Events Management
The Events Management App allows you to receive RSVPs for events, workshops or seminars via your website.
In this article:
Events Management App Features
Events Management App Requirements
The Events Management App is included with Oncord's Marketing features. If you wish to run paid events, Oncord's Commerce features are also required.
To enable the Marketing, or Commerce features:
Adding features and changing your Oncord plan is easy, click here for instructions.
Enable the Events Management App
To enable the events management app:
You will notice that a new events page appears under the "Marketing" heading in the left-hand sidebar.
Creating Events
After installing the Events Management App, get started by creating a new event.
You will be presented with a configuration form. The minimum required information for a new event is a title, start time and end time. Set a
sensible event title, as this will be displayed publicly when your users RSVP.
New Event - Basic Options
Event Title: Displayed as a heading on the RSVP page, and when an attendee adds the event to their Google or Outlook Calendar.
Start Time: The time when the event will start. Users may still RSVP for an event after the start time, so if you'd like to prevent this from happening you need to ensure that you set the RSVP deadline (in the RSVP Options tab). Both the start and end time will be displayed on the RSVP page.
End Time: The when the event will end. Users cannot RSVP for an event after the event end time.
Timezone: Confirm the timezone that the start / end times are being specified in.
Maximum number of Attendees: Select this option to restrict the number of attendees allowed at the event.
QR Code Check In: When this option is selected for an event, a QR code can be included in the event reminders sent to attendees, which allows admins to quickly check-in attendees at the event.
Location: The location is displayed after the user has RSVP'd, and also when an attendee adds the event to their Google or Outlook Calendar.
Description: This description is displayed on the public RSVP page, above the RSVP form.
New Event - Additional RSVP Options
Invitation Required: You may opt for this event to be invite-only. Public users will be unable to RSVP or view the event details until they login, and as long as they have been invited to the event. You can send an e-mail marketing campaign with an RSVP link to attendees, they will be logged in after clicking a link in the e-mail campaign.
RSVP Deadline: Contacts will not be able to RSVP after this time (you may still manually RSVP attendees though). Ensure that the "Timezone" field has been set correctly, as the RSVP deadline will also use that timezone.
Allow 'Maybe' RSVP: If you select this option attendees can select 'Maybe' as an option on the RSVP form for the event.
Alternate RSVP: This option will allow contacts to specify someone to attend in their place when they RSVP. This option is mostly applicable to invite only events, allowing attendees to send another person in their place instead of the user who was invited.
Allowed Guests: Select this option to allow attendees to bring guests, you may specify the maximum number of guests allowed.
Require Address on Registration: To encourage event registration, by default Oncord will not ask attendees for their address. Tick this option to require the user to enter their address.
Registration Fields: Custom fields may be used to include more custom options in the RSVP form, such as dietary requirements.
Promoting Events
Advertising & Marketing for Events
Oncord posts are generally used for advertising events on your website (more on this below), and you may also send an e-mail campaign with an RSVP link to your contact database.
After installing the Events Management App, the "Conditions" engine will be updated throughout your Dashboard, allowing you to target email or SMS messages based on event attendance.
This section will explain how to setup Posts and Pages to advertise an event on your website. This tutorial assumes that you have already created an event, so if you've skipped that step please create an event using the instructions above before continuing.
There are two common Methods for users to RSVP for events via the website:
1. User clicks a Post > Completes RSVP
2. User clicks a Post > Reads Page, clicks a button or link > Completes RSVP
The first method is usually recommend, all you need to do is create a post, and for the "Full Version / Link to" option you will set the Post to link to your event. This means that when users click the post, they'll just be directed straight to the events RSVP page.
With the second method, you'll setup a Post, and for the "Full Version / Link To", you'll create a new page. On that page you'll have some info about the event, and normally add a link to the page somewhere that links to RSVP for the event. This method is ideal if you've setup multiple events for different ticketing options, because you can add buttons for each different event.
Linking a Post to an Event
Following the first method listed above:
Link a Post to a Page, and a Page to the RSVP Form
Following the second method listed above:
Steps to Create a Post
The aim of the post is to act as a small "Teaser", which will link to a full page dedicated to the event.
Step 1: Go to Dashboard > Website > Posts.
Step 2: Select the "New Posts" button, located towards the top of the page.
Step 3: Configure your new post. As seen in the Example below, add a title, select a category (the category determines where the event post will display on your website), upload an image and write a small teaser / short description.
For the "Full Version / Link To" option, select the option "Create a New Page". This will generate a new page for the post to be linked to.
Step 4: Click the "Save & Create Linked Page" button, located at the bottom of the form. Clicking this button will take you to the new page, where you'll enter more details about the event.
Steps to Create an Events Page
After creating a post using the steps above, you should be looking at an empty page with the page editor open. The aim of this page is to list more details about the event, convincing users to RSVP. Use the page editor to add content, and perhaps an image. For an example of how an events page might look, see the image below.
Linking a Page to the Event RSVP
To allow users to RSVP, you'll need to place a link or button on the page which links to the RSVP form. To link your new page to the events RSVP form:
Step 1: In a new tab or window in your browser, Go to Dashboard > Customers > Events.
Step 2: Select your Event, and select the "View Online" button. Clicking this button will open the RSVP form for your event. Copy the URL.
Step 3: Go back to the Page and create a link (eg. "Click here to RSVP"), select the text and click the link tool in the
page editor toolbar.
Step 4: In the URL field, Paste the URL that you copied earlier. Need more help adding a link? click here.
Congratulations! You have now created an event, a post article and an information page for your event! You can now use the event information
page to advertise your event through Social Media and Email Marketing.
QR Code Check-in
The QR code check-in feature can help reduce time spent checking-in attendees at events. When this feature is enabled for an event, a QR code will be included in the events reminder sent to attendees, which can then be scanned when they arrive at the event.
How to Enable the QR Code Check-in For an Event
Follow the steps below to enable the QR Code Check-in feature:
How to Configure the RSVP Confirmation With the QR Code
After the QR Code Check-in feature has been enabled, then you need to configure an RSVP confirmation with the QR code for the event.
To configure the RSVP Confirmation with the QR code:
How to Check in Attendees via QR Code
You may use a mobile device to better access the QR code scanning tool.
To check in attendees via QR code:
Running Paid Events
If you wish to run paid events, Oncord's Commerce features are also required.
To enable the Commerce features:
Adding features and changing your Oncord plan is easy, click here for instructions.
Configure a Paid Event
To get started, either create a new event, or edit an existing event:
When editing an event, select the "Pricing" tab to configure payment and pricing options for the event.
Tick the option "Admittance requires purchase" to view additional options for configuring pricing and payment. You will be presented with an option to either create a new product, or find an existing product.
The event needs to correspond to a Product within Oncord Commerce component.
When the "Create New Product" option is selected, the details you enter into the Price, Brand and Category fields will be used to create a new Product. Alternatively you may select the "Find / Edit Existing" to search your Product catalog for a product that already exists. You shouldn't need to edit the Product associated with your event - its details are updated by editing the Event.
The Product will be created when you click Save Event. The next time you visit the Pricing section, "Find / Edit Existing" option will be selected.
As suggested by the [change] link, the product that is linked to the Event may be changed easily. You may want to consider removing Products that you have created but no longer use, as they will appear in the Products database (go to Dashboard > Commerce > Products to review your product catalog).
Guest Pricing
You may opt to charge guests a different price.
If guests are allowed (allow guests through the "RSVP Options" tab), an additional field will display at the bottom of the pricing section to enable guest pricing.
If the "Different" option for guest pricing is selected, an Additional Attribute will be added to the product specifying the guest price as an ordering option.
Order Options
Within the pricing details of an Event, Product Order Options can be used to allow attendees to choose between event options. Order options can be used to modify the price to attend the event.
As an example - you may setup a "Ticket Type" option, with the values Standard, VIP, and Sponsor, where each option is priced differently:
The above order options would then show to users when they RSVP for an event:
Taking Payment & RSVP for Paid Events
If your event has been configured to require purchase, your configured payment methods will appear below the RSVP form.
To configure payment methods, go to Dashboard > Settings > Commerce > Payment Methods. Click here to learn more about payment methods.
When a user completes payment for the event, an invoice will be raised and sent automatically.
Hosting Invite-only Events
This article will walk you through the process of hosting an "invite only" event, which involves creating the event, and then sending an e-mail campaign with an invitation to guests.
The Workflow
To receive RSVPs for an invite-only event you will follow these steps (more details below):
Invite only events do not allow general users to RSVP. You will send an e-mail campaign with an RSVP link, when the contact clicks the RSVP link they will be automatically logged in to the website, allowing them to RSVP for the event.
Create and Configure an Invite Only Event
Adding Attendees
After you have configured your event, it's time to start adding attendees, who will later RSVP. Think of attendees as the contacts who you would like to attend the event. Don't worry, Oncord won't automatically send an invite as soon as you add an attendee to an event.
After saving the event you will be directed to a page where you can view attendees and their RSVP statuses. Otherwise, navigate to Dashboard > Marketing > Events and click select your event.
Select the "Add Attendee" button, and a dialog box will appear. Search for the contact you would like to add as an attendee. If the contact doesn't exist on your database yet, you will need to close the dialog box, and navigate to Dashboard > Customers > Contacts and add the contacts to your database first.
You can specify the RSVP status of an attendee when you add them. In most cases you will specify the Attendance Status of "No RSVP", to specify that they haven't RSVP'd yet.
Inviting Attendees
After you have added attendees to the event, you're ready to send an e-mail marketing campaign with a link to RSVP.
To do this, open the event (Dashboard > Marketing > Events, click the event), and then click the "E-mail" button.
A dialog box will appear, which allows you to specify which attendees you would like to e-mail. You will have added your attendees with the RSVP status of "No RSVP", so select this option. Click the "Create E-mail" button.
After you click the "Create E-mail" button, Oncord will create a new e-mail marketing message, and copy across the event details to save time. At the bottom of the message there is a link to RSVP for the event.
Oncord will configure the e-mail campaign to only send to Contacts as you have specified (contacts with RSVP status of "No RSVP"). When you prepare to send your e-mail campaign, you can check the contacts who will receive the message by clicking the number next to the text "Number of contacts to send to".
When a user clicks the RSVP link, they will be taken through to the website to RSVP for the event. When a contact clicks a link in an e-mail marketing campaign they are automatically logged in, so the RSVP page will recognize that they are invited to the event.