Choosing the registration type is one of the first and most important decisions when you set up an event. It shapes how people get into your event, how much work you will do managing attendees, and which e-mails are sent to them automatically. A poorly chosen registration type can be corrected later, but not without confusing attendees and adding extra work for you. This article helps you decide before you launch registration, not after.
Be clear about who should attend — only invited people, or anyone who finds the link?
Decide whether you need additional information from attendees (catering, parking, accommodation), or whether contact details are enough.
Consider whether you want to delegate the invitation process to a third party (nominators).
Decide on approvals — should every registrant get through automatically, or do you need to decide manually?
Only with these answers in hand should you go into the settings.
Choosing a registration type is not a single decision but four connected ones:
1. Who can register?
Public registration — you share a public link and anyone who receives it can register. The link can spread further, beyond your control.
Closed (direct link) — every attendee gets a personal link, and only that link opens their registration. It cannot be forwarded to someone else.
Restriction by company domain — anyone can register, but only from e-mail addresses on a chosen domain. Typical for internal company events. Setting allowed or blocked domains requires customer support.
Nominations — registrations go through nominators, who invite attendees in their own name (for example, a sales team inviting their clients).
2. How much information do you need from attendees?
Automatic registration after ticket purchase — contact details (name, e-mail, phone) are enough. After payment or registration, the attendee receives the QR ticket immediately. Watch out: for paid events with automatic registration, the Registration form and consents beyond legitimate interest (GDPR extras) are not used. If you need to collect any additional data from attendees or use extended consents, choose Registration with additional information instead.
Registration with additional information — you need additional information from the attendee (catering, parking, workshop choice, accommodation). After the first step, the attendee receives a link to the additional form, and only after filling it out do they get the QR ticket.
3. Should every registration go through automatically?
Without approval — registration is completed as soon as the attendee fills out the form or pays.
With approval — the organizer must manually confirm every registration before the ticket is sent. Typical for events with limited capacity, where you want control over who attends. Watch out: approval can only be set for free events. The system does not allow it for paid tickets.
4. Is the event paid or free?
Free — the registration flow is enough.
Paid tickets — payment happens before (or after) registration. This adds a layer of orders, invoices, and the option of proforma payments.
Automatic registration, without approval, free:
The attendee clicks the link and opens the Registration form.
They fill in contact details and receive the QR ticket by e-mail right away.
The simplest flow. Suitable for quick events where you do not need anything extra from the attendee.
Registration with additional information, free:
The attendee clicks the link and opens the Registration form.
They fill in contact details and receive an e-mail with a link to the additional form.
They open the link, fill in the additional questions, and receive the QR ticket by e-mail.
A two-step flow. It gives you space to collect practical information (transport, catering, accommodation) without making the first step long and off-putting.
Paid ticket, automatic registration:
The attendee clicks the link, picks a ticket, and pays.
Right after payment, they receive the QR ticket and a confirmation e-mail with the invoice.
For paid events without additional questions.
Paid ticket, registration with additional information:
The attendee buys and pays for the ticket.
They receive an e-mail with payment confirmation, the invoice, and a link to registration.
They fill in the Registration form and receive the QR ticket.
If you want both payment and additional information from the attendee, this is the path.
Nominations:
The nominator works in their own part of the admin. They invite attendees either by sending an invitation e-mail directly from Happenee or by sharing a link in their own way. Nominators can be assigned an invitation limit, a language, and a group that will be applied automatically to every nominated attendee. The event organizer sees in the statistics who invited whom.
Approval can be combined with any registration type.
Domain restriction can be combined with both public and nominated registration.
Paid tickets can be combined with both automatic registration and Registration with additional information.
Nominations and public registration are mutually exclusive — the nomination process is closed by its very nature.
Automatic registration on paid tickets deliberately bypasses the Registration form and consents beyond legitimate interest — it is meant for situations where contact details are enough. If you need to collect data, choose Registration with additional information.
If you want control over who attends, choose a direct link (closed registration) or nominations. A public link means losing control over who gets it.
Filling in the information after the fact (by phone, manually in Excel) always takes more time than using Registration with additional information from the start.
If you do not have a clear plan for who will approve registrations and when, do not turn approval on. The alternative is public registration without approval, plus group settings that distinguish attendees after they register.
The registration type is one of the settings that affect attendee data retroactively. Make these decisions before you launch. If registration is already running and you need a change, contact support — some changes require manual intervention.
If you have a company domain restriction in place, state it clearly in the invitation e-mail and on the microsite. Attendees need to know which e-mail address to register from.
