Form Setup (Attendee/Registration Form)

Introduction

A registration form is an online form that enables attendees to register for an event, submitting their information into the registration and profile database tables. Each form must belong to one event, but an event can have any number of forms. Examples include Attendee Registration form, Exhibitor Registration form, and Appointment Preferences selection form.

Note: By default, all Certain forms and websites are "private" (invisible to search engines). For information about changing this for all or some events, see the PDF guide, Web Crawlability in Certain Events.

Security Note: If the event has an Access Token (generated on Event Setup Details), then anyone going to any forms or websites in the event would have to enter the token before proceeding.

The Sections of a Registration Form

The following is the list of Sections available:

• Entry.
• Registrant Details.
• Attendee Type.
• Questions (up to 10 sections*).
• Accommodation Entry.
• Accommodation.
• Event Waitlist.
• Agenda (Up to 40 sections*).
• Personal Agenda.
• Agenda Sessions (up to 30 sections*).
• Additional Registration Add.
• Travel Travel Entry.
• Travel.
• Group.
• Promo Codes.
• Verify / Edit.
• Payment.
• Confirmation.
• Logic (Up to 20 sections*).
• Custom HTML (Up to 20 sections*).

You can have multiple Forms Questions, Forms Agenda, Forms Sessions, Forms Logic, and Custom HTML sections. Each one is only listed here once you have added and named it on its configuration page. That custom name is what you see on this Form Setup page.

Note: Every form must include a Registrant Details section.

Recommended: Accommodation and Travel sections should be on separate form pages.

Suggested order: Accommodation Entry > Accommodation > Travel Entry > Travel, across four consecutive form pages.

Last page: The last section should be the Confirmation (from which a confirmation email can also be sent).

Setup Information

Name – (Required) Descriptive name for this form.

Subtitle – (Optional) HTML or text to display online below the event's title.

Set form dates relative to event dates – If selected, you can set the Form Open Date and Form Close Date (described next) as relative to the Event Start and/or End Dates instead of specifying fixed dates. Note: If this is selected, and the Event Start or End Dates are changed later, the relevant form dates will change accordingly.

Form Open Date – (Required) Date and time when the registration form opens. Prior to this, attendees will see the "Not open" message you can configure in the Advanced section of this page. Note: If the event has a status of "Cancelled", then the form will not be available to attendees at all. Unless 'Set form dates relative to event dates' is selected, just enter the date and time (PT). Default: Current date at 8:00 AM (PT). If 'Set form dates relative to event dates' is selected, then of the following options and then the number of months/days/hours to apply: Before Event Start Date; Before Event End Date; After Event Start Date; After Event Start Date; At a specified time and date (PT).

Form Close Date – (Required) Date and time when the registration form closes. After this, attendees will see the 'After Form Close Date' message you can configure in the Advanced section of this page. Unless 'Set form dates relative to event dates' is selected, just enter the date and time. Default: Event End Date and Time. If 'Set form dates relative to event dates' is selected, then of the following options and then the number of months/days hours to apply: Before Event Start Date; After Event Start Date; Before Event End Date; After Event End Date; At a specified time and date (PT). Note: If a form close date is set after the event close date, then the event close date overrides the form close date, and the form will no longer be available once the event end date has passed. This avoids the potential risk of registrations being entered after the event has ended. But if you want to override this, for a post-event survey form, for example, you can select the Allow form open beyond event end date setting described below.

URL – Website address of this registration form. If you don't specify a URL for the form, the system creates one for you automatically.

Form Status – One of these statuses: Live; Test; Closed. Warning: If you are processing credit card payments on the form, and the Form Status is 'Test', payments will be sent to your online processor in Test mode instead of Live mode. Note: This status does not affect the status of Registrations, which are only added as 'Test' registrations when the status of the event is 'Testing'.

Hyperlink Label – Text shown for the link when a form link data-driven field (e.g., <Hyperlink to Form: Attendee Registration Form>) is added to a Confirmation page, or other object that accepts the data-driven field links. Example: "Click here to register as a speaker".

Google Analytics Tracking ID – Each form automatically inherits the Google Analytics Tracking ID entered at the event level (Plan > Configure > Options), if one has been. You can optionally enter a separate Tracking ID, specifically for this form, in this field. This is generally used in the case of a "series" event, where each registration form is actually a separate event. A Google Analytics Tracking ID should look something like this: UA-12345678-1. For more information about obtaining a Google Analytics Tracking ID, see About Google Analytics Tracking IDs. For details of the cookies generated by a Certain form, including for Google Analytics, see the Certain Cookies PDF guide.

Note: By default, form pages are not tracked at the individual level; once a registrant proceeds beyond the entry page, the form URL is the same for all pages. You can change this if you select Enable page-specific, page-level URL below.

Settings – Optional check boxes to enable selected features.

• Do not allow edits to existing registrations – If selected, registrants may not be able to edit their information after completing their registration.
• This is the primary form for the event – One form per event must be designated as the primary form.
• Make this form available on the Admin side – If selected, the form is available on the Manage > Registrations > Add Registration and Registration > Reg Form pages.
• Allow access via web service – If selected, the form will be accessible via the Certain API.
• Allow form open beyond event end date – If selected, and the form's Close date is set to after the event close date, then the form will still be available once the event end date has passed.

Note: This option remains relevant if you've selected 'Set form dates relative to event dates' above.

• Allow form to remain open when event Registration Capacity is reached – If this check box is selected, and Registration Capacity is set for the event, then the form will remain open even after registrations have reached that capacity limit.

Note: You must select this if you are enabling Automatic Event Waitlisting for the event.

• Enable split screen edit mode – If selected, you can edit the form while seeing both views at the same time.
• Disable browser back button – If selected, then if a registrant clicks the Back button in a form, it will have no effect.
• Reg status – The form can automatically change the registration status of the registrant:
• Upon entry into this form, set status to – The entry status will be assigned to all registrations on the order as the attendee enters the form to register. Select (Do not change) to leave the registration status unaffected by entry into the form.
• Upon completion of this form, set status to – The completion status will be assigned to all registrations on the order when the registrant reaches the form's confirmation page. Select (Do not change) to leave the registration status unaffected by exit from the form.

Note: The registration status selected here will override the default status of the registration's attendee type.

Note: The list of statuses available for selection includes: Custom statuses added on Plan > Event Setup > Custom Statuses; The 11 default registration statuses (New, Requested Invitation, Waitlist Hold, Invited, Requested Denied, Invitation Sent, Pre-Registered, Declined Invitation, Cancelled, No-show, Attended) unless the account has the Show Default Statuses option cleared on Account Settings > Implementation > Security; this is very rare for an account administrator to clear this setting.

• User Notes – A text entry field for miscellaneous information.

Page Layout

Select the sections that you want to include in the form from the Available Sections list on the left, and move them to the Online Form Sequence list on the right. A video is available: “Page Layout (2 min.)”.

Three Rules for Building a Registration Form 1. Every form must include the Registrant Details section. 2. The Accommodation Entry section is optional. If it is not used, then attendees will only be able to request one room. If it is used, then it must be on the page immediately before the Accommodation section. The Accommodation Entry section serves no purpose other than as an introduction to the Accommodation section. 3. The last section of the form must be a Confirm section. You do not need to add a {New Page} at the end.

Page & URL Titles

You can choose to display a step-by-step navigation bar in this section. The navigation bar helps attendees see where they are in the registration process as they proceed through the form.

• Display step-by-step navigation bar? – Select this check box to turn on the navigation bar and to set the following display options for the bar.
• Page Title – In this series of text entry boxes, enter the text for each step to be displayed in the bar. Each number corresponds directly to a section in the Page Layout section (above). Boxes left blank will not display on the final navigation bar.
• Orientation – Can be set to display as Vertical Column on left, or Horizontal Row across top.
• Horizontal Separator – (Available only if Horizontal Row across top has been selected.) The character used to separate the titles. Default = ».
• Background Color – Sets the color of the bar.
• Font for Page Titles – Determines the font style you wish to apply to the page titles in the navigation bar, e.g. "Subheader".
• Font for Current Page – You can differentiate a registrant's current page by selecting a different font for its title.
• Display Image/Text ______ to ______ of the current page – The image or characters to be displayed to the right or left of the name of the page in the navigation bar.
• Show Step Navigation on Page 1? – Indicates whether the page titles will show up on the initial page of the navigation system.
• Enable page-specific, page-level URL? – If selected, two columns are displayed: Page URL # and Page Title.
• Page URL # – A list of text fields numbered from 1 to n, where n is the number of pages you have included in the Online Form Sequence above. Each field can include an optional label added to the URL for that page.
• Page Title – For each row, you can configure a unique Page Title. Registrants see it as the name in their browser tab.

Global Display Settings

Global Display Settings determine the default display behavior for the entire form.

• Label Font, Label Alignment, and Label Vertical – Sets font and positioning for text labels.
• Form Layout – Sets the default relationship of text labels to form input fields.
• Input Alignment and Input Vertical – Positions text when entered into text fields.
• Instructions Font – Sets the default font for instructions text.
• Page Font – Sets the default font for all other text.
• Required Font – Sets the style for messages instructing users that certain questions or entry fields are required.

Page & URL Titles (continued)

• Start a new table with each section? – If selected, each form section that appears on the same page as other sections is displayed in its own HTML table.
• Show navigation on Registration Forms? – If selected, the form will include navigation links to each page (configured on Plan > Configure > Display > Navigation Bar).

Required Fields Settings

Certain optionally displays an image next to each field on a form page which is required.

• Req. image – Sets the image file displayed.
• Attributes – Determines the extra information that will be included in the HTML tag that places the Req. image on the page.
• Req. message _____ – Sets the text message for required fields.
• place header bar – Whether it will appear above or below the header bar on any page.
• in font – The font style in which the message will be displayed.
• Error message – The text to be displayed if the attendee doesn't fill out a required field and tries to continue to the next page.
• Enable error message links – If selected, error messages for required fields will include links.
• Required Fields Messages – You can customize the error messages displayed to the attendee when what they have entered fails validation.

Agenda Item Error Messages You can customize error messages related to agenda items.

Labels for Registration Assistance Link You can customize the message shown to an attendee if they click the link for registration assistance.

Labels for Buttons and Links Here you set the messages that appear on standard links and buttons that can be automatically displayed on the form.

• Continue Button – The label for the button used to advance the registration form to the next section. Default = "Continue".
• Reset Button – The label for a reset button that can be used to clear the values from the form on any section.
• Additional Registrants – If you configure your event to accept multiple registrants, this button enables an attendee to register other attendees. Default = "Add Another Registrant".
• New Reg Link – This link enables the registrant to go back to the beginning and create an entirely new registration after completing the current one. Default = "New Registration".
• Last Page URL Link – This sets the text of a link on the confirmation page that lets attendees return to your main website for more information.
• Last Page Url – This website to which the attendee is taken if they click the Last Page URL Link.
• Reg Assistance Link – Configures a text link displayed at the bottom of each page of the form that enables attendees to email the registration contact. Default: "<br /><br />Email Registration Assistance".

Enable CAPTCHA Selected by default, this option places a CAPTCHA check box on the form the registrant completes, so that they must prove they are human.

Creating and Editing Registration Forms (ADVANCED SETTINGS)

Click the Advanced button on this Form > Setup page to edit messages that are displayed automatically when triggered by circumstances. Each message contains default text which you can change or delete. Each one of these settings includes the following fields:

• Append – If required, select a dynamic data field (DDF) to append to the Header of the Message.
• Header Text – The text to be displayed in the header bar. Example: "Important Notice".
• Message HTML – The text of the message displayed when triggered. You can accept the default or customize it as necessary.
• Enable Editor? – If selected, you edit the Message HTML in a WYSIWYG editor. If left clear, you enter the message in plain text (which can still include HTML tags).
• Show the Registration Assistance Link – If selected, a link opens a pop-up window that enables potential attendees to contact the primary Registration Contact for the event.
• Customize Entry Page Message (Before Form Open Date)
• Message HTML – This message is displayed if anyone tries to access the form via the form's URL before the form's open date.
• Customize Entry Page Message (After Form Close Date)
• Message HTML – This message displays if anyone tries to access the form via the form's URL after the form's close date.
• Customize Entry Page Message (After Event End Date)
• Message HTML – This message displays if anyone tries to access the form via the form's URL after the event's end date, or if the event's Status is set to 'Cancelled'.
• Customize "Closed Form" Message
• Message HTML – An attendee sees this message if they try to register when the Form Status is 'Closed'.
• Customize "Event Registration Capacity" Message
• Message HTML – An attendee sees this message if they try to register after the number of active, complete registrations has reached the level set as Registration Capacity for the event. Similarly, if that level has been reached then an attendee with a 'Cancelled' status sees this message if they try to log back in. Note: This message is not displayed in either of these situations if Registration Capacity is blank or if the option Allow form to remain open when event capacity is reached is not selected.
• Customize "Maximum Concurrent Registrations" Message (Based on active sessions)
• If you are anticipating high demand and a spike of registrations, you can contact Certain Product Support. This feature works with Incomplete registrations count against capacity/inventory for 'X' minutes after their last modification.
• When the maximum number of registrants is reached, a custom error message will appear and the page will refresh every 15 seconds. An image may appear below the custom message indicating the page will automatically refresh in 'X' seconds.

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