Importing your registration list from Eventbrite, Cvent and spreadsheets, without the cleanup

Almost every event app needs your registrant list, and almost every registration tool exports it differently. Eventbrite calls it "Attendee #", Cvent a "Confirmation Number". One tool says "Ticket Type", another "Registration Type". Google Forms headers are whatever questions you asked. The traditional fix is an afternoon in a spreadsheet, renaming columns to match a template.

It doesn't need to work that way.

Take the export as it is

A good importer reads the columns you have:

• Names whether they arrive as "Full Name" or as "First Name" and "Last Name"
• Emails from "Email", "Email Address" or "Attendee Email", while ignoring "Buyer Email" and newsletter opt-in columns
• Roles from ticket types: "Exhibitor Staff" becomes booth staff, "Speaker Pass" a speaker
• Registration IDs from the tool's own attendee number, so the next import matches the same people

And when it can't tell what a column is, as with a form question like "What's your company called?", it should show you and let you pick.

Handle cancellations

Registration lists change. People cancel, get refunded, sit on a waitlist. Your event app should read the status column:

• Cancelled, refunded or declined: remove them if they were imported before, and don't add them if they weren't
• Waitlisted or pending: leave them out until they're confirmed
• Attending or checked in: import as normal

Import again without duplicates

You'll import more than once: early registrants, then the final list, then walk-ins. Each import should update the people who are already there, matched by the registration tool's ID first and then by email, and add the new ones. Nobody should end up in the app twice.

One trap: group orders. Some tools repeat the buyer's email for every ticket in an order. Since email is how attendees sign in, two people can't share one. A good importer flags these rows instead of silently merging them.

Preview before anything changes

The most important feature of any importer is the preview: every row, what will happen to it (new, update, removed, left out) and why. Only then do you press Import.

Export, too

After the event you'll want the list back, with what each person did: whether they used the app, check-ins, booth visits, meetings and points. That export should import straight back in, so you can make bulk changes in a spreadsheet when that's easier.

That's how Eventlane's registrant import works, from Eventbrite, Cvent, Bizzabo, HubSpot, Google Forms or any spreadsheet.