(New) How to Configure Event Registration and Self-Check-In

We have simplified how attendee information is collected ahead of your event and added a new option for attendees to check themselves in, designed to make event day even smoother for your donors.

You can also now set a deadline for when ticket purchasers can reassign their guests and which contact information is collected, giving you more control to tailor registration to your event.

Overview of the Event Registration Experience

1. Purchasers buy tickets through Trellis.
2. After their purchase, they are prompted to assign tickets to guests by adding their names and emails.
3. Once assigned, guests receive an email to complete their registration.
4. Guests are asked to add their contact information and save a payment method.
5. If guest details are complete and Self-Check-In is open, guests can also mark themselves as attending.

To learn more about what your donors will experience, see  How to Assign Event Tickets to Your Guests and Check Them In.

How to Set an Assignment Deadline

The assignment deadline allows you to control when ticket purchasers can reassign their tickets and custom fields to their guests. That way, you can prevent last minute changes to attendees after a certain date and time.

1. From your fundraiser's Builder, navigate to Event Tickets > Edit Event Settings.

2. Under Attendee Settings, toggle on Enable Deadline.

3. Set an Assignment End Date and Assignment End Time.

4. After this deadline, purchasers can't assign tickets and attendees can't edit their custom field responses.

How to Configure Required Attendee Contact Information

You can control what contact information is gathered and required from all attendees during the event registration and self-check-in flow.

1. From the Event Settings > Attendee Settings, go to Attendee Contact Info
2. Set Mailing Address and Company to Required, Optional, or Not Asked.
3. These fields appear on Step 2 in the Event Registration flow, and can be edited at any time.

How to Enable Self-Check-In

Self-Check-In allows attendees to check themselves in and indicate that they are attending the event, once they have completed their registration and all required fields.

1. From the Event Settings > Attendee Settings, toggle on Enable Self-Check-In
2. Set a Check In Open Date and Check In Open Time to control when attendees can check themselves in.
   1. Note: this date and time cannot be before the Assignment Deadline.
3. After this date and time, attendees will be able to check in as part of the registration flow.

How to Configure Check-In Behaviour

1. From the Event Settings > Attendee Settings, you have two options:
   1. Toggle on Send Login Link if you want checked-in attendees to be emailed and texted a login link with their table and paddle number. 
      1. This applies to both Self-Check-In and checking in with a volunteer at the event.
   2. Toggle on Ask for Credit Card if you want volunteers to be prompted to ask for credit card in the Check-In Tool. This does not apply to Self-Check-In.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from how purchasers assign tickets previously?

Purchasers could always assign tickets to guests from their account, which allowed guests to manage their own registration and custom fields themselves. However, the attendees were required to visit multiple pages in order to edit their custom fields, add their contact information, and save a credit card. This was clunky and difficult, so attendees were unlikely to do it.

Now all required information is gathered in one simple and streamlined flow, so you can direct your attendees to one place on Trellis that will gather everything you need for the event.

What is the recommended setup for galas and major fundraising events?

We recommend setting your Assignment Deadline to 2-3 days before your event, so that you can prevent changes to attendees and custom fields like meal choices after you have already sent off requirements to caterers and printed paddles, nametags and table numbers.

We recommend setting your Self-Check-In date to the morning of your event.

Finally, we recommend making Mailing Address mandatory, so that you have it available for tax receipting. 

Can we configure if email or phone number is collected?

No, these are always collected as they are critical to offering the best attendee experience on Trellis.

Can I turn off Event Registration completely?

No. Event Registration is always available to purchasers and guests. What you can control is until when tickets can be assigned and whether guests can check themselves in, using the Assignment Deadline and Self-Check-In settings.

Can I still make changes after the assignment deadline has passed?

Yes, but the purchaser cannot. Once the deadline passes, use the Check-In Tool to reassign tickets or update attendee details on their behalf. See How to Reassign Tickets in the Check-In Tool for steps.

Can the purchaser assign their tickets during checkout?

No, all ticket assignment now happens after checkout. This is for a few reasons:

1. Purchasers are more likely to complete their checkout if they are only asked for essential information relevant to that purchase.
2. Purchasers often don't know their guests' contact info at time of purchase. This often led to purchasers entering in incorrect contact info for their guests, in order to complete the checkout. That incorrect info then gets saved to the guests' account, causing downstream effects at the event. Purchasers are less likely to do this if they can assign tickets when it is convenient for them.