One of our regular event organizers is a social group, named CRX Sports, made up of individuals who are promoting cycling across Chennai. They organize monthly cycling rides on the ECR (Chennai’s coast line highway) and these rides attract audiences ranging from youngsters looking at a fun way to spend their Sunday mornings to professional cyclists.
Since these rides are meant to attract anyone, two types of registrations are available:
- With Cycle – Rs 600.00 (Attendees purchasing this ticket would bring their own cycle to ride on)
- Without Cycle – Rs 750.00 (Attendees purchasing this ticket would be provided a cycle to use for the ride)
Traditionally, rides were announced 2-3 weeks prior on CRX Sports’ Facebook page, their sole channel used to notify the 800+ members of a forthcoming ride. Since CRX Sports organizes the rides in conjunction with BSA, registrations had to be made by visiting any BSA showroom across Chennai, paying the relevant amount and completing a registration form. The form would be used to collect registrant information and serve as a disclaimer.
Payments had to be made in cash and since it physically involved visiting any of the 4 BSA showrooms, attendees generally postponed their visits to the Saturday before the ride. In addition, many of the attendees knew the organizers personally and often sent emails/msgs confirming their attendance and that they would pay in person later. Therefore, CRX would only have a firm idea of registrant numbers a day or two prior to the ride, which affected their ability to plan the expected number of cycles that would be available for rent.
The rides begin at 04:30am on a Sunday morning and all registrants gather on ECR to check-in and then get their cycles, where applicable. CRX event organizers would generally be up through the night manually tallying each registration form/verbal confirmation against payments made to BSA showrooms.
Prior to the ride getting started, the registrant check-in process involved a substantial amount of manual work. Each of the CRX event organizers would manage registrations per BSA showroom and as a registrant, you would need to check your name off of the relevant list.
So from the point of view of both the event organizer and registrant, a considerable amount of effort was involved in completing the manual registration.
Having moved to doattend, the entire registration process has been alleviated.
When a cycling ride has been fixed, CRX announces the event a few weeks prior on their Facebook page and registrants are guided to visit their event page on doattend. The 2 ticket types are available for online registration and based on statistics, ticket purchases have often begun just a few minutes after they announce the ride.
Whether the registrant is a 16 year old girl purchasing tickets for her and her group of friends, or a corporate employee registering for himself and his spouse, the online payment options provide tremendous flexibility for the registrant. With over 60 payment options available (leading credit cards, debit card and netbanking options), registrants can immediately secure their space on the Sunday ride.
On completion of his/her online purchase, the registrant receives an eTicket which he/she is requested to bring to the ride. From within the comfort of their homes/offices, registrants can purchase a ticket online without necessarily having to make a physical visit across the city, find a parking spot, enter a showroom and pay in person. CRX organizers are kept updated to the minute on new registrations and now regularly fix a maximum limit to the number of registrants they can accommodate; a feature that is automatically controlled by doattend, closing online sales once the specified sales limit has been reached. On average, cyclists number in the region of 80-100 for each ride.
Offline payment channels are still supported through doattend, for those who prefer to pay in cash.
Each registration has a unique Order & Ticket ID, which allows for efficient registration tracking. A few hours before the event, CRX download the registrant details from their event page with a single click and print it out as an Excel Spreadsheet. With just the order ID, CRX can easily track whether the payment was made online or through any of the associated BSA showrooms.
On the morning of the event, registrants merely need to quote their Order ID or name and the CRX team can effortlessly pick up the entry on their registration list and check-in the registrant. This significantly reduces the amount of time spent by both the organizer and registrant, allowing everyone to focus on the bigger picture; the actual ride that is meant to instill a sense of fun.
DoAttend benefits both the event attendee and the event organizer by eliminating the burden of manual registrations.