Event Planning Software

I'm very interested in this too!

H Heather - 

Can you clarify for me what you mean by Event Management and the capabilities that you are looking at? We're in early development phase with zKipster and SocialTables (no ETA on a release yet) and I was wondering if that was what you were looking at or if it was, perhaps, another definition of event rather than a seated event usually with a fundraising or paid piece.

Cheers,

Heather 

Hi Heather,

Thanks so much for your reply!  A few of the events we book are fundraising events, but the majority are ticketed events or venue rentals (corporate events, weddings, etc.).  We're happy with how Tessitura works for the ticketing and fundraising piece, but there are other elements of event planning that Tessitura doesn't currently help with.

Shedd is a pretty complex facility.  Different areas of the building have different capacities, and because we have live animals, there are rules specific to individual exhibits, like what time lights go out; how many staff members we need; and whether food and drink are allowed in the area.  About a dozen different departments have action items during the planning and execution phases of the event.  We currently manage this all manually on Outlook calendars and spreadsheets.  With multiple departments booking events, it's tough to know who held the date first, who's on the wait list (and in what order), and when it's feasible for two events to share the space. We also want a better way to *completely* black out event booking on our peak general public dates.  Managing this manually leads to user error, overbooking, forgetting to release holds and having a date that another department might have booked go to waste, etc.  So we're looking for a software that will allow us to collaborate better across departments and maximize use of the space.  

We're at the stage of the process where we'll be requesting demos from 10-12 vendors.  Based on what you know of zKipster and SocialTables at this early stage of development, do you think they're worth putting on our shortlist?

Thanks,
Heather

We have been using a program called ArtsVision for the past season. It’s pretty robust and does a lot of what you’re talking about. I’m sure someone who worked on the installation and training would be happy to chat with you about it too!

http://site.artsvision.net/

We use it for all our spaces, not just the theaters.

Thanks Gabriela!  We'll check out ArtsVision if it's not already on the shortlist.

Hi Heather,

Here at the MFA Boston, we have been using a program called EMS from Accruent since around 2010.  We used to use a similarly complex combo of multiple Outlook calendars, Excel docs, and simple sheet binders in various departments to coordinate space usage across the Museum (far from efficient and very prone to multiple space RSVPs).  We still use EMS in 2 of the forms that we first started out with - a Client application that is sort of the SysAdmin/Power Users/Space Managers platform, and a Virtual web-driven platform that the majority of Museum staff use for day to day meeting spaces, etc.  The software now also has App-driven platforms, a Master Calendar feature (we explored but didn't end up going with), as well as a myriad of ways to configure it for your organizations purposes (they market to Colleges/Universities, various Corporations, conference centers, etc.) so you can effectively create campuses, buildings, zones within buildings, etc.  

While we have yet to figure out a way to directly link it with Tessitura (this would be a fantastic way to initially import data into Tessitura to start the event building process!), reporting can be pulled out of EMS as Excel, PDFs, and XML, so we have tweaked the general reporting queries over the years to present the data in a close format of the critical fields needed to create performances in Tessitura.

It also can create invoices, confirmations, send notices about requests and the like that allow users to coordinate across departments - and most importantly, everyone is going to the same source to look at space and availability (no more double-booked spaces!) and to see what is happening at any given time in the Museum.  It doesn't do everything we would like it to do (there is a tremendous amount of initial configuration and in some cases, ongoing configuration - like with any complex program), but it ticked alot of the boxes on our list of what we were looking for at the time.

Cheers,

Anne

Hi Heather,

I'd also encourage you to take a look at our other ecosystem partners in the Venue, Facility, & Artist Management category. https://www.tessituranetwork.com/en/Services/Partnerships/Venue-Management Artifax's E4 platform is integrated to Tessitura and EventBooking and Ungerboeck are in the process of developing integrations as well. Contact information for each of these partners in included at the link above or please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have other questions. kdegenhart@tessituranetwork.com

Thanks,

Kelly D 

Thanks for your feedback, Anne!  We'll check out EMS.

Hi Heather -

Apologies on the tardiness of my reply, I had a bit of vacation to attend to! With what you describe, it sounds like the options that my colleague, Kelly, described would be more of the thing. SocialTables and zKipster are more managing the invitee, not the facility use. However, EventBooking and Ungerboeck sound more like what you are searching for.

Best of luck!

Heather

Thanks very much!  I just got back from my vacation as well.  We'll be looking at all the Tessitura partners more closely in the next stage, but after looking at the one sheets, I agree that EventBooking and Ungerboeck are more promising.  Much appreciated!



<Tessitura_2D00_Network_2D00_logo_5F00_1500x421-png_2D00_150x42-png> Update from Tessitura Network <4TXDZ82YD0HC-jpg_2D00_70x70x2-jpg> Heather McLaren Hi Heather, Thanks so much for your reply!  A few of the events we book are fundraising events, but the majority are ticketed events or venue rentals (corporate events, weddings, etc.).  We're happy with how Tessitura works for the ticketing and fundraising piece, but there are other elements of event planning that Tessitura doesn't currently help with. Shedd is a pretty complex facility.  Different areas of the building have different capacities, and because we have live animals, there are rules specific to individual exhibits, like what time lights go out; how many staff members we need; and whether food and drink are allowed in the area.  About a dozen different departments have action items during the planning and execution phases of the event.  We currently manage this all manually on Outlook calendars and spreadsheets.  With multiple departments booking events, it's tough to know who held the date first, who's on the wait list (and in what order), and when it's feasible for two events to share the space. We also want a better way to *completely* black out event booking on our peak general public dates.  Managing this manually leads to user error, overbooking, forgetting to release holds and having a date that another department might have booked go to waste, etc.  So we're looking for a software that will allow us to collaborate better across departments and maximize use of the space.   We're at the stage of the process where we'll be requesting demos from 10-12 vendors.  Based on what you know of zKipster and SocialTables at this early stage of development, do you think they're worth putting on our shortlist? Thanks, Heather View online   You received this notification because you subscribed to the forum.  To unsubscribe from only this thread, go here. Flag this post as spam/abuse.