Splash Event Marketing Platform vs. Whova

Compared to platforms like Eventbrite, I have a hard time recommending Splash to anyone and think if we weren't forced into using it because of our involvement with Hubspot User Groups, we would not be using it. I think if the usability and other bugs could be improved along with support, then Splash could be great for small to mid-sized businesses that occasionally run events that they need 1) hosted all in one place and 2) consistent, custom branding. Or if you're running small events where you simply need a custom designed sign-up page, a reminder email and a check-in app, Splash could work for you. While they're not transparent about their business pricing, I'd have to see that before deciding whether it is truly worth it for this purpose.

Incentivized

Whova was appropriate for the purpose of a health conference. I would recommend the platform to other NGOs considering platforms for their conferences, particularly if engagement is a critical process and outcome of the conference. As a health conference that involved people with living experience of the health topics at the conference, i.e. peer workers, peers in professional roles, people from affected communities, engagement was important.

• Branded Templates: With the Pro account, Splash takes your brand guidelines, fonts, logos, colors and creates customized event templates for your most frequent types of events making it easy to create new events that align with the experience of your brand.
• Customer Service: Any time I have a problem, my Account Manager (Matt!) always has a solution. Whether it be a glitch in the page, an integration problem, or suggesting new ways to use the system. I'm never left stranded, which when you work in eight time zones, matters.
• Ease of Backend Use: I've used other start-up event management softwares which are painful to use on the back end, buggy, and not intuitive for a non-coder. Splash is extremely easy to use and customize, which makes working with the system enjoyable.
• Low Ticketing Fees: One of the main reasons we decided to upgrade to the Pro account is because we were hosting more ticketed events. As a non-profit, ticketing fees make a difference to our donations. Not only did Splash provide the other benefits mentioned above, they were the most competitive on credit card fees and integrated into our donation software system.

Incentivized

• Speakers, exhibitors, and sponsor management (they can enter their own information/profiles!)
• Webpages get generated automatically for agenda, speakers, exhibitors, and sponsor information entered within Whova! Then, we can drop this information into our website and it gets automatically when something gets updated within Whova (for example, a speaker updates their title
• Or credentials)

Incentivized

• When designing a landing page for an event, the functionality of the layout page is quite finicky. I would love to see the ability to add features to certain text boxes become more fluid.
• The formatting across the layout page is not always consistent, specifically text sizing.
• I had an issue with an account, and the support team took an extremely long time (2+ months) to produce a remedy for the issue I was experiencing.

Incentivized

• Literature and pictures uploaded but no easy way to download the collection.
• No easy way to access information after the period after the conference ended.
• No easy way to access the list of participants and contact information - could be pdf'd.
• There was a little connectivity issues but not much.
• Some of the meetings were scheduled while we slept.
• The cost of using Whova for small meetings.

Incentivized

We already registered with Whova for our 2024 event and we will continue to use Whova for the foreseeable future as long as the price doesn't rise too high. It was a bit of a shock to see the difference between last year's price and this year's price - nearly 2k increase! We were able to negotiate, thankfully, to lower the price.

Most of Whova's functions are intuitive and you can self-teach about 80% of it with ease. I really was impressive with the messaging, follow up meet-up capabilities and sharing of contact information. My only few concerns were about the lack of an archive or back up, [perhaps cloud-based?] of the meeting room and round-table's presentations

We had no availability issues!

We had no performance issues with our event delivery. We did have some meet-ups that had some glitches for some attendees, but I believe they were quickly resolved and were more on the part of user error than anything. Once they got the hang of it, their meet-ups went more smoothly.

We love working with our account manager and priority support to answer questions efficiently and speedily. Our account manager works with us on larger and bigger picture initiatives for our instance, where the priority support is always there when you're stuck with a feature or setup, it's been great to share this resource with our global network of hosts internal and external to the company.

I only had a single issue regarding a photograph that was handled immediately and a colleague somehow ended up with two profiles which was also handled right away. Those two instances are all I have to go by. Other than that it was smooth but I did have ample information regarding who to contact if I experienced an issue

I found Whova to be similar to many social media apps that I already use. It was easy to navigate. This was my second experience using Whova in my presenter role. I liked the icebreaker section to connect with other participants before the event started. I look forward to next year’s event.

[We selected Splash based on] Looks and functionality. It's the best of both worlds. Every other tool we found was good at one but not the other. I hope Splash stays on the path it's on as it really makes all the right improvements to be such a powerhouse tool.

Incentivized

We selected Whova for price, and ease of use. We would have chosen GoToWebinar but they did not have as many options for sponsor recognition. We will most likely use Event Rebels in the future for our needs. Tracking time and sessions viewed is a must for our industry as attendees rely on us to earn CEs to renew their licensing.

I especially liked the ease of communication, the ability to ask hard questions easily, and afterward the ability to survey all participants to see what we (and/or Whova) could do better going forward.

Everyone on our team had their assigned tasks to complete in Whova on a weekly basis and did so with ease and confidence.

• It helps me manage a number of events that I would not otherwise be able to make invitations for, manage rsvps, and do check ins. We used a more expensive product previously but it had fewer features so this is definitely an upgrade.
• Using Splash saves me time from needing to follow up with guests. I also love the "send later" feature for email.
• The support staff make this product super valuable as I am able to accomplish more with their help.

Incentivized

• I didn't pay to use the technology; was a recipient as a result of attending a conference. HIGH ROI for me as a made a number of new contacts even though I spent the first full day listening to presentations. Having the app allowed me to do the networking I came to do without having to be seated next to the person I wanted to meet.