Vendini vs. Webex Events (formerly Socio)

For smaller sports organizations or event productions Vendini is appropriate. It is also better suited for venues where the inventory is primarily general admission or very basic section/row/seat. The platform does not allow for much seating customization on the user's end. I would definitely not recommend Vendini for larger venues.

Incentivized

WebEx Events is a great tool for hosting both an event website and an onsite event app. If you are looking to integrate an on onsite and online event, they have this capability, as well. The staff is always very helpful and I am able to get answers to my questions in a timely manner

Incentivized

• Interface is pretty easy to use.
• Event creation process is straightforward.
• Ability to use on multiple devices (laptop, phone, etc.) is a plus.

Incentivized

• It has quite a few optional and customizable features that can be utilized.
• It's easy to integrate your existing tools like Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo, and streaming services.
• It's flexible in the way that you upload content in that you can enter things one at a time on the website, or use a spreadsheet to upload a larger amount of content.

Incentivized

• System is often very slow.
• Limited user ability to customize ticket promotions within the platform.
• Major issue - not friendly with certain firewalls. Iona received dozens of phone calls this year from fans unable to purchase tickets online because Vendini changed something which made the platform blocked by several servers being used by fans.

Incentivized

• Sometimes I feel like it uses too many resources and makes my computer go slower
• Chats of the webinar dissappear by default, but sometimes important info is shared and could be nice to have the option to save it
• The quality of the video gets chosen by webex by default, sometimes maybe it would be nice to get the option to fix manually what's the minimum quality you want. Just to not talk with pixels

Incentivized

Of course something could happen to our orgs ability to put on a conference or Socio could fundamentally change their product or their customer service - but barring any magor shift there is nothing that is even close to competing for our attention here.

Incentivized

Socio (now WebexEvents) is one of two products I use that gets customer service right. Not only can you get an answer from an actual person quickly during business hours - but if you are asking after hours, you know the response will be waiting for you in the morning. Not only are they fast, but they are also smart about their products and customers. There is very little back and forth trying to explain the problem I am having, or the new way I am trying to use their product, that may even be novel for them.

Incentivized

I've used ProVenue in the professional sports world (working with the NY Mets). ProVenue has drastically more capabilities and is a much more powerful system than Vendini, but such capabilities would not be necessary for smaller arenas or productions

Incentivized

We have used multiple virtual event platforms in the past, as well as trialed several. We ultimately decided on Webex due to the aesthetics of the website, the incredibly easy build-out process, the 24/5 support, the user-friendly front-end interface, the multiple ways to monetize sponsorships, and ultimately... the price. The value for what you get is incredible compared to other platforms.

• Allowed Iona to compare YOY sales and attendance figures. Something we were not able to do before.
• We have been able to create events from remote locations (i.e. conference tournament bus trip ticket sales). The ability to just set up an event from wherever one can access the internet is very convenient and has increased our ticket sales for certain events.
• The Vendini reporting has increased the efficiency of internal and external audits when it comes to ticket sales and revenue.

Incentivized

• User retention has increased by 25% with the help of Webex Events
• Lead retrieval at events is made very simple, thereby saving a lot of time for us
• Session tracking gives us a lot of valuable insights, helping us understand our users better
• Lead location tracking is present which helps us segment our audience better

Incentivized