XING Events: Registration that Means Business [Review]

XING Events is the only registration provider that combines event management software and business networking. Here is our review.

XING Events: What Is It?

XING Events has had a long time presence on this blog. Formerly known as Amiando, it is one of the most acclaimed registration providers in Europe.

XING Events is specifically aimed at business events and exhibitions. It is free for free events. It offers management of professional events including the event website, registration, tickets, payments, marketing and exhibitor passes.

XING Events is fully focused on the business sector and professional conference organizers, and this is reflected in the professional look and feel of the tool, particularly when compared against some other platforms not specifically aimed at the business market. It also means particular care and attention has been given to things like the invoicing and payment details and improving matchmaking and connections between event attendees.

The tool is part of XING AG, and offers the potential to connect B2B events with the 10.5 million users of the professional social network, which is particularly strong in Germany and German-speaking countries. XING Events have seized the opportunity that LinkedIn had and lost, to closely integrate professional events and the business community.

Let’s look a little more closely at what it can do.

The Main Categories of Features Are:

TicketingManager. Create your event registration website, sell event tickets and manage payments, with no charge for free events.

Event Marketing. Market your event to members of the XING business network, with recommendations, lead generation and the option for targeted advertising.

ExpoManager. Provide exhibitors, partners and sponsors with their own personal registration area to manage marketing, passes and invitations for booth staff, customers and guests.

Review

With XING Events, free events are free, which is always a winning formula. Paid events are charged per attendee, with a set base rate and a percentage of the ticket price, which includes card charges and commissions. The site is intuitively multilingual with the main languages being English, German, French and Spanish.

During set up of the event registration page you can define an event URL, which is a sub-folder of the XING Events site (e.g. www.xing-events.com/eventname). If you already have a full event website you can add an iframe directly onto a webpage so no one has to leave your site to book tickets.

The registration system offers all the basics you would expect such as customizing the data you wish to collect and adding specific questions. It is possible to download all tickets, invoices and badges individually or collectively. There is a badge design tool included and this recognizes all badge sizes and paper available to allow self printing. Attendee data reports can be created and saved filtered by categories, registration status and all attendee information.

Marketing

Everybody can join XING, no matter their location. It is still most popular in German speaking regions and so events in or accessible to these areas will probably have the greatest traction but XING Events offers a unique way to attract the attention of a captive business audience through both natural and paid marketing opportunities.

Events can be recommended on similar event pages and you can choose to block similar events being shown on your event page. Members of XING are given tailored recommendations and Premium members can be targeted through specific ads, email and content.

The system allows you to see who has clicked onto the event (name, position, company and number of visits to the page) giving you direct, warm leads to work with. You can then invite your event page visitors individually or collectively using customized text.

It suggests who to meet at the event, highlighting people who have things in common with your profile, for example those that have shared contacts, have been to the same events, have common profile tags and interests. This intelligent matchmaking is a great feature and XING Events is the only ticketing provider that can offer this in-depth history and precise matchmaking.

Statistics give an overview about the effectiveness of your marketing activities and when your page was visited the most, helping you to refine your marketing strategy and define what is working. You can also check how often your event was advertised on the XING network.

By using the XING network you have a natural platform to retain interest for future events and provide relevant content year round within a platform your attendees are already using regularly, rather than trying to keep year-round engagement through an app or specific private group.

Payments

When setting up the event you can choose the usual payment options, including taking cash on site and instant bank transfer. All payments are handled through the XING Events system which makes it easy to send payment reminders. There are 28 currencies available, including Asian currencies. Credit card payments use 3D Secure so there is no risk of charge backs.

A special and unique feature to XING Events is that the system intelligently adjusts the tax rate according to the tax rules relating to the location of the attendee, as well as the event location. It will determine whether or not tax should be paid and if so at what rate. Anyone organizing events in different countries with attendees from different locations will know how much of a headache this can be getting it right, so this is a massive advantage. The tax and tax number of the organizer is recorded on the invoice for easy and correct business accounting.

Group bookings require the order data to be filled out once (invoice details, lead contact details) and then the individual attendee ticket data completed. The event planner determines how to handle cancellations with set conditions to approve the refund or require authorization from the event planner. The event revenue payout schedule is determined and agreed with XING.

ExpoManager

If you are organizing an event with exhibitors and sponsors the new ExpoManager will be of interest. This feature allows event planners to give access rights to partners to log in to an area of the system to invite customers, offer discount codes, register staff and manage guest attendance directly. It creates an invitation branded with the event branding and the partner logo encouraging them to register for the event. According to their ticket allocations and privileges this could be free places, discounted places, passes or full price tickets. Any payments are invoiced automatically after the event. In essence you are encouraging your exhibitors and sponsors to help you to market the event to their network with a dual branded invitation. They are also able to see easily who has or hasn’t registered from those they have invited.  

Features

TicketingManager

• Free for free events
• Create your event registration website
• Ticket shop for online registration and payment processing
• Integration into your own website, XING and Facebook via iframe
• Create categories and voucher codes
• Secure payment processing for all common payment methods (credit cards, PayPal, payment on account, instant bank transfer and prepayment)
• Tickets, confirmations and invoices delivered automatically
• Manage cancellations, refunds and remittances
• Track traffic, sales and other performance data in real time
• Export attendee data
• Badge design for self-printing
• Free entry management app EasyEntry
• Support hotlines for organizers and attendees
• Optional white labeling of the ticket shop (Professional Package)
• Multilingual

Event Marketing

• Create your own event page
• Access to the business network on XING
• Recommendations for your event on similar event pages
• Daily statistics showing the performance of your marketing activities
• Lead generation – see which XING members visited your event page
• Find similar contacts based on profile details
• Targeted ads
• Banner advertising visible to all XING Event Market visitors
• Offer exclusives to XING Premium members via email campaigns, content marketing and ads
• Integrate booking data into your CRM system

ExpoManager

• Create and maintain visitor groups, master data and free allocations
• Trade fair organizers can provide exhibitors, partners and sponsors with their own personal registration area
• Exhibitors can independently create, edit and cancel passes and voucher codes for their booth staff, customers and guests
• Automated invoicing for ordered tickets and voucher codes
• Participant lists and options for exporting data — see which customers have redeemed their vouchers at any time
• On site bespoke EasyEntry options including printing of tickets, badges and invoices, entry control options such as turnstiles, RFID gates, POS systems, RFID chips and bracelets, etc

Who Is It For?

XING Events is for professional event organizers planning business events, in particular conferences, exhibitions and seminars.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Intelligently adjusts tax to the applicable rate for the attendee
• Benefits from marketing to the XING online network of business professionals
• The ExpoManager empowers exhibitors and partners to help you market the event and directly manage invitations and access

Cons

• No seating plan/allocation available
• Attendees cannot update their ticketing details
• Payment schedule to be agreed

Pricing and Plans

XING TicketingManager is free for free events with the Basic package.

With the Business package paid events are charged at 0.99 Euro per attendee + 5.9% of the ticket price. This includes card payment processing fees and commission – there are no further fees on top of this.

The Professional package offers customized quotations on request.

In Conclusion

XING Events offer a unique and powerful link between events and professional networking. The strong marketing opportunities of being listed in a dedicated marketplace for business events and the ExpoManager tool really stand out. If you are organising B2B events or exhibitions make sure you investigate XING Events for a wider reach. 

Disclaimer: Reviews are paid for placements. While Event Manager Blog receives a fee to extensively look at the tool and review it in detail, the content of the review is independent and by no means influenced by the company. If you have any questions please use the contact us section.