Techie view of event registration
Our view of event registration comes from helping organisations streamline their processes. We specialise in business automation which is all about finding efficiencies and reducing operational costs. Registration if often part of the mix so we have become familiar with a wide range of event technologies.
Anyone who has dealt with registration knows it is more complicated than it first appears. Ticket types, refunds, and cancellations mean complexity. Add travel and accommodation and you have a minefield. Registration systems have evolved to try and cope with every scenario which moves them away from easy and intuitive to expensive and hard to use. So we thought we would share some observations and ideas around making registration more efficient and less costly.
1. Use your CRM
If your organisation uses a CRM then often the registration process can be built out using workflows and automations. Add to that online payments are getting easier to integrate all the time. They may not cater to the events with multiple ticket types but we have found you can cover a wide variety of events with the added bonus of data integrity and brand alignment.; no need for integrations or imports to collect contact information
2. Forms
Google, Microsoft, Gravity: We have always been surprised that forms are not more commonly used. They are great and simple to set up. All have the functionality for conditional fields so you can cover a wide range of scenarios. We are particular fans of Gravity Forms, they have a great WordPress plug-in. WordPress is the widest-used event website builder as far as we can work out.
3. If you do go EMS , which one?
Some events just need specialist EMS [event management software] to manage the complexity of requirements. So how do you find the right product out of the hundreds of options? We have done the circuit of event tech shows in the US and asked a bunch of event planners which software they prefer: the answer was Regfox. If you are on the hunt for a new EMS it's worth checking out.
4. All of the above
Events are so varied in requirements the chances are the optimal solution will be a combination of all of the above. The key points are to
- Make sure you are leveraging your CRM to the max,
- Get to know forms,
- And if you do have to use an EMS now and again, go for one whose pricing works for you with no lock-in contracts.