How Registration and Check-In Work
Registration happens before the event and check-in happens on the day. What check-in looks like depends on whether children are involved.
Hubl separates two things that feel like one: people register before an event, and they check in on the day. Keeping them apart is what lets you plan from the first number and report from the second.
The two halves at a glance
| Before the event | On the day |
|---|---|
| People register themselves on the public event page | You record who actually arrived |
| Answers the question “who is planning to come?” | Answers the question “who is here?” |
| Drives food, seating, name badges, group sizes, and reminder messages | Drives attendance figures and, for children, safe pickup |
| Managed from the event's Sign-ups tab | Managed from the event's Check-in tab |
Because they are separate, someone who registers and then does not turn up never counts as attended, and your attendance numbers stay honest.
Registration, before the event
Registration is how people tell you they are coming. They fill in a short form on your event’s public page and land on your list. For an ordinary event that form collects contact details and a guest count. For family events like Vacation Bible School it collects each child, their grade, allergies, and emergency contacts. Volunteers use the same form and are tracked alongside attendees.
Reading the list, adding someone who signed up by phone, and messaging the group are covered in See who is coming and message your attendees.
Note
Change what the button says
The button on the event page says Register unless you change it. Open the event, click the button's label on the page, and type your own wording. You can also click Edit sign-ups & price and use Button label, which offers RSVP and Sign up as ready-made choices. Use it when signing up means something specific: on a Christmas performance that kids can join, “Join the Choir” tells someone who only wants to watch that the button isn’t for them. Labels can be up to 24 characters.
When registration lives on another site
Some events are run by someone else, like a denominational conference, a camp, or a partner ministry, and sign-ups happen on their website. Open the event, click Edit sign-ups & price, set Where people register to On another site, and paste their link. Your event page still tells the story; the button sends people onward.
A deadline still works: once it passes, the link is hidden and visitors are told to contact the event organiser. Because sign-ups on someone else’s site are invisible to Hubl, Registered so far is a number you type in to keep the spots bar meaningful. It never closes registration on its own.
Tip
Check-in, on the day
What Check-in gives you depends on the kind of event.
Ordinary events: a printable sign-in sheet
For a potluck, a workday, a concert, or a men’s breakfast, the Check-in tab produces a sheet to print and put on a table by the door, with blank rows for people who turn up without registering. Click Print sign-in sheet to print it.
Note
Children’s events and VBS: a live check-in screen
Events that register kids get the full check-in experience: children move from Expected to On Site as they arrive, walk-ups can be added on the spot, and check-out records who collected each child from a list of the family’s guardians and any approved pickups they authorised in advance. That flow has its own guide: VBS event day check-in.
Note
Where volunteers fit
Volunteers register through the same form as everyone else and appear in the same list, marked with a heart and an approval status you control. They do not appear on the children’s check-in board, which is about children arriving and leaving; manage them from the registration list instead. Setting up volunteer sign-ups is covered in Setting up volunteer registration.