Join Us at HSMAI – Experience Event Management Software Solutions

The meeting and event planning industry’s premier show, HSMAI MEET Mid-America, is coming up later this month in Chicago, IL at Navy Pier. We’re excited to be there as a diamond sponsor and meet with attendees, where we’ll be showing our ACTIVE RegOnline™ and ACTIVE Conference™ event management software solutions.

Meet with Us

To learn more and see the software in action, sign up for a one-on-one meeting with ACTIVE Network (booth #419):

• Tuesday, April 23
• Wednesday, April 24

By meeting with us, you’ll receive our complimentary event management software buyer’s guide and be eligible to receive 10% off standard volume discounts for RegOnline.

HSMAI Educational Sessions – Our Top Picks

HSMAI MEET Mid-America is not to be missed! You’ll get to participate in two days of free education and networking opportunities to help move your meetings and events forward. Here are our top picks for the show:

April 23, 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Promote, Engage and Connect: How Social Media can Enhance Your Event
Kelly Cutler, CEO, Marcel Media
While collecting business cards in a fish bowl does still have value, leveraging the power of social media will enhance your connection with meeting and event attendees. Not only is social media a powerful tool to promote an event, it can and should be used as an engagement tool during the event, and a channel to maintain connections after the event. What can you do to take events to the next level? This session will address best practices, important tools and the key steps to developing an integrated social strategy.

April 23, 10:15AM – 11:15AM
360 Event Engagement Marketing: How PCMA is Doing It
Jason Paganessi, Vice President of Business Innovation at PCMA
Izania Downie, Director Strategic Partnerships, ACTIVE Network
This case-study focused discussion, will illuminate how event management technology is transforming the way the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) runs their own events. This session will discuss the key requirements to integrate digital and mobile technology with your full engagement marketing strategy for increased event success.

April 24, 9:00AM – 10:00AM
Extending the Life of Your Meeting Content…Before, During & After your Meeting
Juli Jones, CAE, Vice President, HSMAI
As meeting and event professionals, we and our teams spend a lot of time and energy (and some of our best thinking) developing educational content — whether large or small, live or virtual. Learn from your colleagues to stretch the value you get from your investment in educational content development.

We hope to see you there! Unable to schedule a one-on-one meeting? Leave us a comment and we’re more than happy to answer any questions you have.

Written By: Rebecca Yetzer

Event Management Software Helps Dairy Queen Register 80% of Attendees Online

We all wish we had more time. No matter what your profession is or where you land on the totem pole, it’s easy to relate to racing against the clock. But there can be a resolution – and sometimes it just takes asking what you could be doing differently to help save you time.

Dairy Queen’s event planners are a prime example of this and sought the advice of ACTIVE Regonline for help. They plan large events for franchise owners and vendors and needed event management software to help them save time and reduce manual tasks. By enlisting RegOnline, they have automated processes for data entry, accounting, and registration paperwork, and reduced the amount of mailed-in registration forms and checks. Now their event planners whip up great events and boost efficiency while registering nearly 80% of attendees online. With this online registration solution, Dairy Queen can take advantage of:

• Event registration sites, built and managed by the RegOnline Professional Services team, to ensure a smooth registration process for attendees.
• Online registration and payment processing to simplify the sign up process for attendees as well as event planners.
• Detailed attendee information is collected and can be used in reports and badge printing.
• Housing block management that tracks attendee count and availability.

Dairy Queen’s Director of Meetings, Events and Travel, Missy Schrupp, also adds that, “ACTIVE RegOnline provides substantial time-savings. Plus, our vendors and franchise owners absolutely love it because they can register for our events on their own time.” With their online registration growing each year, it’s clear that Dairy Queen will continue to please their attendees and get time back to create amazing event experiences.

Hopefully this provides some inspiration for you to take a look at your daily tasks and consider what areas can be improved. At ACTIVE Network, we strive to work with our customers to unveil their blocks and get them moving in the right direction. Once you find your resolution, then comes the fun part. Figuring out what to do with your free time!

Tell us your tips for saving time during meeting planning and, in turn, how your events have improved because of it.

Download the PDF to learn more!

Written By: Rebecca Yetzer

Hart Energy Achieves Skyrocketing Growth with RegOnline

As you begin 2013, start by casting a net for the goals you want to achieve in order to have a successful year. One goal on everyone’s mind? How to take their business to the next level.

Hart Energy is a prime example of how ACTIVE Network can help support this type of growth. As one of the world’s largest energy industry publishers, Hart Energy needed more than just a simple online registration tool to help support their expanding portfolio of high-profile events. After evaluating registration managment software solutions in the marketplace, the organization chose ACTIVE Network’s RegOnline to help power their global meetings. Now they can manage their events easier than ever:

• Simplified event logistics such as seamless online registration, credit card processing, attendee check-in, and exhibitor lead scanning.
• A global solution in a variety of languages for any size event – from 50 to 4,000 people.
• Delivering first-class event experiences for industry leaders and speakers by using bar-coded registration badges and instant updates to changes in attendee status.
• The most professional conference and event features at a cost-effective price.

Chief Technology Officer of Hart Energy, Mark Chiles, is pleased with the results stating, “RegOnline helped us grow, allowing easier event production and a more professional registration experience meeting the needs of our executive audiences.”

Coming from an organization that manages over 20,000 attendees per year, including former U.S. presidents and CEOs of global 500 companies, ACTIVE Network is thrilled and proud of their success. Whether your events welcome 30 attendees or 3,000, our goal is to provide the right tools and support to achieve growth across the spectrum. We hope to hear more of these success stories in 2013, along with more comments such as this one from Mark Chiles:

“Our conference business has skyrocketed over the past couple of years.”

Download the case study here

Written By: Rebecca Yetzer

Meet the Active Network Team at ACCED-i in Denver, March 25-28

Active Network’s RegOnline team will be at the ACCED-i 32^nd Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado, March 25^th-28^th. Stop by the Active Network booth #19 if you’re attending or click here to make an appointment with the RegOnline team, who will be happy to offer information and advice on all the latest in event technology.

Active Network’s very own social media guru, Justin Ramers will also be presenting an educational session on ‘Making Sense of Social Media’ during the conference. This is a session not to be missed as Justin goes beyond the basics of social media to provide real insight into how to leverage social media to create buzz, drive website traffic, build lasting relationships, and create a measurable increase in attendance at live events.

Join Justin at ACCED-i on Tuesday March 27th 10:45 – 12:00 at the Grand Hyatt Tower, Room Mt Evans for this insightful and engaging session.

Don’t forget to book your appointment with the Active Network team at ACCED-i today.

About ACCED-i:

The Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors-International consists of over 1,500 campus professionals who design, market, coordinate and plan conferences and special events on the campuses of colleges and universities around the world. The mission of the Association is to improve, promote and recognize excellence in the collegiate conference and events profession.

Written By: Irene Coghlan

Data Center Migration Scheduled for TONIGHT, 9:30PM, MST

Written By: Michelle Nikolayevsky

UPDATE: Data Center Migration, January 20, and New IP Address Information

The Active Network Data Center Migration will occur on FRIDAY, January 20, 2012 beginning at 9:30PM Mountain Standard Time. Please note the system will be UNAVAILABLE for approximately 8 hours, meaning registration forms will be inaccessible.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In order to ensure no interruption in service, if you are using a custom or third party gateway integrated with RegOnline, you may need to update your settings. If your payment gateway restricts transactions to certain IP addresses, you need to verify that you allow traffic from the following RegOnline associated IP addresses:

74.120.127.1 and  74.120.127.3

**IMPORTANT UPDATE: We have added the additional 74.120.127.3 IP address. Please make the necessary accommodations to verify access for this additional IP address (details can be found here).

***************************************************************

The Active Network has opened a state of the art datacenter and will be migrating all of their customers to this new site.  In January 2012 RegOnline systems will be migrated to this center which requires new IP addresses to be issued as part of this move.  The new datacenter provides RegOnline customers with improved stability, monitoring, and systems that we anticipate will lead to a more predictable user experience.

The migration process will take approximately eight (8) hours and will be conducted over a weekend during the first half of January although these times may change based on a more detailed schedule that is being prepared. Please expect additional communication regarding this migration over the next few weeks.

What Does This Mean For Our Customers?

Our IP addresses will change meaning that anyone who has made changes to their firewall or has a custom third party gateway implementation will have to update their records.

Who Does This Impact?

-Customers with a 3^rd Party Gateway with IP restrictions

-Customers who have firewall rules in place for API calls

-Customers who work in highly secured environments

If you are one of these customers please continue reading for important information

3^rd Party Gateways Integrated with RegOnline
If you are using a custom or third party gateway, your gateway may require you to specify which IP addresses are allowed to process transactions.  If this is the case, make sure to add the following IP address to your gateway configuration in order to ensure no interruption in credit card processing.

IP Address
74.120.127.1 and 74.120.127.3

Firewall or Network Exceptions to Access RegOnline
If you have firewall exceptions for RegOnline for either workplace rules, API calls or other security reason to access RegOnline, please contact our support department.
Exceptions on Receiving Email from RegOnline (Whitelisting)
If you have an exception added to allow email from RegOnline please make sure you add the following IP addresses (all port 25) added to your whitelist

IP Addresses
74.120.127.72
74.120.127.73
74.120.127.74

Still have questions?

1. Make sure that the appropriate IT or Network staff within your organization is aware of these changes, as they can help to determine if any changes are required.
2. Still need help? Please do not hesitate to contact our Support department for more information: https://customerportal.activenetwork.com/NewCase.jsp  Stay tuned to the blog for more updates.

We’ll keep you posted about the details, but for any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact our support department directly.

Written By: Michelle Nikolayevsky

Data Center Migration Set for Friday, January, 20 at 9:30PM MST

UPDATED IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION:

At 9:30PM (MST) Friday, January 20, 2012, RegOnline will be migrating all existing data to the state of the art, Active Network data center. This maintenance will make the system unavailable for approximately four (4)- eight (8) hours.

In preparation, please reference the blog post below (originally posted on December 2, 2011), addressing important information regarding customer IP addresses.

*****************************************************************************************************************

The Active Network has opened a state of the art datacenter and will be migrating all of their customers to this new site.  In January 2012 RegOnline systems will be migrated to this center which requires new IP addresses to be issued as part of this move.  The new datacenter provides RegOnline customers with improved stability, monitoring, and systems that we anticipate will lead to a more predictable user experience.

The migration process will take approximately eight (8) hours and will be conducted over a weekend during the first half of January although these times may change based on a more detailed schedule that is being prepared. Please expect additional communication regarding this migration over the next few weeks.

What Does This Mean For Our Customers?

Our IP addresses will change meaning that anyone who has made changes to their firewall or has a custom third party gateway implementation will have to update their records.

Who Does This Impact?

-Customers with a 3^rd Party Gateway with IP restrictions

-Customers who have firewall rules in place for API calls

-Customers who work in highly secured environments

If you are one of these customers please continue reading for important information

3^rd Party Gateways Integrated with RegOnline
If you are using a custom or third party gateway, your gateway may require you to specify which IP addresses are allowed to process transactions.  If this is the case, make sure to add the following IP address to your gateway configuration in order to ensure no interruption in credit card processing.

IP Address
74.120.127.3

Firewall or Network Exceptions to Access RegOnline
If you have firewall exceptions for RegOnline for either workplace rules, API calls or other security reason to access RegOnline, please contact our support department.
Exceptions on Receiving Email from RegOnline (Whitelisting)
If you have an exception added to allow email from RegOnline please make sure you add the following IP addresses (all port 25) added to your whitelist

IP Addresses
74.120.127.72
74.120.127.73
74.120.127.74

Still have questions?

1. Make sure that the appropriate IT or Network staff within your organization is aware of these changes, as they can help to determine if any changes are required.
2. Still need help? Please do not hesitate to contact our Support department for more information: https://customerportal.activenetwork.com/NewCase.jsp  Stay tuned to the blog for more updates.

We’ll keep you posted about the details, but for any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact our support department directly.

Written By: Michelle Nikolayevsky

An update from PCMA 2012: Press Conferences, Pedicabs, Blue Shirts…Oh My!

An Active Network sponsored pedicab waits to pick up some participants at PCMA Convening Leaders 2012.

We are halfway through the 2012 PCMA (Professional Convention Management Associations) Convening Leaders Conference in San Diego. What an experience it has been so far!

As the communication partner of PCMA, Active Network has a large presence at this event. Here are some highlights so far:

• The launch of Active Network | Business Solutions division, acquisition of Starcite, and formal  press conference led by SVP JR Sherman
• “The Journey Starts Here,” Active Network Educational Pod for participants to engage and learn
• Speaking sessions led by General Managers, Anthony Miller and Eric Olson
• Behind the scenes technology tours of Active Network technology supporting PCMA
• Active Network sponsored pedicabs transporting participants throughout the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego

Check out our Flickr stream of photos from the first half of the conference! You’ll see our blue, Active Network shirts worn by our staff and the pedicab drivers. We certainly are getting noticed!

Are you at the conference or wish you were here?  Follow us on Twitter and on the blog for more updates as PCMA Convening Leaders 2012 continues. Or better yet, leave a comment below!

Written By: Michelle Nikolayevsky

More Active Network| Business Solutions News!

What an exciting time to be Active!

Last week we  announced the launch of Active Network | Business Solutions. This new division was further augmented by the acquisition of StarCite®, a SMMP company, to supplement existing  RegOnline and Enterprise level solutions. With StarCite as the newest member of the Active family, we now fully provide the leading technology powering a comprehensive suite of solutions for the events industry.

This pivotal news is being highlighted today at the PCMA Convening Leaders conference in San Diego. Active Network is the Technology provider to this annual  conference, and will hold a formal press conference this afternoon,  regarding the launch for industry reporters and analysts.

The unparalleled technology offering of Active Network | Business Solutions is truly unique in the events industry! Read what Aberdeen’s Christopher Dwyer had to say about the news:

“The acquisition of StarCite® by Active Network marks a major milestone that will surely shake up the meetings industry,” said Christopher Dwyer, Senior Research Analyst at Aberdeen Group. “This comprehensive technology offering will help bridge the divide between marketing meeting spend and procurement / sourcing for both small and large meetings and conferences and I am excited to see where the evolved event lifecycle will go in the coming months. From an industry analyst’s perspective, this partnership could be the catalyst for the evolution of modern strategic meetings management.”

So, what does all this mean?

The infographic explains the powerful solution that is Active Network | Business Solutions.

Look forward to more communication in the future, but we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think, by posting a comment below!

Written By: Michelle Nikolayevsky

See Real Life Event Marketing Strategies & Technologies in Action

We’re happy to announce that we will be exhibiting at the 2011 Event Marketing Summit in Chicago (May 16 – 18), one of the world’s leading experiential marketing conferences.

Here is where you can find us – and if you haven’t signed up yet, register today as our VIP Guest with the code “AseVIP”:

• Technology & Events Workshop presented by Anthony Miller, Strategic Director, Active Network, Events: Monday, May 16th at 8:30 am
• Event Technology Roundtable – Wednesday, May 18 at 8:00 am – Open Discussion
• Exhibit Floor, Booth #415 – Schedule an Event Technology Audit with us, and stop by to enter to win a Microsoft Kinect in person! Click here to request a technology audit.

Hope to see you in Chicago!

Lindsay Nayer
Enterprise Marketing Manager
Active Network | Events

Written By: Cece Salomon-Lee