CiviEvent Everyday Tasks

This chapter describes a variety of procedures related to managing an event after you set it up in CiviEvent.

Mass Registrations

CiviEvent offers the time-saving feature of registering multiple contacts for an event at one time (or as a "batch"). 

Scenario for doing mass registration

An organization is planning a large event and has invited many people, based on who they think will be interested. The staff then does a mass registration of those people, setting the participate status to "pending". They then use the event list of pending contacts as a means of calling people to see if they are coming.  If the person says they will attend, the event organizer can change the person's status from "pending" to  "registered".

Mass registration is accomplished by the steps:

1. Search for the set of contacts you are interested in.
   
2. On the search results page, either choose "select all" or put a check mark next to each contact you are interested in. A sample search results page appears in the following screen-shot. 
3. Choose  "Add Contacts to Event" from the "actions" list just above the search results, then click  "Go".
4. Complete the registration form, choosing the appropriate action choices for this set of people, such as setting the Participant Status to "pending". Choices made here will be applied to all contacts in this set.

Limitations of mass registrations

You can not make different action choices for a single set of contacts. The action choices are applied uniformly to the entire set of contacts. To work around this limitation, do a mass registration several times, each time choosing the desired action choices for that set of contacts. For example, you might mark one set of contacts you plan to call and invite with a Participant Status of "pending", then add another set of contacts to the event, such as event leaders you know will attend, with a Participant Status of "registered".

You cannot apply contribution information, such as a pay later contribution or a credit card transaction, in a batch action. Therefore, mass registration is best for free events  or for contacts who are not required to pay a fee at this point. You could always add payment details for an individual later on.  

Importing Registrations

Importing registration information is a quick way to add a bunch of registrations to the event.  The information to be imported must be available in a comma-separated values (CSV)  file. If the majority of the contacts are already in CiviCRM, it may be faster to do a mass registration action as mentioned earlier in this chapter.

Scenarios for importing registrations

Your organization may be collaborating with another organization for a specific event. The other organization may be handling event registration and sending you a spreadsheet after the event.

Another scenario is that a volunteer event coordinator, who did not know that you had CiviCRM, recorded event registrations using Excel or another spreadsheet program.

In these cases, it is still important to record the event registration inside CiviCRM to help you consolidate your information and allow better interactions and reporting for the event participants in the future.

Steps for importing registrations

1.  Prepare the data in the CSV file. Make sure date fields (if used)  are valid dates. If some of the contacts are already present as contacts in CiviCRM, make sure the first name, last name and email address match what is already in CiviCRM.
   
2. Differences between an imported contact's and an existing contact's information can cause a duplicate record to be created.  While duplicate contacts can be merged later, its preferable to avoid the situation. The rules for determining duplicate contacts can be defined by navigating to Administer > Manage > Find and Merge.
3. On the navigation menu, choose Events > Import Participants.

Finding and Reporting on Participants

This section helps you do some common information searches.

To see an overview of participants for all upcoming events

1. NAvigate to Events > Dashboard
2. Click the "Counted:" link to see all the contacts for that event.

If any count is zero, the associated text will not be a hyperlink.  Some participant roles may not count for the event total, such as someone who is on the cleanup duty.

To see the participants for any event with a variety of criteria

1. Navigate to Events > Find Participants.
2. In the event name field, start typing to see a list of events. Click on the event you want.  Set additional search choices for the fields you want to see.
   
3. Click Search.
   

When the search returns results, you have the opportunity to select all of the resulting participants or a subset, and perform an "action" on them. Available actions include:

• Batch update participants via profile: This feature is useful if you wish to edit multiple fields for multiple participants in a table grid layout. Note that you must create the profile set you wish to use before implementing this action. If you are not familiar with how Profiles work, please read the chapter on that topic before using this feature.

• Cancel Event Registrations for the selected participants.

• Change Participant Status for the selected participants.

• Delete Participants: Deleting participants does not delete the contact record but will delete all transactions and activities associated with the participant. Note that this action cannot be undone.

• Export Participants: The export function allows you to export a predefined set of fields or create your own custom set of fields (which can be saved for reuse). The software exports to CSV format, which can be easily opened in standard spreadsheet software or directly used for mail merges.

• New Smart Group: Smart groups are saved search results based on defined criteria, similar to a query. The advantage of a smart group is that the system will rerun the query using the criteria you have defined each time you open the smart group. This is particularly helpful for complex search criteria that you need to view on a regular basis.

• Send an Email to Selected Participants: CiviCRM also lets you generate an email on the fly to your search result list. For example, you may want to let recipients know details about the event in advance, such as parking options or local area restaurants.

To see a participant list listing individual fees

1. Navigate to Search > Custom Searches.
2. Click the Event Aggregate link.
3. Choose your search criteria, and click Search.
   

To use a report template to create an event report

1.  Click Reports > "Create reports from templates".
2. Scroll to see the templates in the Event Report Templates section.
3. Click the name of the report template to create a new report.
   
4. Choose the desired report criteria, then click Preview Report.
   
5. Expand the area labeled Create Report.
6. Choose a report title, and other choices as desired.
   
7. Click Create Report. Typical results appear in the following screenshot.
   

Testing your event

Before unleashing your event on the public, you should always test the event registration process. This can be done as follows:

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events.
2. Locate your event in the list of all upcoming events and click the Test-drive link.
3. Fill out the registration form and complete the registration process. If this is a paid event, the test settings for the payment processor will be used, you can enter dummy information.
   
4. In order to find the new test participant record, navigate to Events > Find Participants.
5. In the search criteria, check the box Find Test Participants.
6. If you need to adjust the event settings, navigate to Events > Manage Events and click the Configure link for this event.
   

Promoting your events

Getting the word out and building excitement about your event can take many forms. The most important is making sure the event is prominently listed on your organization's website and your public calendar, and letting many people and organizations know about it.

Some organizations may want to publicise their guest list as part of the event description as a means of encouraging others to register.  Participants should also be encouraged to help promote the event.

If you are publicising your events on another website or organization's calendar, make it clear how people are expected to register. For example, some social networks have a built-in event registration system, such as Facebook events. Other organizations that are helping to publicise your event may have their own event registration systems.  Make sure that no matter where you publicise the event, it is obvious how the person is expected to register.

There is also additional information about how to list your event on a Drupal-based website and a Google calendar on CiviCRM's Wiki:

http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Event+Listings

To add the participant list to the event information page

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events, then click the Configure link for this event.
2. Expand the section labeled Public Participant Listing and copy the URL in the description area. 
3. Click the link Event Information and Settings.
4. Paste the URL from step 2 into the event summary or event description, then click Save and Done.
5. Optionally, you can share the URL via other communication vehicles such as within an email message and other places you are promoting the event.

You may also choose to share the URL through email and other places where you are promoting the event.

To display an event description or registration on the website (Drupal steps)

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events and then click  "more" > Live Page for this event.
2. Copy the URL for this event page.
   
3. Create a Drupal menu item for this URL or paste the URL into any Drupal page.
   

Additionally, you may enable a Drupal block that lists all upcoming public events. To learn more, go to the CiviCRM wiki: http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Event+Listings

To display an event description or registration on the website (Joomla! steps)

1. Go into the Joomla! control panel.
2. Choose Menu Manager > Your menu name.
   
3. Click New.
   
4. Expand CiviCRM > CiviCRM Events and click the Event Info item.
   
5. Choose the event from the "Select an Event" list on the right side of the page.
6. Click Save.
   

Getting the URL of a listing of upcoming events

This lets you give an external organization or external website a URL that they can place anywhere on their website. The only drawback is that the page will appear like the rest of your own website.  

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events.
   
2. Click on the "globe" icon on the top right of the page.
3. Copy the URL.
   

Getting an RSS feed for all upcoming events

This lets visitors subscribe to all your events in the RSS feed reader of their choice.  Also, many website management systems allow a website to subscribe to any RSS feed and present the information within their layout.

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events. 
   
2. Click on the orange and white square icon on the top right of the page.
3. Copy the URL to share or embed into your website.

Allowing people to tell a friend about an event

This offers people the chance, when they register for the event, to email their friends and colleagues about it. CiviCRM will also capture the "friend's" email and create a "Tell A Friend" activity for the email. At the same time, CiviCRM will create a similar activity in the participant's record.

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events and click the Configure link for this event.
2. Click on the "Tell a Friend" link.
   
3. Click the checkbox to enable "Tell a Friend" for this event.
   
4. Provide the appropriate message to include for this event.
   

Getting your events on a calendar

Most websites include a graphically laid out calendar that can be shown by he month, week, or day.  It is very useful to get your events on relevant calendar pages.  Many individuals also maintain personal calendars to track events along with their personal meetings and appointments; you can make it easy for them to copy your event to their calendars. 

The standard format for sharing information between calendar systems is called iCal. CiviCRM can export a static iCal file as well as a dynamic iCal feed.    

 Getting a static list of events into another calendar system

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events.
   
2. Click on the square icon displaying  "31" on the top right of the page.
3. Save the iCal file on your local computer.
   
4. Go into the other calendar system and find the import iCal file tool.
5. Within the import wizard of the other calendar system, browse to and upload the iCal file from your local computer.
   

New CiviEvents created later on will not appear in the other calendar system. These steps will need to be repeated to show new events. Dynamic updates are described in the following procedure.

Getting a dynamic list of events into another calendar system

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events.
   
2. Click on the square green icon displaying the letters "ICAL" on the top right of the page.
3. Copy the URL of the page that opens.
   
4. Go into the other calendar system and find the import iCal feed tool.
5. Within the import wizard of the other calendar system, paste the URL from step 3. 
   

From this point forward any new public events created in CiviEvent will automatically appear within the external calendar system.

Displaying an event report on CiviCRM 's home dashboard

1. From the navigation menu, click on Reports > "Create reports from templates".
2. In the Event Report Templates area, select one of the reports you would like to display on the home dashboard.
3. Enter the criteria you want to build the report, then click Preview Report.
4. Click Create Report and enter the additional information you want in the report.
5. In the Other Settiongs area, check the "Available for Dashboard?" box.
6. Click Create Report.
7. From the navigation menu, click Home to view the dashboard.
8. To add the report to the dashboard, click Configure Your Dashboard.
9. Drag your report from the Available Dashlets area into either the Left Column or Right Column of the dashboard area, and click Done.
10. On the home dashboard, you should now see your report.  To view the latest updated information for your report as well as any other items you've included on your dashboard, click Refresh Dashboard Data.
    

Waitlists

Your organization may have limits on attendance, such as a 25-person limit for a training workshop or a 200-person limit for a fund-raising dinner. CiviEvent lets you set the maximum number of people allowed to register for your event. When registrations reach that number, CiviEvent will not allow other people to register, but will instead send an automatic message saying, "The event is currently full." This message can be customized by the organization when creating a new event, and you can let people add themselves on a first-come-first-served basis to a waitlist.

To create an event with a waitlist:

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events.
   
2. Click the Configure link next to your event.
3. Click the "Event Information and Settings" link, and on the Info and Settings form, check the "Offer a Waitlist?" box.
   

Approving Registrants

Many events are open to everyone, but there may be times when your organization invites only specific people to the event. For example, you could have an event where only volunteers that have donated 100 or more volunteer hours are invited to an appreciation dinner. But it is possible that the people invited will talk about the event to their friends, and possibly forward the information.  Hence, other people not invited may try to register for the event. CiviEvent allows you to create an event that allows you to check the people who have registered and approve only the people invited.

When a person registers for the event, they will get a reply that says, "Your registration has been submitted. Once your registration has been reviewed, you will receive an email with a link to a web page where you can complete the registration process."  This reply can be customized to your organisation's needs.

To create an event that requires approval:

1. Navigate to Events > Manage Events.
2. Click the Configure link for your event.
3. Click the Online Registration link. On the Online Registration form, check the Requires Participant Approval box.
   
4. You can then customize the text for the Approval Message. You can also limit the amount of time participants have to complete their registration after approval by entering the time in hours in the "Pending participant expiration" field. For example, if you want to give participants 3 days to complete their registration, enter "72" in that field.
   
5. Click Save or Save and Done.
   

Managing Participants

After you create your event and provide the registration form to website visitors, you need to begin managing your participants through the CiviEvent administrative tools. CiviEvent lets you register participants manually, search through participants based on a variety of criteria, export participant lists, and perform a number of other functions on your event records. CiviEvent not only gives participants a smooth journey from registration to payment to attendance at the event, but also lightens the burden of administrative duties on your organisation's staff. An Events dashboard brings all your events and participant information together in one place (see screenshot). In this section we will discuss how these administrative tools are used.

 

Registering a Participant Manually

Although CiviCRM helps alleviate data entry for event registration by allowing your constituents to register directly through your website, a segment of your contacts will probably continue to register by mail, phone, or in person on-site. Your staff will then enter the registration information manually.

For example, when a person calls the office to register for an event, the staff person who takes the call can enter the person's name in the "Quick search" box, select the contact from the results, click the Events tab on the caller's contact record, and add the person to the event.

The Events tab, shown in the following screenshot, displays a summary list of the contact's past event attendance and provides a link for registering the contact for a new event.

 

There are two options for registering the contact:

• Add Event Registration: For people who pay later, such as by sending a check or paying when they arrive at the event.
• Submit Credit Card Event Registration: For people paying immediately with a credit card. This option is available only if you've configured a payment processor that allows direct payments through your website. You can ask them for their information and enter it manually.
  

The interface for both options is very similar, with the exception of those fields that record payment details.

 

 

As you work through this form, certain sections of the page change to reflect selections you have made. For example, when you choose the event you want to register the contact for and select the participant role, the form will automatically load predefined custom data fields that pertain to those selections.

If the event selected is a paid event, you will see an event fees section which has been defined in the event configuration details, and an option to record the financial transaction details (Record Payment) will be visible. This leads us to an important concept central to CiviEvent (as well as other modules). Event registration records in CiviCRM are independent of, but can be related to, a financial transaction. While this may seem confusing to organizations accustomed to viewing event registrations as essentially a financial transaction, it offers an important and valuable distinction.

An event registration communicates the contact's participation in the organization's event. A corresponding financial transaction indicates the monetary value associated with that participation. While related, the two are distinct.

The distinction is best understood by considering the all common scenario of an organization waiving fees for a V.I.P., a speaker, or someone who participating in the event in a limited way. In such cases, you want to register the individuals but may not want to create an associated financial transaction.

CiviCRM respects this distinction by recording the event registration record under the Events tab, recording the financial record under the Contributions tab, and then creating a link between the two records.

If the event is a paid event, click the Record Payment checkbox and enter information in the transaction fields that are displayed. This process essentially "links" together the event registration and the contribution record for this contact. After recording the registration, you will be able to view the event registration record and see the related contribution record at the bottom (see screenshot). If you do not select the Record Payment check box, only a registration record will be created.