If you are someone who has an organized mind and a willingness to investigate incidents thoroughly, a career in fraud investigation might be for you. Fraud investigation is a field that involves both civil and criminal investigations. You may be employed by a company to investigate fraud claims against it, or you might work independently with attorneys on a case by case basis.

As a fraud investigator, you will need to give depositions and may even find yourself summoned to give testimony in court. If you are interested in a career as a fraud investigator, there are several things that you should be aware of.

As a fraud investigator, your skills will be sought when there has been a suspicion of fraud or deceit. Many fraud investigators are retained by insurance companies in order to make sure that the claims being filed are legitimate. You may need to interview the people involved, look into records, and to take a look at the documentation that has been produced by the case. You do need to make sure that you are aware of the legal regulations that govern the field. You may also be called upon to obtain and serve subpoenas.

If you are curious abut the field of fraud investigation, you need to think about the training involved. In many cases, people who are entering the fraud investigation field have formerly worked in investigative units in the police, or in criminal investigative agency through the armed forces.

They may also have operated independently as private investigators, or they may have also worked in a governmental agency that investigates deceptive business practices. In many cases, fields like police work, where retirement is possible after 25 years, are perfect places to hone the skills necessary for fraud investigation.

From a training perspective, there are no specific requirements for the field itself, though there are certainly certifications that can help you get the job that you want. In some cases, college-level coursework in criminal justice or criminal law might be helpful.

You will need to have skills that include such things as good interview technique, report writing, collection of data and record keeping as well as police science and the preservation of data. From a personal standpoint, it is worth recognizing that this is a field for highly organized, very meticulous individuals. Being able to communicate effectively with people will go a long way towards getting the results that you need.

If you are considering a career in fraud investigation, make sure that you think about what it takes to be successful. You need to take some time to review the qualifications that will help you.

There are many different ways to enter this field, and you will find that this is a field that is expected to boom in the next few years. This is as a good a time as ever to get invested in it. To get started in the career of fraud investigation, it will be helpful to visit websites that cover the profession in more detail.

Note: You are free to reprint or republish this article. The only condition is that the Resource Box should be included and the links are clickable.

Copywrite Kenneth Echie. Kenneth writes for Criminal Justice Degrees. Get free scholarship report and learn to become a Fraud Investigator by visiting.

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Companies are inundated with CV’s on a daily basis, how easy do you think it is to get through the screening process? There is no doubt that these days it’s getting even harder than before. One of the best skills you can learn is how to market yourself…..

Marketing yourself will get you a lot further and a lot faster. When you go for a job you are marketing yourself but you are also selling the most difficult product to sell - you, that’s why getting a job is so tough. It’s actually much easier marketing products and services to people who want your products and services than it is to get a job. Because there are so many people out there looking at the same jobs and opportunities, you have to outsell the other person. You have to equip yourself with the best strategy, the best preparation and skills required to market you as the product, demonstrating clear benefits to the prospective employer. Remember you are the product/service that needs to convince people to buy!!

SWOT Analysis on yourself

This is an important first step, just like you were going to plan a new product/service to the market you will need to understand various factors. Without doing this due-diligence in the first place I am sure you will fail to penetrate the market successfully. You need to sit down and consider the following:

* What are your talents? (features of a product)

* What benefits will you bring to your new employer? (Benefits of the product)

* What is your focus?

* Where would you like to be in 2, 5 and 10 years time?

* What are your weaknesses? How will this impact your effectiveness?

How can you turn these into positives?

Develop a Strategy

This is very important; again you would not launch a product and/or new service without developing a strategy. From your point of view you need to sit down and be clear on what it is you’re looking for, you’re areas of flexibility and your dream job!

How can I develop a strategy? You should look at the market, are you interested in competitors? Who are they? Do you know the type of company you are looking to join? The type of sector? The culture? These all need to be considered.

You need to decide which potential agencies to engage with, don’t just engage with everyone. Pick suppliers who are targeted to specific markets and have a real knowledge of their sector. Research job boards, make sure you understand which ones offer the most opportunities with your skills and look into networking sites. This is a great way to make connections with hiring managers/companies directly (http://www.linkedin.com , http://www.xing.com & http://www.ecademy.com are my favourites.)

The Basics: But forget them at your peril!!

Make sure you’re CV is 100% accurate in terms of spelling, grammar and punctuation. This is the first way you can turn off a prospective customer. Would you buy a product that looked faulty or the packaging was messy/information was spelt wrong or inaccurate - I doubt it!

Make sure you have your CV proof read by others, the layout is impeccable, to the point and contains killer content that stands out. Not just I did this, I did that etc etc. You need to make sure it demonstrates real value throughout, like a brochure that would tempt someone to buy a product / service.

What you can do in your current job to help

Make sure that you constantly have a focus and plan as to where you want to go and be. Then you can align your skills towards that route, if you are looking to move in different directions look into training, self development and qualifications. Additional extra’s to your profile will always help your CV and find out what your customers (potential employer) actually want to see on a CV.

Remember, when you have products and services that people want, marketing to them is easy, it will also mean you will then have more people coming to you as your skills will be in demand.

Be-Proactive

This is key to marketing yourself, as above you can help yourself get found but combine this with a pro-active approach and you will get where you want to go so much faster. Make connections on the job currently (you never know where you’re boss will end up), facilitate the networking sites, research who you want to work for and go out there and get them. Don’t rely on agencies and don’t blame them if you don’t get where you want to go - THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! Agencies can help you and use them as a tool, but make sure you act yourself. Remember a multi-communication approach is far more effective than relying on one avenue.

The Sales Stage

So you have got several interviews lined up - you have managed to market yourself successfully to this point and know you’re really embarking on the crunch stage which will be the interview. This is getting you close closing the sale.

To prepare for this make sure you do the following:

* Thoroughly research your audience (company & individuals)

* Practice interviewing with members of the family, friends and/or a professional interviewer

* Read interview techniques & prospective questions, have all the answers in your head for any eventuality

* Make sure you are immaculately presented

* Remember to focus on your impact / initial impression - people form opinions of others within the first 10 seconds of meeting

* Remember to talk clearly, succinctly, to the point and with examples (your features and benefits)

* Build rapport and smile - this can go a long way

Hopefully all of the above has given you a useful insight into how you can market yourself to be successful in this tough economic climate - to stand out of the crowd you need to market yourself effectively. Without doing this you as a product / service may be left on the scrapheap.

Edwin Abl is a Director of Consegna UK which is a leading recruitment consultancy specialising in jobs in Management Consulting and the Technology sectors.

The home office has become just as important as the kitchen in many households. Having a neatly setup home office can greatly improve your chances of success in your data entry work at home job. Because a number of individuals are confused about what tools they need, consider this article a basic checklist.

1. Your own computer/laptop. Sharing computer equipment can slow you down. If you dont already own your own personal computer consider purchasing one that has the following features:

- at least 256MB of memory

- a CD or recordable DVD drive

- virus and spy ware protection.

- Microsoft office package

- High speed internet connection

2. All-in-one. This is a convenient space saver that lets you print, copy, scan, and fax. That fax machine is particularly important for data entry work at home agents.

3. Computer faxing/telephone service. If you want, you can skip the clunky fax machine all together and opt for computer based faxing service. These companies usually provide members with business lines and #800 numbers as well. Having a computer based phone service is a nice alternative to using your home or cell phone number on your website or marketing material.

4. OCR. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) .This is scanner that allows you take a handwritten, type written or printed text and translate it into machine-editable text. If you wrote an article or letter by hand for a client, you could save time by feeding it into an OCR and then editing the file using a word processor.

5. Transcribing Machine: Having a transcribing machine can greatly improve your data entry work at home job prospects. Many companies ask for transcription services, not just medical companies. You can transcribe for focus groups, financial companies, education seminars, religious sermons and law offices.

6. File Cabinet: As a data entry work at home clerk you have to be able to pull out the right files quickly when your client asks. Having a file cabinet will help you do this. There are two ways you can organize your files: in a traditional file cabinet that stores physical paper documents or in an electric file cabinet. There are pros and cons to each method. The main point though is that your documents be organized for easy access.

7. Form processing software: Having form processing software will also increase your job prospects. Many data entry companies provide you with this tool; however, if you are working as a freelance data entry work at home agent then having your own is a bonus.

8. Book keeping software: Book keeping software is a must. Independent data entry clerks, such as yourself, need to track your own earnings, expenses and taxes.

9. Business Cards: Data entry work at home clerks are responsible for soliciting their own work. Having business cards on hand will make networking easier.

Above are some basic things you need for your data entry work at home job. Some are vital for your job such a computer with high speed internet and others such as form processing software are additions that you may want to consider. However, having the right equipment can open the door to more data entry work at home jobs.

Jeff Casmer is a leading legitimate work at home expert and is a work from home business owner. His “Top Ranked” Data Entry Work at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to Work at Home in the 21st century.

Part of getting a data entry work at home job is having the right equipment. Sure, websites say they will set you up, but legitimate data entry companies like to work with those who already have the right equipment. Without the right equipment it becomes difficult to do your job. Below are some services and equipment you should consider for your data entry work at home job.

1. Computer/laptop. Without a doubt you need your own computer and/or laptop. Your computer should be equipped with 2.66-GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon XP 2800+ Processor, at least 256MB of Memory, a CD-RW or recordable DVD Drive, connectivity up front, and virus and spy ware protection.

2. Cell Phone. Some data entry work at home clerks rely heavily on their phones others only use it time to time. Regardless of how much time you spend on it, you need one.

Find out the coverage and service you need before you buy a cell phone. For example, if you travel frequently you should consider a multi-based GSM cell phone since this will let you send and receive calls using your existing cell phone, so dont need to purchase or rent a cell phone when traveling.

If you plan to use your cell phone for e-mail choose one with a large screen to ease eye strain. Be sure the service provider allows you to use POP e-mail accounts and e-mail accounts such as Hotmail or Yahoo.

3. All-in-one. Because space is critical for many data entry work at home offices, opting for an all-in-one is a practical solution. Data entry clerks do a lot of faxing which is also why all-in-ones are the best choice for your needs.

4. Toll free line or business line. Nothings worse then having your personal and professional call on the same line. It makes you feel very disorganized and unprofessional. Plus, majority of people dont want to advertise their personal home or cell phone number on their website or marketing material. To solve this consider a virtual phone system. GotVMail and RingCentral are popular choices among data entry work at home agents.

5. Whiteboard/Dry-Ease. A white board is a great organization tool. Some even come as half whiteboards/half corkboard. This little tool lets you create your to-do list, brainstorm, store reminders, and temporally record information.

6. Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text (usually captured by a scanner) into machine-editable text. This is how many libraries translate large printed material into digital works. As a data entry work at home agent this device is very handy. Instead of retyping a handwritten piece of material you simply feed it into the OCR and then edit the file using a word processor

These 6 services and tools will give you a leg up on the competition. Having the proper data entry work at home equipment will make you an attractive candidate to data entry companies.

Jeff Casmer is a leading legitimate work at home expert and is a work from home business owner. His “Top Ranked” Data Entry Work at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to Work at Home in the 21st century.

If you’re looking to work at home, but don’t have the money to invest in a large endeavor then consider the free work at home jobs posted below. Not only are they free but most of them offer good pay and benefits.

1. Survey Taker

This free work at home job requires no experience and very little time dedication. If you can spare just 4 hours a week then being an online survey taker is a great option for a free work at home job. As a survey taker, you’re required to complete market research surveys for various companies. The surveys are on an assortment of topics and vary in length from 5-60min. You choose the ones you want to complete. Longer surveys offer larger cash incentives. Some companies reward survey takers in points that they can redeem for cash later.

2. Online writer

Success in this free work at home job takes some experience, as writing for the web differs from writing for print. However, many web based companies seek help from established writers to provide content for their websites. You will need to solicit your own work if you want to make a decent income. This is very easy to do online as there are many job boards on the internet and most companies seeking freelance writers ask queries to be sent via email.

3. Blogger

Blogging is huge and many people are using the ease and power of blogs to make money online. While some blogs can cost anywhere from 10-100 dollars, you can set one up for free with companies like http://blogger.com. Thus, blogging can be a viable free work at home job option for anyone who wants to make a lot of money on a small budget. Once you’ve done your market research and have at least 5 posts you can add affiliate links, and advertising revenue onto your blog. The more traffic your site receives the more you’ll make.

4. Data entry

While there are hundreds of companies that charges a fee, some companies offer this work at home job for free. Looking for a free work at home job in the data entry field can seem taxing but they are out there. The jobs vary; however, most of them ask the candidate to fill out forms of various products and services online. You are not paid by the number of hours of you work (beware of ads that claim that they pay by the hour) you’re paid by the type of form you fill. The longer and more complicated the form the more you’ll make. Some data entry work involves typing out ads for companies when someone clicks on the ad you’ve typed and purchases the product you earn a commission. This is also referred to as affiliate marketing.

5. Medical Transcriptionists Editor

Medical Transcriptionist is a growing field in the online jobs community. Legitimate companies look for candidates that are already experienced with the equipment and job tasks. Because this free work at home job is associated with several scams, the best way to avoid scams and spending any money is to solicit your own work. Agencies may be able to pair you up with companies seeking your help but since many of these agencies are scams you would be best to write your own ads and send your own queries offering your service. Most legitimate companies offer competitive line rates and benefits that include health, dental, optical as well as a 401k plan.

Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant and free work at home jobs business owner. His “Top Ranked” Free Work at Home Jobs Directory gives you all the information you need to Work From Home in the 21st century.

Hoping to land your dream job or just a position that will help you earn some spare cash over the summer months? Whether you’re applying to be the chief financial officer of a multinational corporation or trying to become WalMart’s newest customer service rep, a great resume is essential. Here are some tips to make yours stand out.

1. Know what you want: Your resume should clearly state what type of job you are looking for and what you are hoping to achieve in your career. This is also known as an objective, and it is an essential entry on every resume.

2. Keep it concise: Your resume isn’t a long, detailed document that tells potential employers your entire life story. Avoid using lengthy paragraphs and opt for bullets and short sentences instead. Your resume is simply a snapshot of your education and experience so there’s no need to go into great detail. Your prospective employer can always ask you to elaborate during the interview.

3. Be positive: Your resume isn’t the place to be negative. Don’t say you quit your last job because of poor management or long hours. Keep it upbeat, and never trash a former employer on your resume or in an interview.

4. Know your strengths: Because many of us are taught as children to be modest, it can be hard to tell others what we’re good at but that’s exactly what you should do on a resume. Know your strengths and mention them. If you’re good at communicating with the public, you’re reliable, and you work well independently, let prospective employers know!

5. Make it action-packed: When you’re describing your experience, use action words. Organized, arranged, supervised, and promoted are just a few examples.

6. Be what your potential employer needs: Make sure you are suitable for the position you are applying for. Otherwise, you’re just wasting the employer’s time, and your own as well. You should also tailor your resume to suit the position. If you’re applying for a sales position, for example, highlight your experience in that area. If it’s a customer service position, highlight your experience working with the public instead.

7. Draw the reader’s attention with symbols: If you want your potential employer to know that you increased profits for a company, don’t say you “increased profits by two hundred thousand dollars in 1998,” or that you “increased profits by 200 thousand dollars in 1998.” Use the symbol instead. Say you “increased profits by $200,000 in 1998.” Using symbols is an effective way to draw attention to this information. Always use the symbol for percent (%), the dollar sign ($), and the number symbol (#) when you are preparing your resume.

8. Follow the crowd: You can make your resume unique to a point, but there are some accepted and unwritten rules you should follow. Limit your resume to a page or two, never make the font size smaller than 10, and resist the urge to use wacky font styles. Stick to the basic serif and sans serif choices.

9. Phone a friend: It’s difficult to critique your own work so ask a friend, teacher, or (honest) family member to help out. In addition to general feedback about the overall look of your resume, they can point out spelling and grammatical errors as well. If you don’t know anyone who would be up to the task, a professional resume critique service may be able to help.

Jeff Tomlin has been an expert in producing sample resumes and cover letters that actually work for many years. Jeff Tomlin and his website have personally helped over 285,000 job seekers. Jeff has completed a library of resume template and sample cover letters to help those looking to make a career switch. To find out how Jeff can help you please visit http://www.landjob.com and find out today.

In today’s competitive job market, it’s important to stand out from the crowd and including a well-written career profile can help you do just that. Your career profile should appear immediately after the objective. This section highlights the most important information included on your resume – work experience and achievements, educational background, and other items that may be relevant to the position. A career profile is only a few lines long but a well-written one can encourage hiring managers to keep reading so they can find out more.

Let’s look at a sample career profile:

Chartered accountant with 15 years experience as a chief financial officer for Fortune 500 companies.

Chief financial officer with a solid history of financial record keeping, risk management, accurate economic forecasting, and reducing debt by an average of 15%. Increased shareholder investments by an average of 20% by presenting a long-term financial analysis which increased existing shareholder investments by 15% and attracted 200 new investors.

This resume career profile is effective for several reasons. Regardless of what type of position you are applying for, follow the tips below (which have also been observed by the person who wrote this profile) to ensure your profile is as effective as possible.

Remember your purpose: When you’re writing your resume career profile, always keep in mind that its purpose is to explain your value as an employee and outline what you can offer your prospective employer. To achieve this, you should highlight specific achievements that benefited the people you worked for.

Keep it concise: Your profile is just a brief advertisement of your skills and should be limited it to a few lines. Remember, hiring managers can always read the rest of your resume for more details.

Use action statements and be specific: Rely on strong action statements when you are describing how you have benefited companies and give exact financial figures when possible. “Boosted company profits by 3%, or $200,000, during the first quarter” is much better than “company profits were increased.”

Perfect grammar is not required: Most times, it’s imperative to use proper grammar and complete sentences but you can bend the rules a little when you are preparing a resume career profile. Feel free to use phrases instead. Some effective ones include “boosted sales by $-.–/year (or -%/year),” “reduced refunds by $-.–/year (or -%/year) through improved customer satisfaction,” or “reduced employee absenteeism by -%/year, saving the company $-.–/year by introducing and enforcing new policies.”

Don’t be vague: A resume career profile should always be specific. After you’re finished writing, read it over to make sure there are no general statements that might make it appear as though you are padding your resume. For example, don’t say you are an effective leader and a good communicator unless you have something concrete to back those statements up. If you increased profits, be sure to include numbers and proof. Hiring managers can instantly spot the difference between catch phrases and real achievements that led to real results.

Jeff Tomlin has been an expert in producing sample resumes and cover letters that actually work for many years. Jeff Tomlin and his website have personally helped over 285,000 job seekers. Jeff has completed a library of resume template and sample cover letters to help those looking to make a career switch. To find out how Jeff can help you please visit http://www.landjob.com and find out today.

Oftentimes people have the need to give back. This may be done by helping those that are in need. This is one of the things that drive people to become probation officers. A probation officer helps offenders re-adjust to society.

After they receive the training and skills needed to become probation officers, they are rewarded with a career where they have the ability to change lives. They accomplish this by ensuring offenders stay on course with the conditions of their probation.

People on probation have set goals and rules on which the success of their rehabilitation depends. A probation officer is charged with seeing that persons assigned to probation adhere to these following goal and rules:

1. They must be employed, actively seeking employment, or register for school.

2. They must notify their probation officer of any changes in employment, phone number, or address.

3. They must not receive any new charges.

4. They may not leave the jurisdiction of the probation without first notifying their probation officer.

5. They must be present for all scheduled appointments or give 24 hours notice if unable to attend.

6. They must pay any restitution, court costs, fines, or other costs incurred by their judgment.

Statistics show that 86% of all those on probation violate or are otherwise repeat offenders.

Job requirements-

Probation officers should be in good physical and emotional condition. Most agencies require applicants to be at least 21 years old. Those convicted of felonies are not usually eligible for hire in this occupation. Prior employment in such areas as court services, corrections, drug abuse treatment, or counseling may aid towards any requirement for previous work experience.

Education-

Qualifications vary by agency, but a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice is one of the most common requirements. Most applicants are required to complete oral, written, psychological, and physical certification examinations for probation officer licensing.

Training-

Many probation officers work as trainees, on a probationary period of up to a year, before obtaining a permanent position.

Skills-

A probation officer must have the following skills to be successful:

1. Excellent listening abilities since you need to absolve what is being said.

2. The skill to work effectively with others because you need to deal with offenders and their families.

3. The ability to communicate effectively. This is because you will be required to testify in the court of law. The last thing you need is to fumble around when the time comes.

4. The skill needed to write reports. The job requires you to write progress reports on the offenders you are working with. This report will go to courts and will be read by judges and lawyers.

5. You will need to know basic self defense skills. The criminal offenders you supervise can get violent sometimes. You need to be able to protect yourself before law enforcement officers get there.

There you have it—-the skills and training you need to become a probation officer. If you are interested, I encourage to do more reading on the internet. You can do this if you visit websites that cover the probation officer profession in more detail.

Note: You are free to reprint or republish this article. The only condition is that the Resource Box should be included and the links are live links.

Copywrite Kenneth Echie. Kenneth is a writer for Criminal Justice Schools and Degrees. Get free scholarship report and learn to become a Probation Officer by visiting. Affiliated website: Extra Income Ideas

If you ask somebody what their job or profession is, and after they’ve answered, you will probably have a general idea of what they do. Common terms are something we associate with; it helps us to feel knowledgeable about the world around us.

What if I asked you this question, “Do you know what a forensic accountant does?”

Since I associate forensics with science and accounting with numbers, I would have to say they count and number bones. Well, if you thought that too, we’d both be wrong. A forensic accountant does use their knowledge of accounting, but they are also able to use investigation techniques to help solve financial and business problems.

Still sound boring?

Just wait.

What does it take to become a forensic accountant?

You will have to have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. It will also help to be a CPA, Certified Public Accountant. You may want to add CFE, Certified Fraud Examiner to your list of credentials.

You will need to possess a strong attention to detail. Most people have this trait when working in this field, but having an investigative mind is an asset to your profession. It does take an education in accounting but it also takes somebody who has a desire to help solve crimes.

You could be working bankruptcy, money laundering, and even capital crime cases. Anything that has to do with business dealings, analytical research and being allowed to be curious while working is what sets you apart from a regular accountant. You’ll still be using your accounting skills but as more of an investigator.

Are you getting interested now?

Why would you want to be a forensic accountant?

Why not?

It would surely be one of those interesting careers that would cause people to ask questions once you’ve told them; and who doesn’t like to tell people about what they do for a living, especially when it is intriguing.

You would be working with legal issues such as money laundering and fraud. Forensic accounts often look over other peoples work too to see if any avenues haven’t been explored, they are always hunting for patterns. They are allowed to be investigative and still work within the scope of their profession. Since a forensic accountant deals with many legal cases, they can also participate as expert witnesses.

If you watch Law & Order: CI you may have seen a character named Leon Martel. He plays a forensic accountant on the show. Television helps to recognize unknown professional and there is no doubt that those who do work in this field know the importance of their contribution. There’s no guarantee that a spin off show will be produced based on this character, but its interesting to see what a forensic accountant does while assisting law enforcement.

It is sounding better and better isn’t it?

How rewarding is a career as a forensic accountant?

It’s very rewarding. You’ll be able to work for insurance companies, financial institutions, local law enforcement or even the FBI.

If you love to join this rewarding profession, I encourage you to do more research on the web. You can do this by visiting websites that cover the profession in more detail.

Note: You are free to reprint or republish this article. The only condition is that the Resource Box should be included and the links are live links.

Copywrite Kenneth Echie. Kenneth writes for Criminal Justice Schools. Get free scholarship report and learn to become a Forensic Accountant by visiting. See Also: Extra Income Secrets

Did you know that your event registration process can significantly impact your registrations? A smooth registration process can change the way they look at your business. It can decrease complications and complaints at your trade show, meeting, or seminar. It can even lead to more registrants and lower no show rates.

Use this report to revile the little things that make life simpler for your registrants - while greatly reducing your own workload.

#1 Do the work for your competitors: Many event registrants are frustrated by the length of time it takes to fill out a registration form. Yet many of these same registrants are previous customers of the organization holding the event. That means there’s no reason these event organizers should require them to re-submit every piece of personal information.

Instead, all event organizers should be using auto-recall to pre-populate personal and business information whenever possible. Not only does this practice dramatically reduce time spent in the registration process, but it also decreases the number of people who abandon the process and reduces errors in your reporting. This simple feature can improve the attendee experience while making sure you always have accurate contact information for follow-ups and promotions.

#2 Make Networking Easier with Directories: As social networking becomes more important to attendees both before and after events, event organizers increasingly depend on good networking opportunities to make their events stand out. Those opportunities start during the registration process.

Make sure you’re providing a quick link to a directory of event attendees both during your registration process and in your confirmation email. The kind of information you provide on that directory will vary, but many organizers include names of attendees, email addresses and even a list of sessions people are attending. This technique immediately engages your attendee with your event, allowing her to reach out to friends or set up meetings.

#3 Put Your Attendees in the Driver’s Seat: A single miscommunication can ruin an attendee’s experience at an event. So, why do 80% of event planners still rely on manual systems to manage things like contact information, hotel reservations and nearly every attendee preference?

Take the time to set up a way for your registrants to choose their own preferences and make changes to those preferences before the event. The best registration process will make this easy for attendees, and a select few will even provide reports that can be shared with hotels, caterers and event planners in real time. These shared reports ensure that all preferences are updated and accurate at all times, leading to stress-free attendees and smoother events.

#4 Get Rid of Paper-Based Processes: Event organizers often worry that high-tech registration options will alienate a portion of their target audience. Yet you’ll be surprised how quickly even your most traditional users will adapt to online registration. In fact, many event organizers have found that removing paper registration all together has led to higher attendance, happier attendees and much fewer complications at events.

Case in Point: The Religious Conference Management Association worried that its traditional, faith-based group would struggle with online church event registration. Yet it knew that its lengthy and arduous paper registration process was frustrating for attendees and costly for the organization. Last year, however, more than 85% of its annual conference attendees registered online - and the organization was flooded with compliments on the new, easier registration process. In addition, RCMA chose to eliminate paper surveys after its event and move all post-show follow up online, which increased its response rate from 5% to 32%.

#5 Re-Confirm to Eliminate No Show: Are you tired of dealing with no-shows at events? If you’re like most event planners, seeing a stack of unused name badges at the end of an event is frustrating. But in many cases, it’s not the registrants fault. Instead, the failure to recognize no-shows before events falls on the shoulders of the event organizer.

The good news is there is a way to identify no-shows before your events - yet it’s one of the least-used features in event registration. It’s called “click-to-confirm” reminders, and it allows event organizers to send a series of triggered email reminders leading up to an event, asking attendees to confirm that they will be attending the event. This practice allows organizers to weed out people who have changed their minds and open up spaces for sold out events. In addition, the extra action taken by your attendees reminds them about the event and reaffirms their commitment to attend.

Case in Point: Grant Writing USA, a leading provider of workshops and educational materials that focus on grant writing and grant management, had a big problem with excessive no shows at its workshops. The organization now sends click-to-confirm emails for all events, and that practice has reduced its no show rate to nearly zero.

#6 Encourage Groups: More than 30% of attendees register as a group, and research shows that attending events in a group improves the experience. Yet most event organizers fail to encourage groups. In fact, most registration systems fail to even automate group registration, leading to lost opportunities and frustrated group leaders.

There are two important things you should be doing to encourage group registrations: Provide discounts for people who register as part of a group. This practice not only increases attendance, but increases attendees’ satisfaction at your events.

Second, make group registration as easy as possible by handling it within your standard registration process. Make sure it’s easy to add group members by streamlining the process and auto-inserting information where possible. Also, don’t make the mistake of failing to communicate with individual group members. Make sure your system is set up to send confirmations and reminders to the group leader and every member of the group.

A single miscommunication can destroy an attendee’s experience at an event.

So, why do 80% of event organizers still rely on manual processes to manage things like meal preferences, room blocks and nearly every attendee preference? Take the time to set up a way for your attendees to choose their own preferences and make self-service changes to those preferences before the event. The best registration systems will make this process easy for attendees, and a select few will even provide reports that can be shared with hotels, caterers and event organizers in real time. These shared reports ensure that all preferences are updated and accurate at all times, leading to happier attendees and smoother events.

#7 Build Better Badges: A badge is a badge, right? Nope. Not anymore. In fact, top event organizers are realizing that badges can play a crucial role in tying registration information to the event. Most sophisticated registration platforms will allow you to enhance your badges with group information, color coding and even an agenda.

Make sure you’re branding your badges, agendas and signage to match your registration form. In addition, provide your attendees with a complete list of their session selections and preferences when they receive their badge. This practice will immediately address any issues before confusion sets in, and it will remind your attendees of the selections they made during the registration process.

#8 Make Every Question Relevant: If you confuse attendees, you lose them. Usability studies show that attendees struggle with long registration forms, particularly when those forms contain information that isn’t relevant to the attendee. More and more event organizers are using something called conditional logic to avoid that pitfall.

Conditional logic is based on statements, which use triggers within the registration form to dynamically display appropriate information. So, for example, if I have a golf networking event, I may ask an attendee if they would like to attend. If that attendee answers “no,” they will never see information on tee times, t-shirt sizes or transportation. On the other hand, if that attendee chooses “yes” he will automatically see the appropriate questions.

Very complicated events are using conditional logic to dramatically streamline the registration process, but even small events can use this technology to greatly reduce registration headaches for attendees while reducing workload for event organizers.

J. Demery is an online event specialist for RegOnline.com the leading event management and planning software company. To date, Regonline has hosted over 3 million registrants and over 100,000 events. Create custom event websites, online registration forms, and manage event attendees and registrants from one easy to use system.