Forms

(1) Remember nobody likes forms. They take too long. They're boring. They have to be done by hand. Yuck! Avoid forms when possible. Fill out forms for people when possible. Make it easy on them and they're more likely to give you information when you really need it.

(2) Ask only for what you need. Don't ask for extraneous information. Get the info you need on the form and no more. If you're going to do a survey, do that separately. Forget the essay questions or vague choices. Be careful asking for too much personal information. Identity theft is at an all-time high. People are wary to share all their personal info for fear it will be distributed without their knowledge.

(3) Leave room to write. The biggest problem with most forms is that there is not enough room for the average person to write their responses. Leave room to fill it out. Street addresses need lots of room. Email addresses can be long. Remember that women usually write larger than men. Use check-boxes and "circle your choice" when you can to keep people from having to write full responses.

(4) Avoid multiple forms. Overlapping information on multiple forms is infuriating. If you are registering for an event, you shouldn't have to put your address and contact information on every form--just the first one. Look at the forms you use all the time--can they be combined into one or two forms instead of six or ten different ones? One longer form is preferable to three short ones.

(5) Make "common sections." This is really helpful to the support staff and volunteers. Come up with a "standard" section for contact information (name, address, phone, etc.) and use the same format on all your forms. That way, those filing and using the forms know exactly where to look for needed info, no matter what the form is for. Consistency is a great organizer in the form world.

(6) Test the form. Nothing's worse than a form which creates more questions than it answers. Are instructions clear? Does it make sense? Ask someone not directly involved with your department to fill out your form and make sure they have no questions about it before you begin using it.

(7) Write "Please Print." Use the words "please print" somewhere at the very top of the form, adjacent to the first blank a person is likely to fill out (above the "name" blank works great). Ever had to decyphur someone's bad handwriting? "Please print" cuts down on this somewhat.