Your conference registration software should allow you to control the full lifecycle of your event, from registration to collecting payments to reporting on your ROI.
Below is a list of features that are a must when evaluating registration software for your next conference event.
Streamline Registration Process
Your software should be flexible enough to fit your registration needs on the backend while also providing a streamlined front-end experience for all of your registrants.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you have groups registering together or individuals?
- Will you allow payment plans or balance due at the time of order?
If you answered yes, and if your conference software can’t accommodate this, you need to find one that does! A software that will allow you to accomplish your tasks in the way you need, is paramount.
Additionally, when you have a registration software that is tailored to meet the needs of your event, your registrations will increase. A simple registration flow, as well as a well laid out logic, will help your overall registration grow.
Engage with Your Attendees
We live in a very connected world. In addition to registration, you need a software that allows you to easily communicate with your registrants before, during and after your conference event.
Some key features any software should offer in the email department include:
- Automated Emails
- Filtering for specific types of attendees to send targeted emails.
- Thank you for registering and registration confirmations, including action based confirmations. (Some email templates are here!)
- Payment reminder emails.
- Payment invoice emails.
- The ability to customize an email to each attendee, but send in bulk.
- Reminder emails connected to conference track selections.
You should be able to do this seamlessly and with little effort with your conference event software.
Be sure to evaluate how your conference registration software will allow you to interact with your applicants and your paid registrants. Automated functions that allow you to set up your software and allow it to run smoothly should be a requirement!
Sending emails to remind your registrants to both complete their registration and to attend can drastically improve attendance at your events.
Payment focused communication, as well as features like payment plans and automatic billing, can help increase your cash flow and get more paid attendees!
Check-In for Attendees
Allow your users to check themselves in or keep that ability within the hands of your registration team. Or, both!
Make sure that you are choosing a registration system that is flexible and that will grow and change as your events grow and change.
If you need to track attendance at events, ensure that the software you choose allows you to track actual attendance at your conference. This feature can be key to your ability to report on accurate data.
Team Collaboration
In addition to being able to connect with your registrants, your team should be able to collaborate with your software. Whether it’s assigning registrants to various team members or delegating tasks to ensure a seamless event, your software should make collaboration easy and efficient.
The #1 collaboration tool for teams is a comments feature. This is a great way for admins to track any contact or other information with or about the attendee that is outside of the application itself. This ensures no one misses an interaction and all notes are logged and in one place!
Your registration software should allow you to create separate accounts for each administrator on your team. Additionally, you should be able to assign permission levels to each team member. This will allow you to have greater control over information and workflow.
Conference Management and Reporting
Data is important, especially when it comes to tracking the effectiveness of your last conference.
- Will your software allow you to easily and accurately keep track of your attendees?
- Can you track which break out sessions were the most popular? Did your registrants take the time to register and pay and pull a no-show?
Getting the answers to all of these questions, and more, is easy with the right software (and by asking the right questions!)
In addition to team collaboration, your conference registration software should allow you the ability to manage and oversee the data within your system.
Here are some suggestions on questions to ask around the delegation of tasks:
- Can I designate more responsibility to one or more of my team members?
- Is there one person I can designate to handle the billing, reports, and team collaboration within my registration software?
- Is it possible to assign conference applicants to specific members of my team?
- Can I send out a survey to attendees after the conference to gather more information?
Your conference registration software should empower you to track all of those metrics and more. Feedback in the form of data will help you to make improvements in the right areas. And it will keep what’s working included in your process.