Collecting attendee information accurately ahead of time is a critical first step to help plan accordingly. Utilizing a registration form is the simplest and most effective way to gather details, like contact information, transportation needs, lodging preferences, dietary restrictions, availability, etc. Additionally, the registration process is your attendees’ first impression of your event, and using a well-crafted form will allow you to not only gather necessary information but also grow ticket sales.
To help you get started, we prepared 6 commonly used event registration forms for general attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, VIPs, and virtual attendees.
In addition to the templates, we included guidelines on creating a registration form for 7 different types of events, as each of them requires a unique set of information.
NOTE: If you’re looking for a registration system for your next conference, consider Whova. Whova’s registration system charges lower registration fees, offers instant payout, and comes with badging & check-in, and fully integrates with a mobile app for attendees. Request more information or get a price quote today.
6 Event Registration Form Templates for Different Audiences
Your attendee list may include different types of participants, such as general attendees, VIP attendees, speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, volunteers and others. To help your planning process, we prepared 6 different templates so you can collect information from your participants.
1. Event Registration Form for General Attendees
Gathering your general audience’s preferences as early as possible will help you account for necessary accommodations and increase your attendees’ satisfaction. You will need to collect their name, contact info, lodging needs, transportation needs, special accommodations, dietary restrictions, and activity preferences. Below is an example for regular attendees:
2. Event Registration Form for Speakers
The last thing an organizer needs is logistical trouble with the important speakers your participants are coming to see. So, make it a top priority to ensure that they make it to the event smoothly and receive quality accommodations.
You will likely need to assemble some details about your speakers beyond their basic information and lodging/transportation needs.
For example, it can be important to know certain presentation preferences, availability for rehearsal sessions, or their moderation needs. Here is an example for speakers:
3. Event Registration Form for Exhibitors
Offering exhibitors a valuable experience with the best possible setup to generate leads isn’t always easy. You’ll need to stay on top of their information and preferences to maximize their investment and keep them satisfied.
Some items you’ll want to include in the form are company information, product/service information, and booth preferences. Below is an example for exhibitors:
4. Event Registration Form for Sponsors
It’s important to gather all of the necessary information to offer sponsors great opportunities for brand exposure and strong ROI. This is a great time to collect things like the sponsor’s company website and description, their activity preferences, guest information, etc. Here is an example for sponsors:
5. Event Registration Form for VIPs
It goes without saying that curating a top tier experience for your VIP customers is crucial. The first step in doing this is to make sure you’ve gathered all of the details required to ensure they will have a VIP experience. You’ll want to ask about their flight arrival departure times, information about their additional guests, food preferences, etc. Here is an example for VIPs:
6. Event Registration Form for Virtual Attendees
If you will be accepting virtual attendees to generate additional revenue, it will be necessary to gather specific information to account for a smooth experience online. You’ll definitely need to know what time zone they’ll be joining from and whether they have any accessibility requirements.
With a remote audience, you may also consider facilitating some networking sessions using virtual tools like Whova’s Round Table or Speed Networking features. Registration is a good time to find out if virtual attendees are interested to participate in your multiple activities!
Here is an example for Virtual Attendees:
Event Registration Form Templates for Different Event Types
Depending on what kind of event you are organizing, you might need to gather some additional information unique to your event type. Below, we provide some guidelines for creating a registration form tailored to the specific needs of your event type.
1. Symposium and Conference
A conference or symposium typically includes an extensive amount of information and content in its agenda. Whether the event lasts multiple days or offers different sections to sign up for, there’s a lot going on that an attendee will need to plan for.
In this case, you can ask your attendees which topics interest them, and which sessions they are planning to attend. This will help you get a better idea of session turnouts and popular sections you might want to place more focus on.
2. Association Annual Meeting Event
For associations, an annual meeting is a unique opportunity to offer education and networking opportunities to provide value for members and recruit non-members. On that account, you might want to include questions about the attendees’ membership status, and what would motivate non-members to become a member.
Using an online registration platform like Whova’s that supports conditional questions would allow you to set up relevant follow-up questions automatically according to their membership status.
3. Alumni Reunion
Alumni reunion forms should be geared specifically toward graduates of the institution. For example, it might be important to know which year they graduated and what their academic affiliations were so you can best help reconnect attendees from the same graduating class. It can also be useful to gather details about their post graduation experiences, such as their marital status/children or career path to help you celebrate their accomplishments.
4. Job Fair
For job or career fairs, you will need to create two separate forms: one for employers, and one for job seekers. For employers, you’ll want to gather details about the number of job openings, which departments are hiring, who will be present to represent the company, etc. For job seekers, you can collect their education background, current position, career interests, etc.
5. Sales Kick-off
A sales kick-off brings together sales teams to discuss new strategies, product updates, or simply to just get the team together to revamp their excitement about existing products. A form for this type of event should collect personal information, including dietary restrictions and accessibility accommodations, information about any additional attendees that will be accompanying them (if applicable), and information about their role in the company. If the event will have any optional activities, be sure to find out who is interested in participating.
6. Leadership Conference
A typical leadership summit or conference will hold presentations, seminars, and evening socials, which are attended by corporate professionals who hold high-level leadership roles. For a leadership conference, you should collect basic personal and professional data and have additional sign-up pages for special events or meetings.
7. User / Customer Conference
User conferences are typically geared toward networking, growing, and marketing opportunities. A user conference form will mostly mimic that of a typical conference form. But most importantly, you might want to incorporate questions about their product/service usage history with the company, their company size, budget for next year, etc.
How to Create an Event Registration Form in 5 Steps
If there is no specific template that satisfies your specific needs, you can also create your own by following the steps below.
Step 1: Choose Your Tool
Before diving into formulating your questions, it’s crucial to pick a tool that will help you effectively create your form. Depending on the capabilities and features you want, your tool can be as simple as helping you create the form or can be as complex as providing additional tools to assist you in other event management tasks. Here are some popular tools:
- Google Forms: Free and simple to use.
- Microsoft Forms: Great for Microsoft Office users.
- JotForm / Typeform: Professional and customizable forms with advanced features.
- Eventbrite: Tailored for event registrations.
- Whova: Create and integrate registration forms with attendee management.
- Custom HTML Form: Requires technical knowledge.
Step 2: Add Essential Fields
After choosing the appropriate tool, it’s time to decide what fields or questions to ask your attendees. Identify what questions are essential and what questions are more optional. Some common required fields include:
- Basic information: Name, email address, phone number, data of birth (could be optional).
- Professional details (if required for event type): Job title, company name, social media link (for networking purposes).
- Event details: Event sessions/tracks that attendees are looking to attend, how did they hear about this event.
- Ticket type: Standard, VIP, speaker, etc.
- Meal preferences: If any are going to be offered.
- Special requests: Accessibility or other special needs.
- Terms & conditions agreement: For any conditions that need to be agreed on before the registrant attends the event.
Best practice is to ask the essential questions at the beginning. This way you already have the attendees committed by filling in required information and they can continue to fill in other secondary fields as they move along.
Also, group together related questions to improve the user experience as attendees follow a well structured linear path that ultimately leads them to complete their registration. Always think about ways to avoid early registration abandonment and make the flow as simple and comfortable as possible.
Step 3: Customize Design and Settings
With the content ready, it’s time to personalize your design so registrants can instantly recognize your brand. Not only will you promote your own brand but also increase registrants’ trust into filling in the form. Here are some designs you can follow:
- Brand color: Add your brand’s color.
- Brand logo: Add your logo in the beginning or throughout the form.
- Event details: Include your event name, date, time and location at the beginning to remind and inform registrants. A small description is also helpful to illustrate the event’s purpose.
- Event photos: Add past event images if possible to persuade registrants to be part of the event.
Also it’s important to set up some flows or settings to make the most out of your form before the event starts. Increase your sign ups and engagement with some of these ideas:
- Payment integration: Automatic processing of registration fees.
- Automatic or personalized confirmation emails: Keep the registrant’s peace of mind with a confirmation email to show their completed registration information.
- Follow-up thank you email: Show appreciation to your registered attendees.
- Discount codes (if available): Attendees will always welcome any opportunity to get a discount.
- Social media sharing: Enable sharing your form in different platforms to extend your reach.
- Contact past attendees: If contacts are available, reach out to attendees who enjoyed your past events as they are more likely to come back.
- Email abandoned registrations: With platforms like Whova, you can easily reach out to registrants who haven’t fully completed their forms.
- Event reminders: Registrations might be completed months before the event starts so always send reminders to maintain your event’s hype.
Step 4: Test and Launch Your Form
Now that all settings and form(s) are ready, it’s vital to test the functionalities before they are released to the public. If you decide on paper registration forms, it’s still a good idea to review and completely go over the flow to avoid any mistakes.
If you are using any type of platform to create online registration forms, make sure that all the flow and payments (if required) are processed correctly. Preview the form and make sure it’s the design that best reflects your event. Also, since mobile usage is predominant nowadays, test that the forms are mobile friendly and responsive in most mobile devices.
Once you are satisfied with everything, now it’s time to release your forms to the world and let the attendees flow in!
Key Elements of an Event Registration Form Builder
If you do decide on utilizing a platform for your event planning, there are a great variety of event registration form builders in the market. Keep an eye out for some basic features if you plan to invest in one.
Essential Features
These are some essential features that will be needed to have a simple and succesful form:
- Question and fields customization: Adding/editing form fields and questions.
- Branding customization: Including logo and color customization.
- Payment processing: Should be able to handle payment collection and distribution.
- Multiple ticket types: Creating different tickets for different occasions.
- Automatic confirmation emails: Attendees will need a proof of their registration.
Advanced Features
Apart from the basic features, these are advanced features that you can utilize to increase your registration flow capabilities and increase conversions.
- Conditional questions: Provide more personalized questions based on registrants’ answers.
- Session RSVP: Provide the ability for registrants to rsvp sessions ahead of time.
- Sponsor branding: Charge sponsor placements in your forms.
- Abandoned registration: Have the ability to contact back incomplete forms.
- Group tickets: Provide special prices for tickets that are grouped in certain amounts.
- Invite only registration: Make accessing forms exclusive.
- Attendee management integration: Automatically managed registered attendees
Personalize Registration Form With Conditional Questions
To gather even more accurate information about your attendees, top event registration platforms like Whova support conditional questions, allowing you to personalize the questions based on the answer of a prior question. Conditional questions create an effective event registration form by simply asking a follow-up question to a previous answer.
Bonus Section- Use AI To Help You Create a Registration Form
AI can assist event organizers in creating efficient and user-friendly registration forms by automating the design and content generation process. It can suggest form fields based on the event type, audience, and necessary data collection (such as attendee details, dietary preferences, or payment information). AI can also ensure the form is optimized for clarity and ease of use, reducing errors and improving the registration experience. Example prompts might include: “Create a registration form for a professional development seminar with fields for attendee contact info, payment options, and session preferences,” or “Generate a registration form for a charity fun run, including participant age, emergency contact, and t-shirt size.” This speeds up the registration process and helps organizers capture all the relevant details efficiently.
Learn more about how AI can help your event planning
Utilize Data Collected From Online Registration Form Efficiently
Collecting all of the necessary data from your registered attendees is the key first step to set yourself up for organizational success ahead of the event. Using powerful event registration tools can make this process much easier and more efficient, helping you gather the information you need quickly and accurately. What you do with the data you’ve gathered from your event registration forms is where the real magic happens.
Utilizing the registration form information is what will personalize an experience for an event guest. If you ask the right questions, you’ll know the necessary details necessary to things like create seating arrangements, accommodate food preferences, order the correct sizes and colors for t-shirts and swag, and more.
If you are interested in learning more about Whova, request our live demo today! See how you can create and use an online event registration form template for your upcoming event.