AI Summary
You print 200 flyers for your event, hand them out at every café and counter in town, and then wait. Some people will remember the URL, but most won’t!
That’s the gap a QR code closes, so the person holding your flyer doesn’t have to remember anything or type anything. They scan, your registration form opens, and they’re on the list.
WPForms builds the registration form and the QR code that opens it in the same place, so you only need one plugin and about ten minutes.
Create Your Event Registration Form Now! 🙂
How to Create a QR Code for an Event Registration Form
Doing this in WPForms keeps the code and the thing it opens in the same place, so you’re not pasting a web address into a separate generator and hoping you copied the right one.
Step 1: Install the WPForms Pro Plugin
WPForms is a drag and drop form builder for WordPress with more than 2,100+ templates, including ready-made ones for running events of any size. You start from a template and adjust the fields to suit your event.
What I like most about it for events is how little stands between a blank form and something you can print. The template does the structural work, and the QR setting is already waiting in the form’s own settings for a destination.
Now, about licenses, because this tutorial touches a few different tiers.
- Lite (free): The registration form, payments and a fully working QR code, carrying the WPForms logo in the middle.
- Basic: Stores your registrations and gives you numerous export options, if that’s a requirement, along with access to marketing integrations.
- Pro: A distraction-free landing page through Form Pages, your own logo on the code, and card payments with no added WPForms fees.
- Elite: Authorize.Net, if that’s the payment gateway you use, and want to use the same license across a number of different sites.
I’m using Pro throughout, because the landing page and the payment options both matter once you’re running a real event.
To get started, buy the Pro license. Then, install WPForms on your website. If you need help, follow these instructions on how to add a plugin to WordPress.
Step 2: Build Your Event Registration Form
The fields you pick here are the ones you’ll be working from on the day. Go ahead and open WPForms » Add New to start a fresh form.
In the template search box, type event, and the library narrows to the event templates.
Hover over the Online Event Registration Form template and click Use Template to open it in the builder.
The template arrives with the basics already in place, and from there I’d drop anything you won’t use and add what you will.
Here’s what each field is doing for you.
- Attendee Information: How you reach people with joining instructions and any last-minute changes.
- Ticket Type: A dropdown that becomes your door list, sorted by what people signed up for.
- Session checkboxes: They tell you how big each room needs to be before you book it.
- Number of Guests: A plain number field that feeds your catering count.
- Dietary or Accessibility Needs: An open text field, so somebody can flag a nut allergy or a wheelchair space you didn’t think to ask about.
Click the Ticket Type field on the canvas to open its settings, then set your options in the Choices list.
Now click the Email Address field and switch on Required, since a registration you can’t follow up on doesn’t get you very far.
Conditional logic and the Date/Time field both need Basic or higher, and they start to matter once your event runs sessions across more than one day.
For a slower walk through the form itself, there’s a full guide to building an event registration form in WordPress, plus a group registration form version for when people sign up in teams.
Click Save in the top right once the form looks right.
Step 3: Put Your Registration Form on a Page
Your QR code opens a page, and forms have no web address of their own, so the form needs somewhere to live before the code has anywhere to send people.
With the form still open, click Embed in the builder header.
WPForms asks whether you want to use an existing page or create a new one, so choose Create New Page.
Give the page a name a visitor would recognize, such as Event Registration, then click Create Page.
Publish the page, then open it the way a visitor would. This is what somebody sees a second after they scan your code.
If you’d rather work from the page side, you can also embed your form on a page with the WPForms block, and the docs run through all the ways to display a form.
Where a QR code scan lands matters more than it might seem, as somebody scanning a poster arrives with exactly one intention.
And a normal site page hands them a navigation menu, a cookie notice, and a footer full of other things to click. A page holding nothing but the form keeps that intention pointed at the sign-up.
Conversational Forms is the other route to a standalone address, and it also comes with Pro, asking one question at a time instead of showing the whole form at once.
Step 4: Point a QR Code at Your Registration Page
With a published page in place, the code itself takes about thirty seconds.
In the form builder, go to Settings » General and scroll to the bottom of the panel. Just below Submit Button Processing Text you’ll find a QR Code dropdown sitting on None.
This is the built-in QR Code setting from WPForms, and it works on every license level. You’ve got two ways to point it.
Option A: Point it at the page your form is on
Set the QR Code dropdown to Page. A Destination Page dropdown appears beside the code preview. Pick your registration page from that list. Start typing in the search box if the list is long.
Only published pages appear in that list, so publish the page first if it’s still a draft. And if your site has no published pages at all, the Page option vanishes from the QR Code dropdown, leaving just None and Custom URL.
Option B: Paste in a custom address
Set the QR Code dropdown to Custom URL instead. A Destination URL field appears, and you type the full address into it.
I’d reach for this option whenever there’s a chance the destination might move later.
Point the code at an address you own and can redirect yourself, and you can send people somewhere new without reprinting a thing. A dedicated landing page for a form makes a good candidate.
Step 5: Download the Code as an SVG and Size It for Print
The format you pick on the way out decides whether your code survives being blown up onto a banner. Click Generate QR Code below the destination settings.
A spinner runs while the code is built, and then your finished code appears in the preview. A Download button takes the place of Generate QR Code once it’s ready.
On a site running HTTPS you’ll get a Copy button alongside it, since browsers only allow copying to the clipboard on secure pages.
Click Download and pick your format i.e, PNG or SVG Vector. In general, PNG Image is a standard image file, and it’s the right pick for a website, an email, or a slide.
Meanwhile, SVG Vector is the one for anything heading to a printer, because it scales to any size without going soft at the edges, and your file saves as wpforms-qr-code.
So how big does the code need to be? The rule I work to is ten to one, so the printed code wants to be roughly a tenth of the distance people will scan it from.
| Where it goes | Read from | Make the code |
|---|---|---|
| Table tent, flyer, badge | Arm’s length, 1 to 2 ft | 1 to 1.5 in (2.5 to 3.8 cm) |
| Check-in sign, A3 poster | 3 to 5 ft | 3 to 4 in (8 to 10 cm) |
| Three-foot banner, wall board | 8 to 10 ft | 8 to 12 in (20 to 30 cm) |
| Trade show backdrop | Around 16 ft (5 m) | Around 20 in (50 cm) |
Whatever the distance, don’t go below about 0.8 inches square, and leave a clear margin around the code so the pattern has room to breathe.
Because the download is a vector, one SVG covers every row in that table. The same file that prints cleanly on a table tent prints cleanly at ten inches on a banner, with nothing to regenerate in between.
Run a proof before you commit to a full print run. Scan it from where people will actually be standing rather than from six inches away at your desk, and check it opens the registration page you expect.
Our documentation for QR codes covers the smaller details.
Step 6: Collect and Export Your Registrations
Your code is printed and people are scanning it, so the registrations now need to land somewhere you can work with. Go to WPForms » Entries and choose your event form. Every registration shows up here as it arrives.
Click View on any row to open that registration on its own.
You get the ticket type, the session choices, and whatever the person typed into the open field, which is where dietary and access notes turn up.
When you want the list on paper, head to WPForms » Tools » Export and pick your form.
Choose a format and download it, and because a CSV opens in any spreadsheet you can sort by ticket type and tick people off as they arrive.
Entry storage starts at Basic, and Lite doesn’t keep entries at all, so this is the one part of the workflow the free version can’t do for you. The docs cover everything your entries can do once you’re on a paid license.
Charging for tickets works on the same form, where Stripe Pro, Square Pro, and PayPal Commerce all come with Pro and add no WPForms fees on top of your payment processor, while Authorize.Net is an Elite addon.
There’s a full guide to manage event ticketing in WordPress if you’re selling seats rather than just collecting names. And that’s it. Your code is printed and your registrations are landing in the dashboard.
Start Collecting Event Registrations Today! 🙂
FAQs About QR Codes for Event Registration
A QR code for event registration raises the same handful of questions every time, and these are the answers.
Can I create a QR code for an event registration form for free?
Yes, the form and a fully working code are both in WPForms Lite, where the code carries the WPForms logo in the middle, and swapping that for your own logo needs Pro.
The catch is storage, because Lite doesn’t save entries and you’d be gathering registrations you can’t read back afterwards. Basic is the realistic floor if you want a usable list at the end of it.
Does the QR code link straight to my form?
It opens a page or a web address you choose, and your form is whatever happens to sit on that page.
Forms only get an address of their own through Form Pages or Conversational Forms. If you’re using either one, you can paste that address into the Destination URL field.
How big does a QR code need to be for people to scan it?
Roughly a tenth of the distance it’ll be scanned from, with about 0.8 inches square as the absolute floor. A table tent read at arm’s length needs an inch or so, while a banner read from ten feet away wants eight to twelve inches. The table back in Step 5 has the common sizes worked out.
Can I change where the code points after I’ve printed it?
No, the destination is baked into the pattern the moment you generate it, so a new destination means a new code and a reprint of anything the old one appeared on.
The way around it is to point your code at an address you control and can redirect later. Codes themselves don’t expire, and the static or dynamic distinction comes down to who owns the redirect in the middle.
Can each attendee get their own QR code for check-in?
Not with this setting. WPForms generates one shared code that opens your registration form, which is what goes on posters, flyers, and table tents.
Personal passes scanned at a door work differently, with each attendee’s code generated after they register and checked against a list on arrival, which is the job of dedicated check-in software.
Can I charge for event tickets on the registration form?
Yes, Stripe Pro, Square Pro, and PayPal Commerce come with Pro and don’t add WPForms fees on top of your payment processor, while Authorize.Net is an Elite addon.
Lite can take Stripe and PayPal Core payments as well, though WPForms adds its own processing fee at that level. There’s an online race registration form walkthrough that covers paid entries from start to finish.
Next, Get More People Through the Door
Now that registrations are flowing, it’s worth reading how to boost attendance at your next event, which goes through the channels that tend to fill seats fastest.
If you’re still weighing up how to run registrations in the first place, we’ve also got event registration plugins compared, which lays out where a form builder fits against a full event platform.
Build Your Event Registration Form Today! 🙂
Ready to build your form? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.
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