Last-Minute Registration: Stop Shutting the Door on Attendees!

Event registration can be a tricky balancing act, especially when dealing with last-minute attendees. In this article, Margaret Reeves, Managing Director of RefTech, a leading supplier of event registration technology, explores why keeping registration open and easy is essential for event success:

According to a recent report by Maritz, 9% of event attendees register onsite. That's nearly one in ten people who show up at your event and still need to register. These are the people who keep our industry on its toes, the ones who don't follow the plan. And yet, despite knowing this, many events still shut down registration early or make it unnecessarily complicated for these people to get their badges. Why do we do this to ourselves?

As we came out of Covid, people were understandably hesitant to commit to attending events, and last-minute registration became very common. That trend has eased a bit, but some people are still in that mindset. These people are not troublemakers or disorganised attendees (at least, not always). They might be people who made a late decision to attend, had family commitment to sort out first, a schedule change, or maybe they were just waiting to see if they could find the time. Regardless of the reason, it equates to nearly ten percent of the event audience and we need to be ready for them too.

So, why do so many event organisers make it so hard for these people to register? It's not uncommon to hear, "We're closing registration at 3 PM the day before." Are you really going to turn them away because of their last-minute decision?

It's like locking the doors of your shop just as a bunch of customers are walking up, waving money in their hands. "Sorry, we're not taking your business today because we want a quiet morning."

And it's not just about keeping registration open; it's about making it easy. We've all been to events where the onsite registration process is a chaotic mess of lines, clunky, time-consuming self-registration kiosks, and stressed-out staff. It doesn't have to be like this. We have the technology to make it simple: keep your online registration open right up until the end and ensure that your onsite staff are prepared and equipped to handle last-minute arrivals.

If your system allows online registration and badge printing on-site then just keep the online portal open. Let people register on their phones, in the car park, on the train, or while walking to the venue. There's no reason why someone shouldn't be able to walk in, show their confirmation, and get their badge printed in seconds.

Those last-minute registrants might be the difference between an event that feels empty and one that's buzzing with energy. So why would you want to put obstacles in their way?

Almost 10% of your attendees will be registering onsite. Let's welcome them with open arms, not closed doors.