Many governments are requiring people running events to collect data about who attends the event. Your legal responsibilities regarding COVID and COVIDSafe plans are your responsibility and this article in no way communicates what you must do regarding COVID and any safety plans. But if you need to collect data about people attending a wedding or funeral you are attending, this is a quick and easy way of doing it safely and responsibly.

I’m not a fan of the data collection companies that have popped up offering to help with this responsibility this year. Data about who is at an event, when and where, and what their phone number, email address, name, and home address is – is powerful data.

So my advice to you is that you keep this data for the smallest amount of time possible, delete it as soon as you legally can, and in no way should you use it for your own marketing or data warehousing purposes.

One way to minimise the data you collect is to not actually collect it, so consider having a Contact Tracing Warranty and Release Form like the one Event Law can provide you. Or you can collect the data, and this article is on how to do that.

So let’s make an online form and then create a QR code wedding guests can scan to open that form.

1. Make an online form

Before you create a QR code to link to a form, you need to have a form to link to. You’re welcome to use any forms package you like, if it was me I would use my own WordPress website with a Gravity Forms form on a private page. But if you have a Google account, you can create a free form in Google Docs and that will save all of the responses in a Google Sheet.

I would create a new form for each wedding or event, so the data is 1) easily accessed, and then 2) in 28 days time, easily destroyed.

Before you create a form, you need to know what the form needs to collect. The Queensland government asks that I collect:

  • Full name
  • Phone number
  • Email address (residential address if unavailable)
  • Date and time period of patronage

So I go to docs.google.com, choose Forms from the sidebar and create a new blank form. There’s a “Contact Information” template you might want to edit as well, but I like starting fresh.

I’m giving the form the name of the event so I can sort the forms easily, and then delete easily. This also means the guest does not have to record their date, time, and location of event, because it’s in the title.

I make all fields “Short answer” fields and I make the name and phone number required, with email and address not required, but both available for filling out.

Under settings (via the gear icon) I want to select “Show link to submit another response” under Presentation and also add a confirmation message of “Your attendance at the wedding has been recorded” so the guest knows the form worked.

Once you’re happy with the form’s design and look, click Send to get a link to share. The link to my form is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeX5soDTlVuyFDnj8mpB1L8u_7mbFyFXPwZN-6zBiSpORTY_Q/viewform?usp=sf_link.

If I was cruel I could print that link on a poster and ask everyone to type it into their phone’s web browser. Or I could create a hyperlink/weblink with a QR code and let everyone scan it with their phones.

2. Make a QR Code

There are a large number of QR code generating apps and websites, all with varying levels of intensity, cost, and features.

We simply want a QR code without tracking, or sales data, or anything extra. You’re welcome to use any site or service you find that fits your needs, but I liked goqr.me because it wasn’t collecting extra data on me or my wedding guests.

Step one is to choose a type of QR code, choose the globe icon for a worldwide web link.

Step two is to copy and paste your Google Forms public link from the send page to the website address field on GoQR.

Step three is to download your QR code. To get the best print quality QR code choose the largest size, 1000, and download a PNG file because it’s the highest quality.

Here’s the QR code I downloaded.

And here’s what happens when you scan it.

Feel free to scan the QR code and fill out the form yourself to see how it works.