GuestONE starts 2025 as part of a strong group of companies

GuestONE starts the year 2025 as part of Manos Holding. By integrating into the group of companies, GuestONE can build on a stable foundation and utilise new resources and expertise. This collaboration not only opens up additional perspectives, but also strengthens the existing services and service offerings for existing customers.

‘The merger with Manos Holding offers us long-term security and the opportunity to draw on proven structures and systems within the group,’ explains Marcel Schettler, founder and former Managing Director of GuestONE. ‘In particular, access to modern ticketing systems and new contacts in the sports and entertainment industry creates exciting opportunities for future projects, while we can continue to rely on our established expertise.’

GuestONE has been a reliable partner in attendee management for over 20 years. With currently 17 employees, 80 to 100 projects are realised annually for event agencies, medium-sized companies, associations and DAX-listed corporations.

By integrating into Manos Holding, GuestONE can not only expand its existing range of services, but also utilise new synergies in the event industry. At the same time, the companies in the holding company will benefit from GuestONE’s comprehensive expertise in the areas of participant management and accreditation. Volker Messmann (Managing Director) and Rouven Lakowitz (Authorised Signatory) will take over the new management of GuestONE, while the entire team around the founders Marcel Schettler and Thomas Küfner will remain on board.

‘GuestONE is a valuable addition to our group of companies,’ says Volker Messmann, Managing Director of LMS Sport GmbH and new Managing Director of GuestONE. ‘The collaboration enables us to jointly develop new approaches and solutions for customers in the event, sports and entertainment industry. At the same time, GuestONE remains independent and flexible in its core competences.’

With the security of a stable corporate structure and the utilisation of new resources, GuestONE is optimistic about the future. The team is looking forward to successfully realising projects for its customers in the new constellation.

 

Hotel management – Simple ways out of the Excel chaos …

Hotel management for multi-day events can quickly become a nerve-wracking puzzle with many guests and just as many hotels. Without the right tools, it’s easy to lose track of bookings, double room occupancy or remaining contingents …

Both our “GuestHub” project software and our “Eventry” licensing solution offer various options for easily mapping hotel bookings for guests and event organizers and meaningfully integrating them into the registration process.

In the simplest case, if the guest is a self-payer or a hotel offer is only an optional service for the guests, a hotel page is created in the system that lists all the important information about the available hotels and also links directly to the corresponding booking pages at the hotel. Special discount or event codes can also be stored here if call-off quotas have been agreed with the hotels.

If you would like to offer the guest a direct selection of defined hotels during the registration process, this is the second option. The corresponding hotels, room types and allotments are created in the backend of “GuestHub” or “Eventry” and offered to the guest for selection in the online registration. Hotels whose allotments are fully booked are either no longer displayed or are grayed out and can no longer be selected. Statistics in the backend provide real-time booking overviews and the remaining available contingents at a glance. New hotels can be created or activated at any time and allotments can also be quickly adjusted with two clicks. Freely configurable rooming and arrival lists as well as change reports can be generated and sent to the hotels at the touch of a button.

If you want to keep the actual allocation of guests to certain hotels and room types open for as long as possible (e.g. in order to be able to return unneeded hotel rooms within a cancellation period) or if you need to take different hotel and guest categories or other parameters into account when allocating rooms, a third option is available. In this case, only the desired accommodation, the room type and the planned arrival and departure dates are initially requested in the online registration. The allocation and actual booking are then made by the organizer in the backend according to the specific criteria.

Both systems offer the option of viewing, filtering and selecting guests’ wishes and then booking them into specific hotels. This can be done either at individual guest level or for selected groups via mass allocation. The hotel assigned in this way is then communicated to the guest in a corresponding hotel information mailing shortly before the event.

A combination of the different options is also possible through “GuestHub”. “GuestHub” offers the possibility of category-specific deviations in the online registration. The key to this is the personalized login code, which is communicated to the guest along with the invitation. After entering the code on the landing page, the guest is redirected to the corresponding registration option, which may differ, for example, in the hotel booking process. Here the “normal” guest can choose a hotel directly, for example, while the “VIP guest” only enters his preferences and is later booked into a (perhaps better quality) hotel by the organizer. In a personal meeting we would be happy to discuss which options are most suitable for your event.

Full-service participant management – what does that actually mean?

Event and attendee management usually consists of a series of components, processes, tools and workflows that need to mesh seamlessly in order to achieve the perfect result for clients and attendees.

Software plays a particularly important role in participant management – but not only!

Good participant management starts with advice on the right processes and procedures. If you don’t ask the customer the right questions and draw the right conclusions from the answers, you may be in for a rude awakening during the course of the project.

In addition to “the tool” or “the software”, it is also about the content that is communicated to the guests. This must be conceived and created, and – just like the online registration and mailings – it must also have an appealing form and look, usually in the customer’s corporate design.

What information must be obtained from the guests, what queries are actually necessary for the perfect organization of the event and what does data protection actually say about this? What are the timings and deadlines, when should who be invited and how do you actually deal with latecomers?

All of these topics need to be thought through, coordinated, implemented and integrated into a tool – this requires graphic design services and project management. Once the guests have been invited, they may have queries or special requests that need to be dealt with. Depending on the event, hotel rooms or supporting programs may also need to be allocated, transfers organized or a seating plan drawn up. Not to forget – changes to the program need to be posted on the website quickly, reminders need to be sent regularly to people who have not responded and the customer needs special reports on a daily basis. Someone has to plan and do all of this, because the customer often doesn’t want to do it themselves.

Once the big day has arrived, it’s all about perfect service and efficient processes on site. Guests need to be checked in quickly and have their name badges printed. Changes or late registrations need to be dealt with quickly and perhaps suitcases or checkrooms also need to be accepted at check-in … The customer also wants to know at the touch of a button who and how many guests have already checked in and how many vegetarians are among them. These on-site services require know-how, personnel and the appropriate technology and equipment.

When you get all these services from a single source, we call it full service.

Not every customer needs or wants full service, but in times of a shortage of specialists and dwindling resources on the customer or agency side, the desired service level is constantly increasing. The next time you are looking for tenders and reviewing the offers, perhaps pay attention to whether the provider “only” provides a system in which you have to do everything yourself or whether the provider has the appropriate know-how, personnel and technology to be able to offer you real full service for your project.

Participant management and visitor counting from a single source

GuestONE and tal.de agree strategic partnership

The two Wuppertal-based companies GuestONE, a specialist in participant and crew management, and tal.de, an expert in digital visitor counting, are intensifying their collaboration.

The two companies have been “connected” for several years through their joint shareholder “Riedel Communications”, but have so far only implemented a few joint projects. The Fanzone in Hamburg for the European Football Championship was the starting signal for closer cooperation. GuestONE provided the crew accreditation, while tal.de used its “evocount” solution to count visitors at a total of four entrances and exits and for one area.
entrances and exits and for an area with a capacity of around 50,000 visitors.

“We took this project as an opportunity to compare our services again and see where they overlap,” says GuestONE Managing Director Marcel Schettler. “Both companies are often active in the context of major events – GuestONE for the usually very personalized participant and crew management as well as for accreditation, tal.de with the “evocount” tool for automated and digital people counting and level measurement of areas or rooms.”

All information from the GuestONE system is integrated into the live dashboards of tal.de or “evocount” so that the control center can see a real-time overview of all relevant data at a glance.

The customer has a fixed contact person for the entire course of the project, who coordinates both topics from consultation to implementation. On-site support results in personnel savings, as it is not necessary to have separate project managers and technicians on site for each trade. The necessary IT and network infrastructure can be supplied by Riedel Communications if required – the close connection and physical proximity guarantee short distances and a coordinated overall solution from a single source.

Infobox GuestONE

GuestONE is one of the largest providers of participant and crew management and accreditation solutions in Germany. With 21 permanent employees, around 100 projects are implemented every year. The “GuestHub” software has a modular structure and can be flexibly configured to suit any event and the associated requirements.

Infobox tal.de

tal.de supplies software and sensor technology for smart events and sophisticated analyses under the name “evocount”. All information comes together in real time on freely configurable dashboards. From safety-relevant information such as the filling of event areas, to frequency measurement on North Sea beaches and movement analysis at trade fair stands, tal.de offers all the tools for secure implementation and intelligent live evaluation.

Name badges – superfluous or useful?

Especially in times when there is a lot of talk about sustainability in the event context, the question of whether name badges should still be used at all is becoming increasingly common. Somewhat provocatively, you can of course ask yourself (or the customer) whether a name badge is really the decisive criterion for more or less sustainability at an event to which 1,000 participants from all over Europe have to travel, stay overnight and be catered for …

Nevertheless, you have to face the often critical questions and offer arguments and answers. The following points are a vote in favor of the name badge and may help you in your next discussions.

More than an identification tool

The name badge is more than just a small card with the participant’s name and company on it. It is also a communication and information tool. First of all, it is usually created in the corporate design of the customer and/or the event and, together with a matching lanyard, contributes to the overall branding of the event. In addition, it also provides an advertising space for participating partners or sponsors, who can be integrated with their logos.

In addition to the name and company, further information can also be printed. The reverse side often offers space for a personal agenda, the general program schedule or a room plan. In addition, booked workshops, group affiliations, hotel and seating information or other markings such as guest categories can be printed in a personalized way.

The name badge can also contain the access authorization to certain parts of the event – whether through colour coding or defined icons. Security personnel can therefore see at a glance whether the participant has the necessary access authorization for a room or area.

Provide the name badges with a scannable QR code or an integrated NFC chip, then the corresponding control or registration can also be carried out electronically via smartphones or scanners. This approach can also be used for gamification ideas – for example, let participants collect points at various stations, exhibition stands or areas using the name badge …

It is important to think about the content of the name badge at an early stage and to take this into account when designing it. Our design team will be happy to support you with appropriate design and personalization suggestions.

In order to fully utilize the possibilities described above, it is also important to print the name badges live at check-in and not to pre-produce them days before the event. We also offer the appropriate solutions and hardware for this. Name badges are pre-produced in the corporate design in the print shop and personalized on site in just a few seconds. This makes it possible to react to last-minute changes and creates a flexible check-in situation without alphabetically organized counters. And since only the signs that are actually needed are printed, it is also a little bit sustainable in the end 😉

Event ticketing system or attendee management software?

The provider market for ticketing and attendee management software and systems is diverse and equally confusing. Many topics sound similar and are often mixed together. This makes it difficult for customers and potential customers to find their way around the market, compare providers and find the right solution for them.

The topics of ticketing and participant management are often “lumped together”, although the two terms only have a limited connection. The commonality essentially results from the fact that a ticket is also generated and sent for the participant at the end of a participant management or registration process.

How is an event ticketing system used?

Anyone who has ever bought a concert ticket knows the process: you select one or more tickets on the online platform and, depending on the provider and event format, you can also choose your preferred ticket type.Select seats, specifies whether the ticket is to be delivered by post or online and then completes the order process with payment. Tickets are increasingly being personalized so that first and last names have to be added during the ordering process.

What does participant management involve?

Participant management is much more than that. A participant management platform is not only a registration tool but also a communication tool for and with participants. They are usually used over a longer period of time – from sending out an initial save-the-date to registration and follow-up after the event.

During the registration process, much more information is usually requested and managed in the system than just the acceptance or rejection. The registration of accompanying persons, the question of hotel accommodation and types of travel, participation in workshops or the indication of dietary intolerances are typical information that must be obtained for optimal event organization and the best possible care of the participants. As mentioned at the beginning, one or more tickets are usually sent to the participants at the end of the registration process.

On-site accreditation and the reception of guests is also part of good participant management. In addition to simply recording attendance by scanning tickets, there are also many points of contact with guests at the event. Be it the printing of name badges, the distribution of participant documents, the registration of guests at other parts of the program or workshops or simply the professional handling of special and clarification cases.

So there are certainly overlaps between ticketing and subscriber management, but in principle the two disciplines offer very different solutions for very different processes.

If you would like to find out more, please contact us.

“My left left seat is free …”

… or how to allocate seats to guests.

Seating – or seat management – often resembles a big puzzle. Whether it’s row seating in plenary sessions or gala tables for dinner, allocating guests to defined seats is usually a manual and therefore laborious process.

Different requirements often have to be harmonised when allocating seats. These can be political or protocol aspects, but also affiliations to certain participant groups or categories. Accompanying persons, guests who may be honoured or “just” have a birthday must also be taken into account.

Unfortunately, optimal seating is not static, but is subject to a high degree of dynamism, especially in the last days and hours before the event. Cancellations at short notice or name changes have to be processed in the same way as late registrations, additional accompanying persons or other changes to the seating or the schedule. Last but not least, the question always arises: how and when does the guest actually find out where they are seated?

The G1 seating module, which can be integrated into the GuestHub admin area on request, helps event organisers to maintain an overview. Seating plans can be created quickly and flexibly in graphic form. Even a large number of tables or seats in the plenum is no problem – for a better overview, these can be divided into different maps and then jumped to individually for distribution.

Guests to be seated can then be searched, filtered and selected in the guest list according to various criteria and placed in the desired seats with a mouse click. This applies to individual guests as well as selected groups of guests. The system also includes automatic filling of free seats, thus enabling individual seats to be filled very quickly.

The G1 seating module also accesses the live check-in information. Guests who are already present are colour-coded in the seating. As guests only receive their actual seating information at check-in – either as a seating card or printed on the name badge – they can be quickly and flexibly re-seated until they arrive.

We will be happy to advise you on the specific possibilities and show you examples from various events.

Every year again – GuestONE at the Best of Events

Firstly, we would like to wish all our customers, suppliers and partners a happy and healthy new year 2024 and a good start!

The new year traditionally begins for us with our participation in the Best of Events in Dortmund. The leading trade fair for event management will open its doors again on 17 and 18 January. You will find us with a brand new stand in hall 4, stand number A 38.

We would like to invite you and your colleagues to visit the trade fair free of charge. You can order one or more free day tickets for the trade fair using our voucher code 154408 at the following link: https://www.boe-international.de/code

We look forward to your visit and interesting discussions in Dortmund.

How the right participant management can reduce the number of no-shows

A regular occurrence at many events are guests who have registered but then fail to turn up – so-called “no-shows”. These no-shows are annoying as they cost the organiser a lot of money. Food and drinks are provided for these guests, as well as furniture, service staff and giveaways. Even booked hotel rooms are usually charged at 100% in the event of last-minute cancellations.

Of course, there are reasons for cancellations or no-shows at short notice – illness, train or flight cancellations or other urgent appointments cannot always be avoided. However, it is important to reduce the number of “no-shows” to a minimum in order to avoid the unnecessary costs listed above. Good participant management can help with this.

Stay in contact with your guests

A professional participant management system allows you to communicate with guests easily, quickly and continuously. Regular reminder or info emails provide the latest details about the programme, arouse curiosity about the event and help to keep the date and the event in the minds of the guests. Invitations are often sent out early, guests confirm an event in three or four months’ time and then forget about it if they are not kept up to date in the meantime.

Make it easy for your guests

Good participant management solutions offer a so-called re-login for guests. The online registration remains open even after the initial confirmation – the guest can edit or change their registration at any time until the final registration deadline. Each of the mailings listed above should therefore include the access data for online registration so that the guest can return to the registration platform with a single click. A simple cancellation or change link at the end of the email also helps the guest to edit their registration with one click if necessary.

Use a guest hotline

Many events also have a telephone hotline for guests to call with questions about the event or the programme. Use this hotline to proactively follow up with guests, especially those who do not get back to you.

Continuity and transparency – after the event is before the event

Especially for recurring events, participant management improves with repetition. This starts with the invitation, which is often sent out “with a watering can” or the previous year’s mailing list is used. However, the participant behaviour of previous years is usually not taken into account, mostly because this information is no longer available.

A continuous participant management process provides the necessary transparency and analyses – even over several years and events. Participants who repeatedly RSVP and never turn up can be identified and excluded from future invitations.

These are just some of the aspects with which we, as a participant management specialist, can minimise the number of “no-shows”. We would be happy to discuss the topic for your specific event and advise you on the possibilities. Get in touch with us today!

At what point does professional participant management actually pay off?

A frequently asked question is from how many participants is it worthwhile to use a professional participant management software or a service provider.

What data is recorded?

At first glance, one might assume that this generally only makes sense with large numbers of participants. In fact, however, the sheer number of participants is not necessarily the decisive criterion. Much more relevant is the amount of data and information to be queried and managed per guest. If, for example, several accompanying persons can also be registered, if the guest can individually compile his program from many different event parts or if he has complex arrival and departure logistics with different flight segments, then manual processing or Excel lists quickly reach their limits. This also applies if the registration for the event is to take place in several stages or in different time steps. Often the pure participation for a first planning is asked first, travel dates, hotel wishes or the participation in workshops only at a later time.

How many people are organizing the event?

An equally important aspect – how many people are involved in organizing the event and managing participants. Especially when events are organized decentrally and by different people, it is important to have all relevant data available centrally in real time. The prepared (Excel) list, which is usually sent to everyone, is usually already outdated at the time of creation, because some information has already changed again with the guests.

The advantages of a digital system

The use of a participant management system supports an end-to-end digital and DSGVO-compliant process. Digital invitations via email, quick and easy online registrations and email confirmations with eTickets or Wallet are not only “state-of-the-art” nowadays, but they also pay off on the topic of sustainability. In addition, the use of appropriate software saves a lot of internal resources and is less prone to errors. So don’t just look at the number of participants in your considerations, but check which process needs to be mapped, the complexity of the event and which and how much data and information needs to be processed per guest. We will also be happy to help you with an initial assessment and advise you on your event.