🧑‍🤝‍🧑How to Track Your Event Attendance for Free

Planning an event doesn't always require expensive tools - sometimes simplicity and resourcefulness work wonders. Part of that event planning is driving sign ups and tracking your event turnout rate, something you can easily set up without breaking the bank. Let's explore our top 5 suggestions to help with your event registration!

1. Google Forms and QR Codes:

Create your own Google Form to get RSVPs, and facilitate attendance taking during the event itself. You could link QR codes to provide your participants with easy access and prevent a bottleneck at the registration booth.

• Pros: It's simple to set up, customisable, easy to distribute, and Google will extract the data into a neat Google Sheets for you. You can also add relevant questions such as dietary restrictions, shirt sizes and more, all catered to your event needs.

• Cons: The form can be easily accessed by anyone, even those outside of your community.

2. Basic Spreadsheet:

You can also use a basic spreadsheet and manually check off attendees as they arrive. This would be ideal for smaller events or if you want to set up a registration booth at your event entrance, which can help facilitate collection of event items in an orderly manner.

• Pros: It's functional, simple to create, and you will be able to ensure that each person is accounted for at the registration booth. It also helps that the digital file allows you to quickly search for any participant's details without scanning the entire document.

• Cons: It could take up time to register all attendees, and may cause a bottleneck at the event entrance.

3. Paper Sign-in Sheets:

Here's another classic method - use paper sign-in sheets at the entrance, a simple, straightforward method perfect for smaller, more intimate gatherings.

• Pros: It's fuss-free and it requires minimal set-up, you could download a template off the internet and print it out. It would be good for events where you don't have anyone at the entrance to facilitate the attendance taking - people can sign themselves in.

• Cons: If you have too many attendees, it would become time-consuming and would also require more logistics like additional paper and writing materials. It would also be hard to track active participants or any other analytics.

4. Chat Group / Social Media Polls:

Group chat polls can be a simple way to gauge interest and get a projected headcount for your event. You could even take the polls to your social media pages like Instagram, Twitter etc., and engage your audience there.

• Pros: It requires little set up and you can immediately see everyone's availability. It is good for small, regular meet-up sessions since it's hassle free and does not require any logistics.

• Cons: There is little room to fully customise and include more questions. Your participants can also retract their vote at anytime, which might affect the actual turnout rate.

5. Onboard:

When all else fails, Onboard's your community hub! Track event RSVPs within the platform and find your most active members. Use the #PARTICIPATE quest to get your event signups and manage your guest list as a Community Admin.

• Pros: Encourage your members to attend with XP rewards to climb the leaderboard. Create a convenient way for your members as they have everything they need on one platform.

• Cons: You might lack robust event analytics or the ability to customise the RSVP.

All these tools are great methods on their own, but don't forget that you can use them in tandem too! Try out different methods and find the best ones for your event. We're sure your event will be a success with all these tools at your disposal! ✨