Cvent Event Management vs. Whova

The breadth of features is such that Cvent Event Management is a strong choice for events of significant scope and complexity, particularly in volume and diversity of programming. The learning curve may be on the steep side for customers with simpler needs, though Cvent Event Management is addressing this by providing more streamlining in their solution suite.

Incentivized

Overall having the Whova app was extremely helpful to provide information and drive engagement in the audience/attendees both on-site and remote. The ability to connect with like-minded attendees both pre-event and during the event was particularly helpful. Clarifying directions for "entering" events remotely would negate user anxiety.

• Registration platform can handle nearly any need.
• Event websites are easy to build and support customization.
• Support is available in multiple formats should you run into issues.
• There is a large user community where you can reach out for ideas and help.

Incentivized

• facilitated the sharing of research, perspectives, and resources on topics of interest
• enabled easier connection to new and existing relationships with conference delegates and speakers
• allowed me to catch up on content I missed due to time conflicts for concurrent sessions

• You have to implement a workaround to use images in your session descriptions.
• They tend to add features by acquiring other platforms, but then don't always cleanly integrate them into Cvent itself, so they always seem sort of ratcheted on.
• The media and document library is pretty basic, so you need to take extra steps to link PDFs and other documents within the registration process if you choose to host the docs on Cvent.

Incentivized

• Literature and pictures uploaded but no easy way to download the collection.
• No easy way to access information after the period after the conference ended.
• No easy way to access the list of participants and contact information - could be pdf'd.
• There was a little connectivity issues but not much.
• Some of the meetings were scheduled while we slept.
• The cost of using Whova for small meetings.

Incentivized

I enjoy the app and what it has to offer. It makes working in events a lot easier! Before I would have to go to our warehouse and print name badges and write out different names if they needed it. Attendees also did not have access to our breakout sessions. Now, I can adjust names onsite and we can allow attendees to access our sessions before the event begins

Incentivized

We already registered with Whova for our 2024 event and we will continue to use Whova for the foreseeable future as long as the price doesn't rise too high. It was a bit of a shock to see the difference between last year's price and this year's price - nearly 2k increase! We were able to negotiate, thankfully, to lower the price.

Cvent has a lot of functionality, which can be overwhelming to new users who are not too technically savvy. However, Cvent does a great job of providing tools and support for users to learn and troubleshoot. I also appreciate the work and progress that Cvent has been making in Accessibility.

Incentivized

Whova is quite user friendly, and helpful for the conference planner. It has features such as sample emails to attendees and import abilities if you have your sessions on a spreadsheet to avoid having to enter each session manually. Another thing we didn't like was the inability to allow attendees to enter a pre-recorded session only when it is scheduled to be presented. It's either all pre-recorded can be viewed once the conference opens, or none.

Cvent does go down pretty frequently. And while it often doesn't impact day to day use usually, if it does go down at the wrong time, you may not be able to access very important event information when you need it. Usually outages do not last very long, but it could still be a very bad situation if this happens at the wrong moment

Incentivized

We had no availability issues!

When pulling reports and it can sometimes lag a bit and that can be frustrating when you are trying to get things done on a timeline

Incentivized

We had no performance issues with our event delivery. We did have some meet-ups that had some glitches for some attendees, but I believe they were quickly resolved and were more on the part of user error than anything. Once they got the hang of it, their meet-ups went more smoothly.

The company offers 24/7 customer support, including phone, email, and chat support, to ensure that we can get help when we need it. Additionally, the platform has a comprehensive help center and knowledge base, including user guides, tutorials, and FAQs, which help us troubleshoot issues on our own. Cvent also provides training and support resources, including onboarding assistance, live training sessions, and webinars, which help us get the most out of the platform. Overall, Cvent appears to be committed to providing excellent customer support and resources to its users, which can help ensure a positive user experience and successful events.

Incentivized

I only had a single issue regarding a photograph that was handled immediately and a colleague somehow ended up with two profiles which was also handled right away. Those two instances are all I have to go by. Other than that it was smooth but I did have ample information regarding who to contact if I experienced an issue

Our on-site trainer was very knowledgeable in the product and gave us very important pointers on best practices and how to perform tasks in the simplest manner

Incentivized

It was all self-driven and I had to do a lot of searching around in the community to get answers.

Incentivized

It would have been nice during implementation if we had received more pointers on how to organize our parked report folders, libraries, etc. to avoid the mess we find ourselves in today. If we had known ahead of time the limitations we could have planned better.

Incentivized

I found Whova to be similar to many social media apps that I already use. It was easy to navigate. This was my second experience using Whova in my presenter role. I liked the icebreaker section to connect with other participants before the event started. I look forward to next year’s event.

Honestly, Cvent Event Management's registration platform is superior. The logic, setup options are far better than what the companies above have to offer. The only downfall is that it is far more expensive, and sometimes isn't needed for the most basic of registration sites.

Incentivized

I can't recall the other apps, I've used before, but did have two prior conferences with different apps. I would definitely choose Whova over those other experiences because of the overall package. I also can't say enough about the opportunity to create personal groups to meet with attendees directly. It can often be very intimidating to connect on a larger scale when you don't know anyone, but that option along with the roster (plus option to bookmark people) helped me learn more of my colleagues.

We use Cvent for many different clients and events. It's very easy to customize the experience for the event that you need

Incentivized

Everyone on our team had their assigned tasks to complete in Whova on a weekly basis and did so with ease and confidence.

• The Cvent suite of events has drastically reduced redundant work throughout our events department allowing us to streamline a lot of the registration/software aspects of our events and allow us to focus on other areas of our events that had previously been placed on the back burner.
• Since Cvent Event Management is so widely use, many of our attendees, exhibitors and speakers are familiar with the platform so they are able to seamlessly operate within it for their needs with little to no learning curve.
• We're able to pull more accurate and customized reports based on specific information we need with each event.
• We able to offer our registrants a more customized experience with their registration and event platforms. This allows us to customize and innovate our events in new ways we previously hadn't been able to.

Incentivized

• Whova made our virtual and hybrid events possible! Our virtual attendees loved the ability to interact and engage with each other, the exhibitors, the speakers and organizers of the event. It also allowed our in-person attendees to do the same, and navigate the conference on-site.
• Whova made organizing the conference possible for our small staffed organization! We only have 1.25 FTEs and were able to pull off a hybrid conference in 2022. It wouldn’t have been possible without Whova!

Incentivized