It’s Fall, and that means it’s time for your fall festival, trunk or treat, Holy Ghost Weeny Roast or whatever you call the event you do this time of year.

This is a unique event because a lot of people who may not come to your church may come to your campus for the very first time.

Unlike events like VBS or Egg Hunt, fall festivals offer a specific registration challenge. Because the nature of the event is come and go, trying to collect people’s contact information can be really challenging and cause a lot of friction between your volunteers and the people attending the event.

Over the years, I’ve seen and tried a lot of different methods for getting this valuable information, and I finally landed on one that works.

Here are 4 ways to not do registration and one that works.

1. Don’t have any registration

My first couple of fall festivals used this strategy. The problem is that you have no idea who actually came to your event and no way to follow up with them after the fact. These events are designed to get new people to come to your campus and feel comfortable there. However, if you don’t collect any of their information it makes it hard to build a relationship with them.

Stores do this all the time when they ask you to sign up for their membership/perks/rewards club. Yeah, they give you discounts, but what they’re really doing is collecting your info and tracking your spending.

We can’t copy the market exactly, but we are in the relationship business. And relationships are built on communication. You can only do that if you collect their information.

2. Bottleneck your entry and require everyone who enters to fill out a card.

I tried this several different ways and it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Even if you have enough volunteers and your space is specifically tailored to creating the bottleneck, the inevitable line and frustration it creates for your volunteers and attendees is not worth it.

When checking into hotels, studies have shown that people get impatient when they have to wait for more than 15 seconds. If that’s true for hotels, think about the line at your fall festival. Now, it’s not just adults waiting, you have their kids hanging on them staring at all the cool and fun stuff they get to do but can’t because you’re asking them to stand in a super long line just to fill out a card.

Causing this frustration doesn’t create a great first impression.

You can try to minimize friction by adding more volunteers and entry stations, but you’re still going to create a line. If I’m going to recruit a bunch of volunteers, I want them running the things inside not working a table at the front.

3. Stop cars before they enter and collect their information

I saw this at one church, and I wasn’t a fan. While the service was better because they had volunteers collect their info providing a personal touch, they created the same problems as in the point above but moved the bottleneck to the road.

Now you’re blocking traffic and still have impatient people. It was not a win.

4. Text to win

With the availability of texting, I thought this could really help. I had people text into a number which sent them a contact card. Once the card was filled out their name was automatically added to a contact list I could reference during the event.

I incentivized the process by offering prizes every half hour if they texted the number. I had signs all over the place and great prizes, but ultimately the plan failed.

I didn’t realize this at the time, but cell carriers have spam blockers and all that info coming in and out of our text company raised a red flag. The call and response automation was stopped dead in its tracks. I had people coming to me all night saying they texted the number, but never got the contact card. Afterwards, I found I only collected 11 numbers out of 1100 people!

I realize that if I paid more money or had a different text carrier this sign-up may have gone better. But I got burned and came up with a better way.

5. Register to win

After the text-to-win debacle, I switched to a more analog method that combined the registration table, the personal touch of the car line, and the incentives of texting.

As people arrive on campus, they are quickly greeted by a parking lot attendant. This attendant tells them where to go, but also gives them a card to fill out at their convenience. If they fill it out, they’ll be entered to win a prize. This was usually a $50 gift card to Chick Fil A.

Once they get out of their cars, they enjoy the event but are asked to come by the registration tent to and drop off their card. I’d have extra cards at the tent and people to answer any questions about the event, the church, and the drawing.

In addition, I had a volunteer sitting with a computer, manually putting in all the information as it came in. This allowed me to follow up with the guests as soon as possible.

Not everyone filled out a card but in an event of 1400 people I did collect over 300. There were no bottlenecks, frustration and impatience was lowered, and they were excited at the possibility of winning.

Also I didn’t give away the prizes at the event. I emailed everyone who attended and announced the winners that way. Thus, creating another contact point to build a relationship.

I’d call this method a win.

One thing I’m going to try this year is to add a QR code linked to a contact form asking for the same info. I’ll post several signs and remove one more point of friction for collecting their info by not requiring them to come to the registration tent.

I haven’t tested it, so I’m not sure of its effectiveness. I’ll post about that later.

Fall festivals are great fun and can be an excellent outreach tool. But your first impression can make or break you. Don’t be afraid to try something new to streamline your process. Hopefully you can reach more people for Jesus and make an impact in your community.

If you’d like to have a copy of my registration card, you can download your own below.

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