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How to | Backfill Registrants & Attendees

If you need to retroactively add registrants or attendees to an event, you can use this backfill method to quickly create registrant records in bulk.

This article walks you through how to format your CSV, generate the correct hapily Registration Trigger, and import the records into HubSpot so event•hapily can automatically create (and label) registrants.

This process allows you to:
  • Create historical registrant records
  • Apply correct registration behaviors (registered, walk-up, pending, waitlisted)
  • Ensure your reporting, lists, and workflows reflect accurate registration data

 

Step 1: Prepare Your CSV File

Create a CSV file that contains the following required properties for each Contact you want to backfill:

Registration Backfill CSV Example

Property

Description

First Name

Contact’s first name

Last Name

Contact’s last name

Email

Contact email (used as unique identifier)

hapily Registration Trigger*

JSON value defining what action event•hapily should take (see step 2 for instructions on creating the correct value)

You may also include any optional contact fields (e.g., Job Title), as long as:

  • The property exists on the Contact in HubSpot

  • The property exists on the hapily Registrant in HubSpot

  • The property is setup to be copied to the hapily Registrant via the workflow “event•hapily | New Registrant Created”

📌 Tip: The email field will be the unique token used to update existing contacts.

 

Step 2: Generate the “hapily Registration Trigger” Value

Each row in your CSV requires a hapily Registration Trigger JSON payload.

hapily Registration Trigger JSON Generator Example

  1. Go to https://event.hapily.com/trigger

  2. Enter the following:

    • Event ID: hapily Event Record ID

    • Session IDs (optional): hapily Session Record IDs

    • Behavior (choose one)

  3. Copy the generated JSON (hapily_registration_trigger JSON) and paste it into the CSV’s hapily Registration Trigger column for each appropriate row.

Behavior

Key

What It Does

Register the Contact

register

Creates the registrant record and marks the contact as Registered

Create Walk-Up Registration

walkup

Creates registrant + marks the person Registered AND Attended

Create Pending/Delayed Registration

pending

Associates the contact to the event with the label Pending Registration

Put Contact on Waitlist

waitlist

Associates the contact to the event with the label Waitlisted for Event

 

Step 3: Import the CSV Into HubSpot

  1. In HubSpot, go to Contacts → Import

  2. Choose Import a file

  3. Upload your CSV

  4. Import as Contacts

  5. Select Email as the unique identifier to ensure you update existing contacts

HubSpot will:

  • Update existing Contacts where emails match

  • Create new Contacts where needed

📌 Tip: For detailed instructions on importing CSV files, check out HubSpot’s guide for the HubSpot Import Tool.

 

Behind the Scenes: How event•hapily Processes the Backfill

Once contacts are imported:

  • The hapily Registration Trigger value fires

  • event•hapily creates the correct hapily Registrant record

  • The appropriate status and association labels are applied

  • The workflow “event•hapily 🐳 | New Registrant Created” copies custom mapped contact properties (such as Job Title) onto the registrant

Your events will now reflect accurate registration and attendance data.

Summary

Backfilling registrants allows you to:

✔ Import historical registration and attendance data

✔ Automatically generate correct registrant statuses and associations

✔ Update existing contacts using email as the unique identifier

✔ Include custom fields when supported by your New Registrant Created workflow

 

Next Steps