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PAST NEWSLETTERS
Making Last Minute Changes To Your Registration Forms
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One of the advantages of
online registration
forms over printed paper
forms is that last
minute changes are
possible. If you have
1000 registration forms
printed and ready to
mail it’s pretty hard to
adjust an early bird
date or change the name
of a break out session.
We aren’t saying that
you should be changing
these details at the
last minute, but we do
understand that details
can change at the last
minute for one reason or
the other.
Before you login to your
system and start making
changes, you need to
consider the impact that
the changes may have on
the rest of the system.
For example, changing a
field such as “Member
Status” can have a
domino effect if the
rest of your
registration form uses
the response to that
question to determine
the registration pricing
and other available
options on the form.
To help prevent minor
and catastrophic
problems from happening,
follow these guidelines:
Double check your
changes
Even the simplest
changes can have an
unexpected impact,
especially when you are
rushed. To reduce these
surprises, do a visual
check after every
change.
For example, if you
change your confirmation
email, submit a test
registration or use the
send a test email
feature to ensure that
the email will look
exactly as you want it
to when it’s delivered.
Similarly, if you are
updating text on your
registration from, be
sure to check the
changes in your browser.
Changing the length of
text can cause
unexpected wrapping,
making a sentence that
was perfectly aligned
look out of place.
Submit a Test
Registration When
Changing Functionality
If you get into changing
something on your form
that involves
functionality such as
price calculations,
logic that enables or
disables options or
other dynamic features,
do a full test to ensure
your changes didn’t
break other options on
the form. You don’t want
registrants calling you
to complain that an
option they want isn’t
available, especially
since most people won’t
take the time to call
but will just abandon
the form.
Consider the Impact
on Reporting
When initially choosing
the fields to add to
your form, some
consideration was given
to how the collected
data would be used in
the reporting. Changing
a field may prevent you
from using the data in
the intended way or
break reports that are
already set up.
Consider the Impact
on Registrations Already
in the Database
The most difficult
changes to make are
changes to fields on the
form after people have
already registered for
the event. For example,
if you change the topic
of a break out session
and people have already
registered for that
session, you will need
to contact those people
to see if they want to
make a different
selection. Similarly, if
a few weeks into the
registration, you decide
that you need to collect
member number, it’s easy
to add the field to the
form, but some people
will have registered
without the option to
enter their member
number.
When you are using a
full service system such
as ePly, there will
always be someone to
advise you on the best
way to make changes and
advise on what needs to
be done to guarantee
problems aren’t
inadvertently created.
If you are using a self
serve system, go slowly
and be sure to take
extra time to re-test
after making changes.
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Please feel free to
contact us if you
have any questions or comments about this article.
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