Setting up advanced events

You can create an advanced event if you want to charge a registration fee, set a registration limit, require additional registration information from your registrants, or split the event up into multiple sessions. If you are holding a free event that requires only an RSVP from your registrants, you can create a simple event.

For each advanced event, you can specify the event details, set up ticket types and event emails, and customize the registration form. You can set registration limits for the entire event, and for individual ticket types. You can add event-specific fields to the registration form, including options for extra cost items such as premium seating or meal choices. You can also designate an event organizer who will receive copies of event registration confirmations, event announcements and reminders, as well as replies to event emails.

Once you create an event and enable registration, it will automatically be listed on your event calendar, though you can filter the event calendar and control the visibility of individual events. So that visitors can see your events and register for them, you can add an event calendar gadget to a page on your website, and make the page accessible to non-administrators.

You can also add an upcoming event gadget to a page on your site, and insert or email a link to a specific event by copying the Event URL within the event settings.

What you need to know

• Before you can save an event, you have to enter the event title and start date.
• Before you can enable registration, you have to set up at least one ticket type.
• You must save your changes to event details before adding ticket types.
• If not already a contact, the primary registrant will be added to your contact database.

Creating a new event

To add a new event, follow these steps:

1. Hover over the Events menu and select the Event list option.
2. From your events list, click the Create new event button.
3. When asked to choose the event type, click the Advanced option.
4. On the screen that appears, you can specify the event name, location, date, and cost of the event. The event title and start date are required fields. For more information, see Specifying event details (below).
5. After you enter the required information, you click the Save button to save the event.
6. Click the Registration form link to customize the event registration form. For more information, see Customizing the registration form.
7. Click the Ticket types & settings link to set up your event ticket types (previously known as registration types). You must create at least one ticket type before you can enable registration for an event. For more information, see Event ticket types. From the Ticket types & settings tab, you can also set a registration limit for the event, and control whether multiple registrations are allowed.
8. Click the Emails link to set up email announcements, reminders, and confirmations for your event. For more information, see Event emails.
9. Click the Event details link to return to the event details screen. From here, you can enable registration, limit the number of registrants, and control who can access the event, either directly from the event calendar or via a link. Initially, access for new events is set to admin only. For more information, see Event visibility.

Copying an existing event

You can create a copy of an existing event by clicking the Duplicate button beside the event within the events list.

Alternatively, you could copy an event from its event details by clicking the down arrow beside the Edit button then clicking the Duplicate option.

The new duplicate event will be saved as an admin-only event but will not be opened, allowing you to continue to make more copies of the event. The word (copy) will be appended to the name of the duplicate event to distinguish it from the original one.

All event settings will be duplicated, other than event access permissions, multiple sessions, and the list of registrants.

If you have repeated or recurring events, you can set up a generic version of the event and copy it to create each individual occurrence.

After duplicating an event, you can modify the duplicate event without affecting the original event that you copied.

Modifying an existing event

To modify an existing event, click the event within the events list then click the Edit button.

Specifying event details

After you've created an event, the Event details screen appears. To view the Event details screen for an existing event, click the event within the events list.

From here, you can specify the event name, location, date, and cost, and control whether visitors to your site can see and register for the event. The event title and start date are required fields.

For events that consist of multiple sessions, you can add individual sessions manually and/or specify the schedule of regularly recurring sessions.

To begin modifying the event details, click the Edit button towards the top of the screen.

The following settings are available:

Visible to
Controls who can view this event other on an event calendar or via a direct link. You can make this event public, restrict the visibility of the event by membership level, member groups, or limit access to administrators only. For more information, see Event visibility.

Enable registration
Controls whether people can register online. Disabling registration allows you to notify people about an event that does not require registration. Before you can enable registration, you have to create one or more ticket types. Before you can set up ticket types, you have to save your changes to the event details.

Title
The event name.

Event URL
The Internet address of the event details page for this event. You can share this link through social media or paste it into an email. The event URL is not modifiable.

Tags
Labels used to categorize events (see Event tags). If you want to list different events on different event calendars, you can set each calendar to display only those events with a particular tag.

Description
A complete description of the event. You can insert uploaded images, documents, and links. For more information, see Using the content editor.

Important Note: Always save and upload an image through the content editor's Insert image function if you wish to include the image in the event details. Do not copy and paste images into the content editor because doing so often causes display errors. 

Note: If you insert an image that has restricted access, the image will not appear when the event details are viewed on the mobile apps.

For a deeper dive into how to insert images into your website content, see Inserting images.

Additional event information
Information to be added in the registration confirmation email that goes out to registered participants. This information is automatically added to non-customized confirmation templates. To add this information to other event emails, insert the {Event Extra_Info} macro.

Location
The location of the event.

Time zone
Choose the time zone for the event. The default is the time zone selected on your Organization details screen. If you choose a different time zone for your event, the event time will be displayed using the UTC universal time format.

Start date
The event's start date. The date format is based on your organization's settings (see Organization timezone).

Time
The start time of the event. The time format is based on your organization's settings (see Organization timezone).

End date
The date the event ends.

End time
The time the event ends.

Add sessions
If your event consists of multiple sessions, you can click the Add sessions button to add sessions manually, or click the Add repeating sessions button to regularly recurring sessions. After you have added sessions, you can click the Edit sessions button to add, modify, or delete sessions. For more information, see Multi-session events.

Show registrants who want to be listed
Choose whether to publish a list of registrants for the event. Doing so may encourage others to register or promote networking. If you enable this option, a Registered link will appear for the event on the event calendar and on the event details.

Clicking the link will display the name of each registrant and the date of registration. If the registrant is a member, their name will be linked to their profile.
The registrant will be listed as Anonymous user if the registrant has unchecked Include name in list of event registrants on the registration form, or if a member has agreed to be added to the list but does not share his information with the public, and you have set your list to be visible to everyone (see Member privacy settings). You can control whether the registrants list is visible to all visitors or just members, and whether the list includes pending registrations (for which payment has not yet been received).

Include pending registrations
Choose whether to include pending registrations in the list of event registrants.

Guest registration
Controls whether guests are automatically added to your contact database after the main registrant confirms the registration. You have the following options:

• Do not add new guests to contacts list – Guests will not be added to your contact database even if they provide contact details or complete the registration form.
• Add new guests to contacts list only if email entered – Guests will be added to your contact database only if they provide an email address.
• Add all new guests to contacts list – Guests will be added to your contact database even if they do not provide an email address.

For instructions on providing payment instructions, see Event ticket types.

Customizing the registration form

You can customize the event registration form by adding event-specific fields to collect information such as seating or meal choice, and even up-sell some extra options to your registrants. You can also control which common fields appear on the registration form.

To add event-specific fields to the registration form – or choose the common fields that appear – click Registration form. If you want event registrants to be able to upload documents and images as part of their event registration, you need to add a file attachment type field to the event registration form. For more information, see Event registration form.

You can also customize the appearance of the event registration form by modifying the event registration system page.

Enabling registration

Before you can enable registration, you must save the event and set up at least one ticket type. You can only save an event after entering the event title and start date.

To enable registration after saving the event and setting up at least one ticket type, follow these steps:

1. Click the event within the events list (if you haven't already opened the event for editing).
2. In either edit mode or view mode, click the Allow registration toggle so that it appears blue.

With registration enabled, public registration will now be available unless:

• You have set the event visibility to Admin only. In this case, click the Admin only link and choose a different visibility setting.
• The event's registration limit has been reached.
• The event occurs in the past.
• The current date is not within the specified registration period for any ticket types.

Setting up ticket types

Setting up different ticket types allows you to charge different prices for different event packages or for different kinds of attendees.

For example, you might want to charge more for non-members, or for special seating, and less for early-bird registrations. You can set registration limits – the number of tickets available – for each ticket type, and define a registration window – the starting and end dates.

You have to set up ticket types before you can enable an event for registration. To set up ticket types for this event, click the Ticket types & settings tab. For more information, see Event ticket types. If you have made any changes to the event details, you must save them before you can jump to the Ticket types tab.

Setting registration limits

You can limit the number of registrations for the entire event, or for specific ticket types. When the registration limit is reached, registration will be automatically disabled for the event or the ticket type, and the event organizer will receive an email notification.

To set an overall registration limit for the event, click the Ticket types & settings tab, then enter the registration limit in the Event registration limit field.

If you leave this field blank, there can be an unlimited number of registrations.

Once you enter a registration limit, you can choose to enable a waitlist once the registration limit is reached.

Enabling an event waitlist

Once you set a registration limit for an event or ticket type, you can enable an event waitlist. You can enable a waitlist separately for each ticket type and for the overall event.

To enable a waitlist for the entire event, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Ticket types & settings tab for the event.
2. Click the Edit button to enter edit mode.
3. Enter a registration limit in the Event registration limit field.
4. Check the Enable waitlist when limit is reached option.
   
5. Click Save at the top of the screen to save your changes.

For more information, see Event waitlists.

Controlling multiple registrations

You can control whether visitors can register multiple times for the same event. You can enable multiple registrations for the entire event and for individual ticket types.

To enable or disable multiple registrations for the entire event, click the Ticket types & settings  tab and uncheck or check the Allow for the same contact option beside the Multiple registrations heading.

With this option unchecked – so that multiple registrations are disabled – an attempt by a registrant to register a second time will generate an error.

Whether the option is enabled or not, an administrator can still set up multiple registrations for a contact, but will be warned about the existing registration.

Choosing a payment method

You can control whether online and/or offline payments are accepted for the event. To choose the payment method for an event, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Ticket types & settings tab for the event.
2. Click the Edit button to enter edit mode.
3. Choose a Payment method option.
   
4. Click Save at the top of the screen to save your changes.

The online option is only available if online payments have been enabled for your site.

Depending on which payment method option you choose, different payment workflows will take place after the registrant completes the registration form.

• If only offline payment was enabled, then the registrant will have the option of canceling or confirming the registration. If the registrant clicks the Confirm button, an invoice will be emailed to them – unless invoice emails have been disabled from the Invoice and receipt settings – and a registration summary will be displayed. From the registration summary, the registrant can choose to view or pay the outstanding invoice.
• If only online payment is enabled, then a Pay online button will appear. Clicking the Pay online button will take the registrant to the online payment screen for your site's payment provider. When Online only is selected, an option appears to automatically cancel the registration if the registration fee is not paid within 15 minutes. In that case, the corresponding invoice will be voided, and the registration cancellation email will be sent. If not already a contact in your database, the registrant will be added an archived contact.
• If both online and offline payment is enabled, then two buttons will be displayed: Pay online and Invoice me. Clicking the Pay online button will take the registrant to the online payment screen for your payment provider. Clicking the Invoice me button will result in the registrant being emailed an invoice – which they can pay online or offline – and a registration summary being displayed. From the registration summary, the registrant can choose to view or pay (online) the outstanding invoice.

When paying using PayPal Payments Pro, the Pay online button with be replaced with two buttons: Pay with credit card, and PayPal Express checkout.

Customizing event emails

To manage the announcements, reminders, and registration messages that are emailed for this event, click Emails. From the Emails tab, you can customize the emails, adding text, formatting, graphics, macros, and links to each message. You can choose the recipients for event announcements, and schedule each email to be automatically delivered a certain number of days before the event, or you can manually send the email at any time. For more information, see Event emails.

Changing the event organizer

From the Emails tab, you can also change the designated event organizer. The event organizer receives all event-related administrative emails, as well as a copy of event announcements and reminders, and is the default reply-to recipient for all emails related to this event.

If you want to monitor individual registrations, you can provide for the event organizer to also receive event registration notifications. (For more information, see Event emails). The event organizer will also be sent an email when the registration limit is reached for a particular event.

By default, the event organizer is the contact associated with the Contact email specified for your organization on the Organization details screen. If you want to change the event organizer to someone else, click the Change link under Event organizer after clicking the Edit button to enter edit mode.

From the window that appears, select a different contact to act as the event organizer.

You can also specify system email recipients to automatically send copies of system emails to specific administrator types and/or individual recipients. Once you've specified system email recipients, you can check the Copy emails according to system email recipient settings option to send copies of event emails according to your settings.

If you want to send copies of event emails to multiple recipients – rather than a single event organizer – but don't want to specify system email recipients, you could designate a contact representing an email group as the event organizer, with the email group's address as the contact address.

Character limits for events

• Name: 255 characters
• Description: 50000 characters
• Additional event information: 2048 characters
• Location: 255 characters
• Payment instructions: 500 characters
• Ticket type name: 256 characters