000 participants,” explained Margaret Hermanek, Ticketing and Customer Relations Coordinator for the 500 Festival. “Without auto-numbering through individual registrations, there would be a lot of room for error on our end, not to mention the amount of time it would take to assign them all. The system also allows us to set up bib ranges however we’d like and to differentiate between events.”
If you’re interested in learning how to auto-assign numbers or codes on your registration form, take a look at our very short tutorial that walks through the steps. And let us know what online registration tools save you time!
Using LinkedIN to Increase Event Registration: 3 Great Tips
August 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Alex Jarett is Founder & Executive Director of the Technology Executives Club
At the Technology Executives Club we have 14 events each year in the Chicago area (we use SignMeUp’s online event registration system for most of them!). Although we have a steady customer base that attends regularly we need to bring in new attendees to each event. LinkedIN is one of the tools that we use. Here are three tips to using LinkedIN to get folks to come to your events:
Tip One: At a minimum, post your event in the Events section of LinkedIN. Do this far enough in advance to be able to promote the event once it’s posted. Make sure you have a good, compelling headline that gets people interested in the event. For example, instead of saying Security Seminar, we might say, “Learn Secret Security Tips of Top Hackers.” Then in the body of the ad, we’d expand and say, learn this and more at the Security Seminar. After you have compelling headline, be sure to share it with your network by posting you are attending, recommend it and share it. You can also announce it to your first connections. LinkedIN also has paid advertising on a PPC basis. I haven’t had much experience with it yet, but it has a great advantage in being able to target your prospects.
Tip Two: Post your event in groups. Go to the groups that have the demographic members that you want to reach and post your event in the group announcements. Be sure to read the group instructions to make sure there are no rules against this. If you are charging for the event, be sure to offer a discount to each group member so you can track this and also give you a “reason” to post. For example, you might say, “Hi everyone, thought everyone might appreciate a VIP ticket to XXX event. Here’s a link about the event, or drop me a line if you have a question.”
Tip Three: Here’s the best tip of all. Send direct notes to very targeted event candidates. Go in to advanced search and you’ll be able to find exactly the demographic target you are looking for. Then go into the group itself and send the internal LinkedIN email to your candidates. This system is time consuming, because you have to have your list open from the search AND the group open in a second window, but it works great because the list is very targeted.
Good luck!
For more marketing tips, I have a new blog called www.itmarketingtips.com. Feel free to check them out and subscribe.
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To submit a guest article to SignMeUp’s Online Event Registration blog, contact diane@signmeup.com.
Black Triangle but No Black Hole: New Online Registration Menus
July 27th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Recently SignMeUp’s Chief Technology Officer, Jim Peltier, sent around a blog post published 7 years ago by Jay Barnson, a video game programmer. The article, still relevant today, describes how Barnson’s team once burst into hoots and hollers of celebration over a black triangle displayed on the screen. The financial controller came into the room to see what the commotion was about. ” ‘It’s a black triangle,” she said in an amused but sarcastic voice. One of the engine programmers tried to explain, but she shook her head and went back to her office. I could almost hear her thoughts… “We’ve got ten months to deliver two games to Sony, and they are cheering over a black triangle? THAT took them nearly a month to develop?’ “
Currently we’re in the midst of our own black triangle moment. While it may seem like we’ve gone radio silent, our tech team is busy working on completely reinventing Administrator Services, where you access your tools and reports to manage online registration for your event. Our main objective is to drastically reduce the number of clicks it takes to get to any tool or report. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is a huge project that requires changes in many areas of our system. For example, we recently upgraded our login screen. We made it easier to navigate, as well as added more options for social logins. While this might seem like a minor improvement, it’s actually the first outwardly visible progress within the context of the reinvention.
We’re extremely excited about the launch, upcoming at the end of the summer or early fall. We’re confident that you will be too. In fact, we’d like to offer you a preview. If you’re interested in being one of the first to take a look at our new and improved Administrator Services area, click below and fill out the form. We’ll contact you when it’s ready.
