The OpenWater Blog

How to Do the Work for Attendees During Event Registration

There are thousands of potential attendees for any abstracts conference. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone will register for your conference. In fact, there’s a high likelihood that many won’t. Why? Because the registration process is too tedious, time-consuming, or, in many cases, both.

As a conference manager, it’s in your best interest to collect the information you need from each attendee all at once in a straightforward, simple process. This reduces future work for both you and your staff and is less hassle for attendees as well.

But, how are you supposed to do the work of attendees? There are many ways to do so, three of the most popular of which we’ll cover in greater detail below.

Step 1: Create Short, Custom Forms That Only Require Necessary Information

Have you ever decided to apply for something only to get to the form and realize that it’s too much work? The same can easily happen for abstracts conferences.

Too often, conference managers request a lot of unnecessary information to prevent having to request information later in the process. What these same managers don’t realize is that most of the information they request is useless and won’t be used for the conference itself or the organization’s marketing efforts.

Customized forms allow you to request only required information. Doing so generates short, easy-to-digest forms attendees won’t mind filling out. This encourages more individuals to attend your conference, which is every conference manager’s goals.

Step 2: Auto-Fill Relevant Information

Many of your organization’s members will attend the conference. If they do, you already have most (if not all) of the information required on the registration sheet. By auto-filling all possible fields, you reduce the perceived cost of attending your conference and, subsequently, encourage more of your members or attendees from previous years to attend again.

Abstracts software makes it simple to auto-fill information like this so you can do so with little to no additional effort.

Step 3: Ask Additional Questions

While attendees want your forms to be as short as possible, they also want to feel as if you’re considering their needs. This is why you should always include accommodation- or food-related questions or preferences on the registration form.

For example, if you’re serving a meal and offer both a meat and vegetarian option, it’s important to request a preference at this point. Doing so shows your attendees that you’re well-organized and are anticipating their needs as well.

Doing the Work of Attendees Isn’t Really Work at All

While it may seem like a lot of work to pre-fill forms or create customized forms rather than using the same form you’ve used for years, it’s not. In fact, abstracts software can tackle most of these tasks while keeping you on track in other areas of your conference.

This means you have nothing to lose when it comes to doing this work: more attendees will join you at the conference and you don’t lose precious time or resources in the process. Now all that’s left for you to consider is how you’re going to change your registration process (hint: you should use the steps above).

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