Event Registration: How to streamline the registration process for Table Hosts and their Guests through Raiser's Edge

Enidza Torres

Hey there,

I am currently in the process of planning our annual fundraiser. This fundraiser is structured so that there is a Table Host who is in charge of filling their 10-top table with guests from their networks. We have a form drafted in Raiser's Edge that will collect Table Host and Guest registration, all at once. This form, and the info entered will be used to map out our seating chart for this large scale event; about 1,000 folks.

The issue we are having is that Table Host may not know the name, contact info, or even the total amount of guests they will have at their table at the time that they need to register for the event. We also come across those who need to edit info on their guests and do not have the ability to do so on their original registration forms.

My question is, has anyone figured out a way to get Table Hosts and their Guests registered for a large scale without the need to constantly reach-out for the needed info? Are folks using spreadsheet to collect into then transferring with RE regularly? I am open to any creative solutions!

Patti Posey

@Enidza Torres

We've been dealing with the same issue for our Gala. We use luminate for the registration and then sinks down to RE and into the event module. I would then have to go in and add their guests and move them to tables. Table captains would email us their guest lists and of course their changes and I would manually make the changes. Its too much when you have these big events. So this year we are trying GiveSmart for our Gala. They have a great ticketing and seating system that we cant wait to use. Table captains are able to log in and add their guests, it will send reminders that they haven't filled their table yet. The software also does auction and paddle raise. Once the event is done, we will export all the data and I will import the information into RE.

Patti Posey - Stamford Hospital Foundation

Alex Wong

@Enidza Torres
We have Luminate Online, but does not do galas on them. Luminate Online does not do multi-seat registration like sponsorship. We currently use Online Express and will be testing out RE NXT Event Registration Form in the coming month since they have just recently implemented multi-seat registration in RE NXT event registration form like Online Express can.

With Online Express, donor can registration for single ticket or sponsorship that comes with multiple tickets. You can setup the registration form such that donor can or doesn't have to enter all the guest names. Once processed, the donor will get a participant (registrant) record + X number of guest records depending on what they purchased. If donor provided guest names, those guest name will automatically be reflect in the guest record in RE. However, if donor did not provide guest name, the guest record will still get created, but will have first name “Guest of” and last name “last name of donor”. So anytime the number of registered for your event is accurate.

However, there is no “update” form that donor can use, for any guest name that was not given or changes the donor want to make on existing guest, they will have to provide to you that information manually (email, phone, etc) and then you update into the guest records.

For seating, we use the Seating Module in RE database view. Once the initial seating is done, we have a in-house custom built web application that takes information from RE and map them into a floor plan of the venue, on the webapp we can make any kind of changes (i.e. change seat, add/remove/change guest info, check in guest, etc).