Create an Event
- In the navigation menu, click Events.
- Click New Event, and complete the Event record fields.
- Click Save.
- In the Confirmation message, click Submit to trigger the event approval process.
Event Fields
A reference guide containing fields you'll encounter when you create Events, their definitions, and any additional helpful information.
General Information
- Event Title
- The name of the event.
- Event Type
- The category of the event. Manage these options under .
- Congregation
- The congregation, parish, or campus that the event is for or hosted by.
- Location
- Where the event takes place.
- Meeting Instructions and Description
- Information about the event that lets potential participants know what to expect. Note: Neither of these fields supports HTML. Adding HTML formatting could interfere with other system functions.
- Program
- The ongoing ministry effort this event is a part of.
- Primary Contact
- The main contact for the event.
- Participants Expected
- The maximum number of participants expected before the Registration Active field automatically sets to No. This number calculates based on the registered participants and excludes canceled participants. If some attend physically and others attend virtually, you should only include the number of those physically attending. For paid events, this field is compared with registrants who have a Paid or Awaiting Payment status. If they do not pay within one hour, their registration changes to Abandoned and their spot(s) become available for another person. Note: This acts as a registration cap, and registration turns off once the event reaches this number.
- Minutes for Setup and Minutes for Cleanup
- The number of minutes needed to set up before the event start time, and the number of minutes needed to clean up after the event end time.
- Event Start Date and End Date
- The date and time when the event starts, and the date and time when the event ends.
- Cancelled
- If set to Yes, the system adds ***Cancelled*** to the Event Title. Any room, equipment, and service reservations are automatically cancelled.
- Approved
- A read-only field that updates when someone submits or approves the event. This field determines if the event displays on the public calendar.
Public Website Settings
- Visibility Level
- This field determines where the event displays:
- 1 - Private: Designed for internal use (for example, views, filters reports), and does not show in Event Widgets.
- 2 - Staff Only: Designed for internal use by staff (for example, views, filters reports), and only shows in Event Widgets when the authenticated user is a staff member (that is, they have at least one current Group Participant record with Employee Role set to Yes).
- 3 - Staff & Church: Displays in Event Widgets whether or not the user is logged in.
- 4 - Public: Once the event is approved, it displays in Event Widgets whether or not the user is logged in. (The difference between 3 -Staff & Church and 4 -Public is determined by how you want to use events internally for views, filters, and reports.)
- 5 - Hidden: URL Required: Displays in Event Widgets only if the user has the appropriate URL.
- Featured On Calendar
- When set to Yes, the event displays when you select Show only Featured Events. Various third-party applications may use this field in other ways.
- Online Registration Product
- If this event has registration, the Product controls the fee amount.
- Registration Form
- To include additional questions when someone registers for the event, include a Custom Form here.
- Registration Start
- The date and time when people can start registering for this event. If you leave this blank, people can begin to register as soon as the event displays on the public calendar.
- Registration End
- The date and time when registration for this event closes. If you leave this blank, people can continue to register up until the beginning of the event (which is based on the Event Start Date).
- Registration Active
- You must set this field to Yes for registration to open. If you want registration to close, you can manually set this field to No. Note: Other items may close registration before you manually set this field, like when the Participants Expected number is met or the Registration End date is met.
- Register Into Series
- If set to Yes, the nightly Data Quality routine automatically adds any registrants in an Event to all subsequent future Events in this Event series. See Register Into Series for more information. CAUTION: You should only use the Register into Series option for Multi-Day Events, not for Event Series that recur over multiple weeks. For more information, see the "Multi-Day Events" section on Special Considerations for Events.
- External Registration URL
- Add a complete URL (including the https://) to this field to use a third-party form to take registrations for this event. You don't need to select a Product for events with an External Registration URL, and the system will ignore it if present. The URL in this field replaces what would normally happen when someone clicks the Sign-Up button on the Event Registration for this Event. Note: If you add a URL to this field, this URL overrides the Registration Start, Registration End Date, and Registration Active fields. Review your third-party form settings to make sure they meet your registration parameters.
- Web Approved
- A read-only field that updates upon submission or approval and determines if the event displays on the public calendar.
Check-in Information
- Allow Check-in
- If set to Yes, this event is eligible in the Check-In system. If you want the event to also display in FastPass, set Allow Fastpass to Yes. If you use an attended mode only and want to allow check-in at a kiosk but not allow FastPass,set Allow Check-in to Yes and Allow Fastpass to No.
- Search Results
- Select how you want your check-in search results to display in Check-In Suite.
- Early Check-in Period
- The number of minutes before the Event start time when people can begin check-in. If left blank, the default is 60 minutes. You can set this up to 24 hours (1,440 minutes) before the start of an Event.
- Late Check-in Period
- The number of minutes after the Event start time that people can check in. If left blank, the default is 30 minutes.
Notification Settings
See Registrant Message and Event Reminder.
Other Event Information
- On Connection Card
- Determines whether the Event displays on the Connection Card Tool.
Accounting Information
- On Batch Manager Tool
- Set to Yes for mission trips, memorials, commemoratives, and other events that people may want to earmark funds to over a limited period of time. The actual dates of the event do not impact when and whether this event displays in the Batch Manager Tool.
- Project Code
- The project code that registration fees charge to.
- Online Meeting Link
- The link for a virtual meeting or online conference call, visible to Group Leaders through Group Life.
- Minor Registration
- When set to Yes, the Event Details & Registration Widget displays minor relevant registration fields (Date of Birth, Parent/Guardian), so people can register minors as the Event Participant. You can only select children with a Household Position of either Minor Child or Adult Child in the Register As drop-down list for minor registration.
- Allow Email
- When set to Yes, anyone can email the Event's Primary Contact through the Event Details & Registration Widget without logging in.
- Show Building Room Info
- When set to Yes, anyone can see the Building Name and Room Name from any Room Reservation(s) related to this Event using the Event Details & Registration Widget without logging in. Be mindful of who should be able to see this information.
- Allow Fastpass
- When set to Yes (and Allow Check-in is also set to Yes), individuals can use FastPass PocketPlatform for this event. If Allow Check-in is set to No, this option is not applicable.
Special Considerations for Events
Expected Participants
The Participants Expected field on an Event record only looks at the number of people with a Participation Status of Registered, not Interested, Cancelled, or Abandoned. For those Awaiting Payment, the registrant has one hour to pay before their registration changes to Abandoned and their spot(s) become available for another person. The system will not consider participants who registered to attend online when evaluating whether to close registration.
When the number of expected participants is reached, registration closes and no further registrations are accepted. For example, if two different people register at the same time and there is only one spot left, the person who submits their form first gets the spot.
The system does not automatically reopen an event if registrations are canceled or removed from the event. To reopen the event, you can manually set Registration Active back to Yes.
When the trigger changes Registration Active from Yes to No, the Audit Log records this change.
All Day Events
Need to add a one-day event? Set the Start Time at 12 AM on the day of the event and then the End Time to 12 AM the next day. Your all-day event will display on every calendar scale in all of its all-day glory!
Multi-Day Events
For Events that span multiple days, set up a separate Event record for each day or even each session. This helps your attendance accuracy and allows you to use facility management and Check-In features. Also, it makes it clear on your Portal Event Calendar the Start and End times for each day's Events.
If you copy the Event to create a recurring Event Series, you can use the Register into Series feature to register a person into all Events in the series. For example, a weekend conference might be three Events: Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon. See Event Series for additional information.
Recurring Events
Create recurring Events in an Event Series.