Configuration of the Participant Registration Module

It is helpful to understand that participant registration consists of three main elements: First, everyone has to enter personal details and create a user account. After this step, you as the organizer will already hold all user details, even if the person cannot or does not want to complete the registration at this time. So you can contact these persons later, to remind them to proceed with their registration.

The second part is the actual participant registration. Here, the persons are asked all details about their attendance: These include, inter alia, the status of the participant (e.g. student, professional, member), registration for different events and sessions, special dietary requirements, accompanying persons, social gatherings, and finally payment methods.

Finally, in the third step, participants pay their registration fees.

1. Checking the User Registration Configuration

User registration is the first step of the registration process. Here, the person should be asked for all relevant personal details. This page has several mandatory fields such as name, address and e-mail and several optional fields such as phone number and home page URL. Many of these fields can be changed by the organizers and additional fields or selections can be added.

Please check which data you receive during the user registration process before you begin with the set-up of the participant registration and test if this data meets your requirements.

To change these options go to
Overview => Settings => Settings for User Registration and User Options

Please note that it is advisable to ask for personal details only during this step. Please do not ask for details regarding the participation at the event, like dietary requirements for an evening event, preferred workshops or hotel options, as processing and filtering these details is not as convenient as if you use the event and item selection of the participant registration form.

2.1 Main Settings for Participant Registration

Please go to main settings for participant registration (see image 8):
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Participant Registration

First, in the section “Registration for Conference Participation”, define the phase in which participants can register.

In ConfTool Pro it is also possible to enable editing and deleting registration data by participants themselves (contact us to enable this function). However, we usually do not recommend using these options, as registration should be binding and organizers should therefore confirm changes and cancellations and carry them out for their participants. Organizers can always edit and cancel registrations for participants. Thus, you can keep changes in registration under better control and inform participants about their responsibilities for editing or canceling certain options or paying outstanding payments.

The next group of options, in the section “Participant Registration Options”, includes the question for a registration code, a membership number or student ID. Enable this option "Ask for a member number/ student ID / special registration code?" if you want to give one or more participant groups special codes for registration, allowing them to pay a reduced fee or offering certain events or sessions only to them. You can also allow your participants to enter a reference ID, which will be printed on their invoices, e.g. if you need the VAT number of your participants who are not from the European Union.

The “Conference Currency” must be defined before the first person registers for participation. The "Currency code" is the internationally standardized three digit code, as defined by the International Standardization Organization (e.g. EUR, USD, AUD, GBP, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217 ). The "currency sign (symbol)" is a commonly used symbol, like $, € or ¥. We recommend using an internationally recognized currency sign, such as AU$ for Australian Dollar.

Please note that it is also possible to define extra currency exchange rates for specific countries in the "Expert Settings". This is useful if you have for instance bank accounts in different countries with different currencies. In this way, you can save substantial bank costs for money transfers.

In the section “Invoices and Taxes” define for the option "Invoices with VAT/GST?" whether prices are tax-free, if they already include VAT, or if VAT is added to your prices. With the option "Show Registration Confirmations / Invoices to Participants?" you can allow participants to download and print their invoices after registration. Alternatively, you can bulk print the invoices and send them or hand them out to the participants at the conference: 
Overview => User and Participant Management => Bulk Printing of Transactions (Invoices)

When you enable the option “Issue Pro Forma Invoices First?”, invoices will be preliminary and without invoice number until the payment has been recorded in ConfTool Pro, or the registration was confirmed by an organizer. It is advisable to use this option if you expect many fake registrations (for instance to gain a visa invitation for your country) or if you want the list of invoices to be ordered by the time of payment. Here you can find more detailed information about the difference between "Registration Confirmations", "Pro Forma Invoices" and "Invoices".

In the following section "Registration Confirmation and Invoice in PDF Format" you can specify whether you want to provide your participants with the registration confirmations / invoices as PDF files and not as HTML files. Participants will then receive their registration confirmations / invoices in PDF format only, while you as the organizer will still have access to the invoices in HTML / Word format in the backend. In the next step, you can select a suitable font and size for the registration confirmations / invoices in PDF format and set a password for editing the PDF files.

You can define information that should appear on invoices and receipts in the section "Issuer Data of Registration Confirmations, Invoices and Receipts". This includes, for example, the sender address, the VAT number of the invoice issuer or other legal clauses for invoices.

In the section "Rules for the Creation of Consecutive Invoice Numbers" you can customize the invoice numbers according to your accounting requirements by adding a prefix and specifying the number of digits and the first invoice number.

In the next section “Payment Receipts”, with the option "Show Receipt to Participant?" you can enable the access by participants to their receipt. Alternatively, you can bulk print all receipts later in one go and send them per mail or hand them out at the conference registration desk: 
Overview => User and Participant Management=>Bulk Printing of Payment Receipts

In the last section "Show Summary of Bookings and Links to External Resources", you can enable the option "Show Page ‘Summary of Your Selected Options’". Your participants will then be able to access a page with their personal booking summary. This page can also show additional information regarding the conference time zone. That can be useful for online / virtual events, but is usually not helpful for regular on-site events. Furthermore, the booking summary page can include links / URLs to external resources, which may be automatically converted into fancy clickable buttons by the ConfTool system.

2.3 Manage Payment Options

The supported payment options are set on this page:
Overview => Settings => Manage Payment Options

You can offer several different payment options to your participants, such as bank transfer, PayPal or credit card (via Stripe). ConfTool Pro can also be connected to one of over 45 online credit card payment systems (an extra fee applies for the installation of such a module).

Please note that ConfTool GmbH does not provide any financial services. We are not involved in the payment process and we do not act as an intermediary, either. Therefore, if you want to accept credit card payments, you will have to open a bank account for your event and obtain a merchant account with an acquirer or use PayPal or Stripe.

You can enable and disable the different payment options at any time. You can also activate them for admin users only, in case you want certain methods to be available in the back end only. If your participants have to pay a fee, you will obviously have to provide at least one payment method (see image 11).

• Payment by cash (at the conference registration desk): Remember to have sufficient change (small notes and coins) at the registration desk, if you want participants to pay locally. Please note that choosing this option might produce a considerable amount of no-shows, therefore we recommend making this option available only shortly (e.g. 1-2 weeks) before the conference.
• Payment by check is still supported in several countries and might be a cheap option for national participants, but international checks are usually expensive to handle and fees of 20.00€ – 30.00€ are common.
• Payment via PayPal can be used for several payment methods and allows organizers in many countries to receive credit card payments, too. The module to link ConfTool to PayPal is included in ConfTool Pro. Please note that you will have to open a PayPal business account. The account is free but the usual PayPal payment fees apply (about 1.9% - 3.9% per transaction). Please consult this page first before you decide to choose PayPal as a payment method: Configure PayPal for ConfTool Pro.
• Payment via Stripe: Stripe allows you to receive credit card payments (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) from anywhere online. Only the organizers need to create a Stripe account. Stripe does not charge any setup or monthly fees, but as usual payment fees apply (depending on your location, about 1.4% - 2.9% plus about 25c per transaction). If you expect many participants from the People's Republic of China, you can also use Stripe with ConfTool Pro to receive payments via Alipay from China. Alipay is currently the major payment platform in China. You will find further information here: Configure Stripe for ConfTool Pro.
• Payment via Skrill (formerly Moneybookers): Skrill is another online payment system which will allow you to receive credit card payments. This module is already integrated in ConfTool. Your participants will have to create a Skrill account if they do not already have one in order to be able to pay. Monthly gateway usage service fees and transaction fees apply (depending on your location, about 2.4% - 3.9% plus about 25c per transaction). You will find more information here: How to Configure Skrill (Moneybookers) for ConfTool Pro.
• Payment via Klarna Pay Now (Sofort): This internet payment method allows participants from several European countries to pay via a secure payment form in which they enter their online banking details, including a TAN. The money will be transferred to your banking account. A set-up fee and transaction fees are incurred. This module is already integrated in ConfTool. Please see Configure Pay Now / Sofort for ConfTool Pro for further information.
• Wire / Bank Transfer: This payment method is the cheapest (and safest) option in most countries and we recommend it when you expect most payments to come from within your country or from countries within the EU, if your country is part of the EU.
• Payment by Credit Card: In order to be able to receive payments for both credit card options listed below, you will need a merchant account with an acquirer / acquiring bank. We recommend reading the introduction on how credit card payments are processed first: Receiving Credit Card Payments.
  • Online Payment via a Credit Card Gateway: To automatically receive online payments without manual handling, you will also need an online payment gateway account. These are often offered together with the merchant account as a package by the same company. For ConfTool Pro we can provide modules to link the system to over 45 different credit card gateways. Please note that we charge an extra fee for the license, installation and configuration of these modules and that the gateway and acquirer accounts have to be provided by the organizers.
  • Send Fax with Payment / Credit Card Details: With this option, you don’t have to store any payment details online and you get a signed confirmation from your participants. You will have to handle the payments manually to receive money from the acquiring bank.
• Direct Debit Payment: You can let participants pay by SEPA direct debit when they come from the Single Euro Payments Area. You will require a contract with your bank, which allows you - as a financial service provider - to collect the funds from the accounts of your customers / participants, and a Creditor Identifier (CI), which you usually also receive from your bank. Participants can then issue a SEPA Direct Debit Mandate to you via the ConfTool system, which payers confirm by stating their IBAN. Please take a look at our instructions in the forum on how to activate and use direct debit payments.
• Extra Payment Options: You can define up to three additional payment options with customizable text in the expert settings. These can be used for example to put a link to a payment page or your organization or to inform participants that they will receive an invoice and further payment details by post.

When you decide to have ConfTool Pro linked to a credit card gateway or to PayPal, Stripe, Skrill or Pay Now a link to the online payment service provider will appear after registration. Here, participants enter the payment details for further processing. Payments made in these external payment systems will be automatically entered in the list of all payments in ConfTool and the invoice of the participant will be marked as paid.

For all offline payment methods you will have to mark registrations as paid manually. Participants will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail when the payment is entered.

The section "Payment Mode Update by Users" allows users to change their preferred mode of payment after having finished the registration for participation. To be able to keep track of changes, we recommend only letting the administrator change the payment mode after registration.

If you enable the "Payment Required Message" option in the last section, your participants will receive a message during the registration process saying that the "registration is not complete until the full payment is received". This can motivate participants to pay the participation fee directly after the registration. Participants are not fully registered until they have completed their payment. You can edit the corresponding message by clicking on "Wordings and Phrases".

2.4 Time Discounts, Participant Groups and VAT Rates

Proceed by setting up time discounts, participant groups and VAT rates.

"Manage Time Discounts" allows you to define time periods with different prices. You can for instance offer a reduced price when participants register before a certain date (early bird registration), a normal price for late registrations and a high price when they register on-site. You can define as many time discounts as you like, but you need at least one time period, i.e., if you do not offer an early-bird discount, just define a single rate “normal registration”. Please note that the price depends on the time of registration and not on the time of payment, as this is common practice. Should a participant not pay within the allotted time frame (normally within four weeks), issue a reminder of payment and, if necessary, adjust the fee by changing the date of the registration for participation to a date of the late registration phase.

"Manage Participant Groups" allows you to define different groups / statuses. These are useful if you want to offer different prices to different participant groups, e.g. students, professionals or members. Furthermore, this can be used to give certain groups of participants access to specific events, e.g. when you offer round tables for senior researchers exclusively or workshops for non-academic interest groups. You can define codes for each group, in order to limit access to these groups / statuses to those people holding a corresponding code or invitation.

Please note:

• It is usually advisable not to define a group for accompanying persons, as these persons should register only together with the main participant. So if you want to allow participants to bring family or friends to the dinner or other events, add these as options to “Manage Event and Items”.
• If you define only one group, the corresponding registration page will be skipped. But even if you have only one price for all participant groups or do not charge any fees at all, it might be beneficial to discriminate several participant statuses. You can use groups / statuses for statistical purposes or to provide specific options on the next page (event and item selection) of the registration process.

In the section "VAT/GST Rates" you can define the VAT / sales tax rate(s) for your conference. Please note that 0% as a VAT rate cannot be deleted, but you do not need to use it. Add more rates at your discretion. If you do not have to charge VAT/sales taxes, please disable the VAT function in the section "Main Settings for Participant Registration".

2.6 Prices

Once you have outlined all participant groups, time discount periods and price categories, you can enter the "Prices" for all available combinations. If you do not want certain combinations to be selectable by participants, enable the expert settings on the bottom of the page and untick the boxes next to the prices to choose items not to be shown on the registration page. You will find an example here: Examples on How to Configure the Participant Registration Module.

2.7 Event / Item Groups

"Event/Item Groups" have an organizing function for the options on the "Events and Items" selection page: First, they serve as headers for events or items that belong to the same group. Within each event group, you can set how many events and items may be selected or if participants may even only choose exactly one item from the group (see image 16).

It is important to understand that event groups are not to be confused with price categories and that they are not directly related to prices or price categories! You will find several examples here: Examples on How to Configure the Participant Registration Module.

3. Tests

It is very important to test all your settings for the participant registration module before going live.

For a preview of the complete form for participant registration, please call this page:
Overview => Settings => Manage Events and Items
Open the drop down menu "Related Functions" and click on "Test the registration form (view of administrative users)". A new window opens showing a preview of the participation registration form with all input fields and options. Please note that this form is a simplified version for testing purposes. In the real participation registration, users are guided through the registration process in several steps. Therefore, you should always also perform an actual test registration with a regular test user.

The first quick tests of the settings can be done from the list of users:
Overview => User and Participant Management => List of All Users
In the right-hand column “Action” click the option “Reg. Particip.” to see all options of the registration process on one page. Simply reload this page as long as you modify the settings to see the changes.

For a naturalistic test you can use the “Service Mode” of ConfTool Pro. In “Service Mode”, registration of new users is blocked and only administrative users may log-in. To enable the “Service Mode” go to:
Overview => Settings => Main Setup
... and there to the section "ConfTool Pro Service Mode". Here you can activate the "Service Mode".
Now you can enable the registration phase (see below), without the risk of users registering.

To test the settings you should use a test user account without administrative rights. You can always create user accounts here:
Overview => User and Participant Management => Create New User Account

To log-in as one of the test users, go to the list of all users:
Overview => User and Participant Management => List of All Users
In the right-hand column “Action” click on ”Login as”. Now you can test the participant registration from the point of view of normal users.

Once you have finished your tests, delete the registrations for participation and the test user accounts.

To cancel and delete the test registration for participation, go to the list of participants:
Overview => User and Participant Management => List of All Registrations for Participation
Click on “Cancel” in the right-hand column “Action”. If you select “Cancel registration and remove participant registration details from database.” as cancellation status on the second screen, the registration for participation will be removed permanently from the database.

To delete test user accounts, go to the list of all users:
Overview => User and Participant Management => List of All Users
and click on “Delete” in the right-hand column.

You can permanently remove deleted users from the database by accessing:
Overview => User and Participant Management => Purge Deleted Users

In order for users to be able to register for participation, the phase for “Registration for Conference Participation” needs to be enabled:
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Participant Registration
You can set deadlines for both user registration (“Registration of New ConfTool Accounts”) and registration for participation independently. If you disable the user registration phase during the phase for conference participation, only users with an existing ConfTool account will be able to register for your conference.

Finally, don’t forget to disable the “Service Mode” at the end of testing.