**Role of Working Group**
- to create rego form for website
- Decide on rego prices with finance team
- Organise what needs to be at Rego table during SoS
- Ensure participates get all info at Rego table
- Decide on subsidies with Finance group

**Number of People **

**What we did**

Went well:
 - Registration form was ace! Using googledocs made collecting data easy, as there was no need for manual data entry.
 -
Invoices were clear (giving directions how to pay), and were really
useful for encouraging people to get their universities/co-op's to pay.
 -
Looking at previous docs from newcastle, and then fashioning my own...
(you'll need these for
medical/diatary/camping/billeting/subsidies/paid/...)

Could be improved:
 - Discuss the prices in depth, and discuss them early.
Opening a timely registration depends on this. This year we scaled rego
prices depending on your state (in recognition of traveling costs).
This was a great idea, although it scared away some Victorian's.
Despite the inbuilt travel subsidy in the registration fee, a lot of
people still asked for travel subsidies (from the subsidy budget*).
 - Have a subsidy working group.
The role of this group is to approve/reject subsidies anonymously (so
that the people looking after registration don't do it). We tried, but
our collective was too small, and people had too many tasks to remember
to approve/reject subsidies within a reasonable amount of time. In the
end I approved/rejected all the subsidies which is rather dodgy
considering I had access to everyone's names. Nonetheless it was ok, as
I'm new to the scene and didn't know anyone anyway - so there were no
preferences.
 - Don't do this job alone. I highly recommend you form a little team, which would provide backup in case someone gets sick/needs to leave/etc.
 -
During the conference, don't make the registration desk a regular
volunteer shift. It drove me crazy that a heap of people left the
conference without paying just because volunteers didn't take their
shift at the registration desk seriously - ie. didn't bother asking
about payments, etc
 - During the conference, the registration desk
wasn't as well informed as it could have been. Next year, I recommend a
bigger space, with up-to-date notice boards, etc. Treat it like a hub
of information? (that sounds really corny)

** Timeline**

** Things to think about**
- when to close rego

To
whoever intends on looking after registration next year, be aware that
it's a very big and time-consuming job. Nonetheless, it's a very
important one! And if you stay on top of things, it'll be totally fine.
After two months of emailing and invoicing activists from all around
Australia, I realised I'd become rather addicted to checking an
eclectic inbox - filled with thanks, sustainability inspiration and
relationship advice!
If you need any help throughout the coming
year, don't hesitate to ask. (Plus I'm sure I'll add more thoughts to
this list as they come)
Good Luck!
Ginny (v.trescowthick@ugrad.unimelb.edu.au)  

SUBSIDIES
Subsidies were a bit hard. It was hard to have a fair and consistent way of deciding who would get a subsidy and for how much. We recommend setting a total amount for subsidies in the budget at the very start and sticking with that amount. We also recommend setting up clear guidelines for how to decide who gets a subsidy and for how much, based on different factors like income, their travel costs, etc. We also prioritised offering subsidies to Indigenous.
Our system involved a question in the rego form where people could explain their need for a subsidy. This was then sent from the rego person to a subsidy crew while keeping the identity of that person anonymous. The subsidy crew then send an email to me about there decision and then I inform the applicant of the subsidy they have received. During the conference someone who needed a subsidy was to talk with me or one of the subsidy crew and they where then given a subsidy. This in all was a big issue as people felt like they had to explain themselves to us or beg to be let in to the conference, it also made me feel like an ass hole and so I was just asking people "how much can you afford to pay" and just letting them pay that amount. I would recommend that you just have an 'equity price' say $50 or $70 which people can elect to pay in the rego form. included in this though should be an explanation of why this is made available and that sos is run on rego fees etc. etc. you can still expect lots of people to apply who need not too but that is just the way things are.
We priotorised people traveling from remote areas through sustainable transport and those from disadvantaged areas or backgrounds

Tips - we used google forms cos it automatically compiles the data for you - saved so much time!
* Have rego open as soon as possible, I reckon having it open 3 months before the conference is a minimum.
* Our conference registration form for 2008 was quite lengthy and on second thoughts had lots of questions that where perhaps not that relevant. e.g. how many sos have you been to in the past, is there something you would like to contribute etc. although theses questions sound good you will actually never get to use them unless you have ALOT of people working at SoS. We only had one person, I would say you need at least two. Also people date of birth may be considered a bit irrelevant also?
* Make sure you make "email address' a compulsory question to answer so you can contact them about payment
* Prices. Its a good idea to have an early-bird. we tried a new idea and made it the first 100 rego's got an early-bird price, this confused people as they didn't know when to get there rego in by, so I would recommend setting an early-bird date instead. also a waged rate and concession rate
* You will need someone who is consistently checking the registrations and compiling the relevant info into excel spreadsheets, eg. dietary requirements, billeting, language interpretation etc. also checking who has paid and putting this into a database also. We also had a rego email which receives a lot of questions so that also needs to be checked regularly.

** Documents
1) Questions to ask at Rego 08