Topic:

I need to activate my event soon. What sorts of things should I look for to make sure my event is ready to take live registrations?

Solution:

In the course of conducting (literally!) thousands of event reviews, the RegOnline Tech Support team has identified a handful of common setup problems. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it may help you to avoid common setup issues or pitfalls.

• Download the Complete Event Review Checklist for a step-by-step walk-through of the event builder.

Common Pitfalls to avoid before activating your event:

1. Visible/Required properties are incorrect - If your event uses Registrant Types, check (and re-check!) your Agenda Items and Custom Fields to make sure they are visible to the correct Registrant Type(s). More info...
   
   
2. Incorrect early/late pricing options - For any Agenda Items or Event Fees that use early bird or late registration pricing, check the date entries to confirm that the right price displays for each date range. Show me how...
   
   
3. Registration fees on the Merchandise page - Registration fees should be set up using the Event Fee field on the Start page, by various Registrant Types, or possibly on the Agenda page. The Merchandise page is intended to be used to define “add-ons” items such as books, DVD's, extra tickets, etc. About Event Fees...
   
   
4. Caption entries are not self-explanatory - Each Agenda Item (or Custom Field) has two fields that may display information to registrants - one to display to your attendees on the registration form (this field is called Question/Description) and one to display to on the registrants record or receipt (this field is called the Title on Invoice/Receipt). The text for each should be intuitive and geared towards the correct audience. More info...
   
   
5. Waitlist setup issues - If you will be using the automatic waitlist functionality on the Agenda page, then the Enable Waitlist box on the Agenda page must be selected and the individual Agenda Items to be waitlisted must also be enabled properly. More about agenda item waitlisting... 
   
   
6. Agenda Items that overlap or conflict - If you have multiple Agenda Items (or Custom Fields) that either overlap one another in time or should otherwise be mutually exclusive, then you should use the Group Name feature to tie them together.  This will keep registrants from selectinng more than one item in that group (e.g. multiple Workshops on Thursday @ 10 AM). Show me how...
   
   
7. Incorrect address in Location fields - If you are using the link to Google Maps (on the Confirmation page or in the Confirmation/Reminder emails), be sure the address for your event is correct and doesn't contain unexpected information such as phone numbers entered in the country field, etc. Incomplete or incorrect data in the Event Basics section on the Start page will result in the system generated (Google Maps) to not work properly.
   
   
8. Emails from Copied Events - If you have copied a previous event then it may have some information left over from that old event, such as incorrect dates, subject lines, or other information.  Emails have both an HTML version and a TEXT ONLY version - you will need to check both versions for accuracy. Be sure to check all of the correspondence emails that will be sent to your registrants.  Including - Confirmation emails, Alternate Confirmation emails (for each Registrant Type), Incomplete email notification, and Reminder Emails. Are they sent from the correct email address to your attendees? You can test these emails directly from the Event Builder to verify their content.
   
   
9. Notify Attendee of Incomplete Registration option is not enabled (Emails tab), so that your attendees will not get an email with a link to 'try again' if they failed to complete their registration. We recommend that you enable this notification email so that registrants will know if their registration was not completed for any reason. Show me how... 
   
   
10. Checkout page (Payment & Verification) - If you are charging any fees for your event, then make sure that you have set up the appropriate payment methods and policies for your registrants. Is your event set up for Online Credit Card processing? Have you entered a refund policy or terms and conditions that are appropriate to your event? If you are accepting checks, have you included payment information to tell them where to send the payment?
    
    
11. Customized Page Names have been deleted from the Page Options section on each Registration Form Page as a (mistaken) way to remove unused pages from the registration form. Show me how to remove unused pages... 
     

Testing your event:

It is also important to fully test the functionality of your event before you Activate and open up registrations to the public.  This can help you catch additional problems that may have not been apparent while you were building and previewing the form. 

• Keep your event in Testing status - Any registrations completed while in Testing status are completely free. It is also much easier to make changes to an event in Testing status than it is to modify an active one.
  
  
• Enter some test registrations - The best way to see how your event looks and works is to test register. There is no charge on your RegOnline account for any registrations completed while your event is in Testing status, so enter as many as you want! We recommend one or two test registrations for each Registrant Type that you are using in your event.
  
  
• Check the pricing (fees) and other Agenda Items for each Registrant Type - As you enter your test registrations, be sure that the Fees, Agenda Items, and Custom Fields that display are the ones you expected to see for that type. For example, if you have Registrant Types for Members and Non-Members, be sure that you see the Member pricing when you register with that type.
   
• Run a sample report of the data that you need to collect to ensure that your event setup includes or collects the fields and information from your registrants that you will need to report on later. The Event Snapshot Report may be the best report to start with see all of the fields available in your event.

Additional Information:

If you have additional concerns or questions about your event setup prior to going live or activating your event, then feel free to contact RegOnline Tech Support.

Related Links:

• My event is ready for testing. How do I enter test registrations?
• How do I activate my event?
• How do I charge a different registration fee to various attendees? 
• How do I create early and/or late registration fees for my event?
• How do I view incomplete registrations?
• How do I get started with online credit card processing?

Keywords: Test, Testing, Active, Activate, Mistakes, Errors, Error, Complimentary, Form, Review, Activated, GoLive, Go-Live, Check my event for errors, Self-check, Self Check, Check-List, Check List

Rev. Date 06/05/08

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