If you are hosting a free event that requires only an RSVP from your registrants, you can create a simple event that requires less setup on your part, and provides for one-click registration by your registrants. When you create a simple event, you don't have to bother setting up ticket types or a registration form. Simple events do not allow for registration limits and cannot include multiple sessions.
If your event charges a registration fee, has a registration limit, requires additional registration information from your registrants, or spans multiple sessions, you need to set up an advanced event.
Creating a simple event
When you click the Create new event button from the events list, you'll be asked which type of event you want to create.
If you choose the Simple event option, then you only need to provide event details and set up your event emails. A single non-modifiable ticket type ("RSVP") will be automatically created for you.
Once you choose the event type and create an event, you cannot change the event type.
Simple event details
After you've created a simple event, the Event details screen appears.
You can specify the following event details when setting up a simple event:
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 and/or member groups, or limit access to administrators only. For more information, see Event visibility.
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 use rich text formatting and insert pictures, documents, links, etc. For more information, see Using the content editor.
If you insert an image that has restricted access, the image will not appear on the member app or admin app.
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.
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.
Available period
Controls when registration is available. You can set a From date, a Through date, or both. Leave both fields blank if you don't want to set a date limit. Registration will remain open from 12:00 am on the From date, until 12:00 pm on the Through date.
Guests
Controls whether registrants can add guests to their registration. If enabled, registrants can indicate the number of guests they plan to bring, up to the limit you specify.
Cancellation
Controls whether registrants can cancel their own registrations. When you enable the Allow cancellation option, you can specify the minimum number of days before the event that cancellations can take place. For example, if you don't want cancellations in the week leading up to the event, you would specify 7 days. If the number of days is not specified or set to zero, then cancellations will be allowed right up to the beginning of the event. For more information, see Cancelling events and registrations.
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.
Enabling a simple event
To enable registration for a simple event, click the Allow registration toggle so that it appears blue.
After you've entered the event title and start date, click Save to save your changes.
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 occurs in the past.
- The current date is not within the event's specified registration period.
Simple event emails
To manage the announcements, reminders, and registration confirmation message for a simple event, click the Emails tab. 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.
If you include the {Registration buttons} macro in your event announcement, your recipients will be presented with Yes, Maybe, and No buttons that they can click to respond to your invitation.
When the recipient clicks the Yes button, they will be automatically logged in to your site and taken to the event details, where a registration confirmation message will appear.
The recipient will be logged in automatically only if the button is clicked less than 7 days from the date the message was sent.
If they click Maybe or No, a confirmation message will appear and they will be unsubscribed from all further announcements for this event.
After your recipients make their choice, they can choose a different option later from their email message.
Announcements that contain the {Registration buttons} macro will appear on the Emails tab with the phrase RSVP requested below the email link.
Signing up for a simple event
Once an event is set up and online registration is enabled, it will appear on your event calendar page in Wild Apricot, where your visitors to your site can view the event details and register for the event.
To register for a simple event, visitors to your site can click the Register button from either the event calendar or the event details.
If the registrant is already logged into your site, they will simply be asked to confirm their registration.
If the registrant is not logged in, they will be prompted to provide their email address then their contact information.
All your common fields will be displayed on the form in this case.
If the email address they provide is already in your database, they will be prompted to log in, allowing the system to retrieve their contact information.
Viewing registration information
Once you open a simple event for registration and save the event, a Registrants and invitees tab appears for your event. From this tab, you can view a list of event registrants and invitees.
You can click anywhere within a row to view the registration details for a contact. From there, you can edit the registration, resend confirmation, cancel, or delete the registration.
You can filter the list of registrants and invitees based on their response to your invitation, and depending on whether they have been checked into the event. To filter the registrants and invitees list, click the Filter dropdown and choose a filter option.
For each registrant or invitee, the following information is displayed.
Check in
Indicates whether the registrant has been checked in to the event. Registrants are checked in separately from guests. For more information, see Tracking event attendance.
Registrant
Name, email, and organization of the registrant (or invitee), and the number of guests for each registrant.
Members should login before registering for an event, so the system can properly classify their registration and apply the appropriate registration rate and connect this registration with the member record. All people who registered without logging in are considered visitors.
Membership
The membership status, renewal date, and membership level of the registrant (or invitee).
RSVP response
Indicates their response to the event invitation, and the date of their response.
Changing RSVP responses
From the Registrants & invitees list, you can change the RSVP response for individual invitees. To change the response, click the dropdown list under the Registration heading and select a different response.
You can change any response to any other response. When you change a response to Yes, the event registration form will appear so you can complete the registration for the invitee.
Troubleshooting
I've set the access to Public but registration is still disabled
Click the Allow registration toggle so that it appears blue.
