When it comes to confirming attendees at events (seminars, conferences, training programs etc) you hope you have time to post confirmation letters. Unfortunately this isn't always the case especially if you have done some last minute marketing.

There are several ways to ensure the confirmation letters reach the attendees in time. One is to pick up the telephone and tell them they are booked in and give verbal instructions over the phone. This is good but time consuming and should really only be used as a last resort - as in they booked five minutes before you were due to go home ahead of the course start date. Unlikely but it has happened to us before.

The other and slightly better way is to use e-mail. A simple email thanking the participant they have been booked on, attach any information they need, what to bring and timing along with a map and location details and press send. Unless the email system goes into melt down mode (make sure you have a read receipt for these items) the attendee will be in receipt of the information within seconds. If you can CC any other names (people who have booked their colleagues onto the courses are a good choice) you have - so that someone will be able to pass on the information.

Of course, the more sophisticated your booking system, the more automated these processes tend to be. But for the odd training course or event, simple can work just as well as the convoluted and often expensive systems.