Online registration
is transforming the meeting planning process. More than
half of meeting planners recently surveyed are using
it and most of the rest are planning to so soon. Satisfaction
ratings are high (90% are somewhat to very satisfied)
and nearly 2/3 report cost savings.
The benefits go far beyond cost savings, however. There
has been an explosion of useful features that are saving
time, vastly increasing efficiency, building attendance,
integrating many components of the meeting planning
process, establishing one-to-one marketing tools, as
well as saving money, As these benefits are realized,
it will become apparent that they offer much more than
just registration -- the real benefits are in the many
ways that the business process is streamlined and improved
through digitization.
The paper will outline the benefits and features to
look for when considering an online registration provider.
*MeetingNews, February 18, 2002
Increased convenience for attendee:
Round-the-clock anywhere access: Potential registrants
with web access have 24-7 access to register and find
out about the meeting.
Immediate confirmation: Registrants typically
receive an immediate automated confirmation via the
web and via email with details on pricing, events signed
up for, and how to make changes -- eliminating the delay
and cost to print, process and mail paper receipts.
Registration changes: Some registration systems allow
the ability for users to make registration changes after
they submit, giving the attendee more control and reducing
staff time in managing these changes.
One-stop shopping: Some companies include the
ability to reserve their hotel and even air travel on
the same form. Attendees have the convenience to sign
up for everything in one place.
Pre-populated and auto-branching registration forms:
Standard contact information can be filled out automatically
for the repeat customer, eliminating the hassle of re-entering.
Also, the ability for "branching forms" can be provided,
automatically narrowing down registration options based
on attendee selection (for example, by registration
type) making very complex registration forms more understandable
for attendees.
Online concierge: Links to venue maps and further
venue details are often included on the registration
or program pages to increase attendee interest and convenience
Increased cost savings and revenue generation for the
organization:
Paper vs. web: Typically, web based methods of
promotion, program, and registration form distribution
are far less expensive than paper-based methods of printing,
mailing, faxing, and processing. It is simply less expensive
to push bits (computer information) than
atoms (paper).
In-house development vs. the online registration service
provider: When the total cost of ownership is
compared, it is often found that it is less expensive
to outsource online registration services. Often times
in-house charges for designing, building, maintaining
and integrating online registration web pages far exceed
the cost of outsourcing to companies focused solely
on this process. Additionally, there are fewer up-front
costs with an online registration provider.
Reduced implementation costs: Online registration
providers usually require no software to be installed
on your network, eliminating up-front purchase and installation
costs. Product upgrades are frequent, automatic, requiring
little or no action required on the organization s IS
department, and usually are at no additional cost (unlike
standard registration software products).
Reduced training costs: These systems are often
very easy to use and require little or no web design
knowledge to set up web registration forms. As they
use the familiar web browser already installed, there
is reduced training costs compared to other registration
software products.
Reduced staffing and processing costs: Fewer staff
is needed for data input (the attendees are doing the
inputting) and printing/postage fees and long distance
calls are greatly reduced.
Attendance building: When properly used, the survey
and email automation tools provided with many of these
registration systems can substantially increase attendance
and, therefore, boost meeting revenue. Automated reminders
reduce no-shows. Email campaigns, especially
those with built-in personalization and reminders are
often much more effective than standard mail or un-personalized
email
Increased efficiency and convenience for the meeting
planner
Turnaround: These registration products are easy to
use and an online form can often be generated in less
than an hour, speeding production time to market.
Stakeholder control: As the form can be created
by the meeting planner (rather than Web services) and
the registration data can be directly monitored by the
meeting planner
(rather than waiting for reports from Accounting), the
meeting planner or other principal stakeholder has direct
control of the process, reducing time and reducing translation
errors in the process.
24/7 anywhere access: The Web is the ultimate
network. The planner has 24-hour, anywhere access to
web reports with real-time tracking of registration
totals, housing, etc.
These report can be accessible to multiple stakeholders
given password clearance and access.
Communication automation: These systems often provide
an integrated event marketing email system that will
automate email functions and allow the planner to easily
setup a full email promotion and marketing campaign.
Other features include: automatic generation of email
and/or printed confirmation letters/receipts; blast
emails of updates, schedule changes, announcements to
those who have registered; automatic reminders; and
automated mailing list functions such as opt-in and
-out functions for those who want to be included or
removed from receiving email messages.
Improved data analysis and accuracy: A single,
online database eliminates data inaccuracies caused
when there are multiple databases. These system usually
have built-in data analysis tools with graphs, budget
comparisons and other features with reports generated
in Excel, Access, and other database formats and can
also be imported from and exported to other registration
lists or databases. Also, as attendees register themselves
there are reduced input errors.
Accounting automation and management: These systems
track payments, refunds and a variety of other transactions.
Most generate invoices and receipts and print aged receivables
reports with a full audit trail. Fully automated credit
card processing, e-check clearance and, sometimes, multiple
payment options are often provided, as is full financial
reconciliation and automated credit card processing.
Features and benefits:
Registration robustness: Many of the online registration
providers have invested hundreds of thousands if not
millions of dollars in developing very robust registration
tools that will handle the most complicated meetings,
and yet are userfriendly to use. Multiple -day, multiple
session, multiple -payment sources can all be handled
with ease. These
industrial strength services can handle
thousands of registrations and millions of records without
a glitch. The cost to develop these systems in-house
with these capabilities would often be much greater
than outsourcing.
Customizability: Most of the registration providers
offer fully customizable registration forms with standard
data fields (i.e. name, address), custom fields to collect
information specific to the event, the order in which
it is presented, and the manner it is entered (field
limitations, required fields,etc.).The look and feel
of the registration page is often customizable allowing
for user-defined headers and logos to brand the event
web pages and to make them look as part of the company/association
s website.
eMarketing/Profiling/Surveys: The ability to survey
attendees and market to them automatically based on
their preferences represents one of the most significant
advances since people started registering for meetings.
Several registration systems allow segmentation of specific
customers or groups based on their interests, attendance
history, and survey responses, allowing one-to-one marketing
to these individuals. Many systems offer a full range
of customizable survey tools for pre- and post-event
surveys. Questions and question format (true/false,
multiple-choice, text response) are easy to set up,
fully customizable and the results can automatically
totaled and graphed. For example, pre-event surveys
could ask meal preference, tracks of interest, or, if
the prospect declines to come, why he or she is not
coming. The ability to integrate this into the registration
process and to track this data has huge potential for
future marketing.
Improved reporting: Typically there are dozens
of standardized reports downloadable to Excel, Word,
Access, and several other formats including badge printing
and mailing labels. There is also the ability to create
Ad Hoc custom reports incorporating any data fields
desired. Real-time tracking of registration totals,
housing, etc. can be accomplished on demand and these
reports are accessible to multiple stakeholders given
password clearance and access. These automated reports
often come with built-in analysis tools such as graphs
and charts.
Housing and travel management: Some online registration
providers offer integrated travel management, providing
one-stop convenience for attendees. This can include
integrated housing modules with specialized housing
blocks associated with registration category for speaker,
leadership, VIPs, etc. These allow personalized housing
registration by participant types offering different
hotel choices, room types and discounts. Actual occupancy
reports are available at any time for the planner and
the hotels, replacing the out-dated manual reports that
are typically relied upon in rooms management. Many
standard travel reports (rooming list, arrival/departure
manifests, cancellation reports, etc.) can be generated
as needed.
Onsite management: Some companies offer on-site
registration options as well, either as a service, or
through software, using web-based input that would allow
staff to check in attendees, print individual badges
(including 2-D barcodes), process credit card payments,
print receipts / invoices and have up-to-the-minute
attendee counts at the meeting.
Security and support: Most online registration providers
use highly secure data warehouses with state-of-the-art
firewalls, backups, redundant fault-tolerant fail-over
systems, transaction mirroring, and other systems to
protect your data and eliminate downtime. 24-hour tech
support and online help documentation is often provided
with many systems. Typically, the security measures
are more robust than the average company or association.
Secure socket layer (SSL) encryption is used in transferring
any credit card or personal data, greatly enhancing
data security in the transmission of information from
the attendee to the online database.
Conclusion:
As can be seen, online registration services provide
benefits to everyone involved in the meeting: greater
convenience to the attendee, cost savings/attendance
building for the host organization/company, and significantly
improved efficiency and control to the meeting planner
or show organizer. More importantly and fundamentally,
it represents a very substantial step towards the increased
efficiencies and benefits of moving from an analog (paper)
way of processing information to a digital one.
Corbin Ball, CMP is a speaker, consultant, and writer
focusing on events and meetings planning technology.
With 20 years of experience running international citywide
technology meetings, he now helps clients worldwide
use technology to save time and improve productivity.
He can be contacted at his extensive website: http://www.corbinball.com/
About
RegOnline:
RegOnline provides meeting planners and event organizers
with a flexible, affordable online registration solution
that allows them to process registrations and accept
payments via the Internet. RegOnline is a web-based
service, meaning there is no software to purchase or
install. RegOnline s customers include companies and
organizations such as Arthur Andersen, Tech Data, and
the California Library Association. For more information,
visit RegOnline http://www.regonline.com/Marketing/,
email us at advisor@regonline.com
, or call us Toll-free at 888-351-9948 or 720-564-0350 |
