Improving the Event Registration Experience
When will this update take place?
January 2, 2025
Are these the only planned updates, or will there be more?
Yes, some more improvements to the Events module will continue to be added in future releases in Q1.
Will I need to do anything for this update?
The new features will automatically appear in your event screens in MC Trade for all users. If you have not already done so, you will need to upgrade to the new member portal to take advantage of these new features in your public registration pages. Or, if you are ready to upgrade all web components, you can do that instead, but you do not have to upgrade everything.
Will this only affect events that are created after the update?
No, any event. If you register for an event - whether it is an event that you created before or after the update, it will have the new look.
Is this going to change the process for my staff (i.e., creating or managing events)?
No, although there will be some new options in the event configuration, including a new grid view for them to enjoy. Creating and managing events is the same process.
Is this going to completely change the process of registering online?
No, the steps will be the same, but it has a new look, with some new things to simplify or amplify the process. For example, there will be validation that stops the user from moving on when a required field is missed, improved controls for better usability, and more intuitive logic when creating attendees across multiple event items.
What is a very noticeable improvement to the controls?
On the second screen, where you select an event item, there is now a large + button next to each event item instead of a quantity of 0. If you press it then you will see the quantity with large + and - buttons to adjust it. This change simplifies the screen while amplifying the buttons to improve the user experience.
Online Registration is Getting a Facelift
How different is the online registration going to look?
Everything will look familiar. The screens are presenting the same information, but they are just laid out a little differently and look cleaner and more modern. It has also been optimized for mobile. The flow in your browser will be horizontal and there are some new things that will improve the process.
Are the tabs changing and will there be any new tabs?
The tabs will appear along the top and they are the same tabs as before. Payment Info is now labeled Payment, but aside from that, the tabs are the same.
What new things will appear?
Short descriptions may be added to the event items to offer more detail.
Also, when a user is not logged in and registers for an event item that has member pricing, it will show the user how much money would be saved if they were a member and logged in.
As before, there is a custom login prompt that appears at the top if the login has not been hidden in the event registration settings. With this enhancement, the login prompt is more visible.
Explain the new logic for more intuitively creating attendees across multiple items.
In the current process, if you choose a quantity of 1 for event item A and a quantity of 1 for event item B, two attendees are created by default. With the new logic, MC Trade would create one attendee because it assumes that it is the same person registering for both items. This is the most common use case.
However, if it is not the same person, you will have the option to Add an Attendee.
We are simply changing the default behavior to clarify the user experience for most situations.
Improvements to Confirmation
How has the confirmation page/email been improved?
After registering, the confirmation page has been split into two pages to offer a cleaner confirmation - a summary of the registration with invoice information and a summary of the attendee information.
The summary of attendees is not appearing. Where did it go?
If you are using a custom template then you need to add the dynamic field [[ATTENDEELIST]] to the body of your template. If you are using the default template then it will appear without any action.
Event Reminders
Is this going to send automatic reminders to my attendees?
If you configure it to do that, yes, it can.
How will I configure it? Is this just a general reminder or can I type what I want it to say?
When you open an event in MC Trade, there will be a new tab called Event Notifications. You will type out what you want it to say because this new feature allows you to add one or more emails and schedule each to go out x days before the event.
As an example, you may want a reminder to go out 7 days before the event, and another reminder to go out 1 day before the event with some preparation instructions ("Be sure to bring").
The new tab will also include some existing settings that will have been moved over: the confirmation email settings and email notifications.
Can I schedule emails to go out after the event?
Yes, you can schedule emails to go out x days after (-1 day, for example) because maybe you want to thank them for attending and send them some follow up information.
Can these reminders be configured to only go out under certain conditions?
No, all attendees will get this reminder x days before/after the event start date unless their profile is set to Do Not Email. We may expand on this down the road to give you more options, but in the beginning, we are introducing a very simple function.
New All Day and Multi-Day Event Settings
Where will the All Day setting appear and what does it do?
When you create an event, or when you edit an event (General Settings tab), there will be an option for All Day. If this is checked then there will not be a start and end time.
Where will the Multi-Day setting appear and what does it do?
When you create an event, or when you edit an event (General Settings tab), there will be an option to "Set hours of each day separately." This will appear if your start date and stop date are different (a multi-day event). This creates flexible scheduling of start and end times for each day.
Duplicate Registration Check
How will it determine duplicate attendees?
After the registrant clicks Submit Registration, it will check the attendees of other registrations (for the same event) and look for an attendee with the same first name, last name, and email address, or with the same first name, last name, and organization.
If it finds a duplicate, is it going to stop the registrant from registering?
No, it will warn them that there may be a possible duplicate. However, the registrant will still be able to proceed, or cancel and remove that attendee.
Member Portal Attendee Edits and Cancellations
Is this going to appear in the member portal or is it an option?
It is an option that you can enable in the Registration Settings to "Allow editing of attendees in portal."
What will they be able to edit in their member portal?
The attendee's name, email address, name for their badge, address, and phone number. If you added any custom fields that do NOT have a cost associated with them, those will also be editable.
Where will the Edit option appear?
In the My Events section of the portal, next to each registration, you will see an Edit Registration button.
Will it let them cancel the entire registration from the member portal?
Yes, if you enable the option to "Allow cancellation in portal" (Registration Settings).
Where will the Cancel option appear?
In the My Events section of the portal, next to each registration, you will see a Cancel button.
Registration List View
Will this replace the current view when viewing registrations?
No, this will be another option. When you open an event in MC Trade and go to the Registrations tab, you will see two options in the upper right corner: one for the default view (card view) and another for the new grid view.
What will the grid show me?
The signup date, profile ID, organization, name, email, attendee count, registered event items (with the quantity in parenthesis), the invoice total, and the invoice amount due.
If you hover over the attendee count, you will see a list of attendees.
You will also have an Actions button with more options: Edit (to edit the registration), Edit Invoice, View Invoice, Print, and Delete.