Tips for an (almost) Hassle-Free Registration

Information you need prior to registering

• Having as much information as possible before you begin registration will help you to move through the process quickly and avoid losing information that you have entered. The system will time out after 30 minutes of inactivity; if it does so, you will lose anything that you have not saved. In order to save your entries, you will need to use the “Save and Submit” button, but it will only be available after you have entered data in all of the required fields [those marked with an *].
  
  
• Using the links embedded in the registration form will take you away from the registration site, so use these links before you begin to fill out your form.
  
  
• Make sure your LEA membership is current before you begin registration. The member discount is available only to current members, and membership will be verified. The cost of membership is not included in any registration level. If you need to become a member/renew your membership, click here.
  
  
• The first item on the form is your email address. Double check your email address after entering it. If you enter an incorrect email, you will not receive your confirmation and convocation updates, and you will have difficulty logging back into your account.
  
  
• Choose your sectionals before you begin registration. Review all of the sectional offerings and prepare a list of which sectionals you want to attend for each session.  You may find full descriptions and names of presenters in one document.
  
  
• Review the list of hotels found in the Hotel Information tab (under Information on the left-hand side of the home page) and pick your favorite hotels before you begin registration. Have more than one hotel in mind, in case your first choice is no longer available.
  
  
• You will not be able to submit or save your registration until you have completed all of the required fields. The system will take you back to any required fields that you have missed. You can always return to your registration and make changes; you are not locked into your initial selections. 
  
  
• Determine the form of payment you will use in advance. For registration, you can pay by debit or credit card using MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover Card. You can also pay by check. If you choose the check option, your selections will be locked in once the check is received by the LEA office. Your hotel choice can be held with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card.
  
  
• If you choose the check option, forward your check (made payable to Lutheran Education Association) to LEA at 7400 Augusta, River Forest, IL 60305 as soon as possible.
  
  
• Once you have completed registration, you will receive an email confirmation. If you do not receive such a confirmation within 24 hours of your registration, first check your spam filter or junk mail folder. If it is not in either of those, contact LEA at 708.209.3343 or at lea@lea.org.
  
  
• If you have any questions or problems with registration, contact LEA at 708.209.3343 or lea@lea.org.
  
  

Group Registrations

• If you are registering a group, be sure to enter the person who will be the group administrator first.
  That person will have access to all of the registrations in the group.
  
  
• The group administrator should complete the registration form and then select "Submit." To add additional attendees either click the Add More gray tab at the top of the home page or click Next Registration in the blue box on the home page. Fill in that attendee's email address and indicate that you want to link the registrations. Then fill out that attendee's registration form. If you do not know all of the sectional selections, you can choose Not Attending, and then edit it later. Click "Save Changes" and complete the registration form for the next attendee. Follow the same pattern for all subsequent attendees. Once the final member of the group has been registered, either go to "Submit and Pay" or "Go to Housing" at the bottom of the form. You can also use the tabs at the top of the page to go either to Housing or to Payment.
  
  
• Emails regarding group registrations will go to the Group Administrator.
  
  
• If you participated in the LEA Convocation installment plan, register at the member rate and select the pay by check option, but do not make a credit card payment or send a check; rather, contact the LEA office with a list of the registrants to be covered by your prepayment. LEA will then apply your prepayment to those registrations, so that you can then select housing. The prepayment will only cover the cost of basic registration; you will need to make an additional payment for pre-convocation events if you have selected any of those. Those payments should be made after your prepayment has been posted.

Reserved Thursday Evening Banquet Seating

• The cost of Thursday's banquet and Saturday brunch is covered in your registration fee.
  
  
• Reserved Thursday evening banquet seating is being provided so that faculties and organizations can be assured of sitting with one another at the convocation.

• Please designate one person as a contact for your staff, organization, or group. This person will submit the names to be seated at your assigned table(s).

• If you are not the contact person, please provide the name of your contact person.

• If you are attending the Convocation as an individual, you will also be assigned a reserved seat.
  

• If changes need to be made to your reserved seating prior to the convocation, contact Denise Rice directly at  denise.rice@lea.org.

• Your assigned table number will be provided when you check in at registration.

• Due to space limitations, you may be seated with people from another school or ministry to create a full table.
  
  
• If there are special needs, please note these on the form. We will do our best to accommodate them.

Housing

 Please do not contact the hotels directly for reservations; the special convocation rate is only available for reservations made on this site. The hotels only know that we have a block of rooms reserved; they will not know who is in the rooms until just before the convocation. If you have successfully reserved a room, you will receive an email confirmation.

• Only one person per room should make a housing reservation.
  
  
• The housing costs listed are per room per night not per occupant per night.
  
  
• When you make your housing selection, enter names of all occupants of the room except for your own.
  
  
• To include someone in your room who will not be registered for the Convocation (e.g., spouse and/or children), select "Invite others to join this room."
  
  
• Your housing reservation will be confirmed only after you both pay for your registration and post a credit card to hold the room.
  
  
• A charge will not be posted to the card that you use to hold your room. All housing charges will be paid at the hotel in October when you attend the Convocation. You do not have to pay for your room with the same credit card that you used to hold the room.
  
  
• If you are paying for registrations by check, you still must post a credit card in order to hold your hotel reservations.
  
  
• When you post your credit card only to hold a room and are not paying for registration by credit card, you will enter the credit card number in the housing section not in the section where you pay for registration. No dollar amount should appear where you enter credit card information to hold your hotel room. If a dollar amount does appear, you are about to pay for your registration rather than your housing, and a charge will be posted to your card when you submit the payment.
  
  
• If you decide not to attend the Convocation and fail to cancel your hotel reservation, a charge will be posted to the card that you used to hold your room.
  
  
• If you have a problem with housing, please email  leaconvocation@arrowhead.freshdesk.com. The LEA staff can provide some housing information, but is unable to access actual reservations. Allow 24 hours for a response on weekdays.
  
  

Title Funds

• Contact your local school district for guidelines and requirements for applying for and using Title Funds to help cover the cost of Convocation. These guidelines vary considerably from one district to another, and LEA is unable to provide you with guidelines for your school/congregation.
  
  
• Many districts do require that an event be paid for in the same school year in which the event occurs. Consequently, you may need to wait until July 1, 2022 or after to pay for your registration/s, which means that you should not register at the Best Value level.
  
  
• If you have to wait until after June 30 to pay for your registrations, you should not provide the district with an invoice that shows the Best Value rate. If you need an invoice showing the Early Bird rate, please contact the LEA office at 708.209.3343 or lea@lea.org, so that we can prepare the correct invoice for you.
  
  
• Contact the LEA office (708.209.3343/lea@lea.org) if you have questions about using a Purchase Order in connection with Title Funds.