Importing Attendees into an Event

If you're using a third-party registration system or have some other reason for bringing attendees into your event from a source outside PheedLoop's own registration system, you're going to want to import attendees. Importing attendees is extremely simple and easy to do, either as individuals or in bulk. You can do this as often as you like as well, without duplicating data.

Duplicate Attendee Profiles

The unique identifier for an attendee in the PheedLoop system is their email address. As long as that is the same, no matter how many times you import the same attendee into the system, PheedLoop will simply update that attendee's record, not create a duplicate. If you do notice what you believe is a duplicated profile, open that attendee's record in your dashboard via the Attendee module, and compare it to the one you believe is the duplicate. You are likely to find that there is a subtle difference in the email address.

The capitalization (i.e. upper or lower cases) of email addresses does not matter, as all email addresses are immediately converted to lower case email addresses when brought into PheedLoop.

1. Importing a Single Attendee

From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Attendees > Attendees
Above the attendee table, select Create
Fill out the required details of Email, First Name, and Last Name
1. The rest of the details in attendee creation are not required for the profile to be saved but still allow for extensive customization.

Quick tip - In the case that the attendee already exists in your database, you may need to edit the existing profile instead of creating a new one.

2. Importing Multiple Attendees

To import attendees in bulk, say prior to a PheedLoop powered event for which you've been using a third-party registration tool, a simple to use bulk import tool exists.

Accessing the Bulk Upload Template:

From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Attendees > Attendees
Above the attendees table, select the cloud icon with an upward pointing arrow on the left hand side
Select Download Template
1. This will download a CSV file which can be opened in any spreadsheet editor.

Filling Out and Uploading Attendee Data:

From the downloadable CSV file template, fill out the required information firstName, lastName, and email fields then save the file
1. There are other fields to fill out as well, these are optional.
2. When assigning multiple tags or other fields, please separate them with a comma.
From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Attendees > Attendees
Above the attendees table, select the cloud icon with an upward pointing arrow on the left hand side
Upload the filled out CSV file in the Click or Drag to Upload section
1. A preview of the data you will be uploading will appear to review.
Select Submit

Quick Tip - If there is a field that you don't want to fill out for your attendee import - simply leave the column blank. Empty columns are ignored upon uploading. The only required fields are in step #1.

Quick Tip - if you are updating attendees in bulk using our import tool - please note that the document will update the attendee's profile. As a result, be careful with the import. For example if an attendee has a field filled for organization and the uploaded CSV file has nothing filled in, in that organization column, the updated profile will delete that data.

Headings in the Attendee Import Template

email	This is the email which will be designated to the attendee profile. This is a required field.
first_Name	The first name of the attendee. This is a required field.
last_Name	The last name of the attendee. This is a required field.
title	The title of the attendee.
designations	The designation the attendee holds.
pronouns	Enter the preferred pronouns of the individual under this column.
organization	The organization the attendee belongs to.
code_Internal	used if the event or organization has internal codes for individual profiles, for example, a contact ID. This column will populate in the Attendee's Internal Code field under Other Details in the Event Dashboard.
dietary_restrictions	List any dietary restrictions the attendee might have.
accessibility_requirements	List the accessibility requirements the attendee might have.
about	This column is the Bio of the attendee.
address_line_1	The first address of the attendee
address_ine_2	The second address of the address, typically secondary locations.
address_city	The city affiliated with the address of the attendee.
address_state	The state affiliated with the address of the attendee.
address_zip	The zip code affiliated with the address of the attendee.
address_country	The zip code affiliated with the address of the attendee.
address_phone	The designated phone number affiliated with the attendee.
unsub_announcement_email_notifications	This will toggle on or off from the Unsubscribe From Announcements checkbox, fill out TRUE or FALSE.
is_allowing_chat_requests	This will toggle on or off from the Attendee Messaging Allowed checkbox, fill out TRUE or FALSE.
profile_visible	This will toggle on or off from the Profile Visible checkbox, fill out TRUE or FALSE.
tags	Fill out the code affiliated with the tags which the attendee will be categorized as for the event.
contact_groups	List any contact groups from the Membership Dashboard for the attendee to be assigned to. For more information on contact groups, please review our How to Add Contact Groups article.
contact_organization	List any organizations from the Membership Dashboard for the attendee to be assigned to. For more information on organizations, please review our Creating Organizations in the Membership Dashboard article.

How to Assign Tags to Attendees Using the Attendee Import

When importing attendees in bulk, there are a considerable amount of columns and pieces of information to include. One of these is the Tag feature which could be immensely helpful to organize all the attendees you have and which tags should be associated with them. Simply paste the tag name into the tag column of the attendee template and the tag will automatically be assigned to the attendee.

Implementing Tags in the Attendee Import

From the downloadable attendee import CSV file template, under the tags column, paste the tag name
1. If you want to add multiple tags to the attendee, separate each tag with a comma.
Fill out the required information under firstName, lastName, and email
1. Under the codeInternal column, fill out the information required for Internal Code. This is used if the event or organization has internal codes for individual profiles, for example, a contact ID.
2. For more information on the heading columns, please review our Adding Editing and Using Attendee Tags article.
Save the document as a CSV file
From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Attendees > Attendees
Above the attendee table, select the cloud with the upward arrow icon
Upload the filled out CSV file in the Click or Drag to Upload section
Select Submit

3. How to Download Attendee Information

If you are looking to update information about existing attendees, you are able to do this using the import tool. For this you would need to first download the existing attendees. To do this:

Creating an Attendee Custom Report:

From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Data & Reports > Custom Reports
Above the custom reports table, select Create
Under Report Type, select Attendees from the list
Fill out the required field of Name
1. Under Fields, select fields like Full Name, Email, and others relating from gamification, information, check-in details and more.
Select Save Changes

Downloading the Attendee Custom Report:

From the Event Dashboard, navigate Data & Reports > Custom Reports
Select the custom report you would like to download from the list
Above the custom reports table, select Actions > Generate Report
Select Download Previous Report beside the selected custom report when it becomes available

Using PheedLoop's Open API

PheedLoop's open API (available here) provides a highly customizable way for you to bridge different software systems and/or automate your workflows. While we cannot provide support with the development of your own code, we suggest exploring the "attendees" section of the API. Specifically, the add attendees PUT endpoint can be used to import attendees via custom code.