Software take a significant financial investment to build, host, and support. WE know that, and we’re upfront about it.
So when we say in-person events are included on CE21, here’s what we mean: your live in-person events are covered by your core platform fee. The same goes for physical products such as books, CDs, and DVDs. We don’t take a percentage of those sales.
That distinction matters for associations running annual conferences, regional meetings, and other in-person programs. When a platform takes a share of event revenue, the cost can influence where you run the event and how you manage registration, purchases, and attendee records.
One platform, fewer moving parts
When a platform charges extra for in-person event sales, associations do the logical thing. They look for another tool to run the conference. Then another for other needs, and perhaps a spreadsheet to keep everything straight.
It’s an understandable way to control costs. But those savings can come with a trade-off. Staff end up managing multiple logins, separate catalogs, and disconnected registration processes. Members may have to figure out which system to use for learning, which one handles the annual conference, and where to go next.
CE21 is built around the opposite idea. Your LMS, AMS, and events share a single database and a single login, and your entire catalog lives under one roof. That means no side platform for the conference, and no additional subscriptions to protect your margins.
What’s Included, and What’s Not
We believe in being plain about this, so here is how it breaks down.
Included in your core platform fee:
- In-person events, including annual meetings, conferences, and regional seminars
- Physical products you sell, including books, CDs, DVDs, and other shippable items
Additional fees apply to digital delivery formats:
- Live webcasts and webinars
- Video replay and on-demand programs
- Video downloads
- SCORM courses
- Classroom and virtual summit formats
The logic is simple. Digital delivery involves streaming, storage, support, and bandwidth, so those formats carry their own fees. In-person events and physical products don’t require those same resources, which is why they’re included in your core fee.
“Included” Does Not Mean Basic
An association conference is rarely just a registration form and a date. You might have concurrent educational sessions, optional activities, meal selections, different ticket types, and credit requirements that vary by attendee.
CE21’s event tools let you manage those details within the same platform you use for your educational programs.
A few of the building blocks:
Build an agenda around your actual program. Organize concurrent sessions, give attendees choices when activities overlap, and collect the information your staff needs to plan the event.
Offer more than admission. Sell optional activities such as a golf outing, city tour, or awards luncheon alongside conference registration. You can set prices and capacity limits for individual options, too.
Collect the details up front. Gather meal preferences, exhibitor information, sponsor details, and required acknowledgments as part of registration.
Keep credit records connected to attendance. Credit-bearing sessions can feed into attendance confirmations and certificates. Because events use the same system as your LMS, earned credits can appear on the attendee’s transcript alongside credits from online courses.
Need More Onsite Muscle? We Have That Too
If you want to go further, our optional Live Event Portal adds QR code badge scanning. Staff scan attendees at the session door with a mobile device, check-in and check-out times are logged, member profiles update in real time, and certificates can go out before anyone reaches the parking lot.
It is a paid add-on, but you’re not locked into a tier or a subscription level to use it. Turn it on for the events where door-by-door verification matters, like your big annual conference, and leave it off for the lunch-and-learn or the regional seminar. You pay for it only when you need it.
One Catalog. Everything You Sell.
An association’s catalog includes more than online courses. It might include an annual conference, regional meetings, webinars, on-demand education, physical products, memberships, and renewals.
CE21 brings these offerings into one system, backed by an in-house support team. Members have one login for learning, registering, and shopping. Staff work with shared member and learning data instead of maintaining separate systems and reconciling records between them.
And your in-person conference doesn’t have to move to another platform just because of how event sales are priced.
If your current setup has you paying extra fees on event revenue or managing separate tools for education and conferences, it may be worth seeing how CE21 handles your programs.
Your conference, your courses, your members. All in one place, with predictable costs and no percentage taken from in-person event ticket or physical product sales.