If you’re one of those who can’t wait to get back on your feet, here are few survey questions that you can start off with to plan your events better in this new normal. Our event ticketing platform comes with a Surveys & Questionnaires feature to help you get the desired insights for planning better. 

Here are Questions You Should Ask Your Event Attendees During The COVID Era

1. How likely are you to attend an indoor or outdoor event?

Start off slow and easy with a two-part question that helps you understand their current frame of mind. You should cover parameters that reflect the likelihood of them wanting to attend an indoor or outdoor event at a range of 0-10, 0 being highly unlikely and 10 being most likely. 

2. What kind of safety regulations are you expecting at your next event?

This all-important question will dictate the future of the events industry until the time a vaccine is made available. List down the most relevant options for hygiene and safety which you and your venue owner can accommodate. 

3. What do you think should be a mandate at the next live concert? 

Push a little harder on that they exactly want. Once you get the survey results, you can accurately place a benchmark on that one particular rule or regulation that will be mandatory at your next event. 

4. Which kind of events are you more likely to attend? 

Give them a mix of outdoor and indoor options for those events that you have in mind. This solves another problem of having to decide on your own regarding what would be the best bet when it comes to organizing your next event. 

5. Would you attend the event venue if…?

Broaden your survey insights with this question. Maybe they want a discount, or a free safety gear, or maybe a fully sanitized venue. These answers should best reflect what you or your venue owner can accommodate by keeping your cash flow in mind. 

We hope these survey questions help you get started for collecting useful insights that will help you strategize better. For those looking to manage their cash flow better, can use our recovery offer to stabilize event investment. 

COVID RECOVERY OFFER 

FLAT 40% Off on our service fees up to 31^st December 2020 on all events created before 15^th July 2020.

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The post Questions You Should Ask Your Event Attendees During The COVID-Era appeared first on Yapsody.

As an event ticketing platform assisting presenters & hospitality enterprises all over the world, we have analyzed every possible dimension of successful and not so successful events. Here’s Yapsody’s 10 step guide on designing the ultimate event experience. 

1. Be Clear on your Event Objectives

The most successful events we witness in terms of selling out tickets and drawing more footfalls are those whose organizers have a clear picture of their event objectives. Your event goals are the purpose of your event – to party, to celebrate, to educate, or to persuade. Narrow down these event objectives and check if they are relevant, achievable, and measurable within the designated time-frame. Once you figure them out, every other process falls into place. 

2. Delegate Tasks Equally

Whether your event is big or small, your team members should be firing on all cylinders. They should be clearly aligned with your event marketing strategy and their role in achieving them. While creating an event on our ticketing platform, you can assign tasks to your members equally through our User Management System. So, if one member needs to manage the Ticket Pricing and the other needs to integrate Event Marketing Tools, they don’t need to depend on one single person handling the dashboard.  

3. Map Out Your Event Venue

An event venue can make or break your reputation. Imagine an outdoor event planned during the monsoons without having a contingency plan of moving indoors. Similarly, mapping out the event venue will help you arrange the entry, seating,  standing, dining, and exit points. Ask for a seating chart from the venue owner which will help you assign different price points for different seating sections. 

4. Make Your Sections Easily Navigable

Imagine a music festival with attendees from all over the world. Not only do you need to surpass the language barrier, but also make sure all the sections of your events are easily navigable through simple signs or instructions. Position the food, bar, and smoking sections easily accessible from the main stage.

Easy access to these counters + reasonable pricing = More revenue. 

At no point during the event should your attendee feel a disconnect from the event experience. Also, don’t make your attendees cross rivers and mountains to access a restroom.  

5. Streamline The Security & Check-In Process

This is where we see many event attendees lose their cool. Nobody wants to wait for hours just because you didn’t create multiple check-in points. Make sure security checks are handled before anything else. Once they’re in the clear, validate their tickets through a QR Code scanner.  

An attendee might turn up late but it’s your job to not make them wait any longer. Imagine being stuck in a queue while hearing your favorite band strumming their latest summer single. Our ticketing system supports 12 prominent languages & over 150 currencies to bridge any communication gap between event presenters and attendees. 

6. Don’t Make Your VIP’s Wait 

After all, they are VIP for a reason. Create a separate line for guests belonging to the Reserved Seating sections. A luxurious black-tie event in a casino is not synonymous with sweating it out in a line. Keep your VIP guest list updated before they start pouring in. They are paying top dollar for your tickets which should be reflected in your event experience. 

7. Make Your Main Stage Memorable 

The main event stages of any EDM festival or an expo delivers the “larger than life” experience. The stage design and audio-visual setup of your main stage create an atmosphere that energizes your guests. With the right budget, you can go for a holographic setup as well for that futuristic leap. Every year, thousands of events organized all over the globe blow up on news and social media just because of their main stage setup.  

8. Will They Do It For The Gram? 

Now, that you’ve taken care of all the essentials, you’re waiting for that euphoric audience reaction. You created a brilliant event marketing campaign, brought the best artists to perform at the hottest venue in town, and sold out the venue. As an organizer, it’s normal to expect an outpour of Instagram posts and stories #tagging your event. Your event success will be heavily reflected on social media through user-generated content. Even something as small as a signpost or a quirky art installation will have your event attendees pulling out their phones for a selfie. So, while you’re planning an event, always ponder “Will they do it for the Gram?”

9. Expect The Unexpected 

An event organizer hopes for the best and prepares for the worst. In the entertainment industry, we’ve seen things go haywire even with months of planning. Your artist might catch the flu or miss a flight. Or maybe the rain gods decided to generously flood your venue. As an event planner, you should always be ready with a contingency plan A, B, and  C. This is truly a testing ground for any event presenter to prove his mettle and not disappoint his audience. 

10. Go Above & Beyond

Event planning and organizing is a constant hustle. But the returns are tenfold – financially and emotionally. Treat every event as your first and last and you’ll surely go above and beyond for every minute detail. For you, it might be the 10th event in a month, but for an attendee, it might be his first. Create a memorable experience and you’ll have them coming back to you for more. 

We hope our 10 step guide resonated with you in planning your future events. Do share your personal experiences in creating the perfect event experience below in the comment section. 

Don’t forget to SIGN UP with us if you’re an event presenter looking for an end-to-end event ticketing platform.

The post Designing The Ultimate Event Experience appeared first on Yapsody.

Understanding Your Audience

A good talent buyer knows exactly which talent works best for your audience, making them an asset in boosting your business. You cannot host a musical at your theater if stand-up comedy is what works best with your audience. A professional talent buyer’s network includes performers, musicians, DJs, record labels, and media outlets which boosts footfalls to your venue.  They are tuned into the trends of the entertainment industry, so it’s guaranteed that they’ll bring value for your money.

Sourcing and Negotiating

You may feel you can negotiate with artists to perform at your venue. But, the entertainment business strives on trust. Having attended plenty of events, talent buyers have established their trustworthiness.  They’re a wizard in summoning talent that fits your budget. Sourcing popular talents comes with a lot of negotiation where even after sealing the deal, they might be a no-show due to unforeseen circumstances. A good talent buyer will have a contingency plan for a situation like this, thereby saving your money and reputation. 

Communicating and Executing

Suppose you’ve booked an iconic musician like Gary Allan to perform at your casino. The name itself will draw in the masses. But in many cases, the talent might be new and upcoming which your audience might not have heard of. In this case, your talent manager will develop an event marketing plan to target audiences that actually books the ticket. He will have his own logistics crew to execute the finer details, taking a huge load off your shoulders. 

Renting the Venue

So, your first event at your new restaurant went exceptionally well and now people want more. In the future,  you wish to host a fundraiser at a bigger, more premium venue to further cement your brand in the market. Arranging production services from a talent buying platform like Yapsody can further streamline the production and ticketing services which are crucial as well. Apart from selling out tickets for your fundraiser cookout to a larger audience, your brand name gets cross-promoted just by being associated with a premium venue. A win-win that was possible with a talent buyer and ticketing system by your side. 

With Yapsody by your side, you can streamline your entire talent buying and ticketing process. Our platform gets you a broad pool of multi-genre artists who have decades of experience in providing top-notch entertainment.

The post How Talent Buyers Can Save Your Entertainment Business appeared first on Yapsody.

Here are Three Simple Steps to Arrive on the Ideal Ticket Price for Your Next Event

Step 1: Consider ALL your expenses. 

Before finalizing your event, get an estimate of all the expenses you will incur while organizing this event. While this will depend entirely on the nature of your event, some of the common charges applicable to most events are:

1. Venue and artist booking
2. Decor
3. Logistics
4. Sound & lighting
5. Volunteer & Labour Charges
6. Goodie bags, if you’ve decided to go with them.
7. Marketing the event

Add the numbers up and then another 20% as a buffer. This should ideally cover any last-minute expenses, which, let’s be honest, every event is likely to incur.

Step 2: Estimate the number of attendees

This is the part where you have to be as realistic and true to yourself. Assuming you’ve booked a venue with a seating capacity of 500, do you expect all 500 tickets to be sold? If yes, that’s your estimate. According to industry experts at Yapsody, a realistic number to estimate is around 85% in case of <1000 tickets and around 75% for over 1000 tickets.

Step 3: Do the math. 

Divide the expense estimate from Step 1 by the estimate of the number of tickets you’ll sell from Step 2. Add a 10% margin for additional expenses or donations. The result is magic number to go with. Your event expenses are fully covered and the ticket purchaser pays the ideal amount based on the value they’re receiving from your event. 

This no-gain-no-loss ticket pricing strategy is perfect to use for a non-profit event. With a low-cost ticketing system such as Yapsody, you get a 50% rebate on your ticketing fees. As your ticketing fee reduces, so can your ticket prices! If you’re an event presenter organizing events for profits, we suggest you ideally begin with a 20% margin – the average profit margin in the event industry. If you’re organizing a popular event you’re certain will sell out, you can even go up to 40%. All you have to do is add the profit you want to make out of this event to the expenses in Step 1. If you’re organizing a beer festival or a casino night, this is the approach to take. 

This brings us to another question – how do you get your tickets sold after adding your profits? Attendees want to believe they’re getting the full value of the price they’re paying or they may choose to go the other way, meaning, not buy your ticket. 

Here are the 5 things you should keep in mind when setting your event ticket price:

1. 1. Sell Low Priced Tickets Early: Divide the event ticket sale period into at least 3 phases. Sell Early Bird tickets in Phase I. Ticket purchasers from this stage will perceive higher value for your ticket by paying less than normal ticket costs. Phase II purchasers get your tickets at the price you intended, therefore getting the value they should. In Phase III, you have fewer tickets left. This means it’s time to raise your prices to make up for the loss from the Early Bird Phase. Are you worried these tickets won’t sell? That’s not true. Even though they’re priced higher, your ticket purchasers will still perceive value as they’re able to get their hands on the last few available tickets. 
   2. Bundled Pricing: Allow your ticket buyers to include add ons to their ticket at a discounted price. Add ons could include Meet & Greet, VIP seat upgrades, food or drink packages. Attendees who have bought your tickets are very likely to buy an add on and wouldn’t mind spending a little extra to improve their event experience. With discounted add-ons, your ticket purchasers perceive higher value for the price and buy them right away. 
   3. Game of Numbers: We’re talking about the 9.99 strategies. It’s 2019. Consumers are wiser and better-informed decision makes. Yet, this strategy still works! Try selling your $16.00 ticket at $15.99 and see your sales figures go up twice as fast. Like every other item at your local supermarket, price your event tickets at a number ending in 9 to maximize your ticket sales. Keep your numbers as short as possible. 
   4. Exclude Ticketing Fees During Promotions: If you choose to pass on your ticketing fee to the attendee, showcase the price of the event without the ticketing fee while advertising your event. This puts you at an advantage in case the ticket purchaser decides to compare prices. 
   5. Save the Best for First: Unlike popular opinion, in the case of event ticketing, let your audience see the best ticket package first. Attendees are most likely to purchase tickets at the price they see first unless they specifically dig deeper and look for budget-friendly options. Make use of the natural human tendency and boost your ticket sales for the higher-priced tickets. 

While your attendee gets the most value out of his purchase, it is also extremely important that you get the most value out of your event ticketing system. Use a low priced online ticketing system like Yapsody and get 25% OFF your event ticketing fees! Transfer those extra bucks you saved into profits and sell your event tickets for even lower. Sign up now and sell your first 50 tickets for free!

The post How To Price An Event Ticket in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on Yapsody.

Encouraging to Share

Encourage your attendees to spread the word about your event amongst their friends. You can ask them to share the event on their social profiles, and in return appreciate their gesture by offering discounts on event ticket prices.

Photos Sharing and Re-sharing

Use social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to share and re-­share photos. Upload photos of the pre-event and post-event and share it across. You can tag your event attendees in these photos to keep their interests and excitement alive.

Contests and prizes

Organizing contests for the audience will evoke interests. And if the contests come along with some amazing gifts and prizes, it will be even more impactful. Whosoever is interested will take part in it and share on their profiles for friends and others to participate. However, make sure that entry to the contests involves easy steps; complicated steps can dispel your potential buyers.

Engaging on Twitter

Spend time on Twitter to engage with your audience and increase followers. Make sure that your tweets include keywords and unique hashtags relevant to your event. Do not forget to provide in each tweet a link of your webpage where one can buy a ticket or register for the event. Also, increase the frequency of tweeting as one may miss out. You can also make use of several Twitter ad campaign options.

Promoting Eminent Speakers

If your event has eminent speakers or personalities, start promoting them. You can also request them to notify their followers about their presence on your event. This serves the double promotions – the speaker as well as the event.

Marketing on Reddit

Using Reddit to market your event is a way different than Facebook or Twitter. There’s already a community ready to expel you if you come across as someone who’s just on this channel to promote your brand. Submitting your links on Reddit will generate good sales leads to sell your tickets and brand exposure. However, there are certain norms that you need to follow on how to promote your event on Reddit.

First, you need to be clear about the community or subreddits (sub-communities) you are aiming for. Your objective should be to engage with the community and not promotion.

Add value to the community by interacting with the members, and providing valuable content. Make mention of your product when the time is right.

Be true to yourself and maintain a conversational tone while engaging with the Redditors. Before submitting yours, make sure you understand what sort of content works here.

So, start implementing these simple measures and you will see a great surge in ticket sales.

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