Accelevents

Avantages

It allows our event to appear polished and professional. This was our second event, and we learned more as we went. The Help Desk is The Best! Even though it is probably more AI-driven than I know, I would like to think that they really are that kind, patient, and knowledgeable. [sensitive content hidden] was truly amazing! And, all of the others too! In the thousands of questions I've asked, I've only had one who just referred me to the manual without walking me through the issue. I think adding screenshots WITH RED ARROWS is so smart! I don't remember them from last year.

Inconvénients

There are so many options, we only choose the "basics" that we need, because even that is a lot to cover for only 1 person. It would be helpful if the Virtual, Hybrid, and Live event platforms were separate and offered a more basic plan, without so many options (like ticket types) and, have a "checklist" to confirm all of the buttons are clicked that should be. --The manuals are burdensome. I found that if I just Googled "Accelevents how can I..." it was so much easier, as it usually just linked that part of the manual, so I didn't need to search it. Even though I remember thinking that some of the info was outdated. Some buttons may not be where they used to be? --We are a small non-profit, so Accelevents is a considerable expense for us, even with the massive discount. It could be more manageable if the plan were less expensive and many of the options were add-ons. Also, the $250/hr for a dedicated event person is definitely not possible but thankfully the help desk assisted when needed!-- We thought we would begin to use it for Webinars, but I don't have the time it would take to learn how to do a live event and organize it all. We will need to rethink using it again.-- It's unfortunate that when one duplicates the event, you must recreate so much to check everything, specifically, the transitions between the sessions and the waiting media. And, since our videos were coming from YouTube, they don't come in at all so you can't check if the link is correct--

Avantages

1. Platform layout- from attendees' view is easy to use. 2. Registration- creating the registration form, testing and dispatching was easy3. Speaker session- creating speaker sessions was easy to use4. Accelevents team- everyone was super helpful, responsive, and friendly5. Accelevents DES- having DES to assist with all the work prior to event start date and on event days was amazing and much needed

Inconvénients

1. Speaker name tag on screen- when presenters are live in their session, their name doesn't appear on their window for attendees to identify the speakers on main stage2. Live stream lag time - major lag time from backstage to front stage3. Live stream screen sharing video- there was a major glitch when trying to screen share a video file in a main session4. Speaker background- doesn't have an option for speakers to choose or blur their background

Avantages

If you are looking for a simple website to host a small silent auction that doesn't cost very much, I think this is a good website.

Inconvénients

It is very basic. We picked it because it was the cheapest option for our fundraiser. If we had more bidders and auction items, I think this website wouldn't have worked. Basic software.

Avantages

I particulary liked it being an online platform which allowed me to work from anywhere and any computer.

Inconvénients

There was some weird glitch while entering item descriptions that it would let me type a few letters and then refresh and what I had typed wasn't there anymore. We had the same the glitch the previous year. Customer service told me to hit the refresh button which did seem to work a bit before it would glitch again, in which case I would just hit refresh again. I didn't make entering the infomation difficult it just prolonged the process.

Avantages

This software is so easy to use--very intuitive, not too many features, but it has the right ones. Customer support is great--in chat or email with quick simple responses! Low cost--we raised $8000 and were able to keep most of it last year. Integration for payment was awesome!

Inconvénients

We have multiple items in our auction that are the same (parking spots)--would be nice to list it on time and give the 3 spots to the 3 highest bidders. Small feature that's definitely not critical -- but a nice add on.

Avantages

We have used Accelevents for bookings and it works well.

Inconvénients

Nothing negative to say. Would recommend!

Avantages

The site is extremely user friendly without the need to be a technical genius. It is very clear how to set up your main page and then to add items, including names, photos, and descriptions as well as bidding information.

The auction is also extremely user friendly for your bidders. People can simply bid from their phone or computer following an easy few step process. Bidders are also alerted immediately if they are outbid adding a competitive edge to the bidding. Because the auction is online, there is no limit on who it reaches. The site can be shared outside of your targeted group.

Inconvénients

This was our second time using AccelEvents for our online auction. After our first auction, we made suggestions for areas that could be improved and all of those changes were implemented.

Avantages

Very easy to use, fast and easy to learn, wonderful customer service, very knowledgeable staff that answered all my questions quickly, and a great price.

Inconvénients

Would love a bit more customization options for how the website looks and feels. It would be nice to be able to add a short paragraph of verbiage at the top of the auction and fund a need pages. In addition, we would like to be able to reorder the "tabs" so the About tab was first, then the bid on auction items tab, and then the fund a need tab. In other words, we wanted to be able to say a little bit about our organization on the first page that people see rather than having the auction items be the first thing they see.

Avantages

Cost , ease of use for bidders, ease of use for staff

Inconvénients

I wish you could more easily change the order of items once uploaded (more like a number system, like a Netflix wish list), and I wish that we had the option of sending out blanket notices to our bidders ("Auction closes in 10 minutes, place your best bid now," or a thank you to all bidders after the fact).

Avantages

This software is incredibly fool-proof and is accessible via multiple devices which makes adding late arriving items a breeze.

Inconvénients

We have had issues in regards to the ease of operation of our guests and difficulties signing in and staying signed in. This does not fall squarely on the shoulders of Accelevents as I am sure that much of it was operator error. If this service came in the form of an easy to use phone apps, it would be hands down the best product on the market!

Avantages

My non-profit lives off the donations generated by a in-person hockey tournament. When COVID hit, we scrambled to find a program that could centralize virtual activities to raise money instead. With about $2,500 to our organization's name, we were so disheartened to find that most virtual event hosting platforms were thousands and THOUSANDS of dollars UPFRONT. It has been difficult to project our attendance, so it was scary to think of investing almost all of our money with no guarantee of return.
Accelevents has a post-event cost structure where your event cost fluctuates on the number of people that came. With no upfront costs, this is perfect for a non-profit that cannot afford to upfront $ with no guaranteed return. This platform had the perfect cost structure with plenty of features that the competitors offered that we were looking for - individual sessions, a main landing page and plenty of opportunities for sponsors.

Inconvénients

Developing the backend was a little confusing BUT the customer service as been so outstanding that whenever I was stuck I would just message the help chat and they immediately reached out and gave me clear directions on what to do

Avantages

Whenever I had a question or problem, I could type it to CSR and get an answer within a few minutes. I was able to make a nice looking event webpage. The cost was extremely reasonable. Accelevents is located in the Greater Boston area.

Inconvénients

We had early bird ticket prices and later ticket prices, and I put the dates in, but it didn't switch over automatically; there was something I was supposed to do manually and didn't realize it. There were sample online auction items that never went away; only the users, not the visitors, could see them, but they were confusing and annoying. The limit to the number of contacts was too low.

Avantages

Faster and more efficient with the the mobile bidding app, Easy to showcase and present items with descriptive information allowing bidders to completely understand what exactly they were bidding on. Quick customer service when we had any question that needed answered, along with being understand and truly caring about help us find a solution, and not be over looked VERY AFFORDABLE!!

Inconvénients

When in the Auction Table cannot organize items in alphabetical order, Bidder in the mobile app were getting confused when to put in there names and bid amount.

Avantages

Turnkey process
Data import
Online dashboard and reporting
Efficient and effective customer service
Intuitive usage of the auction and raffle sites
Integration with Stripe for processing credit cards
Immediate collection of raffle ticket sales
Effective checkout process on auction

Inconvénients

The preliminary promotional online meeting went very quickly, and we missed a few details that were not obvious to us. Fortunately, the team supporting Accelevents.com were very responsive to online questions, and all of our questions were resolved with full satisfaction.

We would like to see an enhancement to allow the ability to provide raffle items with a pre-defined number of winners greater than 1.
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Avantages

It was very easy for multiple users to input and organize the information. The Dashboard provides a complete snapshot of where you are with planning the event. It has straightforward step by step instructions throughout the planning process and during the event itself.

Inconvénients

I would like to see them add a function where you can send messages to the users during the event to remind them to update their bids, etc.

Avantages

The Accel Events platform was exactly what we needed to support out 2 school fundraiser. We were able to have all of the functionality we wanted and the cost can't be beat. Also, the customer support was outstanding. We work with a number of vendors and haven't had such prompt response from support in terms of time to an answer from any ther vendor.

Inconvénients

The only cons that we experiences were not having all of the reporting bells and whistles available to us online. All of our data was easy to download and get to the info, but it would have been nice to have some more flexible reporting. That said, this was not a huge deal and only a want not as much a need.

Avantages

We are a small non-profit organization and for us, every dollar we spend matters and must be maximized. We host fundraising events about twice a year and have used Accelevents for these events for two years. It is much less expensive than competitors and is very easy to use. Customer support is excellent, always available. We have never had an issue! I am extremely confident in this product and recommend it to everyone.

Inconvénients

The website builder is a little bit glitchy and sometimes I need to restart my browser.

Avantages

We put on an annual black tie for over 300 guests. About five years ago we decided to go mobile with our silent auction and researched every provider available. Accelevents was hands down the most competitively priced but after our first year, it was clear to us that more importantly, their platform is the best out there! We’ve been using Accelevents loyally since day one, and couldn’t be happier with the service, pricing, and most importantly the product, which our guests also love!

Inconvénients

We are completely satisfied with the product.

Avantages

The ability for guests to select their own seat or table location has been an even bigger plus than we first imagined. Customer service is also fantastic— immediately responsive. Easy to set up, easy to run and, when we just had to postpone an event last weekend because of new state COVID health orders, refunds were incredibly simple.

Inconvénients

The app could be better developed from an Admin usage point of view but the full site makes up for that.

Avantages

Intuitive and user friendly; beautiful, clean design, extremely cost-effective for our small non-profit; and, hands-down, the best, most responsive customer service we've ever experienced.

Inconvénients

We have nothing negative to say about the software or the support. We were so happy with the platform and the people behind it that we will use again, and will recommend to others.

Avantages

I loved the clean look of the site. Also, the response time for the chat feature & fixing issues was very very good. The ability to load multiple pictures & have a designated sponsor section.

Inconvénients

Reporting features could use some beefing up. Plus a few more glitches than I'd prefer, but those were always fixed quickly - just frustrating in the moment.

Avantages

This software is easy to use, very intuitive. I didn't have to spend hours training or waste my time searching for things to make it work. The build-a-schedule feature was laid out so clearly. I appreciate being able to see an easy preview of what our constituents would see when first buying a ticket to our conference and then when they enter the site for the conference itself. The best part is that this website has everything in one place from ticket purchase to in-site streaming, etc...one place for everything!

Inconvénients

Sometimes it's hard to get just the right photo for the size requirements.

Avantages

First and foremost - outstanding customer service. I've been able to reach Jon and Zach at all hours and they've been exceptionally responsive.

With the event module we've been able to streamline our ticketing process and are better able to monitor reservations versus attendance and give a more accurate reservation count to the event vendor and save some money.

With the silent auction module we've eliminated a lot of manual processing and the texting alerts to bidders have increased our bidding.

The raffle module is a big benefit to us. With our manual system involving physical tickets, manual entry and lots of mailing we could only run a few raffles a year. With Accelevents we are totally automated and can run raffles as fast as we can acquire items to raffle.

The end result is greater fundraising for a reasonable cost.

Inconvénients

The products are more designed for traditional onsite fund raising events, a mold we don't fit into. However, Jon and Zach have been very helpful in tweak their software to meet our unique needs.

Avantages

As a small non-profit that never held an online auction, we were concerned about functionality that would need our minimal needs and about support. Accelevents provided exactly what we needed. Their chat support was excellent: responsive, knowledgeable, and on point. We were able to customize Accelevents options to meet our needs. Members reported ease of use with the auction interface.

Inconvénients

The administrative interface was a little hard to figure our at first. I would have liked a tutorial for setting up an auction.

Avantages

Affordability
Ease of use
Responsiveness