You can configure your event registration in many different ways - both simply and with more complexity. It is best to have a clear understanding of your registration requirements before proceeding with the setup process. This article is intended to be a general guide and provide recommendations regarding event registration setup, as events with different registration requirements may require slightly different setups.
To begin to figure out what your registration requirements are ask yourself the following questions about your event:
- Will this be a paid or free event?
- Will we be offering promotions?
- How long will the promotions last? Is it possible that they will be extended?
- Will there be different tickets? Will they be different prices?
- Will there be different groups of registrants?
- If there will be different groups, will they need group-specific registration forms?
- What questions are required on each registration form?
Note: Once you have opened registration and start accepting registrants, changes to the registration configuration may pose issues.
For most events setting up registration requires configuration on the following four screens - Tickets, Pricing Groups & Codes, Registration Forms, and Dates. These four areas work together to allow for a multitude of combinations of event registration.
DATES
One place to begin the registration setup is on the Dates screen. Ensure that your event dates are correct and if required, configure the segmentation of your registration period.
You can segment the registration period into separate pricing periods if you are going to be offering tickets at discounted rates leading up to the event.
To set up your event dates and segment your registration period go to Events > General > Dates. Here you can add and remove event dates or adjust the duration of the event for each day, or add Milestones to segment your registration period.
Optional - Segment your registration period by adding Milestones
When you add a milestone you create a new registration period segment, ticket prices will automatically change at 00:00:00 (midnight) on the first day of the next period. If you want an early bird price to end on 31 December, create a new Milestone on 01 January.
Once a registration segment has expired, it cannot be extended. You will need to add a new milestone or milestones and update all ticket and group pricing accordingly.
You can set up pricing changes on the Tickets or Pricing Groups & Codes screens.
Under each group (on the Tickets screen) or under each ticket (on the Pricing Groups & Codes) screen there is a section for each registration period with a separate price field. In the price field, add the correct price for every segment of the registration period for each type of ticket.
TICKETS
Building a Ticket
The Tickets screen is where you set up the tickets that can be purchased or reserved for your event. A ticket can have a cost or be free of charge. They can be set to have different prices for different pricing groups, as well as different pricing per registration period segment.
A ticket price is set per group. The default group is Public (you'll want to disable this group on the Pricing Groups & Codes screen if you do not require public tickets). A public ticket is a ticket that anyone who can access the event registration page can purchase or reserve.
If you add a new registration period segment, the default value is $0, you must update your ticket prices if you add additional milestones!
Quick Reference
- Registration > Build > Tickets
- Add Ticket
- Toggle days the selected ticket is valid
- Toggle groups the selected ticket is available for.
- Set pricing for each milestone period
- Click Save
Availability
A ticket can be made available for any or all of the event dates. This is set on the Tickets screen under the "Days this ticket is valid" section. Toggle on all of the days the ticket should be valid.
A ticket can also be available to individual pricing groups. This is configured by enabling the individual groups under each ticket on the Tickets screen, or by enabling the individual tickets under each group on the Pricing Groups & Codes screen.
Can I limit the number of tickets available?
You are able to limit the number of tickets available on a per-day basis or for the entire event under Registration > General > Options > Event Day Capacity or Total Event Capacity.
If you want to limit the maximum number of a certain ticket use one of the following two options:
- Set a ticket capacity at Registration > Build > Tickets > Select your ticket name and scroll to Ticket Capacity
- Disable the Public ticket group and use only custom pricing Groups & Codes. Each Group can have a Registration Code set, and that code can have a capacity associated with it.
Can I make all of my tickets private?
Yes, by using the steps to disable the public ticket group and create custom pricing Groups & Codes, you make it impossible for someone reaching the event page to register without knowing a registration group code.
PRICING GROUPS & CODES
Creating pricing groups & codes allows you to:
- Offer tickets at different prices to different groups
- Limit the number of tickets available per group and per code
- Offer tickets privately to specific parties or individuals
- Ask a unique set of registration form questions to each group
If any one of these features matches your requirements, start by creating a pricing group. A pricing group can be set up to have access one, a combination, or all of the available tickets.
Here is an example of how pricing groups could be used:
"I have a single ticket for my event, but I want to offer a discount to students and free tickets for the event sponsors."
To accomplish this, you'd need to create one ticket and two pricing groups: students and sponsors.
Make sure the publicly available version of the ticket is full price then enable both of the groups - students and sponsors - under that ticket and add the discounted prices.
Create a promo code for each of the groups, enable it and set the maximum number of promo tickets available fore each group.
Lastly, share the discounted student registration code to the appropriate students and send the "free" code to your sponsors.
- List of Pricing Groups
- Name of ticket
- Milestones set up for the event
- Price for that ticket during that milestone for that pricing group
REGISTRATION FORMS
Registration forms collect relevant information from your attendees. This information is available either by viewing an attendee profile page (Registration > General > Attendees > search for the attendee) or by downloading an attendee export (Event > Event Data > Exports > Attendee Lists).
Start by creating your "default" form by dragging form components onto the form preview area.
The default form will be seen by all your registrants regardless of their group or ticket. You can add various input fields such as a field for text, email addresses, phone numbers, and even a country select widget and a scheduling widget (when registrants need to schedule sessions during their registration process). There are also Select/Options fields such as check boxes, dropdown select lists, and radio buttons. Finally, you can add various levels of headings and help text.
- The default registration form that will be seen by all registrants
- An additional form, specific to specific groups or tickets that will be displayed after the default form for registrants that can access that group or ticket
- Add an additional form that will appear below the default form, only for specific pricing groups or tickets
Create versions of a registration form specific to groups or tickets
Once you've created a default form, you can create sections specific to any groups or tickets that will be displayed below the default form questions. To accomplish this, click the "Add form" button and build out a form that is specific to specific groups or tickets. An additional form can be enabled for one, a combination, or all tickets and/or groups.
- Additional registration form
- The pricing groups you can enable to see the selected additional form
- Enable/disable the additional form for the selected ticket group
- The tickets that you can enable to see the selected additional form