Basics

• Individuals can register online for your big event provided all the conditions for registration are met.
• Use Product Option Groups & Prices.
• Registrants can be automatically placed into Groups upon registration by using the Add to Group functionality in Option Prices:
  • If you need to manually add a registration (and so they don't go through the automatic registration process), you need to first add the individual to the appropriate Group. Then you need to add them to the Event and, when doing so, search for and find the appropriate Group Participant record and Group record. Because each individual has a unique Group Participant record, you must use the New option to add someone (rather than Add).
• There are two ways to register someone and ensure all Product Options and Custom Form questions are answered:
  1. If you're using Widgets: Individuals can go through the Event Details & Registration and Invoice Details & Payment Widgets to register themselves. If you're using the Portal: Individuals can go through the Event registration process on the Portal to register themselves.
     
  2. Staff can manually add cash and check registrations via the Add a Payment tool.
• All registered individuals are visible from an open Event record in the Participants sub-page.
• The Assign Participant tool can be used to reassign registrants from Default Contact to a real record. You can quickly find registrants that need to be reassigned from:
  • Event Participants > Reassign Participant view

  • Event > Fix: Reassign Participant view

Communication

• Registrants can be selected from the Event Participants page and communicated with via the New Message Tool or the Text Messaging Tool.
• Automate communication with Event Participants using the Event Reminder Notification and/or the Registrant Message Notification.
• Registrants with an outstanding balance can be emailed the My Purchase History snippet to pay their remaining fees. See Invoices for details.
• Event Coordinators can set up a View Notification on the Event Full Notification view to be notified via email when an Event has reached the Participants Expected.

Reporting

• Need to see something about a person that is in the database but was not collected on your Custom Form, such as the campus they attend? Create a view on the Event Participants page or the Participants sub-page. 
• Use the Form Responses Tool from the Events page to get a spreadsheet of all of the registrants, their answers, and what Product and Product Options they chose. 
• Take advantage of all the options on the Selected Form Responses report that can be run from the Events page and show you all the information someone provided when they signed up, including their invoice details and their Custom Form answers.

Multi-Week Events

Multi-week events meet weekly over the course of three or more weeks. Think Bible studies, member or "new here" classes, or registration required mid-week youth small groups. They are not multi-day events, which occur on consecutive days.

• Use the "Add to Group" option on your product option price, ensuring everyone registering will be placed into the appropriate Group.
• Allow each event in the series to take registration via your Portal or Widget, ensuring everyone who registers, regardless of date, is added to your group.
• Associate the Group to all of the events in the series via the Event's Rooms & Groups subpage, allowing for easy attendance tracking.
• Add a Registrant Message to each Event in the series. Everyone who registers, regardless of date, will receive the registrant message (for example, a confirmation email with classroom instructions or a FAQ document).
• Do not: Use "Register into Series" for multi-week events. The Register into Series option is best suited for multi-day events (for example, a weekend conference).

Family Maximums

Have an event with a family maximum price? Perhaps a retreat or camp where parents pay for each child, but no more than a set price? You can do that! Here's how to do that! We'll use an event that costs $25/child with a $50 family maximum.

• Set the base price of your Product to $0
• Add these Product Option Prices
  • Child 1 = $25
  • Child 2 = $25
  • Child 3+ = $0
• Provide very clear and specific instructions for the parents. And be prepared to do it more than once ;). The parent should register the first child, selecting Child 1, and then select "Add another person." The parent should then complete the form again, this time selecting Child 2, and selecting "Add another person" until all children are registered.

Another option would be to have the parents register each child at the full price, but provide a promo code so they can receive a second (or third) child discount.

Canceling an Event Participant

The best practice for removing Event Participant records is to change their status to Cancelled and issue a refund or convert their Payment into a Donation, if requested. But in the rare case that you need to delete an Event Participant record, please note that only dependent records will be deleted. Other records that may have been created through an event registration (like Form Responses) may need to be deleted separately. Find more information about deleting dependent records here.

If you are using the Portal, Event Participants who are Cancelled will still count towards the Max Allowed for Option Prices. To "open up spots" for the Option Price, you must manually change the Invoice Detail record for the canceled Event Participants. One of these changes is to reset the Option Price to the correct count:

• Change Item Quantity to 0.
• Change Option Title to null.
• Transfer the Option Price to another Option Price that you use specific for this reason. You can create a Product Option Price called "Cancelled", and apply that.

If you are using the Event Details & Registration Widget, Event Participants who are Cancelled do not count towards the Max Allowed for Option Prices. When an Event Participant is canceled, the option price is canceled on the Invoice Detail which releases the option for future registrations. No need to manually update. If you needed another reason to jump to Widgets, here it is!

If your event is canceled, follow the canceling an event steps.