Registration Demystified!
June 2007
Technophiles
An Interview with Rick Borry, Ph.D., Chief Software Architect, Certain Software, Inc.
A month into the launch of Certain Registration Version 4.9, we spoke with Dr. Rick Borry about some of the twists and turns along the road to registration serenity. He earned his knowledge by starting Register123 as a separate company in 1998. Today, it’s the basis for Certain Registration that’s used by hundreds of prominent organizations like Hartford Life Company, Wells Fargo Bank, Honda of America Manufacturing, George Little Management, the Securities Industry Association, Texas Instru-ments, Harvard and Stanford universities, and multiple departments of the U.S. government.
Over the years, Borry worked extensively with customers to help them make the transition. He is also a prime player in the development of the APEX initiative.
WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF THE REGISTRATION PROCESS?
Basic registration tends to collect the contact information for the person and give them an e-mail confirmation of their status with all the info they need to have about the event.
The components you then add will come if there are fees. The registrant gets to select the type of attendee they are and maybe sign up for some optional golf or dinners.
At the end of this process, the system computes the ultimate cost. Afterward, to collect the exact total online, there’s a registration format that allows for payment by check, purchase order, direct wire transfer, or, if you’re already at your meeting, it even allows you to accept a cash payment.
There is also a program module for offering choice in multiple breakout sessions, where registrants select which sessions, with multiple tracks, so registrars can figure out which rooms should be allocated to those sessions. And in the training and marketing certification market, there’s a need to track attendees at certain sessions for accreditation.
Many events do room-block management. Simple registration procedures say “There’s a hotel; give your code number for booking.” But some collect hotel registrations, match up roommates, allow the registrant to indicate who they want to share a room with, and additionally take a credit card for late arrival.
The next is the travel module. Some events need to collect full travel details because they’re going to make all arrangements. Further, some might do it only for speakers and others will do it for all their attendees.
The last is the appointment scheduling. That’s become more popular in the Web 2.0 world, where it’s all about personal relationships. Instead of going to an event and hoping to bump into people, many people are interested in having a one-on-one with an exhibitor or with speakers. That’s more data-intensive and more work for the event planner, but in some cases, it’s grossly more valued by the participants. Further, you expect them to change their registrations. And that’s just the registration process; it doesn’t even have to do with holding the event.
WHY REGISTER ONLINE?
The main thing is that the attendees are going to do most of your work for you. As they make changes, those will be reflected automatically. They can register at their convenience 24/7, pay 24/7, and you don’t worry about confusion from handwritten credit card numbers. The attendees don’t have to wait a week for their mailed form to get to you nor for their confirmation to get back to them. It’s instant gratification. It cuts down a lot of questions. If a consistent question is coming in, you can add the information to your Web site.
HOW DOES YOUR TEAM BEGIN WORK WITH NEW CUSTOMERS?
We try to be as consultative as possible. We don’t come in and say “Here are our features. Here are our solutions.” Instead we ask “What are your problems? Let’s talk things back and forth. How can our features help solve your problems?” Some of the features may be accepted and some may be tabled for the future. We learn about the current systems they are using, both externally and internally. Then, we ask about their flexibility for change. Some people say “This is how we do it but we don’t like it. Suggest another way and we’ll probably adapt to it.” Others say “This is what we’re stuck with; we can’t change for two years because there’s no budget.” It’s like the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to recognize the things I can change...well that’s how it is with systems integration. I found that most organizations can handle one change at a time.
WHAT’S NEW IN THE 4.9 LAUNCH?
We redesigned our roommate module. We discovered that nearly all customers set up some business rules, like males and males together, or a mix of cities together. The new version will match everyone for you or have people select their roommates, so the user experience is drastically simpler. We also added a credit-card system and support for any currency in the world and any bank in the world. We now have processors for international customers even if their banks are located in other countries.
WHAT’S NEXT?
We’re making another version of our travel module. It will be collecting your arrival and departure reservations. It’s primarily air but also includes ground transportation for shuttles that take you from the airport to the event. You can make your travel reservations at the same time you make your event reservation, and then code these to a specific purpose for later tracking internally. Also, if a person makes a change to the air but forgets to make a change to the hotel, the system is watching that. C.H.
