Do you have a solution for this problem concerning Excel?

Use the same excel data base saved as a different file with the new year and simply have the person search for their name, and then mark an X in a new column titled ‘Present 2013’ or something. They only have to find their names on the sheet. Problem with that is if they moved firms or have a new phone number, so perhaps have them search, mark themselves present and then check that their details are correct.

This will also give you a list of people who didn’t show up (as a matter of elimination) and also will identify anyone attending for the first time.

Hope this is helpful somehow.

@cazzie That would work, but the firm will never go for it. The people attending are (mostly) pretty snobby. Something like this, they would deem unprofessional. Thank you, though!

Well, you just have to do it then. Ask their name when they walk in, find their name on the spreadsheet, read out the details and confirm they are correct, and you could even print out a name tag for them, or just hand a read made one to them with a glass of something. I think that would be much more professional than having them sign a register with their details and then not being able to read their handwriting and getting their name or firm spelled wrong later.

I think I wasn’t clear enough in my details: Everyone signs up beforehand, up to three months before the event. During those months, the register is supposed to be accurate, including all the contact information.

I don’t get it? Why don’t you just use the old file when you talk to them on the phone when they sign up?

For some reason, the names are supposed to be entered in the order they sign up. If I used the old file, I would be rearranging everything constantly, which would probably lead to mixing up names.

Use a date field and you can sort by date.

Oh, that’s interesting. Will you tell me how? Doesn’t have to be right now, of course, I’ve already taken up lots of your time…

…the names are supposed to be entered in the order they sign up…

I would add two columns.
1) Registrant number (simply 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…)
2) Date and time signed up

It would be better to make it a desktop of Internet server using perhaps PHP and MySQL. A SQL database can easily go fetch name and address details from previous sessions, even if they skip one or more years. But your app needs a checkbox where they indicate that their contact info has not changed, and if they indicate it has changed, then you need to open up a form where they can update it.

If you create a file with two tabs, one tab where the attendees from this year sign-up (or where you put the information) and the second tab with the information from last year, you can do a v-lookup and whenever there is a match between the name on the tab for signing up and the tab with all the contact information, you will be able to automagically fill-in the rest of the contact information.

@jaytkay and @cazzie Thanks! And I figured out how to sort by date now… This is all new to me, so please excuse the dumb questions.
@ETpro That sounds very handy. I will look into it, maybe I’ll be able to convince my supervisor.
@Gabby101 Great! Just what I was looking for – that’s something I can do pretty much on my own, so I won’t have to sweet-talk anyone.
Thanks for your help, everyone!