Author: Franz Malten Buemann

When it comes to event marketing, there are many tasks that need to be completed prior to (as well as during and after) your event. This can become overwhelming, especially if you’re on a small team. 
The good news is that there are a variety of event marketing tools available to help with all aspects of your event, including event registration. In this blog post, we’ll cover seven of the best event registration tools on the market today.

For the sake of simplicity, the free event registration section includes one option that is always free for event registration. The second section includes event registration tools that are either always paid, or offer free and paid plans. 

Free Event Registration Tools
1. HubSpot Free Online Form Builder

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HubSpot’s Free Online Form Builder makes it easy to create, integrate, and share forms with your audience. The drag-and-drop builder makes the process of designing your registration forms simple — then, all attendee contact information obtained is automatically stored in your CRM.
Share your event registration form on an event website or web page. There are over 1,000 form fields and over 12 field types you can use to customize your event’s registration form. Then, decide if you want to trigger notifications when an attendee signs up for your event by completing and submitting your form.
Are you a WordPress user? Well HubSpot still applies to you thanks to the HubSpot WordPress Plugin. 

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When it comes to using HubSpot as your event registration tool (or as your CMS, CRM, Marketing Software, Sales Software, or Service Software, for that matter), you have a lot of flexibility — even if your website is built on WordPress. In fact, HubSpot’s free WordPress plugin, which is built natively in WordPress, helps capture, organize, and engage visitors with free forms (as well as live chat, contact management, email marketing, and analytics).
Select to receive notifications once an attendee completes registration, as well as automate event-related follow-up emails. Use the drag-and-drop form builder for your event registration or stick to the WordPress builders you already use (this is made possible by the many integrations HubSpot offers, like Gravity Forms). Lastly, built-in analytics and reporting dashboards allow you to keep track of your attendees and their contact data with ease.
Next, let’s look at some more event registration tools. 

Best Online Registration Tools
2. Google Forms

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Google has a variety of tools you may find yourself using every day (I know I do) — Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides are just a few examples. So what about a Google Event Registration Tool? Well, Google Forms offers the necessary features for just that. Similar to other Google products, Google Forms offers a plan for personal use (that’s free) and a plan for your team (that’s paid and comes with greater security and control).
With this paid Google Business plan, you can create event registration forms for attendees, students, or patients and track all sign-ups. To create your event’s registration forms, simply open a new form and begin customizing the form fields. Drag and drop these form fields so they’re positioned accordingly, and add images, videos, and custom logic as you see fit.
Then, send registration forms directly to your audience members’ email addresses and view data about submitted forms within the built-in analytics dashboard.
Price
Google Forms Workspace requires a Google Business Plan. You’ll gain access to Google’s other products in addition to Froms with a paid plan. Plans range in price from $6 per month to $18 per month. If you’re looking to use the product at the enterprise level, contact a rep for a quote.
3. Splash

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Splash is an event marketing program for online, in-person, and hybrid events. This tool allows you to design and customize responsive web pages and emails for your event. As for attendee sign up, choose to share registration forms and RSVPs that your audience can then send back to you with ease. Smart guest lists, targeting, and email marketing features exist to optimize and streamline event registration and promotion.
Splash also provides the necessary tools to check-in attendees, share event-related surveys, and run sweepstakes and contests. Integrate Splash with your marketing automation platform and CRM, and analyze event data via the tool’s reporting dashboard.
Integrate Splash with HubSpot to create, plan, and host on-brand events all from a single tool and leverage attendee data in HubSpot for future campaigns and events.
Price
Try Splash for free, request a demo, or speak with a sales rep to learn about the right plan for your team.
4. Eventbrite

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Eventbrite is an event technology platform ideal for supporting and managing any event you host. The tool’s event registration feature is so easy to use that it only requires you to work through three steps.
Start by entering your event details. This is when you’ll finalize your event’s who, what, where, when, and why.
Then, create your tickets — select whether or not your tickets will be free as well as which type of tickets you’ll offer (e.g. single vs. multi-day pass). This is also when you’ll determine whether you want to offer a discount or promo code for early-bird and group purchases.
Lastly, open registration to your audience via web page or social media. Specifially, Eventbrite makes it easy to share registration via Facebook and Instagram.
Price
Eventbrite offers both free and paid plans. The Essentials and Professional plans are free if you host a free event.  Eventbrite will only charge you when you sell a paid ticket.
If you are hosting a free event, you have access to all features offered in the Essentials plan, and you have access to all features offered in the Professional plan except for phone, chat, and email support. There’s also a third plan option, Premium, which offers the greatest amount of flexibility and customization at the highest price.
5. Whova
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Whova is an event management tool that comes with an online registration feature. Create tickets within minutes and customize registration in a number of ways. Offer discount pricing (for early-bird or group ticket purchases), offer different types of tickets (e.g. single vs. multi-day pass), and ask attendees questions about your event when they’re registering (e.g. what made them want to attend your event or what they’re most excited for).
You can also create a registration web page and embeddable widgets to link to your registration as well as use the real-time reporting dashboard to track sales and attendance. 
Price
Contact Whova directly for a quote via their pricing page.
6. Wild Apricot

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Wild Apricot is a membership and event management software with an online event registration feature. The tool makes it easy to create an online event listing that attracts your target audience as well as includes images and your online event registration form. Any event you create with Wild Apricot is added to the tool’s calendar and/or your website so your audience can learn about and sign up for the event from anywhere.
Share early-bird discounts or coupon codes, offer add-ons at checkout, and schedule automatic confirmation emails to be sent to attendees. Wild Apricot also automates your event’s promotion, accepts online payment, and manages event check-in. The tool even allows attendees to connect and network with each other via the mobile app. 
Price
Wild Apricot has eight different plans that range from free to $600 per month. Each plan offers different features and capabilities as well as a free trial so you can test out the tool before committing to it.
7. Bizzabo

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Bizzabo is an event management platform for all events including those that are online, in-person, and hybrid. The software offers an event registration tool that’s customizable and embeddable so attendees can register without ever leaving the event website. You can also brand your event’s registration form so its design complements the event.
Customize your event registration form’s fields to ensure you get all of the information you need from attendees — then, view these details in Bizzabo’s contact management dashboard. Bizzabo also integrates with a few social media platforms so you can promote your event and share content that your attendees post with ease.
Price
Reach out to the Bizzabo team for your free demo and a quote.
Think about the various features you need out of a registration tool for your event and get started sharing event registration with your audience members. Then, sit back and watch attendee sign-ups start flowing in. 

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This post was originally published on Joel.is.
Sometime in late 2018, the concept of having a support network clicked for me. This was the year that I started working with Mandy, my second Executive Assistant. Caryn, who I worked with in that capacity for around a year and a half, had transitioned to lead Finance. The gap without this type of support helped me to reflect on the most ideal setup.
The journey to a support network
The first time around that I worked with an Executive Assistant, I had the thought that they could help me by taking on a lot of tasks I had been doing myself. And this is true in many ways. The second time around, I realized that the ultimate way an EA can help me to scale is to be a key partner in creating a support network around myself.
Rather than having my EA take on my tax filings, the best thing they can do is help me to find three people I can meet to decide on a great financial advisor to work with long-term. And this approach can be taken in many areas, and can be done yourself, without an EA. I now believe that the best way to reach your potential in life, is to form a support network for yourself and cultivate it over time.
In some ways, even thinking about getting this type of support feels like a privilege, and it is. At the same time, I believe thinking in this way should be something for everyone, at least in some form. We’ve all had mentors and people who have supported us in various ways, we’ve had parents or grandparents play that role. And for specific needs, we have people we can turn to: we have a dentist and a GP. We just may not have thought about this as a support network we cultivate and intentionally craft. And as a key example of one aspect of a support network, I’d argue, most of us should have a therapist.
Dedicated vs natural support
Friends and a partner are great pieces of your support network, too. But there’s a risk to over-reliance on those people to support you in tough times. It can take a toll on them, and it may line up with a tough time for them too.
In that sense, having naturally existing relationships as your only support can be risky and put you in a more vulnerable spot. Personally, I found that having a therapist I met with regularly helped me to process and work through some of my challenges and thereby have those challenges better formed and be in a more healthy place to discuss them in a different way with my partner.
This doesn’t mean to hold back from sharing challenges with a partner or friends, and often I do. In general, you communicate more regularly with your partner and friends than you meet with a therapist, so it’s likely that you’d share with them first. However, knowing that you’ll meet with your therapist in a few days helps to relieve some of the stress you feel and the urgency to find a solution. And when you do speak with your therapist, you have an opportunity to approach the challenge from a different perspective.
Relying on your co-founder for everything
I’ve found that having a co-founder also makes it easy to avoid getting more dedicated support such as a therapist or a coach. When you have a co-founder, it’s easy to rely on them for all of these support functions. This is a wonderful aspect of having a co-founder, they can be your best supporter. It’s also easy to build this reliance, because your co-founder is likely someone you speak with more than anyone else, perhaps even a spouse.
Not having a coach in the final year or two of working with my co-founder is something I consider a mistake. As we both became more burned out, and our vision for the company and natural choices of approach diverged, we couldn’t be the ones to help each other with those specific challenges. While I think the outcome to part ways was always going to be the right one, having a coach would likely have made the journey to that result smoother.
A key risk with over-reliance on natural relationships for support, is that they are not necessarily the best people to help you. They won’t be the best therapist, or the best coach, or the best financial advisor you could get. Additionally, these relationships are two-way streets. You can’t take too much otherwise it will feel one-sided and imbalanced.
Types of support to consider
Here are some of the types of support I’ve put in place for myself in the past couple of years:

Therapist
Coach
Executive Assistant
Financial Advisor / CPA
Peer founder / CEO group
Surfing and kite-surfing instructors
House cleaning

Other types of support I’m considering putting in place in coming years:

Personal trainer
Language tutor

In general, instructors and tutors fall into an overall category of being taught, which is something I’ve increasingly been leaning into. For my last few surf vacations, mainly due to Jess’ suggestion / request, I’ve had lessons almost every day. And there’s no doubt that I progressed faster than alone.
Of course, for most of us, cost is a key factor here. It is worth, however, establishing some of these relationships even if you do not set up regular sessions, even if you only have a one-off session.
As an example, I worked closely with a therapist for around two years. Since mid-2019, I’ve not met regularly with my therapist and have used some of the tools she introduced me to. However, I know that if I ever have a specific issue, or want to have regular sessions again for a few months, I can reach out to her. Having that existing relationship makes the barrier much lower for the future.
There are a couple of other benefits in getting professional support. Firstly, they will have their own network of other people who can help. For example, my financial advisor is connected to a group of people specialized in various different aspects, and was able to connect me with an attorney to help set up a trust. Secondly, if you set up regular sessions it will add a layer of accountability for yourself in that area, be it having your finances more in order or studying a language.
Start sooner than you think
If you’re an individual, it may feel like overkill to get some of this type of help in place. However, many of these elements of support are most effective as preventative measures, rather than necessary measures. It’s best to get them in place before a crisis, as the people you connect with can be ready and have relevant context, or even help you avoid the crisis in the first place.
And as a founder / CEO, I personally wish I had started to work on my personal support network much sooner. If you have a growing organization, don’t wait too long. As a founder, you generally get everything off the ground yourself and play every role. This can gear you up to have a mindset of solving everything yourself. But, if your company is starting to grow, if you’re starting to hire people, I’d recommend building your support network now. It will help you scale more smoothly, will make the journey feel calmer, and will equip you better for issues that will inevitably arise.