Like you said Jon, anyone signing up on the night will automatically be an APAT member.
This makes things easier to manage I guess, but also means that all sorts of people will be playing in the regionals. Again, this will attract more people to APAT tournaments both on and offline. So, this sounds like a good thing - it just means that "APAT" will be different. Bigger, more players, greater awareness - all things that APAT wants, but this could be at the expense of some of the camaraderie. Possibly.