Registration: The Foundation of Your Event Program

Why do we consider registration such a critical part of a corporate event's success? Well, you know what they say about first impressions. Consider event registration the "front door" of your event, if you will -- the initial interface between attendees and staff. You make your first impression in the welcome you afford your guests, and registration offers a natural opportunity to offer top-class service from the very beginning. In our work as an event management company, we use a comprehensive database that gives attendees a wealth of helpful information to enhance their event experience -- event schedules, when to arrive, what to wear to various functions, how to find their way through the hotel, all the little details that help so much to smooth the way during the event.

Accuracy pays when planning any event, and you can actually save a lot of money if you understand how to make registration numbers work for you. For example, a typical event may include three different meal functions per day. If you simply collect "yes or no" RSVPs for your event, you now have to assume that your confirmed attendees will appear at all three of those functions, when in fact they may show up only sporadically. If you're shelling out $100 to $150 per person for these functions, you definitely don't want 75 uneaten plates at each meal. If, on the other hand, you ask your guests which meal functions they plan to attend, you can then plan accordingly.

Another critical registration task involves securing attendee data. You're collecting people's personal information and credit card numbers, after all, and without the right levels of security in your registration system that data can be compromised, with disastrous results.

Remember -- a truly great event experience starts at the front door!