A registration form for the event is usually already built by the time anyone looks for this: a platform is chosen, and what's missing is a way to get people from a printed flyer onto that form without a long address typed by hand. The QR code just carries the link, whether that's Google Forms, Eventbrite, Jotform or a custom page, since MakeQR only needs the public address, not a connection to the platform.
Timing is the part worth getting right: build the code from a link that is genuinely final, since a form still being edited, or a platform that might change before doors open, is exactly where a printed code stops matching the actual registration page.
From a finished form to a scannable flyer
Publish the registration form first
Finalize the fields, any fee, and the deadline before generating anything. A Google Form's Send option or an Eventbrite event page both give you a public link only once the form or event is actually live.
Confirm the link opens for someone outside your organization
A Google Form created on a work or school account can default to "restricted," opening only for people signed into that same organization. Test the link in a private browser window, signed out, before it goes anywhere near a printer.
Paste the link into MakeQR
Use the web address type and paste the form or event page URL exactly as copied. No connection to the registration platform is needed beyond that link.
Match the code to where it'll be seen
A lobby poster gets read from a few steps away and can run larger with more contrast; a flyer handed out gets read up close and can stay compact. Size for the actual viewing distance, not for how it looks on the page.
One form or several, one code or several
An event with a single registration path needs one code. A conference with separate sign-ups per workshop or breakout session needs one code per session, each pointing at its own form — a single shared code sending everyone to a generic landing page just adds a second click for people who already knew which session they wanted.
The code doesn't know about capacity or deadlines
Whether a form is still accepting responses, has closed, or has switched to a waitlist all happens on the registration platform, not in the code. A flyer left up after registration closes still scans fine; it just lands on whatever the form now shows, which is why the destination matters more than the code once printed material is out in the world.
A slide at an info session versus a handout
A code projected on a screen during a presentation is read from across a room, so it needs to be large and hold still for a few seconds while people scan it — a code that changes slide before anyone gets a clean shot is wasted. A handout or table card, by contrast, is read up close and can be small enough to sit in a corner of the page.
What the code actually points to
The exact public link to the registration form or event page — a Google Form's forms.gle address, an Eventbrite event URL, or a custom domain's registration path. Nothing about the attendee, the event's capacity or its price is stored in the code itself; all of that lives on the page the link opens.
https://forms.gle/Ab12Cd34Ef56Gh78Sizing it for a poster, a flyer or a badge insert
Follow the same distance rule as any printed code: about ten times the code's width in viewing distance. A handout or table card held at arm's length can use 20-25 mm; a poster meant to be read from across a lobby needs to scale up well beyond that.
Print it at least 20 mm (2.0 cm) wide
Why a registration code stops converting
Printing from a draft link
A Google Form or event page copied before it's set to public, or while it's still in draft, gives scanners an error or a login wall instead of the form.
Encoding a temporary landing page
A soft-launch page used before tickets go live on Eventbrite is a common source of dead codes once the real page replaces it — printed material built on that early link needs the destination updated, not just the platform.
Assuming a shortened link never changes
A link created through a separate URL shortener as a stopgap can be edited or deleted by whoever set it up, breaking every code printed against it without anyone touching the QR code itself.
Dynamic fits the way registration links actually move
It's common for an event to start with a placeholder sign-up page, move to Eventbrite once tickets open, and later switch to a waitlist form once seats fill — three different destinations behind what could be one printed poster if the code is dynamic instead of static.
How dynamic QR codes workWhere these codes end up printed
- A conference lobby poster next to the registration desk.
- A workshop flyer pinned to a community board.
- A race's sign-up sheet at a running store's counter.
- A webinar link dropped into an email signature as a small code instead of a URL.