Saturday open morning, and Monday after it
Your autumn open morning has two hundred families booked through an online form. On the day, reception has a printed list, tour guides are sixth formers with clipboards, and a steady stream of families arrive who did not book. Some who booked do not come. The head gives a talk, the heads of department run stands, and it goes well.
On Monday, the registrar faces the list. Who actually came? Which families were interested in boarding, or the sixth form, or a music scholarship? Which walk-ins left their details, and on what? A week later, a general thank-you email goes to everyone who booked, including the families who never turned up.
Event bookings are kept apart from admissions
Open event bookings are often handled by the marketing team in a form or ticketing tool, while admissions keeps its own records. The two lists are never quite joined. On the day, attendance is not recorded in a way that reaches either system, so follow-up is generic.
- Booking forms create a new list each event, not a link to the family's record.
- Families already known to admissions are booked as if they were new.
- Attendance on the day is ticked on paper, if at all.
- Interests (boarding, sixth form, scholarships) are noted on clipboards.
- Walk-in families' details are collected on scraps or not at all.
What generic follow-up costs
Families who came and were interested get the same email as those who never showed up. Families who wanted a follow-up about the music department never hear from it. The registrar spends Monday matching lists. And you cannot tell which families came to which events before registering, which makes it hard to plan the next event well.
Open event booking we build
- Families book through a form on your website that asks for the child's current school, entry year and interests, and links to an existing family record if there is one.
- Tour groups are planned from the bookings, grouped by entry year or interest, and each guide gets a list on a phone or a printout.
- On the day, families are checked in on a tablet at reception; walk-ins are added in the same screen in under a minute.
- Staff at department stands can note a family's interest against their record, for example 'wants to meet the director of music'.
- After the event, families who attended get a follow-up tailored to their entry year and interests; families who booked but did not come get an invitation to the next event or a private visit.
- Every booking and attendance is recorded on the family's admissions record.
| Family | Follow-up | Recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Booked and came | Tailored to entry year and interests | Attended, interests noted |
| Booked, did not come | Invitation to next event or a visit | Did not attend |
| Walked in | Same as booked and came | Created on the day |
| Asked for a department follow-up | Passed to that department with a date | Task on the record |
After the next open morning
By Monday lunchtime every family who came has a record, their interests are noted and a tailored follow-up is on its way. The director of music has a list of three families to contact. The families who did not come have been offered another date. The registrar spends Monday talking to families, not matching lists.
Across a year, you can see which events families attended before they registered, which helps decide whether a Saturday open morning or a weekday taster works better for each entry point.
Is this your open morning?
- Open event bookings are kept separately from admissions records.
- Attendance is ticked on paper or not recorded.
- Every family gets the same thank-you email.
- Walk-in families' details go missing.
- Departments never receive the follow-ups families asked for.