SignUpGenius vs. Webex Events (formerly Socio)

SignUpGenius is a great option for teachers and instructors looking to find a digital way to have their students sign up for anything that involves "slots," whether those slots are temporal/time-based (e.g., presentation days/times that are pre-scheduled), or whether they are more abstract (e.g., a limited range of subjects or topics that students need to pick from). Its free version is ad-supported, does not require registration, and operates primarily using links within emails for authentication, so while it isn't necessarily "secure," it is perfect for situations where the honor system is enough.

Incentivized

I think it would work for:

• Workshops with many people.
• Quarterly's meetings with people all around the world.
• If you want to create a digital training with lots of participants...

I feel like it's not as needed in videocalls that can be fixed with webex teams because of the number of participants or at events that need a more personal approach where you need everyone constantly interacting.

Incentivized

• Post-sign up communications - allows for pre-event communication to specific rsvp types or to all respondents
• Post-event reporting - allows for export of signup information
• Easy to use - for our community, both management and volunteers use SignUpGenius to facilitate participation and planning for a wide variety of events and activities

Incentivized

• It has quite a few optional and customizable features that can be utilized.
• It's easy to integrate your existing tools like Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo, and streaming services.
• It's flexible in the way that you upload content in that you can enter things one at a time on the website, or use a spreadsheet to upload a larger amount of content.

Incentivized

• I think an area that needs improvement is allowing for more than 5 slots at a time. I would like to see at least 10 offered instead of having to keep adding 5 at a time.
• Adding additional templates or templates in which you can just change a color selection would be great. Really utilize this for school PTO/Booster Clubs would be beneficial. Cater to them.
• Allowing for a 'cheaper' price than what you have for the souped up version would be nice as well.

Incentivized

• The standard template to build out the community is pretty rigid. We had to adjust some of our styling and graphics to account for what Socio's template allowed.
• Inability for event admins to make account changes for users. Several times we had users change jobs, therefore, changing their emails. Each time, we had to go through Socio support to get them access to their account.
• Documentation and knowledgebase could be more substantive.

It is a great product that works efficiently for our needs

Incentivized

Of course something could happen to our orgs ability to put on a conference or Socio could fundamentally change their product or their customer service - but barring any magor shift there is nothing that is even close to competing for our attention here.

Incentivized

Some Android users could not get the app to work, so they had to use the web-based version of our conference guide. Most functionality was still there, but they could not pull up the QR code, which impeded the registration process. The presence of the log in with Apple ID button caused issues because most work emails were not attached to Apple ID, which caused access issues.

Incentivized

I don't have any feedback for support because I have not had to use support (if referring to IT support). If this question is in referral to support from other staff/company, then it has been received well in that sense.

Incentivized

Socio (now WebexEvents) is one of two products I use that gets customer service right. Not only can you get an answer from an actual person quickly during business hours - but if you are asking after hours, you know the response will be waiting for you in the morning. Not only are they fast, but they are also smart about their products and customers. There is very little back and forth trying to explain the problem I am having, or the new way I am trying to use their product, that may even be novel for them.

Incentivized

We briefly used another sign-up website called "Bring the Cups."Needless to say, this website did not nearly offer the same amount of robust features as SignUpGenius did. Bring the Cups was streamlined and simple, but it bordered on simplistic. In all honesty, Bring the Cups did not nearly meet our needs the way SignUpGenius did. Consequently, I returned to using SignUpGenius as quickly as possible.

Incentivized

WebEx Events has the same functionality as many other platforms, but with a more affordable price tag. I have also found it to be more intuitive and easy to use on the user side. I don't have experience on the administrative side with other platforms but we have been very satisfied with our experience with WebEx Events.

Incentivized

• Students and even other staff love it! It improved the turn-around time from when I respond to student requests for academic coaching to setting up the intake meeting about 50%. Also, in the case that I respond quickly but the student is delayed several days, the link I sent is still live and always has relevant dates and times (whereas in the past, I would send a few days' worth of options and by the time a procrastinator looked at them, they were passed).
• It's an easy, mobile-friendly option that helps students to see that we're with it, not trapped in the stone age. That factors into their overall perception of our department, our services and our organization.

Incentivized

• We had more sponsorship applications than usual due to using Webex and the multiple sponsorship capabilities.
• We had more attendance than in previous years due to using Webex since it is so incredibly user-friendly.
• We increased ROI by using Webex over other platforms due to pricing and features.