Event Management Registration: Enhancing the Customer Experience of the Delegates
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
In conferences or congress,
the registration process and system is a very critical touch point. It is where
First Impression is established during the actual event.
Although, most of the event
organizers recognize this important fact, achieving a great customer experience
for the delegates is a different matter. Implementation is very problematic and
challenging, despite the fact that available technologies are there to ensure
that a seamless registration procedure is implemented.
The Delegate to Registration Officer Ratio
The registration becomes
challenging if you only have a few staff to man the registration versus the
number of delegates attending your event.
Let us say, you have 1,000
delegates and you only have 10 staff to man your registration lanes. This
becomes a demanding and a pressure pack responsibility for the registration
staff. In this scenario, 1 registration staff handles 100 delegates.
Since, the surge of delegate
registration takes place one hour before the event, bottlenecks, long lines and
queuing time or waiting time are expected consequences of this scenario.
If this happens, you can be
sure to have frustrated and angry delegates looking to eat you alive because of
this bad experience.
The ideal at Exlinkevents is
a 50:1 ratio or 1 skilled registration staff will handle 50 delegates. This
system prevents long lines and long waiting time.
Pre-Event System
Another ideal thing to do is
to deliver early the registration kits and eliminate the registration process
on the actual event.
This means that earlier
completion of registration kits is a must and delivery system must be in place
ready to distribute the conference paraphernalia to paid delegates.
For me, this is the best
customer touch point that any event organizer can create but this will cost
more, and event organizer or event manager must be prepared to should this
cost.
Customer Experience versus Budget
All organizers will agree
about providing a better customer experience to their delegates, but only a few will
put their money where their mouth is.
I understand that
PROFITABILITY still trumps all other event concerns and objectives. However, if
you think about it for the long term, providing BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE in
your events ensure LONG TERM PROFITABILITY of your events.
So I rather pour my event
management budget in registration rather that scrimp on it.
No to Long Lines!
If you are an event manager
or have been an avid fan of event management, you will agree that one of the
emerging trends is the elimination of registration lines. Again, it is where
first impression is established on what to expect in
Technology and People Skills
Some event managers and
organizers believe that event registration technology is the be all and end all
of solving the registration dilemma. They are wrong! Technology must be
balanced with People Skills. A trained staff will implement the technology, and
besides it, delegates long for Human Connection. We are attending events like
conferences and convention to connect with humans.
The first line of human
connection is the registration staff. A smiling, enthusiastic, caring and ready
to serve registration staff melts the heart of the delegates. The image of such
registration staff sends a powerful message to the event delegates, the message
is: We Care for You! We Will Make Your Event Experience Great!
Easier Said than Done
I am writing this and the
concepts seems great for you, so let us go and make events and implement a better registration system using the principles that I have presented. Why not :)
But the truth is the
concepts are available and the actual implementation can only be achieved if
you work hard and truly care to bring the customer experience that your events
are obligated to provide to your delegates and guests.
So the key is let us work hard
and continuously improve to be BETTER THAN BEFORE in the exciting world of
event management and in the challenging area of Registration
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