Here are six things you can do TODAY if you switch to a fully automated system for registration:
- Stop shuffling data.
If you organise your data with Excel spreadsheets and/or Access databases, you have to keep moving and putting together data to get the totals you need for your event. Use a computer system that automatically gathers and adds up all of your data in real time to get rid of these ongoing problems.
- Eliminate man...
Here are six things you can do TODAY if you switch to a fully automated system for registration:
- Stop moving data around.
If you organise your data with Excel spreadsheets and/or Access databases, you have to keep moving and putting together data to get the totals you need for your event. Use a computer system that automatically gathers and adds up all of your data in real time to get rid of these ongoing problems.
- Stop doing follow-ups by hand.
When someone signs up on paper or through a web form, your manual work has just begun. You'll have to print, copy, fold, mail, email, and do it all over again. Use online registration to get rid of these time-consuming tasks. The fully automated system will send everyone an email with their receipt, bill, and event materials as soon as they sign up.
- Let credit cards and payments go through automatically.
If you accept credit card payments but process them by hand, you could make a mistake or, worse, the card could be declined. Or, you can just take checks that take longer to cash. Get rid of these extra steps by setting up your system to accept credit card and check payments and process them for you as soon as someone registers.
- Give people a way to help themselves.
Those who sign up will always need to make changes. Avoid getting a lot of calls and emails that keep you from working. Give your registrants the power to do things on their own by using an automated system that lets them make changes in real time.
- End wait-list management.
When you start getting cancellations and requests to put people on a waiting list for events with limited space or that sell out quickly, it can be hard to keep everything running smoothly. Take this task off your "to-do" list: accept waitlist requests online and your waitlisted registrants will be notified automatically when a spot opens up.
- Make data entry obsolete.
If you use paper registrations or web forms that get emailed to you, you have to deal with data entry or transfer problems. This is a time-consuming process that makes it hard to read people's handwriting and fix wrong information. Use an automated system that collects and organises registrant data online to avoid these problems.
A fully automated online registration system takes away 55 percent of the trouble and work that meeting planners have to do with registration.
