To create a Registration form in Google Forms, visit the Google Forms site and click on the “Event Registration” template. They give some suggested questions you may want to ask on the template.
Editing the Questions
You may find some or all of the questions appropriate to your event, but if you want to change one, click the item, and it will expand and give you options. To change the question, click on the words and make your edits.
Also, when you have selected the item, you can select the type of answer you are expecting from the drop-down menu. Google will automatically choose the correct format for many of your questions, but you can correct it if necessary. At the bottom of this box, there are icons to either duplicate the question, trash the question, or make the question required or optional.
The three dots in the item box offer two more options. One option adds a description field in case you need more explanation for people to understand your question.
The other lets you set a validation range, so if you are looking for a numerical answer, you can set it for acceptable answers to eliminate typos.
Form Settings
To make sure you are getting and giving all the information you want from your form, you will want to check the settings. To access them, click the gear image near the top right corner of the form. In the General settings you can make the form automatically collect the email addresses of those who sign up by clicking the box. If you collect the email addresses, you can select the option to have a copy of their responses sent back to them automatically. This is a nice feature, so the registrant will have the information they submitted in case of a problem.
Under presentation settings, there is a pre-filled message that will be displayed after the user has submitted the form. You can edit this message to fit your specific event.
Form Appearance
The template provided by Google is done nicely, but you may want to edit the look of the form. You can change the header image by clicking on the art palette near the top right corner next to the settings gear. The options will open in a sidebar.
You can change or remove the image by clicking on the option near the top. A nice feature of Google forms is that when you add a picture to the header, it will automatically choose a color to match the colors in the image. Then, if you look below the color palette, you will see an option to change the background color of the form to different shades of the primary color. You can also just make the header a solid color and select a background color if you’d like. If you want a different font, look for the font drop-down box, and select a new font from four choices: basic, decorative, formal, and playful.
Share Your Form
Once you have completed your form, you will want to get the form out to your potential attendees for the event. You can do this two ways: by displaying a link to the form or embedding the form directly on your website. There are two ways to get the link to your form to copy onto your site. One is clicking on the icon of an eye in the top corner. It will show you the form as it will look to your visitors. Copy the link in your address bar and paste it to your page. The other way is to click on the Send button at the top of the page. Select the link icon (the one that looks like a paper clip) and copy the link provided.
If you want to embed the form so it is directly accessible on your web page, click on the Send button and click on the icon of two angle brackets (<, >). Copy the HTML code and insert it in the correct portion of your webpage.
Once people begin to register, you can see their information by clicking on the Responses tab at the top of the form. Create a spreadsheet to hold the registration report by clicking on the green icon in the top-right corner. When the next window opens, click “Create a New Spreadsheet” unless you have already created a spreadsheet for the event in Google Sheets. You will also be able to scroll through individual responses on the responses tab.
If you are running a large event, using Google Forms may not be right for you, but if you are having a small affair, it may be right for you. It gives you many options at no cost.
