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  • Behind the Scenes

The best free event management software

  • By Ryan Moss

  • 18 Oct 2022
  • 11 min read

What is event management software?

An event management software supports you in the process of organising an event. This can be from the beginning to the end of an event or a single part of event management. For the latter, an example would be ticketing. You’d set up the ticketing in bespoke software, using other programs to organise the remaining parts of the event. 

Why should I use event management software?

Event management software streamlines the process of organising an event. It places all the communication, such as times and dates, venues, speaker information and more, into one place. This eliminates the need to use multiple software, so you and your team can make the planning as focused as possible. 

Event management software that focuses on one aspect of planning an event is also useful. If you’re a small team, you might need to save on resources. A website builder, for example, could help you take an uncomplicated approach to communicate information about the event and showcasing your brand identity.

What type of events need event management software?

Lots of events can benefit from event management software. A virtual event with multiple speakers can benefit from the ability to source venues from a database, and a live music event can benefit from the ability to list, promote and analyse events all in one place. We’ve compiled a list of free event management software in the article below. 


The Promotion Centre

Skiddle’s Promotion Centre is a free event management software that supports your event across several stages. 

You can list your event – whether it’s a gig, club night, festival, dating event, exhibition or virtual event – free on our website. Then, you can promote the event to over two million visitors per month and sell your tickets at zero cost. You’ll receive 100% of the ticket’s face value. 

The Promotion Centre allows you to tag artists in the listings. This means that people who follow the artist you’re booking will be able to find out about your event by clicking the artist’s profile. 

Once your event is listed, you can track the ticket sales and refunds of the event, use coding to sell tickets on your website, track the ticket sales breakdown over numerous timeframes, and, if you choose to use RapidScan, track the entry stats from that app. 

You can keep track of your remittance once the event has taken place. In the ‘Finance’ section, you’ll find overview, paid, unpaid and payout report. Click here to read more about remittance. 

There’s help if you need it. The Skiddle Help Center features advice and answers from the team, with a backlog of information to help you navigate the Promotion Centre. This Promoter Blog is also helpful, with articles about the various services we provide. 

Our Account Support team are also on hand to answer any queries you might have about the service, and you can view the changes to the Promotion Centre under the ‘view latest changes’ tab in the ‘Help’ section. That’s four sources of customer support for one software. 

Skiddle’s Promotion Centre is a valuable free event management software tool because it integrates the process of listing, analysing and promoting an event into one place, with built-in support from our wider channels and staff. 

You get an intuitive piece of software that’s constantly undergoing updates for free. Click here to sign up today. 


EventCreate

EventCreate is a website builder. This event management software allows you to create a bespoke website. It’s simple, free to use and covers a range of events: from festivals, concerts and memorials to virtual events, weddings and fundraisers. 

The software lets you choose from one of many templates, allowing you to edit the website with your own content, images, videos or customised fonts. EventCreate’s free tier will let you create one active website with 100 maximum attendees.

So, this could be a valuable piece of free event management software if you’re running a lower-capacity event and your team is small. You can communicate your brand identity with a contemporary-looking website for free without knowledge of coding.’

Credit: EventBuilder

It’s crucial to have a functioning and attractive website. It’s where all the event’s essential information will be, and you’re more likely to be successful if people can find the details in one place.

EventCreate allows you to collect RSVP yes’s and no’s, providing you with data on who is attending your event. This data is paramount for any event. For a smaller one, it can help you build relationships with attendees and drive further interest through word of mouth. 

You can rank on search engines with an event website. By researching the keywords related to your event that people might search for, you can target them by using the same keywords in the copy on your website.

This might be in a description or an about us page, but it will help drive traffic to your site and possibly your event. That means more potential customers and buzz around what you’re promoting. 


Zoho Backstage

Zoho Backstage is an end-to-end free event management software designed to help you plan and execute in-person, virtual and hybrid events. 

The free tier of this software allows you to build a website for your event, track real-time analytics of the event and, amongst other features, lets you host the event on their built-in virtual event platform Backstage OnAir. 

Credit: Zoho Backstage

Zoho Backstage could be a valuable free event management software because everything is integrated into one app. Planning the event with the agenda builder means that all your team members are on the same page, have one piece of software to get used to, and all the planning information is in one place. It takes away the need to use multiple apps at this point in the event process, which could risk crucial details becoming lost. 

The built-in virtual event platform allows attendees to enter the meeting directly from the website. The onboarding process is sped up, while the security of Backstage OnAir means that you can protect your event from outside security risks. 


Cvent

Cvent is an event management software that provides solutions across four event types: in-person, hybrid, virtual and webinar events.

There are unique features for each event type and tools that cross over between the four types of events the app offers solutions for.

Cvent’s venue sourcing tool allows access to over 280,000 venues when planning an in-person or hybrid event. You can filter the database to refine the search process, receive safety updates from the venue, track cancelled space, and generate ideas through Cvent’s bespoke content.

This could be a valuable piece of free event management software. The process is streamlined, taking away the need for extensive and manually built databases. It means that the planning stage of the event is smoother while minimising potential data losses.

Credit: Cvent

Cvent offers engagement features when hosting virtual events. Here, you can use live chat, dynamic Q&A and polling. It’s a handy way of bringing your virtual events to life, allowing the attendees to contribute and ensuring they are engaged with the event.

Your virtual events can take on their own visual identity with Cvent. By using their studio feature, you can align the event with your brand identity. There’s a two-fold value here: You can associate your brand with a high-quality presentation and organise an event to remember by using custom backgrounds and pre-planned segments that drive interest from your attendees.

Cvent’s Webinar platform allows you to choose from several delivery options, simple or fully customised registration forms and pre-built or custom websites.

You can use polling tools, topic-based roundtable discussion and 1:1 chat to encourage networking between your attendees, and receive real-time data on the success of your webinar.


Whova

Whova is an event management software that provides an all-in-one solution when organising events.

You can access Whova through their mobile app available to organisers and attendees, bringing efficiency to the event management process.

When organising an event, liaising via email can bring the same pitfalls as working across different event management software. If the event has a lot of speakers, there is a large volume of people to email.

That makes it hard for you and the person you’re emailing, as both parties risk losing the email chain among the sea of other correspondence. Plus, you may have to email some people with a nudge if they haven’t replied promptly.

Credit: Whova

Whova’s ‘Event Center’ integrates this process into one solution. You can create a form to distribute to online speakers, letting them upload their bios, headshots and session information when they are ready. If they haven’t replied with their information, you can schedule a reminder and send it out.

Once the speaker has entered their information, you can create an event, and Whova will pull that information automatically from the form you distributed to the event page.

Whova’s integrated system has value because it takes away the tedious aspects of event management. With everything in one place, you can keep things organised. Organisation is crucial for the success of an event.


Got a question you need an answer to? Give us a call on 03333010301 or ask us a question over on our Skiddle Promoters Twitter account by clicking or tapping on the button below. Alternatively, you can also find a list of our most frequently asked questions over at https://help.promotioncentre.co.uk/

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