Form Fields

To paraphrase an often-used aphorism, ‘the form field is mightier than the spreadsheet’. That’s right, form fields are your secret weapon when it comes to creating events that resonate with your guests and preserve the sanity of your event team. But only when they’re used correctly that is.

Contrary to popular belief, form fields benefit your team in not one, but two major ways: by collecting and compiling guest data, and by collating event information. The result? You have access to in-depth profiles of guests, and your event team can easily stay on top of event progress, as and when it happens.

The secret to amplifying the power of this overlooked tool? An RSVP system that features both front and back facing form fields. But before we get into the how, let’s look at the what:

Your front-facing form fields are what your guests see when they open your email invitation or log onto your event landing page, and serve to capture information from your attendees.

Back-facing form fields – a little-known yet crucial feature – are fully customisable data capture fields that you can use to organise, collate and secure all other information about your event (and we mean all). In other words, they’re a super convenient replacement for multiple excel sheets (but more on that later).

Here’s how to put your form fields to work:

Front-facing form fields:

Many event organisers unwittingly sabotage their events at this crucial stage. To build in-depth guest profiles that will inform your event – and your entire marketing strategy – you need to get strategic before settling for the generic name, job title and dietary preference. Dig deeper! This is your chance to find out what really makes your guests tick.

Remember, the questions you ask your guests should be informed by your event’s objectives. If you’re orchestrating a symposium on female empowerment in the workplace in an effort to spur on young female entrepreneurs, you may want to ask your guests what their number one reason for attending is, what they hope to get out of the conference, and the most important issue – in their opinion – that females face in the workplace today. If you’re holding an exclusive getaway to woo a select group of VIPs, you may want to ask your guests to select their preferred means of accommodation, their nightcap of choice and their relaxation activity of choice. However, long, convoluted form fields that invitees have to navigate a digital maze will only serve to put them off. Keep your form fields to a minimum, and offer options with which they can answer. Your job is to gather the data that counts, and to make it as easy as possible for your guests to give it to you.

Fields in back end:

While your front facing form fields exist to gather guest information, the form fields in the back end serve as one central database for everything. This, as opposed to juggling multiple excel sheets that are at risk of duplication, conflicting copies and worst of all – loss due to a break in the line of communication. From guest travel details and vendor info to venue and compliance checklist, you can access every single piece of event orchestration data from one central depository. And, thanks to the fact that our RSVP software is cloud-based, every single one of your event team can access this data when and where they need it. Real-time updates mean there’s no case of “he said she said”, a costly, yet common occurrence due to the high volume of information event organisers have to collate.

When used correctly, and with a sophisticated RSVP management platform that’s built specifically for event organisers by event organisers, you can use your form fields to streamline both the RSVP and event planning process. Find out more about how our solution can help you!