Registration is the cornerstone of a successful event. It’s during the registration process that you’ll convince your audience to attend your event, receive their contact information for marketing and important messages, and learn more about your attendees. Because your registration process determines the tone for the entire experience, fine-tuning your registration process to best meet your guests’ preferences can make or break your event.
One guest preference that you might not have considered is the option for group registration. Group registration has several advantages for both you and your attendees—the shared enthusiasm for your event encourages more registrants and creates more excitement.
However, not every registration system is prepared to handle group registration. As most event managers know, some high-powered event registration solutions are more than capable of managing different registration options, attendance tracking, and more, while others simply aren’t up to the task.
With our tips, you can learn all about the advantages of group registration, how to find an optimal system, and how to leverage that system to optimize your event planning, boost engagement, and create a seamless experience for both organizers and attendees.
Benefits of Group Registration
Easier for Your Site and Your Registrants
Group registration can help things go more smoothly both before and during a large-scale event. With individual registrations, each guest registers separately, using individual forms of payment and potentially straining your site.
However, when you offer group registration, a team leader or company representative can be the point of contact for the entire group. This person can use one form of payment for everyone and register all group members at once.
Maximizes Financial Advantages
You can offer special pricing structures such as bulk discounts or tiered pricing for groups. Organizations are much more likely to commit to sending large groups of employees when bulk discounts are available. It also encourages more members of companies and organizations to register together; the social influence of a few people registering together makes others want to join in on the excitement.
Group discounts benefit you, too. More registrants equates to higher revenue, and group discounts help ensure a steady influx of attendees. It also simplifies your planning for venue capacity, catering, seating, and more attendance-based factors.
Expands Your Audience
You can even leverage your group discounts by offering referral incentives. Companies that regularly attend industry conferences will be more inclined to bring additional team members if they receive exclusive discounts or perks through group registration. By encouraging organizations to register in groups, you can expand your event’s reach and tap into new audiences.
Lessens Stress with Shared Schedules
Group registration is especially beneficial for companies sending employees to professional development conferences. Employees can feel assured that their access to sessions is guaranteed and everything is handled by the designated leader. These lower stress levels allow them to fully focus on networking, attending key sessions, and engaging with industry leaders.
Additionally, group registration allows for shared itineraries and session scheduling. This ensures that team members can strategically attend different sessions and share key takeaways with each other.
Helps You Meet Goals
Many of the benefits of group registration seem to solely help your audience. On the surface, these benefits don’t offer any advantages for you as the event manager.
However, keep in mind that anything that benefits your guests also benefits you. One of your most important goals for every event, regardless of the event type, should be to give your guests the best experience possible. When you offer group registration and discounts, you’re enhancing the attendee experience. This not only encourages more positive reviews and helps you gain traction for future events, but it also inspires attendees to come back again and again.
How to Choose the Right Conference Registration Software
There are several benefits of offering your registrants group registration options, but they won’t make much difference without high-powered conference registration software. The right system will allow you to offer several additional benefits for your guests and simplify every behind-the-scenes aspect for you and your team.
Here are a few aspects to look for when choosing the right program for your needs.
1. Offers Customizable Registration Forms
Group registration is completely different from individual registration. You need to learn as much as you can about your registrants for both planning purposes and post-event analytics.
Because group registration is so different, you shouldn’t use the same registration form for individuals and groups. Instead, look for a system that will allow customizable registration forms. That way, group leaders can input their registrants’ details without needing to fill out repetitive information for each individual.
2. Automates Confirmations and Ticket Distributions
There’s no panic quite like when every member of a group receives their ticket except one. While the other members feel secure about their attendance, the one without a ticket is left frantically checking their spam folder and Googling the event’s customer service number to ensure they have a spot at the event.
Don’t let your event be the culprit for these kinds of mishaps. Make sure your system automatically sends a confirmation notice and ticket distribution to either the group leader or each individual. Every member of the group should receive theirs so no one feels confused or anxious.
3. Offers Bulk Payments and Tracking
Companies and organizations often need detailed records for budgeting and reimbursement purposes. You can support them in this by offering options for single bulk payments instead of requiring individual transactions for each attendee. This makes it easier for both registrants and you to keep track of payments.
4. Provides Flexible Payment Options
Bulk ticketing is certainly more convenient for organizations, but it can be tough for some to pay the entire price all at once. A system that offers installment plans and different payment options makes it much easier for businesses to commit to attending your event without financial constraints. When you make the choice easier for companies, you’ll increase your registration rates.
5. Allows Attendee Substitutions
Despite everyone’s best intentions, there will always be guests who register but unfortunately can’t make it to your event. This is inconvenient at best, but for companies who have registered their employees as a group, it can become a logistical and financial nightmare.
That’s why you should look for a registration program that allows organizations to substitute one registrant for a new one. With this feature, group leaders can easily transfer registration to another team member, eliminating manual adjustments, additional charges, or lost money on an unused ticket. Organizations can then maximize their investment in your event, while you can maintain accurate attendance records on your end.
6. Features High-Powered Attendance Tracking
When a group from one organization registers, they generally plan to divide and conquer—some members attend one session while others attend another. This allows them to gather notes from several sessions at once and share what they’ve learned to better the whole business.
While most software programs allow you to track attendance rates at your event’s initial check-in, not as many allow you to track attendance in each session. Fewer still track each session’s drop-off rate or the amount of people who don’t stay for the entire session. When it comes to large-scale events, the ability to track session attendance and drop-off rates is crucial for post-event analysis.
Because of this, you should look for event attendance tracking software that’s powerful enough to track each of these factors. Having so many people at your event is an incredible opportunity to gain insights into guest behavior and find out more about their preferences. Make sure you take advantage of the opportunity with the right software.
The Future of Group Registration
Group registration is no longer just a convenience—it’s a necessity for large-scale events. With the right registration system, event organizers can streamline registration management, boost participation, and create a seamless experience for both businesses and individuals. Companies benefit from a simplified registration process, while event managers see increased attendance and better reporting.
As the event industry continues to evolve, group registration will remain a key part of successful event planning. Adopting the latest technologies and optimizing your registration workflows can help your events attract more guests, run more smoothly, and deliver maximum value for everyone.