Offering online registration helps greatly improve efficiency, eliminating unnecessary paperwork and streamlining sign-up for youth programs—but that’s not where the  benefits of online enrollment end.

In addition to simplifying and enhancing the enrollment process, online registration provides a great opportunity for youth program directors to proactively collect critical information. Capturing must-know information upfront better equips program staff to accommodate special needs and requirements for each child, giving family members peace of mind that their kiddos will be safe and sound.

Let’s discuss the different types of vital information that can be captured during online registration for your youth program.

5 Types of Information to Capture During Online Registration

Online registration starts with sharing basic information on each child, including name, age, birthday, gender, address, phone number, language at home, and parent and guardian information—but it doesn’t stop there. Each of the additional categories below includes vital details to ensure each child’s safety, comfort, and confidence during your program.

1. Health Information

Capturing relevant medical information about your program’s participants is an absolute must in order to protect each kid’s physical health and wellbeing. Health information may include data such as:

• Known allergies
• Dietary restrictions
• Medical conditions
• Physical restrictions
• Prescribed medications
• Past medical procedures
• Insurance information

2. Academic Needs

Is an academic curriculum part of your youth program? If so, your staff should be aware of students’ school connections and certain academic needs such as current or upcoming grade level, individualized learning requirements, or language barriers. Understanding academic needs can help you better serve students with the right staff and class placement and can inform your approach to family communication.

3. Environmental Needs

If your program includes outdoor activities, environmental needs are also an important consideration during online registration. This way, you can understand and accommodate special needs for kids with physical restrictions, as well as potential risks for your participants. For example, if your program involves planned water activities, you may want to ask about each child’s swimming experience.

4. Contact and Transportation Details

Collecting contact and transportation information is also essential during online registration. That includes guardian and emergency contact information (trusted family or friends who should be called in the event of an emergency if the child’s guardians can’t be reached), as well as details on who is authorized to pick up each of the children in your program. You should also give parents and guardians the opportunity to identify any restricted individuals who are not authorized for pickup.

5. Consent and Documentation

Online registration is also the time to collect important consent forms and documentation. There are a number of consent forms and waivers your program could request or require, such as:

• Medication administration (prescription, nonprescription, and topicals)
• Special dietary restrictions (such as nut-free or vegetarian diets)
• Emergency medical and health physical documentation
• Medical and physical waivers for demanding activities
• Photo and video release consent for marketing materials
  
  

How Arly Supports Efficient Capture of Information

Offering online enrollment for your youth program provides numerous benefits for everyone—especially with a platform like Arly. Arly makes it easy and efficient for participants to complete online registration so you can capture critical information right from the start, simplifying enrollment for everyone from family members to staff. Keeping all this data in a centralized repository and connected to your other systems, such as attendance tracking and communications, makes it easy to access the information you need whenever and wherever you need it.

Arly's online registration offers several built-in form elements, as well as the ability to create your own custom forms as needed—all of which can be set to required or optional. Plus, collecting and housing all important information in one place reduces the risk of potentially costly mistakes, such as storing missing or conflicting details.

With Arly at your disposal, you can identify and collect all of the most vital information you’ll need to know about program participants as part of your overall online registration process. 

Want to learn more about capturing key information during online registration using Arly? Reach out and request a demo for a firsthand look.