Why You Should Let Your Delegates Register Online

Delegates are increasingly demanding the ability to sign up and pay for events on-line. This article explains how event managers can support and mange this activity - either themselves, or through the use of an event management software provider. Online registration offers benefits of improved control and efficiency, whilst at the same time reducing expenses for the event host.


Event managers are under growing pressure; pressure to produce and manage successful events, but also under pressure to keep overheads low and efficiencies high. This means that they regularly walk a thin line between generating an event that is of worth to delegates and creating an event that's managed on a little budget. This can cause difficulties since saving money isn’t always harmonious with the desire to manage and host a high value event.

A lot of event managers are now realising the benefits of control and efficiency that technology can bring to the event management process. Automating key actions and taking advantage of the Internet can help save time and money and can also make a more efficient event experience for both event managers and delegates. One of the leading areas where events and the Internet are coming together is that of delegate registration.

Previously, event managers would manually pick target delegates from a database, they'd then produce and send direct mail invitations (which comes with extra expenses of printing and postage) and then supervise the registrations via the telephone, fax and post. There would be little or no tracking or reporting capabilities and they would incur other expenditure through the continuous communication between themselves and the signed up delegates. Managing the long list of delegates would be a time consuming project - managed on vast, complicated spreadsheets. However, we are now seeing this established model of delegate registration being gradually overtaken by that of an Internet based model.

The Internet based model of delegate registration takes advantage of the increase in the use of the Internet all over the world. According to a Radicati Group study from May 2009, there are about 1.9 billion email users worldwide. That equates to just over one in every five people on the earth making use of email. For 2014, Radicati Group projects 2.5 billion email users worldwide. These statistics demonstrate that people are now becoming used to using email as part of their daily lives.

Add this to the fact that in 2010, 30.1 million adults in the UK (60 per cent) accessed the world wide web every day or more or just less than every day (source ONS Opinions Survey). People now understand the Internet and all it has to give, and now expect companies to meet their requests on the net as well as offline. The use of email and social networking means that people are increasingly living their lives online; meaning that they need to be able to undertake basic transactions on-line also - which includes registering to attend events.

The online registration procedure should look something like this:

• Web page branded to your corporate specification
• Sending branded, personalised e-invites to a targeted collection of prospect delegates through a advanced email marketing tool
• Giving delegates a single click transaction from e-invite to branded event landing page
• Enabling your delegates to sign up on the web through your web site
• Sending automated delegate booking email confirmations
• Creating personalised delegate packs adapted exclusively to each individual delegate
• Collating and storing relevant details and creating delegate badges prior to the event

This model benefits the delegate in addition to the event manager. For the delegate, they receive targeted, personalised e-invites, can register and pay online and then experience a complete closed loop by getting event confirmation and updates via email. For the event manager, they are able to take a step back away from the enrolment process, whilst still remaining in control. Extensive monitoring and reporting capabilities should be included in the email marketing tool which will enable the event manager to see who opened the invite, who clicked on links and more. This can help to improve the quality of the data, the follow ups and the success of future campaigns.

The event manager could also customise the on-line booking form for every event they manage - ensuring that they obtain the most essential facts for that event. This information can be used for additional marketing and to create personalised delegate packs on the day. Custom delegate badges, complete with barcodes can be created at a click of a button.

Managing the delegate registration process can be made easier by outsourcing this area to an event software company. This kind of service gives all of the above activities - freeing the event manager up to focus on more strategic tasks. Event management software organisations can take control of the delegate registration process via the use of their sophisticated event software solutions - all for a flat and affordable fee. This kind of partnership is often preferable to event businesses who are just starting to use technology when organising their events. The other side of the coin would be to fully invest in an event software solution which should come with a delegate registration model. Although in this case, the event managers would still need to manage and control this part of the process themselves.

Resource Box
For more information on online delegate registration, talk to evocos. In the past year alone evocos event management solution has created over 7000 events/workshops & training courses and managed approximately 75,000 delegates/members and has taken over 50,000 online bookings. evocos offers a complete online delegate registration service called ‘evocos Delegates’ which has been hugely popular with event managers in the UK.

Incorporating integrated reporting and analysis tools as well as social media, email marketing, website integration, registration, online payment, badge production, resource management and event surveys, evocos is one of the most comprehensive online event management software solutions on the market today.

The evocos event software team ensures you are able to seamlessly manage your events; gaining huge cost and efficiency benefits. Visit http://www.evocos.co.uk for more information or call 0800 369 8677.