20bis - Set-up a registration page with the new Registration module

This article explains how to use the new Registration page module. Please be aware that the "legacy" public registration page set-up can still be used for your events, but will be deprecated as part of a future release/communication.

While preparing your event, you may already know who will be attending, in which case you would simply add the attendee details to the Users list in Backstage and send out event invitations to your attendees from there.

However, for cases where you don't know who may be attending, who may be interested, or if you simply want to open your event to as wide an audience as possible, you can set up a public registration page.

With a public registration page you can simultaneously advertize your event, sign-up attendees, and collect information prior to providing access to the event.

You can also control who of your registered attendees can join your event, and when, by adding a manual approval step to the registration process.

Registration pages are fully customizable and very easy to create in Backstage. They are also very easy to use by attendees to sign-up for your event or webinar, as described in the attendee registration journey below.

The registration page is available only on the web (as a URL), it does not have an equivalent within the mobile app. Only one registration page can be created per event.

The Registration module is free and can be used for SpotMe Anywhere and for SpotMe Express (built-in).

Attendee registration journey

The registration page is in fact made up of two pages that attendees will need to visit and complete as part of their registration process:

1. Attendees register for event using their email address
   The "Register now" page is the publicly accessible page where you will add the event details. It contains the Register now field where attendees will sign-up by adding their email address.
   
2. Attendees complete their profile information
   The "Compete your profile" page is accessed by attendees after adding their email to the "Register now" page. It contains a form with configurable fields, and is used to collect information from the attendees in order to create their profile page in Backstage. Once the attendee has filled in the necessary fields, they can click on the Complete registration button.
      
   
3. Registration confirmed
   Default set-up: no manual approval step is configured:
   After filling in the "Compete your profile" form, attendees receive a confirmation email containing a button that they need to click in order to access the event.
   
   
   If manual approval is configured
   With manual approval added to the registration page, attendees will only be able to access the event once their registration has been approved in Backstage.
   After filling in the "Compete your profile" form, attendees receive a confirmation email saying that their registration has been received and is pending approval. This email does not contain a button to access the event.
   Once the registration is approved in Backstage, the attendee receives a final confirmation email that includes a button to access the event.

Note: Both registration pages and the confirmation emails contain Add to calendar buttons, that attendees can use to add the event to their Google calendar or download an ICS file.

Full registration workflow

Below you can see how the registration works, with and without a manual approval step. This includes what emails are received by attendees and how they are added to the Users lists in Backstage:

Creating the registration page

Once you have created your workspace and installed the Registration module, you can create your registration page.

In the workspace main menu, go to Content > Registration. Here the Registration module has three tabs that are used to create the registration page:

• Event details: To create the "Register now" page.
• Form fields: To create the "Complete your profile" page.
• Design: To add a banner and theme colors to the two pages.

1 - Add the event details ("Register now" page information)

In the Event details tab, you can:

1. Personalize the URL extension for the registration page:
   The resulting URL for the registration page is displayed here.
   
   
2. Add the registration page description text:
   In the Description section you can enter or paste the description text for your event.
   Use the toolbar to add three levels of text headers, choose your text alignment, adjust text formatting (bold, italic, underlined, strikethrough), use bullet lists and numbered lists, add indentations, use quotation formatting, or add hyperlinks.
   Text colors and images/emoticons cannot be directly added using the toolbar, however you can copy and paste text colors and images into the Description field from external sources.
   There is no limit to the amount of text that can be added here.
   
   
3. Preview your registration page:
   As you add items to your registration page, remember to preview the page to verify how it looks, using the Preview page button.
   

2 - Add the form fields (for the "Complete your profile" page)

In the Form fields tab, you can add and reorder the form fields that you want the attendees to complete when they register for the event.

The Email address, First name, and Last name fields are mandatory and will appear there by default.

To add more fields to the form, click on the Add a field button, and select the field to be added in the dropdown list.

The fields that are available come directly from the user (participant profile) metadata in the workspace. You can therefore create new user metadata in the metadata manager, which you will be able to select as custom fields to be used in your registration forms.

The fields (or metadata) in the registration page can support the following data types: drop down, open text, number, password, email, radio button, country list, or boolean (checkboxes). Multiple choice fields are currently not supported.

Once you have added the fields, you can rearrange them using the ≡ button next to each field.

You can make the fields mandatory for attendees to fill in, using the Mandatory checkbox.

Below you can see a preview of how a registration form can look to attendees signing up:

3 - Add the registration page design (banner and button colors)

In the Design tab, you can customize how the event registration pages will look, by adding a banner and some theme colors that will be used in the buttons.

Here you can:

• Choose a button background color for the registration pages.
• Choose a button font color for the registration pages.
• Upload a banner that will be visible on both registration pages.
  (File types: PNG, JPEG. Max file size 10MB. Recommended resolution 2048 x 492 px).
• See an immediate preview of how the registration page will look.

Add a manual approval step to the registration process

To add a manual approval step to your public registration page, in the workspace main menu go to Content > Registration, then click on Settings.

Here you can enable the Manually approve registrations option, and click on Save:

With this option enabled, attendees who register for your event will need to be approved manually in Backstage, before they can gain access to the event.

To approve the pending registrations, in the workspace main menu go to Content > Users, and click on the Pending registration requests tab:

The list of pending registrations will appear here, where you can select one or more (or all) requests and approve them. Once the registration requests are approved, the attendees are removed from the Pending registration requests tab, and added to the main users list.

You can also export the list of pending approval lists, or upload users here.

More information on how this works is also available in the Full registration workflow section.

Publish or share the registration page

Once you have finished creating the registration page and you are ready to start signing up attendees for your event, you can start sharing or advertizing the link to the registration page.

To do so, in the registration page in Backstage, you can copy the registration page URL by clicking on the Copy link button, and share it online.

How can I track my event registrations?

As attendees fully register for your event, you will see them appear in the Content > Users list in the workspace.

If you have configured a manual approval step for registrations, users will be added to the Content > Users > Pending registration requests list until their registrations have been approved.

More information on this is available in the flow chart in the Full registration workflow section.

Tips

Want users to be able to fully register but not have immediate access to the event?

Add a manual approval step to the registration process, so that attendees can register but only gain access to the event once you have approved their registration requests.

Want to send reminder emails to attendees that have registered but not accessed the event?

If you wish to send emails to attendees who have registered but have not yet accessed the event via the Verify my email address button in the received confirmation email:

1. In the workspace main menu, go to Content > Users.
2. Click on the Send email button.
3. Select the email template you want to use as the reminder.
4. Select To inactive users as the target.

FAQ

How can I get the new registration page module?

You can install the Registration page module from the Marketplace, or if you already have the legacy module installed, in Backstage go to Marketplace > Installed modules > Libraries, and update the "emailing" library in your workspace.

Can I use both the legacy and the new version of registration on the same event?

No, a workspace can use only one version of registration at a time.

Can I upgrade an existing workspace that has the legacy registration so that it uses the new registration module?

While it is technically possible, we recommend that you do this only if you have not already shared or advertized the registration link generated by the "legacy registration".

The new registration page will generate a different URL, and using two versions at the same time would create an inconsistent experience for attendees.

What if a feature that was present in the legacy version is now missing in the new registration?

You can choose to continue to use the legacy version if it better suits your needs. However please inform us of any features that are missing for you in the new Registration page module so we can continue to prioritize adding any necessary features.

How can I update my workspace templates to use the new version of the registration page?

If your template has the legacy version of the registration page configured, then Backstage will continue to use that version when creating a workspace.

To update the module in your workspace template, go to Marketplace > Installed modules > Libraries, and update the "emailing" library.

Are the new registration page settings stored in a workspace template?

The design and form settings are currently not stored in a template.

Is the new registration page also available for SpotMe Express?

Yes, the new registration page is also available for SpotMe Express. When using Express, there is no option to choose the legacy version, the new version of registration is directly available.

Can we add images into the description (event details) of the new registration page?

This cannot be done using the toolbar, however you can copy and paste images from external sources. Please make sure that you carefully preview the page when doing this to ensure everything looks as it should.

What are the differences in features between the legacy registration page and the new registration page module (at present version)?

	Legacy registration	New registration
Set-up	Done by SpotMe support	Done by any Backstage user
Fields	Unlimited text, number, password, email, radio button, date, country.	Unlimited text, number, password, email, radio button, country, boolean (checkbox)
Can edit confirmation email
Can define allowed email domains		Coming soon
Approve individual registrations
Access code
Skip email verification
Landing page with custom banner, event description and event info.		(featured sessions, speakers, and sponsors coming soon)

Can I edit the confirmation email received by attendees when they register?

Yes. The email template to be modified is: 👉 Your access to {{_event_name}}
Accessible via the workspace > Design > Emails.

Can I edit the pending registration request email received by attendees when they register, when manual approval is configured?

Yes. The email template to be modified is: ✅ Your registration to {{_event_name}}
Accessible via the workspace > Design > Emails.

What happens if an attendee registers twice?

If an attendee registers twice for the event, the existing/first registered profile will just be updated (if applicable). A second profile will not be created for the attendee.

Can attendee registration be moderated with an approval step?

Yes, please refer to the Add a manual approval step to the registration process section for more information.