How to issue attendance certificates for an event
Most of the work is not the design. It is knowing who attended, getting their names right and sending each person the right file. This is the order that keeps it simple.
Short answer
Decide what counts as attendance, build a clean list of names and emails, design one certificate with merge fields, then issue to the whole list. Certifyd imports the list from a CSV file, fills in each name and emails every attendee a PDF with a verification page and QR code.
Decide what counts as attendance
Write the rule down before the event. Is it simply being registered, being present for the whole session, or passing a short check at the end? A certificate of attendance says someone was there; a certificate of completion says they met a requirement. Using the right word avoids awkward questions later.
Prepare the attendee list
Certifyd needs three columns to import people: first name, last name and email. Organization and notes are optional. Headers can be in English or Spanish, and the importer reads comma, semicolon or tab separated files from Excel.
- Check the spelling of every name, because it prints on the certificate.
- Use the email the person actually reads, since delivery goes by email.
- Remove people who registered but did not attend before you import.
If you collect sign-ups through Certifyd, each event can have a public sign-up form, so the list builds itself.
Design once, issue to everyone
- Start from an attendance template and add your logo, the event name and the date.
- Preview it with a long name and a short one to see how the text fits.
- Issue to the list. If you run the event again, people who already have a certificate are skipped.
Certifyd issues certificates after the event from a list. It does not scan people in at the door.
After sending
Each attendee gets a PDF, a verification page and a QR code, and a portal where they can download or share it, including adding it to LinkedIn. You can see counts of views, shares, downloads and verifications. Re-sending an email never uses another credential.
The free plan covers 12 credentials a month, so a larger event needs a paid plan or a list split across months.
Timing and wording that avoid support emails
Attendees ask the same few things after every event. A little preparation answers most of them before they are asked.
- Send within a few days, while people still remember the event and still read the email.
- Say in the email what the certificate recognizes and that it carries a verification link.
- Tell people where to find it again: the recipient portal keeps their credentials in one place.
- Give a contact for corrections, because someone will always have a name change or a typo.
Keep the event name and the date identical everywhere they appear. A certificate that says one thing while the event page says another invites exactly the kind of question the certificate was meant to settle.
Checklist before you issue
- The attendance rule is written down and shared.
- Every name is spelled the way it should print.
- Everyone on the list actually attended.
- You issued one test certificate to yourself.
- You know how many credentials your plan has left this month.
Questions
Can I give speakers a different certificate?
Yes. Design a second certificate or a badge for speakers and issue it to their own list. A certificate and a badge are each one credential.
What if I misspelled a name?
Revoke the certificate and issue a corrected one. The verification page of the old one then shows it as revoked.
How many attendees can I import at once?
A single CSV file can hold up to 10,000 rows and 10 MB. Your plan sets how many credentials you can issue each month.
