← Back to Projects
Process Improvement Philanthropy

Event Registration and Attendance

60%
of event registrants never show up without reminders or calendar follow-through
50%
increase in event attendance after launch
Challenge

Registration happened but nothing supported the registrant from sign-up to actually showing up. The gap between who registered and who attended was a process problem, not a demand problem.

Solution

Built two webhooks. One fires when a new event is created, one fires when a member registers. Together they handle calendar creation, invites, reminders, and platform visibility without anyone managing it manually.

Outcome

Attendance jumped 50% after launch. Every event and every registration since has gone through the same process without anyone managing it manually.

The Problem

60% of people who register for a virtual event never show up. In most cases, the reason is not a lack of interest. It is a lack of follow-through on the organizer’s side: no calendar invite, no reminders, nothing that helps the registrant actually remember to attend.

On this platform, nonprofits used a built-in community space to host virtual events for their members. Events were created by nonprofits, hosted over video, and open to members to register and attend. The registration experience existed. Everything that should have come after it did not.

When a member registered, they received one confirmation email. No calendar invite. No reminders as the event approached. Nothing to bridge the gap between registering and actually showing up. On the event creation side, hosts had to manually set up their video meeting, create a calendar event for themselves, and track registrations by hand. None of it was connected.

The result was a consistent gap between who signed up and who attended.

What I Built

Two webhooks connected to two moments in the event lifecycle: one that fires when a new event is created, and one that fires when a member registers.

When a new event is created, the first webhook fires. It creates a corresponding calendar event for the host and adds them as the organizer, so they have the event on their schedule and can join directly from it. It also adds the event to a visibility layer in the platform so members can discover upcoming events more easily.

When a member registers, the second webhook fires. It creates a Google Calendar invite for the registrant with the event details and video link, and sets reminders so they get notified before the event starts. It also logs the registration in a tracking view so attendance data is captured and can be compared to registrant counts over time.

How It Works

Event creation

  1. A nonprofit creates a new event on the platform
  2. The first webhook fires
  3. A Google Calendar event is created with the host added as organizer
  4. The event is surfaced in the platform discovery layer for member visibility

Registration

  1. A member registers for the event
  2. The second webhook fires
  3. A Google Calendar invite is sent to the registrant with the video link and event details
  4. Reminders are set so the registrant gets notified before the event starts
  5. The registration is logged for attendance tracking
Neither webhook requires any manual action. Every event created on the platform and every registration since launch has gone through the same process.

The Outcome

Attendance increased 50% after the process launched. The same events, the same registrants. Just an experience that actually followed through from sign-up to showing up.

Members got a calendar invite with reminders. Hosts had their event on their calendar without extra setup. The gap between registration and attendance was a process gap, and closing it produced a result that was immediate and measurable.

Have a similar problem in your business?

Get in Touch