In brief

You can use the THATCamp Registrations plugin or a Google form to accept applications or registrations for your THATCamp. Expect a 15% cancellation rate. Be sure to make all participants user accounts with Author privileges on your site. Use these sample emails to reply to participant registrations and prompt them to propose sessions.

Applications or registrations?

One decision you’ll need to make is whether to pick and choose who you’d like to attend your THATCamp (i.e., accept applications) or whether to accept everyone on a first-come first-served basis (i.e., accept registrations). That decision is up to you, but in general, we recommend that you set a quota based on how many people you can accommodate (for instance, 75 people) and then accept everyone who applies as long as you have space for them. This is more in line with THATCamp’s principles of openness, and it simplifies logistical decisions such as meal planning. Moreover, most THATCamps don’t fill up, and even those that are oversubscribed don’t usually have to disappoint more than 10-20 people. (There are plenty of THATCamps these days for people to attend!) You can run a wait list if more people want to come than you have space for.

Cancellations

Our experience shows that for local THATCamps, about 15% of registrants will cancel or simply won’t show up. The exception to this rule is THATCamps held in conjunction with other large events for which people have made extensive travel arrangements. After all, THATCamp is usually free, or nearly so, so unless people have booked flights and hotels, there’s not much of a commitment, and emergencies and conflicts will inevitably crop up. Most cancellations will happen in the last few days before the THATCamp takes place.

Website registration forms

There are two ways to create a registration form on your website: use the THATCamp Registration plugin or use a Google form. The former makes it easier to create users with full profiles on your site, while the latter is currently more customizable and makes it easier to see information about all your users at once. See our page on building a THATCamp website for detailed instructions on both options.

Creating user accounts for participants

At THATCamp, we habitually give all participants user accounts on the site so that they can propose session ideas using the site’s blog. If you use the THATCamp Registrations plugin, an applicant will be made a user account on the site when you approve their registration.

If you use a Google form for registrations, however, you can import the user information. What you’ll need to do is make sure that your spreadsheet has the exact same column headers as those in this sample Google Doc (download sample as .csv):

Before importing, you’ll need to make sure that the “user_login” field and the “user_pass” field have something in the cell, so you’ll need to make up user names and passwords for your users. Also, to store t-shirt size data properly in user profiles on thatcamp.org, you will need to convert the data in your spreadsheet to the following values in exactly this form (not including the bullet points):

• mens_s
• mens_m
• mens_l
• mens_xl
• mens_xxl
• womens_s
• womens_m
• womens_l
• womens_xl
• womens_xxl

T-shirt size data formatted differently (e.g., “Men’s Large”) will not be stored in the user’s profile on thatcamp.org.

Once your file is properly formatted, go to Users –> Import From CSV in your thatcamp.org site and import the file. Be sure to check both the checkboxes so that the system will email users and will nag them to change their passwords when they first log in. (If you are running a WordPress site on another domain, download and install the Import Users From CSV plugin to enable this functionality.) By default, users will be imported as Subscribers. Go to All Users and click on “Subscriber” to show all the Subscribers, select the checkbox next to Username to select all users, and do “Change role to Author” in the dropdown.

All the THATCamp Users should have a user account with “Author” privileges so that they can post session ideas, session notes, and other items to the blog. And be sure to let them know that they should fill out their user profile and should begin contributing to the blog!

Emailing participants

As of this writing (May 2012), it is not possible for site administrators to obtain a list of registered THATCamp participants with all their registration information, though we hope to provide this feature soon, by fall 2012 at the latest. Write info@thatcamp.org to obtain a list of registered THATCampers with all their attached information.

Here are some sample emails to participants to send when their registration is Pending or Accepted (these can be entered directly into the THATCamp Registrations Settings) and when it’s time to remind or educaate them on proposing unconference sessions. Feel free to adapt these for your own use.