Turn event registrations into calendar invitations
Someone registers for your workshop and Google Calendar sends them the invitation, with their details in the event.
New submission on your event or webinar registration form
Create an event on the registration date with the attendee's email on the guest list
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
Registration confirmations get read once and buried. A calendar invitation stays put, shows up in the attendee's week and pings them the morning of the workshop, which is the difference between a full room and a half-empty one.
Event coordinators running recurring sessions — training days, community workshops, monthly webinars — set this up once per event. Every sign-up gets its own hold, and the coordinator sees the booked list on the calendar without exporting anything.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish the registration form and keep Email Address required — that address is what receives the invitation and the reminder.
- 2
In Zapier, watch New Submission on that form and add Google Calendar's Create Detailed Event action.
- 3
Create a dedicated calendar for the workshop and select it in the action, so a hundred sign-ups do not bury the coordinator's own week.
- 4
Type the workshop's date and start time straight into the start and end fields. The date is fixed, so nothing needs mapping there — only the attendee changes.
- 5
Write the summary as the workshop name plus Full Name, so the coordinator can scan who is booked in the month view.
- 6
Map Email Address to attendees and set Send updates to all guests, otherwise external addresses are added silently and never hear from Google.
- 7
Put Ticket Type, Organization or Company and Dietary Restrictions into the description, so the catering and badge run come off one screen.
- 8
Register yourself as a test, confirm the invitation arrives and the room details read correctly, then turn the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Event Registration Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Google Calendar |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Appended to the workshop name in the event summary |
| Email Address | Guest on the event, so the attendee gets the invitation and the reminder |
| Ticket Type | Event description, and the value a path can branch on for different sessions |
| Organization or Company | Event description, for the badge and the attendee list |
| Number of Additional Guests | Event description, so the room count is right before the day |
| Dietary Restrictions | Event description, where catering picks it up with the rest of the booking |
Variations worth knowing
Swap Create Detailed Event for Add Attendee/s to Event and point it at a single workshop entry you made by hand. The calendar stays tidy, every registrant is a guest on the same event, and the guest count is the registration count.
A conference with a workshop day and a main day needs two holds. Put Ticket Type into a Zapier paths step so full-pass registrants get both events and day-pass registrants get one, without running two separate forms.
If something isn't arriving
Nothing deduplicates on the calendar side. Add a Zapier filter backed by Storage keyed on Email Address, so a second submission from the same address stops before the Google Calendar step and only the coordinator is notified.
Events exist only for registrations that arrived after the Zap was switched on, and failed runs sit in Zapier's history. Treat formformform responses as the count that matters, then replay the failed runs to fill the gaps.
Frequently asked questions
Do attendees need a Google account to get the invite?
No. Google Calendar emails the invitation to any address, and Outlook or Apple Calendar will add it from that email. Only guests who want to RSVP from inside Google Calendar itself need an account.
Can I see who has accepted?
Each event shows its guest's RSVP status, so a scan of the workshop calendar tells you who confirmed. For the full picture — ticket type, dietary needs, organisation — filter and export the responses in formformform.
What happens if we move the workshop date?
Update the existing events in Google Calendar and it notifies the guests. Change the start value in the Zap as well, or registrations arriving afterwards will keep landing on the old date.
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Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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