Recently in ISM’s e-list for Admission Directors, one director wondered if anyone had used Eventbrite.com to promote open houses. Others offered up a recommendation for Paperlesspost.com. Both of these are online-only tools for greetings, notes, and invitations—communications that traditionally involved paper and postage. On one hand, communicating in cyberspace is cheap (mostly free), instant, and can be managed 24/7. On the downside, it may seem sterile, get lost as spam, and … can be managed 24/7. (If you can do your work round the clock, will you give yourself permission not to?)
Here’s an introduction to these two Web resources you might want to check out to see if they meet your needs.
Eventbrite.com is more than a site to generate invitations; it’s an event management resource. You create events, upload your contacts, create invitations, and track responses for your event. You have some degree of control over the look and feel of your e-vites, which are personalized for each recipient.
Eventbrite offers tools to promote your event, including an easy link to publish to Facebook and Twitter. You can use the buttons and links feature as well to add to your invitation, such as “Attend Now!” and “Click and Register,” and personalize links. You can send up to 2,000 e-mails per day.
By default, your event will be classified as Public, and will be indexed in Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and other major search engines, and will be available to sites like Zvents and Eventful. However, you can make your event private. There are also tracking tools and an entry management/check in system to scan ticket bar codes and a mobile app for QR codes.
Any event is free to post and manage, and the site offers a lot of tips and help to get you going. Ticketed events that charge a fee are a different story; there is a pricing scale based on ticket price that is clearly explained. You also have the option to collect money at the door with a swipe system that plugs into your tablet.
Check out Eventbrite’s features here. However, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page to find information about the fee-based options. Look at the bottom under “Using Eventbrite” for these links.
Several Admission Directors sung the praises of paperlesspost.com to send out personalized greetings and notes. It goes hand-in-hand with Eventbrite; both sites link to each other. paperlesspost has brought e-cards to a new level—they are beautifully designed and give you terrific personalization options.
Choose from holiday cards, notes and greetings, save-the-dates, photo cards, invitations, announcements, and more. You get to choose the font for your greetings, and you can sort choices by type, color, shape, designer, and price. Cards are delivered in “envelopes” and you can add “postage” to get as close to the real thing as electronically possible. If you still like paper, there is a collection that you can order in paper relatively inexpensively.
There are free cards to choose from; however, there are options and styles with established fees. The cost is based on “coin” values. You get 25 coins to sign up, then can add free coins for social media connections and downloading the mobile app. Once they are used up, you can purchase additional coins, starting at 25 coins for $5.
If you are mass mailing your cards, free cards have a limit of 500 e-mails. Need more? You can customize for a fee and mail to 15,000 addresses. You upload your address book or add individual names, and then track and follow up your mailings. For FAQs and help, click here.
The company notes that PaperlessPost offers the first well-designed and personal electronic cards. “PaperlessPost modernizes the tradition of correspondence and helps you create cards and invitations that reflect the individual aesthetic.”
Are there other cybertools that have helped you communicate effectively or manage your events better? Let us know!
Additional ISM resources of interest
ISM Monthly Update for Development Directors Vol. 10 No. 1 An Effective “Thank You” Strategy to Generate Donations
ISM Monthly Update for Admission Officers Vol. 10 No. 1 Communicating Through Social Media
