Planning on using Google+ or not, it’s a safe bet to stake out your territory. Here’s how to set-up G+ pages up for your brand/s (use the fullscreen function control at the bottom right of the slide frame for easier viewing).

As a follow-up to the previous post, Google Maps also allows interactive Streetview vistas to be embedded.  Staying with Darling Harbour, try ‘moving’ through the frame below (give it a few seconds to load).

View Larger Map

I’ve long been a fan of using Google Maps to create customised storyboards. It’s a simple process to create your own layers, but if you’re new to this Google has recently released a step-by-step interactive tutorial – you’ll see it when you log into your Google Maps account.

I’ve created a simple interactive map below centered around Darling Harbour in Sydney. Click on the placemarks to view examples of various media I’ve used: text, images and video. I’ve also embedded the entire customised  map bundle within this blog, but it’s also viewable on Google Maps over here (in satellite view this time).

If running an event or course, online booking and payment options are standard offerings – you can either set up your own booking forms and merchant gateway, or use a one-stop-shop third party platform. I’ve used the Eventbrite booking gateway for my Australian courses over the past year – it’s a good system, but it could be better. Much better. Here are my main issues:

The Fees

If you’re running a low-ticket cost event, the fees are what they are: acceptable. But if you are selling higher cost tickets, e.g. $300 plus, the fees add up in a hurry. If you use their credit card processing facility – the main reason many people would use a platform such as Eventbrite at all – a $500 ticket will incur a fee of $27.45 (2.5% plus $0.99 per ticket to a max of $9.95 plus 3.5% of ticket value). Selling 10 plus tickets will whack a dent in your sales revenue. There should be a sliding fee structure for higher priced events.

Five Days to Payout (and the rest).

A five business day payout after the completion of the event is in the terms and conditions, but… the five day period starts in US time, i.e. an event run on Wednesday in Australia, is Tuesday in San Francisco – so Eventbrite doesn’t start the count until Thursday, Australian time. Five business days becomes eight normal days; and add an extra day to that if there’s a bank holiday in the US. And of course the international transfer itself can add another day or two.

There appears no reason to sit on the money this long except to gather maximum interest on other people’s money.

Extra Fees from ANZ & HSBC

If a person makes a booking using Eventbrite’s processing facility using an ANZ or HSBC credit card that person gets charged an additional ‘foreign processing fee’ of $20-25. I have had to refund this fee to close to 20 people who have booked my courses using these cards. Both ANZ and HSBC say the problem is with the credit card providers; the credit card providers say it’s a bank charge. Eventbrite, despite being told about this problem in Australia have ignored it. This is fundamentally an Eventbrite issue and they need to sort it – being their apologist is no fun.

AMEX NOT Accepted

American Express cards cannot be processed through Eventbrite in Australia, despite their own promotions to the contrary (ACCC, take note). This is a major drawback for corporate level events and courses where AMEX is the first card of choice for many businesses.

Over The Top Self-Promotion

Sure, if you’re running a free event you should expect some form of provider self-promotion, but not when hundreds of dollars of fees are being paid. The ‘Powered by Eventbrite’ branding and self-serving calls to action on all of their (your) ticketing touch-points are anything but discreet. You could forgive a person for thinking they were about to attend an Eventbrite event.

Small Thanks

I have paid thousands of dollars in fees over the past year, yet not once has anyone from Eventbrite acknowledged me as a valuable (or loyal) customer. I find this strange at best and disconcerting at worst. Software-as-a-service doesn’t negate the traditional rules of service.

With a plethora of online ticketing alternatives, Eventbrite needs to address these issues. In the meantime, maybe try a local Australian solution such as Eventarc.

image by gtmcknight