Automating Participant Certificates: From Design to Delivery

Eventact creates a personal PDF certificate for each participant who meets the rules you set. You design the certificate once, decide who qualifies, and then send or print it.

The main idea: entitlement is checked per participant when the certificate is requested. That is why you can send the same message to everyone, even before the event, and only the people who qualify will get a certificate.

The workflow in short:

1. Upload your certificate artwork and place static text, participant fields, and QR codes on it.
2. Set eligibility criteria, such as check-in, ticket type, or session attendance.
3. Send the certificate link via email, SMS, or WhatsApp, or download the certificates as a PDF from the back office.

Go to Registration > Certificates and create a new certificate. The editor has three parts: page settings, eligibility criteria, and lines. A preview on the right updates as you work.

Background and Page

Eventact does not supply certificate templates. Design the certificate in any tool you like (Canva, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign), including all fixed elements: borders, logos, signatures, and stamps. Export it as a PNG or JPG and upload it under Page > Background.

In the same section, you set the page size and margins. The default is A4 landscape with 5 mm margins. Export your artwork in the same proportions so it fills the page without stretching.

Lines & Dynamic Content

Add anything that changes from one participant to the next as a dynamic line on top of your background graphic. Click Add line and choose what to display:

• Text & Participant Fields: Print dynamic attendee tags (such as {Contact.FullName} or {Certificate.IssueDate}) alongside any static text. Customize the typeface, point size, bold/italic styling, and text alignment (left, center, right). Text lines offer native Right-to-Left (RTL) support, correctly rendering bidirectional and mixed RTL/LTR phrases in the same line.
• Verification QR Codes: Place a dynamic QR code containing a secure verification link to prove the certificate's authenticity, or encode custom variable participant data for external scanning.
• Images & Profile Photos: Add logos, institutional seals, or dynamic participant photos pulled automatically from their profile (uploaded during registration or while using the event app for networking). If a participant hasn't uploaded a photo, the line remains blank.

Positioning (Auto or Exact Coordinates)

By default, all elements are automatically centered horizontally and vertically, so standard certificates require zero measurement. When you need precise placement, override the defaults by entering exact X and Y coordinates (in mm) to align text, photos, or QR codes with signatures, columns, or borders on your background artwork.

Drag lines by their handles to adjust the rendering order.

Preview

The preview shows your background with the lines in place. Fields appear as placeholders, such as {Contact.FullName}, and participant images are not shown. To check the real output, download a certificate for a test registrant (see Back-office download below).

Under Eligibility criteria, you define who is entitled to the certificate. The rules use live event data, so a participant's entitlement can change during the event. For example, someone who registered becomes eligible once they check in.

You can base the rules on:

• Arrival status. Issue the certificate only to participants marked as Arrived, through the Arrival app or a check-in station. No-shows don't get one.
• Ticket type. Limit the certificate to specific tickets or add-ons, such as a full conference pass or an accredited CME add-on.
• Session attendance. Require a scan at the entrance to a specific session or room. Useful for workshops that grant credits.
• Registration form and role. Target a specific form, or a role such as Speaker or Committee member.

Without criteria, every registrant is entitled to the certificate.

An event can have several certificates, each with its own design and rules. For example, one for general attendance and one for each accredited workshop.

When a participant qualifies for more than one, Eventact puts them in a single PDF, one page per certificate. The participant downloads one file, and you send one link.

There is no separate certificate mailing. You add the certificate field to any message you send from Eventact: a thank-you email, a feedback survey, an SMS, or a WhatsApp message.

1. Open the message in the Messaging module, or create a new one.
2. Insert the {Certificate.Download} field in the message body, or link a button to it.
3. Send the message to all registrants or to a filtered group.

Each recipient gets their own personal link.

What Happens When a Participant Opens the Link

Entitlement is checked when the participant opens the link, not when the message is sent. Eventact checks the participant's current data against the rules of every active certificate.

• Entitled: the PDF downloads, with all the certificates they qualify for.
• Not entitled: a page explains that no certificate is available for them.

Links stay valid for one year after the event ends.

Sending Before the Event

Because entitlement is checked on each visit, you can include the link in a message sent before the event, such as the final logistics email. The link works as soon as you send it. Until the participant meets the rules by checking in or attending the required session, it shows that no certificate is available yet. After that, the same link returns the certificate.

This also means you don't need to wait for check-in data to be complete before sending. If you add a late scan, the participant's existing link picks it up.

Staff can download certificates directly, without waiting for participants to open their links.

One Participant

Open the registrant's profile, go to Overview > About, and click Certificate. The button appears only when the event has at least one active certificate.

A Group of Participants

Use this to print certificates for handout at the venue, or to keep a PDF archive.

1. Go to the registration management page.
2. Filter the list, then select the registrants you need. You can select up to 2,000 at a time.
3. Click Bulk action and choose Print Certificate.

Entitlement is checked for each selected registrant. Before the file is built, a review window shows each one in green (entitled, with the certificate names) or red (not entitled). Only the green rows go into the PDF.

The result is one combined PDF with a page per certificate, ready to send to a printer.

The participant data is written into the PDF as real text, not baked into an image. Names stay sharp when printed, and you can select, copy, and search the text.

The background is your uploaded image, so its print quality depends on the resolution you export. For A4, export at least 3508 × 2480 px (300 dpi).

• The preview shows placeholders. Download a certificate for a test registrant to see real data.
• Bulk download is limited to 2,000 registrants per file. For larger events, split the list with filters.
• Personal links expire one year after the event ends.