How to Manage Events with eTapestry Eventbrite Integration

Your Blackbaud® eTapestry® database comes with a variety of features that can help you manage events, including: simple, integrated online forms for event registration, mass email, and reports. These features tend to be enough for organizations that host the occasional small event.

But what if you host frequent, large events or want an easier way to manage events in eTapestry?

Eventbrite is a solution that can simplify pre-event, during event, and post-event tasks, and it comes packed with features designed to streamline event management, including:

  • Online event registration
  • Customizable registration information
  • Guest sign up by registrants
  • Ticket types including free, paid, and donation
  • Event discounts and codes
  • Attendee limits for ticket sales with waitlist management
  • Event landing pages with social media sharing features
  • Integrations with email marketing platforms like MailChimp for sending event emails
  • Pre-event attendee management
  • Day of event attendee check-in
  • Easy to use web and mobile interfaces
  • Mobile apps for event ticketing and check-in

If you are looking for better options, using Eventbrite may be a good fit for you. Of course, using Eventbrite does require that you sync Eventbrite data to eTapestry. Luckily, there are multiple ways to do this.

Set up eTapestry for event management

Integrating Eventbrite with eTapestry starts in your eTapestry database. Even if you plan to use Eventbrite for all event-related actions—inviting constituents, registering and communicating with them, and tracking their attendance—you will need to add data on event participation into eTapestry.

We recommend that you:

  1. Use eTapestry as your constituent relationship management system (CRM)
  2. Use Eventbrite exclusively for the process of event management
  3. Transfer event payments and participation data from Eventbrite to eTapestry

To do this, you will need fields in eTapestry to track event payments and participation.

Journal Contact = Event Participation

Event participation is best tracked on the Journal Contact in eTapestry: one journal entry per action.

Consider the following when setting up your eTapestry database to track who was invited to, registered for, or attended each of your events:

  • What types of event participation (i.e. invited, attended) are important for you to track in eTapestry?
  • Do you need to know the exact event that a constituent participated in or just the type of event?
  • Do you have different types of participants (i.e. speakers, volunteers, etc.) at your events?

Use custom user defined fields on the Journal Contact to track event participation data so that you have a full engagement history for your constituents.

etapestry-journal-contact-events.png

Journal Transaction = Event Payments

If you are soliciting ticket prices or donations with event registration, these transactions must be added to eTapestry as gifts. In order to report on event income, you must set up fields on the Journal Transaction.

Complete the following steps to categorize event payments in eTapestry:

  • Create a new Approach value named for each unique event
  • Create custom user defined fields for each ticket type to record the total number of tickets purchased in a single transaction
  • Add other fields to classify and categorize event payments as your reporting requirements dictate

etapestry-journal-transaction-events.png

How to connect eTapestry and Eventbrite

Data will flow from Eventbrite to eTapestry. The integration will be a one-way sync of all payment and participation data.  From a technical perspective, this means creating new accounts when a new constituent registers for an event, creating transactions for event payments, and creating journal contacts for event participation.

There are three ways to transfer your Eventbrite data to eTapestry.  Two of the options involve manual procedures.  Let’s review them first.

  • 1. Manual data entry

    Manual data entry is usually a poor option because it takes the most time. The pain of data entry is significant if you transfer large amounts of data between Eventbrite and eTapestry on a regular basis. It is best to only use manual data entry with small transfers of data.

  • 2. Export and import

    Imports are a step up from manual data entry, but still include a manual component. Imports reduce the potential for errors compared to manual data entry, but a hasty import can cause irreparable damage to your data. Be sure that you understand the conditions required for an import before migrating your data. Imports are the second best option for integrating Eventbrite and eTapestry.

Automated integration

Because events are dynamic and data entry is fluid, manual data entry and imports aren’t ideal.  With manual data entry and imports, you must stagger data entry from Eventbrite to eTapestry or wait to upload your data until after the event is over. Both options create a lag in reporting and are real time killers.

Automated integration is the least intensive and best way to transfer data between Eventbrite and eTapestry because it is hands-free and real-time.

Integrations are complex to set up, which is why we developed an integration for Eventbrite and eTapestry so you don’t have to do the heavy lifting.

Watch a free demo of our eTapestry Eventbrite integration here.

With our integration, eTapestry users can seamlessly transfer new event attendees, attendee guests, event orders (ticket purchases), and attendee check-ins from Eventbrite to eTapestry.

Integration Tasks:

  • Add event attendees to eTapestry as new constituents or find a duplicate match for an existing constituent AND add a journal contact to the constituent indicating that they will be attending the event
  • Add attendee guests to eTapestry as new constituents or find a duplicate match for an existing constituent AND add a journal contact to the constituent indicating that they will be attending the event
  • Add event orders to eTapestry as new gift transactions and appropriately code the transaction with a Fund, Campaign, and Approach
  • Add attendee check-ins to eTapestry as new journal contacts to the constituent indicating that they attended the event

The integration is completely hands-free, requires no manual interface, and submits new data in real time, meaning you never have to touch it—it just works in the background for you.

The integration works with both the web-based Eventbrite interface and the Eventbrite Organizer app for iPhone and Android (mobile app).

Ready to integrate eTapestry and Eventbrite? It is easy to get started. We take care of setup, hosting, and maintenance. Contact us to discuss your integration options or to get started.


Save time with eTapestry Eventbrite integration

Integration between Eventbrite and eTapestry can streamline manual processes so you can launch and host your event with less effort. However, integration is only one piece of the puzzle. Remember these steps when setting up an event management system between eTapestry and Eventbrite.

  • Step 1: Define what participation and payment data you want to track
  • Step 2: Build the fields and structure required to track the data in eTapestry
  • Step 3: Capture event participation and payments in Eventbrite
  • Step 4: Transfer data from Eventbrite to eTapestry via integration
  • Step 5: Use participation and payment data to report on event performance

Have questions about eTapestry Eventbrite integration? Get in touch with an integration specialist to review your options.

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