What Makes This Different

What is unique about this registration tool?
What makes it different than other software out there?

The following was written to someone who inquired about this software.  It will provide you with some of the why and what's different about this tool.

The the EventCORE software (or versions of it) have handled over 50,000 registrations for world wide events.  The biggest users so far are: EMDC, Arrowhead Conferences and Events, CM2007, The Impact Movement, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, International Orality Network and the Global Leadership Office.

This tool was developed on the request of my supervisor to meet five specific needs:

  1. Low Cost to Users:  He wanted us to get away from the high cost of a per-user registration fee.
  2. Customization: Allowing for flexibility with the "look/feel" so that you could make it more like someone's own Web site.
  3. Flexible Log in:  Wanted more flexibility in terms of how a log in could be created.
  4. Group Registration:  Wanted to be able to do a whole group of people on one registration.
  5. Modular Approach:  You can turn on/off various modules on an as needed basis.

We've been rolling it out over the past four years, expanding it as we go based on need.  It is nearing the point where I believe it will really be ready for mass distribution. In the next few months I'll put together instructional tutorials and templates to better use the tool.  You can learn a lot about the tool by going to: http://www.chloedog.org to look around at some of the test conferences that have been set up.  You can also go to the Help Center (http://help.intre.org) to discover a lot about how things are set up.

The modules allow great flexibility with turning things on and off.  For example, if you have a conference where you need people's travel info, you just turn on the module and it's there.  You can set up custom questionnaires to collect data and you can even have unique items that are purchased on a per attendee basis.

But one of the strongest features of this product that we didn't even initially envision, is it's ability to handle housing. It will manage rooms, allow roommate self-assignment, multiple hotel sites, mutiple rooms, etc.  For example, nearly all of the 1500 Impact students this past year placed themselves in rooms with their own roommates prior to arrival.

Additionally, we promote and use the bulk email features of the tool to help encourage people to make payments prior to arrival.  Thus when people check in they are only picking up materials because the payment is all handled prior to arrival. 

You can have multiple questionnaires and we've just now launched the custom programming feature that allows custom applications to be written and easily embedded into the site.

There are fees associated with the use of the tool but they are much lower than most other conference registration systems.  In essence the fees are based on the amount of support and resources used.  Some partners using this tool have found it easiest to calculate this support charge as a per-user fee. (*) I have met my supervisor's criteria in that for events sponsored by his office, there is no per-user fee.  Other's who buy the software outright can also avoid the per-user fees.  

The script is constantly being upgraded and we're soon going to role out version 2.0 which is going to be incredibly different in that it will allow a single page registration that does not require a log in but instead will allow reentry solely on the basis of associated email address. 

There is extensive reporting features and export features as well.