Proposal-201102-staff-03
Contents
Proposal Staff 03
- Council Member Name: Staff
- Council Position—Proposal Number: Staff-03
- Meeting Date for Proposal: February 19, 2011
- Objective this proposal falls under: n/a
- What costs are associated with this proposal? (if none state "none"): $7,000
- What is the motion to be made on this?
- To allocate a maximum of $7,000 this year toward online National Convention registration processing, to be handled via RegOnline (www.regonline.com).
- Additional Pertinent Information: (if none state "none")
Goals
The following goals for setting up an online National Convention registration system were established:
- A. Electronic data collection that can be easily brought over into our membership database
- B. Online payment management
- C. Acknowledgement of waivers and release of liability
- D. Hotel room assignment management
Three registration options were considered – a completely in-house solution and two competing online event registration companies, Eventbrite (www.eventbrite.com) and RegOnline (www.regonline.com).
Preferred Alternative: RegOnline
Of all the alternatives studied, RegOnline offered the most options and services at a relatively modest cost. Using RegOnline, Phi Sigma Pi would be able to collect National Convention registration data from all our members, collect payments (either immediately via credit card, or by generating an invoice that will be mailed with payment to our office), force acknowledgement of our release of liability, and manage hotel room assignments.
All monies (less processing fees) collected via the RegOnline registration system would be sent as a check to the National Headquarters each month. A request can be made to RegOnline to dispatch these checks every two weeks, which would further reduce the impact to the Fraternity’s cash flow.
In addition to meeting all of the goals that we had set out to accomplish as listed above, RegOnline also offers the following additional benefits to our members and staff:
Advantages of Using RegOnline: During the Registration Process
- Offer codes: rather than manually tracking which person(s) or Chapter(s) is eligible for a free/discounted convention registration, we can utilize automated offer codes that eligible persons/Chapters can use. For example, we can have Lamp of Knowledge or Recruitment Incentive Plan recipients enter a code for a free National Convention registration, which would be automatically discounted at checkout.
- Custom agenda creation: RegOnline can manage the optional or preferred events that are sometimes offered during National Convention (for example, a tour of Washington DC, or choosing between different seminars and workshops). When a member chooses optional events and preferred activities, RegOnline will then create a dynamic agenda for that particular member that includes these optional activities. On the backend, staff will be able to determine who signed up for any optional or preferred events to make the necessary rooming adjustments or tour reservations.
- Lodging: RegOnline also has a built-in hotel rooming manager. Members who register at the same time have the option of being grouped together in the same hotel room; otherwise, members can indicate with whom they would like to share a room. Hotel room assignments can be easily administered through a rooming report available on the backend.
Advantages of Using RegOnline: Leading up to National Convention and Afterwards
- Day-of check-in systems: RegOnline offers the ability to create check-in kiosks, which can either be manned by staff or operated as a self check-in for members. Reports can be immediately generated that will show who is and is not in attendance at the event. (If desired, staff could track attendance at each specific event at convention and generate attendance reports for each individual event, or for a specific user.)
- Timed E-Mail reminders and follow-ups: RegOnline has the ability to send timed emails of our choice to all registered attendees, or those meeting specific demographic criteria.
- Robust reporting: Extensive reports can be generated on any of the topics mentioned above (and can even be cross-referenced with other events that have been held).
Areas of Concern Using RegOnline
- Attendee information will need to be imported directly into the Fraternity’s internal membership database at the conclusion of National Convention. (All the online registration services evaluated currently cannot interface directly with our existing systems). However, we have been advised by our technology vendors that a ‘data import tool’ can be created, which will allow us to import the attendee data into the internal database once the event has been completed and finalized.
- There is a flat charge of $3.95 for every registration processed via RegOnline. This does not include credit card exchange fees of 4.95%. Of course, if members decide to pay by check, the Fraternity would not be responsible for the credit card exchange fees, just the flat registration charge of $3.95.
Consequently, in implementing RegOnline as our online registration system:
- We will eliminate our current manual processes with an online solution that will process payments and convention attendee information, freeing staff labor hours to pursue other projects and activities. This alone will make up for the processing charges necessary.
- We can hopefully capture more convention attendees by simplifying and automating the registration process and creating a more user-friendly experience.
- We will have the ability to ultimately extend this system to our current region conferences, where we can ultimately pull valuable data in terms of member attendance at these events.
Other Alternatives
In addition to RegOnline, a few other options were considered. However, the following options were considered to either not have the feature-set desired given the complexity of National Convention, or deemed too costly to implement.
Option 1: In-House Registration Solution
When starting on this project, we considered working with our existing technology vendors to create an in-house convention registration solution, which would have included an online registration portal and payment gateway. Additionally, this would have afforded us the option of having all registration data entered directly into Phi Sigma Pi’s membership database.
However, this option would be the most costly (over $20,000 to implement plus any annual licensing fees of at least $1188, in addition to the regular credit card exchange fees) as well as the longest to implement (over 1 month to set up and implement). Additionally, this would not have resolved the need for hotel booking management (this would require the additional purchase of a separate hotel management module).
This option can meet all of the outlined goals on page 1 with the purchase of the aforementioned hotel management module; however, since the in-house registration solution comes at a very significant cost and lengthy time penalty, it is not considered to be a viable alternative.
Option 2: Eventbrite
Eventbrite was one other online service that was also considered. Eventbrite offers similar features to RegOnline, such as data collection of registrants, day-of-event check-in systems, and online payments. Of all the solutions researched, Eventbrite was the most inexpensive, with the per-person registration cost being 2.0% of cost + 99c (not including any credit card exchange fees of 3.0%).
Although Eventbrite does not interface with our membership database, our technology vendors are able to create an import tool that will move attendee information from Eventbrite to our membership database at the conclusion of the event (similar to RegOnline). Overall, it would be able to meet goals A through C as listed on page 1.
However, there are many complications with utilizing Eventbrite as a National Convention registration service. Eventbrite is not able to handle large-scale events like National Convention, where members can choose optional side-tours of the city or select a Leadership in Action training seminar they would most like to see, for example. There is no way to manage hotel room assignments, so staff would still need to manage this piece by hand. The ability to generate reports is also limited in Eventbrite – we are limited to a printout of attendees – and we would be lacking the ability to create custom reports. Finally, monies collected via Eventbrite are not sent to us until five days after the conclusion of the event, which can potentially lead to cash flow issues. Because of the limited feature set of Eventbrite (especially when compared to RegOnline), it did not make for a viable registration solution.
Option 3: EventsNow
EventsNow is an online event service offered by Network For Good. The feature set of EventsNow is somewhat similar to EventBrite, with the exception being that there is more of a focus on donation-based events (where a certain portion of the ticket price is tax-deductible). Although EventsNow does not interface with our membership database, our technology vendors are able to create an import tool that will move attendee information from EventsNow to our membership database at the conclusion of the event. Overall, it would be able to meet goals A through C as listed on page 1. However, as with Eventbrite, EventsNow cannot handle large-scale events like National Convention, where members can choose optional side-tours or specific seminars. There is no way to manage hotel room assignments, so staff would still need to manage this piece by hand. EventsNow has a very limited reporting system (much more limited than Eventbrite) and has no tools to help staff members during day-of-event check in.
Finally, the cost per transaction for EventsNow is 5.5% of transaction + 99c – regardless of form of payment used. When handling a credit card transaction, EventsNow would cost us an additional 0.5% to process the transaction. When handling a cash or check transaction, EventsNow would cost us an additional 3.5% to process the transaction. Because of these limitations, especially considering that Eventbrite offered more slightly more features for us for less money, it did not make for a viable solution.
Additional online event registration companies were considered; however, none of them had the same number of positive reviews or had a list of identifiable clients that would have otherwise proven their experience in their field. RegOnline offered a list of companies with which they have worked and actual registration pages from conferences these companies have held (some of which are familiar Fortune 500 companies).
