- Listing Events on Your Site
2009-05-12 10:18:07
The website tool that lists your events needs to be updated regularly. Once we realized how each organization needed a custom way to list events, we created SAMventer. It allows you to list and update your events easily. And, it gives you a lot of flexibility so that your event will run smoothly. Which of these functions do we need to take into account as we design a SAMventor for your website?
List an hour event or an event that runs several weeks
· Use the same address for every event or change the address for particular events
· Create a long description of the event or merely list it as ‘meeting.’
· Decide to register participants on your website
· Take payment through your website
· Keep track of attendees as well as the money if payment is taken
· Acquire the email addresses of attendees so that you can keep them informed of changes in the date or time of the event
· Keep an archive of past events or list past events on the web
The SAMventer is designed around the needs of a particular organization. Future events can be listed as far ahead as you want. As the date of the event passes, the event drops off the page. Then, the next event shows and automatically updates the website.
Using a calendar for listing events does not allow for customization as the SAMventer does. A calendar does allow the user to easily navigate through the months, but it does not stay current like the SAMventer does. A calendar asks you to click on an event, but the SAMventer shows the entire event.
- A Calendar or the SAMventer?
2009-05-18 17:20:15
When a website owner wants to place events on his/her website, the choice between using a calendar format or the SAMventer is based on how to best display events. Frequently he/she chooses a calendar not realizing that this format gives too much information to the site visitor. For example, imagine an organization has only one event and it is scheduled for July. The website shows the current month May and no event is listed there. To find out when the event takes place, the visitor must page through May and June before reaching the listed event in July. In the process the visitor might just assume the organization doesn’t update its calendar. Now, think of an organization that has several events in a single month. For them, a calendar makes sense and shows the May events immediately. The visitor easily chooses the day the event takes place from the calendar. It works well for the user.
However, an organization may have other reasons for wanting SAMventer with a dynamic list of events. The term dynamic means that the event disappears as soon as the date passes. In the case of the aachc.org website, they have several events a year or about a two or three every month. Some of the events have extensive descriptions and agendas; one page lists the titles and dates of the events. The user clicks on the title and receives a full-page description of the event. A user can easily scan this list of events and discover the dates and times of the board of directors’ meetings for the year.
We created SAMventer for the organization that has a few events during the year, wants to list them on their site, but often forgets to update them regularly. Making them dynamic allows them to disappear from the current event page. With SAMventor, the visitor doesn’t see events that took place a while ago and think that the site is neglected and not updated. Even when an organization can add and edit its own event list or calendar, the website still gets neglected. With SAMventer, the list is empty, telling the user no events are occurring right now. However, if a calendar is not updated, the user feels compelled to click on several months to see if he/she is missing something. But, this practice can be annoying. An effective, important website practice is to update the calendar or SAMventer. If not updated, a blank page with a statement of events to come is probably less annoying than a blank calendar We do encourage a past events page because this validates an organization’s viability. A user might want to know the history the organization has in terms of giving this event.
The benefits and features of SAMventer are customized to the needs of the organization, but these can also be applied to a calendar. Calendars are definitely useful, and they are managers of time. The SAMventer is only about posting your events and keeping your site up-to-date. The features and benefits just add to the tool’s use.
- Registration for an Event
2009-06-01 21:37:16
If you are a company that holds events and charges for them, the best way to get paid by your attendees is to offer online registration and payment. When a user first comes to your site and wishes to attend an event, the best time to get them to commit is right away. Often once a potential person leaves, they look elsewhere for what they want and this creates a reasonable chance that you will loose them as potential clients.
Online registration has many more benefits than receiving money right away from customers, it also allows you to keep track of them. With SAMventer, once they are registered they will be in your database that will include the client’s email and contact information. If any changes occur with a particular event, you will have a contact list available to email the attendees the changes that have been made. This allows you to change times and dates without have to call everyone up and individually explain the alterations in the schedule.
Online registration also allows you to send information, confirmation notes, and agendas to everyone on your event list.
In addition, SAMventer keeps track of who paid and, if you desire, who will pay at the door. It also allows you to edit the list, so if someone decides not to come or that they want to bring a friend, you can easily make changes accordingly.
Once an event has past, SAMventer takes it off the list of events and stores it in the past events section. It still keeps track of registration and allows you to delete those who did not show for the event and add those who came but never registered. This allows you to easily send any follows up information with an updated list. Keeping this list is also good for promoting your next event as well.
SAMventer can customize to your needs and your events, please contact us for more.
