5 Ways to Speed Up Your Registration Desk
There has always been a rush at the registration desk in an event. It is almost like you are filming Fast & Furious 8. You need to be prepared, well-organized and at your best behavior in order to be successful at the registration desk. Because whatever you do there, your main job will be tending people.
You will be dealing with a lot of different types of people, mostly academic professionals such as professors, doctors, students and etc. But it doesn't mean your job will be easy. Imagine that you are organizing a crowded event, let's say for 1000 people and you have 5 colleagues at the registration desk. What would you do? How would you speed things up?
There are certain little things you need to be careful about.
1.Pre-Event Preparations
Both organizers and participants needs to make some pre-event preparations in order to speed up the registration desk, as well as to provide a flawless event. We can divide here into two parts:
For Organizers: The organization (this is you) needs to go to the event venue and get prepared at least one day before the event starts. For example, you need to hang the roll-ups, place the directory boards and signs, prepare the registration desk with possibly needed materials such as stationery equipment (computers, pens, papers, pre-printed lists, sticker stuff and etc.) and participant kits (you need to put together the event bags if they exist, at this point).
For Participants: If participants would print out the needed documents like vouchers and badges from any event management system like MeetingHand Software, this would reduce the need for the registration desk. Of course, to be able to do that, you, as organizers, need to inform the participants and let them know what they can do by themselves.
2.Team Work
Every single person in your team needs to be working fully coherent and needs to be working with a total harmony. Also, you need to organize tasking and timing perfectly in order to prevent disastrous flaws.
3.ID Numbers
If you give ID numbers to your participants, this will definitely prevent the "Excuse me sir, what was your name again?", "Sorry sir, I could not quite catch that.", "Could you repeat your name please?" like dialogues through the registration and in other phases of your event. All process will go smoothly and understandable if your participants would have ID numbers and use those numbers with every action they run.
4.Desk Lines
At an event, especially at conferences, there will be various types of people who are coming to the registration desk for various reasons. For example, there will be some number of participants who would want to make an onsite registration or some participants who could not find their poster in the poster area, could not find where their transfer takes part or could not find where the "Hall C" is. There will be participants whom are non-troubled and simply there to make their check-in, take their participant-kit and attend the event. According to these needs and types, you can go with;
5.MeetingHand Online Event Management Software
I know this sounds a bit like an ad (which I think it actually is) but MeetingHand could really help you before and after the event, as well as it could help you during the event. MeetingHand provides you the chance to register online at wherever you are, MeetingHand also automatically gives an ID Number to every single participant with a QR Code, gives your participants the opportunity to print their own badge and other necessary documents, MeetingHand Mobile App (Yes, there is an app!) let's the participants to check-in by themselves and gain them some time while they are still on the road.
You will be dealing with a lot of different types of people, mostly academic professionals such as professors, doctors, students and etc. But it doesn't mean your job will be easy. Imagine that you are organizing a crowded event, let's say for 1000 people and you have 5 colleagues at the registration desk. What would you do? How would you speed things up?
There are certain little things you need to be careful about.
1.Pre-Event Preparations
Both organizers and participants needs to make some pre-event preparations in order to speed up the registration desk, as well as to provide a flawless event. We can divide here into two parts:
For Organizers: The organization (this is you) needs to go to the event venue and get prepared at least one day before the event starts. For example, you need to hang the roll-ups, place the directory boards and signs, prepare the registration desk with possibly needed materials such as stationery equipment (computers, pens, papers, pre-printed lists, sticker stuff and etc.) and participant kits (you need to put together the event bags if they exist, at this point).
For Participants: If participants would print out the needed documents like vouchers and badges from any event management system like MeetingHand Software, this would reduce the need for the registration desk. Of course, to be able to do that, you, as organizers, need to inform the participants and let them know what they can do by themselves.
2.Team Work
Every single person in your team needs to be working fully coherent and needs to be working with a total harmony. Also, you need to organize tasking and timing perfectly in order to prevent disastrous flaws.
3.ID Numbers
If you give ID numbers to your participants, this will definitely prevent the "Excuse me sir, what was your name again?", "Sorry sir, I could not quite catch that.", "Could you repeat your name please?" like dialogues through the registration and in other phases of your event. All process will go smoothly and understandable if your participants would have ID numbers and use those numbers with every action they run.
4.Desk Lines
At an event, especially at conferences, there will be various types of people who are coming to the registration desk for various reasons. For example, there will be some number of participants who would want to make an onsite registration or some participants who could not find their poster in the poster area, could not find where their transfer takes part or could not find where the "Hall C" is. There will be participants whom are non-troubled and simply there to make their check-in, take their participant-kit and attend the event. According to these needs and types, you can go with;
1.Onsite Registrations Line
2.Questions Line
3.Invoice and Certificate Line
If you would make a line for the most general participant types and needs, this would really lighten the burden and speed up the registration desk.5.MeetingHand Online Event Management Software
I know this sounds a bit like an ad (which I think it actually is) but MeetingHand could really help you before and after the event, as well as it could help you during the event. MeetingHand provides you the chance to register online at wherever you are, MeetingHand also automatically gives an ID Number to every single participant with a QR Code, gives your participants the opportunity to print their own badge and other necessary documents, MeetingHand Mobile App (Yes, there is an app!) let's the participants to check-in by themselves and gain them some time while they are still on the road.