It’s 4 weeks to onsite – and you’ve just realised that you’re responsible for setting up your onsite registration.

Let’s get you setup with a quick checklist for your onsite registration

1. Determine who your onsite registration attendance is going to be. This is the key to understanding and building a pleasant onsite experience for your attendees. After all, who wants to be stuck in an onsite line-up for an hour and it’s the first thing your attendee experiences when attending your event.
2. Once you determine the number of pre-registered attendees and onsite registrants expected, we could now evaluate your onsite hardware needs. Various options are needed to be taken into consideration.
   1. Onsite registration for attendees who need to make that last minute adjusted, amend payment to their accounts or simply register, as they are eager to attend.
   2. Self-check-in kiosks / counters are great for expediting the check-in process for attendees who have pre-registered. These kiosks can be used to scan barcodes that are pre-delivered to the attendee via email. Upon scanning the barcode, a badge can be printed and your attendee is ready to experience your event.
3. Material Pickup is a great way to manage giveaways by way of scanning badges and validating picked up items. Upon the scanning of badges, the registration agent will be able to instantly view what the attendee is required and the item is provided.
4. For consumer shows and surprise lineups, the option to deploy line busting is also something to consider. With line busting, the registration agent will be able to work a line and start checking in attendees as they wait for their badge on a tablet. Upon successful check-in, the attendee is then directed to pick-up their badge.
5. Staffing for registration is also something to consider. The staff you have on the front line is the first impression they will be providing to your attendees. It is important to get the right staffing partner of if volunteers are utilized, a proper schedule is setup and expectations are set. When onsite registration goes well, it is rather boring and it’s important to keep a smile and still be attentive to attendees. If working with a staffing company, ensure the staff being provided is computer savvy.
6. Setup & Training is something that cannot be compromised. Your registration vendor needs to ensure training is provided. It is advisable to have 1 day for setup (for larger onsite setups) and 1 – 2 hours is provided for training the onsite staff. This training time is not only for registration but also for the event manager (you) to brief the staffers with general information such as room locations, bathrooms, hours of registration and so forth. A suggestion would be to create a cheat sheet with all the common questions asked on site and have that posted at the registration desk. This is a quick one sheet guide to arm the registration agents and staffers to provide immediate FAQ’s to attendees.
   If you have any suggestions for onsite registration that has been overlooked in this article, please feel free to share it below or to see how Streampoint Solutions can help you with not only your online registration but also your onsite, contact me at dharmesh@streampoint.com.