Event Registration Overview - Event & Calendar Guide

For many events it's good to know who will be coming. Rock's event registration features provide a simple tool to not only know who is planning to attend, but also to take care of many of the mundane tasks like event payments. The first thing that people want to know about event registration is the feature list. While not inclusive (you'll have to read further for that), below is a list of the major features contained in event registration: Free/Paid Registrations Partial Payments Additional Fees Single or Multiple Registrant Registrations Discounts (Percentage and Fixed Amounts) Payment Plans Notifications Custom Entry Forms Confirmation and Reminder Emails Didn't see a feature you need? Keep reading...it's probably in here. The Basics of Event Registration Before getting too deep, let's establish some of the key terms and concepts related to event registration. Registrar vs. Registrant There are two parties involved with every registration that occurs. The registrar, the person who is actually entering the registration, and the registrant, the person who is registered for the event. In some cases, this could be the same person. For instance, Ted Decker may register himself for an upcoming event. Many times, though, this will not be the case. Ted Decker might register his two children for camp. In this latter case, Ted would be the registrar while his two children, Noah and Alexis, would be registrants. While we're often most interested in the registrants for an event, we also need to be able to store and report...

Managing Event Registrations - Event & Calendar Guide

Now that you're comfortable creating event registrations, let's see how to manage them through the registration lifecycle. Promoting Your Registration The easiest way to give your guests access to an event registration is through a calendar event. The Bringing It All Together chapter below covers the process of linking calendar events to registrations. Once linked, the event detail will display the Register button as shown below. Event Detail Page With Registration Link You can also link directly to an event registration using a URL. The formats for doing so are: http://www.yourexternalsite.com/page/999?RegistrationInstanceId=999 (where the page id and registration instance id match the appropriate values) http://www.yourexternalsite.com/Registration/<slugname> (you can find more on slugs in the Bringing It All Together chapter below) Managing Registrations You can manage the registrations by going to the Event Instance Detail Page: Tools Event Registration Registration Detail Registration Instance. At the top of this page, you'll see the details of the registration with an Edit button to modify its settings. You'll also notice a number of tabs toward the bottom of the page, each relating to a different component of the registration process (registrations, payments, etc.). The content on each of the tabs can be filtered using the Filter Options link. Registrations Tab The Registrations Tab shows all of the registrations that have been entered into the system. Remember these are registrations that could have multiple registrants. If any of the registrations are tied to a campus (e.g., because there is a Campus linkage configured, see below) then a...

Payment Plans - Event & Calendar Guide

Payment Plans let you spread out your payments over time, making it easier to afford activities like camps or other events. With options to customize how often payments are made, Payment Plans offer flexibility and peace of mind, ensuring everyone can participate in your events. Obsidian Block The Payment Plan feature is available only when using the Obsidian version of the Registration Entry block. Starting a Payment Plan Registering for an event with a Payment Plan is simple. The registration process stays the same as it is without Payment Plans. There's only a slight change during the final step, where you’ll have the option to create a Payment Plan. Create a New Plan When you reach the payment step, you can either pay in full or set up a Payment Plan by clicking the Set Up Payment Plan button. From there, you’ll be asked to choose: Payment Frequency: How often you want to make payments (weekly, monthly, etc.) Start Date: When you’d like your payments to begin. Set Up Payment Plan Once you’ve made your selections, you’ll move to the next screen where you can customize your Payment Plan further. Set Up Payment Plan 1 Total and Due Date The total amount you owe and when it needs to be fully paid. 2 Payment Frequency Choose how often you’d like to make payments (the available options may vary depending on your payment gateway). 3 Start Date This affects how many payments you’ll make before the due date. A later start...

Securing Calendars and Events - Event & Calendar Guide

There are two security roles that help secure the management of calendars and events. Let's look at each. Securing Calendars While those in the RSR - Staff Workers and RSR - Staff Like Workers roles can view and add new events, only those in the RSR - Calendar Administration can approve events and create new calendars. Securing Event Registrations Like calendars, those in the RSR - Staff Workers and RSR - Staff Like Workers roles can create new instances of registrations, but only those in the RSR - Event Registration Administration can create new registration templates. Individuals can edit event registration templates in two ways: If they have Administrate" permissions for the specific template. If they have Edit" permissions on the block security, allowing them to edit any template using the block. To limit access, remove the individual from this role and grant them permissions for specific registration templates instead. From a financial perspective anyone in the staff/staff-like roles can add payments to a registration but out of the box you will need to be in the RSR - Finance Administration role to process refunds.

Event Blocks - Event & Calendar Guide

How you decide to display events to your guests will be very unique. Rock provides several blocks to help you craft the experience you desire. See our Designing and Building Websites Using Rock guide for more information on blocks in general. Calendar Block The Calendar Lava block is the basic calendar list block for your external calendar. The screen shot below shows the block in its default form, however this block comes with a ton of settings to change the way it is displayed. Below is a list of some of the settings that this block provides. Event Calendar: The calendar (public, internal, etc.) to pull events from. Default View Option: Which view option (day, week or month) to initially show. Details Page: The page to navigate to, to show the event's details. Campus Filter Display Mode: Options to show a campus filter (Hidden, Plain, Panel Open, Panel Closed). Audience Filter Display Mode: Options to show an audience filter (Hidden, Plain, Panel Open, Panel Closed). Filter Audiences: Allows you to filter which audiences you'd like to show as filter options. Show Date Range Filter: Determines whether a date range filter should be displayed. Show Small Calendar: Determines whether the small calendar in the upper left should be shown. Show Day View: Determines whether the day view should be shown as an option. Show Week View: Determines whether the week view should be shown as an option. Show Month View: Determines whether the month view should be shown as an option....

Event Wizard - Event & Calendar Guide

The process to create an event has a lot of moving parts, and it’s essential to include all the right information in them. The Event Wizard is a tool designed with your staff in mind. This gives administrators an easy way to train the rest of the team on how to create events. You might be thinking, “When would I ever need to use this tool?” Great question. The fact is you don’t need this tool to create event registrations, but once you see its capabilities, you’ll be asking, “Why would we ever create events any other way?” Overview Creating events involves much more than the event details. Events include but are not limited to, registrations, groups, calendar occurrences, and well... finances. Let’s jump right in and look at this tool, and all it has to offer. Take the Step Summer is coming, and that means camp is right around the corner. You’ve had camps in previous years, so the registration template is solid with everything a registration needs for this event to be successful. This year, you and the rest of the administrative staff have decided to pass the baton to staff members to create their registrations in Rock. This is a huge deal, pat yourself on the back for this great handoff. But wait! The Students Director isn’t the most tech savvy person to be creating registrations in Rock. Are you sure this is a good idea? Yes, it’s still a good idea; in fact, it’s the best...

Registration Templates - Event & Calendar Guide

As you've already read, templates contain a majority of the Event Registration's configuration. There's a lot to cover, so let's get started. To keep it simple, we'll break the screen down into bite-sized chunks. You can edit registrations under Tools Event Registration. General Settings General Settings 1 Template Name The name of your template. 2 Active When a template should not be used anymore you can deactivate it. You could also delete it, but that would also delete all the registrations that use it. 3 Category To help organize registrations, you can organize and secure them by category. 4 Description You can optionally provide a description for the template. 5 Group Type / Group Member Role / Group Member Status These fields help tell Rock what settings to use when it drops the person into a group. In this case they will be placed into the group with the Role of Member and the Status of Active. 6 Allow Multiple Registrants Fairly straight forward. 7 Max Registrants Per Registration This indicates how many people you can register at one time. This only applies if Allow Multiple Registrants is enabled. 8 Registrar Options This option allows the event coordinator to auto-complete the registrar's information with the first registrant's information as well as hide the registration form altogether. This is useful and streamlines the process when the person registering is also the registrar (say, for example when someone is registering themselves for an event). The options for this setting are: Prompt for...

Registration Instances - Event & Calendar Guide

" Now that we understand how to make registration templates, we're ready to implement them for specific events. There are several places where you can create registration instances. Since we're already familiar with the registration template screen, let's first create a new instance here. Instance Settings Clicking the from the instance grid will bring up the instance editor shown below. Registration Instance Settings 1 Registration Instance Name This is actually an important field that will be shown during the registration process. It will be used to describe the event that you are registering for (e.g., Thank You for Registering for "         "). 2 Active This determines if the registration instance is currently active. 3 Registration Starts The date and time that the registration starts. 4 Registration Ends The date and time that the registration ends. 5 Maximum Attendees Indicate the total number of people that can register for the event. 6 Registration Workflow You can optionally configure a workflow to run at the end of each registration. The registration will be passed in as the entity on the workflow. A similar setting exists on the template if you would like to ensure that all instances have the same workflow. 7 Send Reminder Date The date and time that the reminder should be sent. 8 Registration Contact Information The information that should be displayed as the contact for the registration process. 9 Account The financial account that the registration costs/fees should be tied to. 10 Registration Instructions These instructions will be shown...

Registration Finances - Event & Calendar Guide

Paid registrations come with the additional complexity of having to work with money. Rock provides several tools to make this as simple as possible while also ensuring that there are good protections in place for proper accountability. Adding Payments While most of the time payments for events will be handled by the registrar during the registration process, you can manually enter payments on their behalf from the registration details page: Tools Event Registration Registration Template Registration Instance Registration (ok... that seems complex, but it's really not as bad as it looks on paper...) From the Registration Details page, you can manage payments using the Payments tab pictured below. Registration Payments Once you click the link you will see the Payments Edit Panel. The screenshot below shows you all the options on this screen. Payments Edit Panel 1 Payment Detail Clicking on the date of the payment will take you to the financial transaction detail page for the payment. From here you can get more information about the payment and process a full or partial refund. 2 Process New Payment Selecting this option allows you to run a new credit card payment through Rock. In order for this to work, the registration type's financial gateway must support the "hosted" mechanism. See the Configuring a Gateway section of the Rock Your Finances guide for more. 3 Add Manual Payment This option allows you to enter the details of a manual (off-line) payment, like cash or check. Refunds Processing full or partial refunds...

Registration Payment Reminders - Event & Calendar Guide

Allowing partial payments is great, but getting the remaining balance has always been difficult. That was until Rock came around. Now there are several tools for getting the remaining balance quickly and easily. Let's look at all your options! Manual Reminders One way to remind individuals of remaining balances is to manually send them a reminder. You can do this from the Registration Instance page. Send Payment Reminders Once you click the Send Payment Reminders link, you'll see the page below. This page allows you to customize the reminder text and who should receive the email. Payment Reminder Communication 1From Name The From Name, From Email and Subject should be filled in for you based on the values supplied from the registration template. You can edit these values to suit your needs. 2Message Next you see a preview of the email the individuals will receive. The preview uses the information for the first person on the grid below to give you a precise view of what the person will receive in their inbox. 3Template Toggle You can choose to edit the email template if you wish by clicking the Source toggle. This will display the Lava template that creates this email. 4People Below the preview you'll see a list of those with a remaining balance. When creating the list, Rock looks at the Payment Reminder Time Span setting for the registration template. If the registration has already received a reminder or was created within this timespan, the registration is greyed...

Registration Group Placements - Event & Calendar Guide

Sometimes registration isn't over once all the information is collected. In fact, sometimes that's just the beginning. That's certainly the case with events like sports teams and camps. After everyone’s registered, you still need to form teams and camp groups. This can be a daunting and laborious task, but that's where Rock's group placement features come to the rescue. They allow you to easily sort registrants into one or more groups with minimal effort. For these tools to kick in, you need to first enable them on your registration template. Let’s take a look at how that’s done. Placement Configuration Registration templates have a panel called Placement Configuration where you can define areas into which registrants should be sorted. Ultimately this will mean placing registrants into groups, but those groups can be created and added later in the process. For now, let’s look at the Placement Configuration options available in the registration template. Registration Template Placement Configuration From the Placement Configuration panel pictured above, you can see the list of the template’s placements and a summary of their setup. After your template is configured, each of the items in this list will appear as a tab within the registration instance. Click the button to add new placements to the list. Edit Placement Configuration 1 Name Provide a name for the placement. This name will appear as a tab within the registration instance. 2 Group Type When adding a new placement, you are required to select a Group Type. This controls...

Registration Fees - Event & Calendar Guide

We get it - events are tricky and often come with odd requirements for additional fees. We've tried to think of as many combinations as possible when creating the features here, so we have a lot to cover. Fee Types Below is a chart of the various types of fees that are available. You can use any combination of these to create the fee structure you need for each registration event. Types of Fees 1 Single Option Fee You either want it or you don't. 2 Single Option Fee with Quantity You can get as many as you want. 3 Multiple Options Variety is the spice of life. 4 Multiple Options with Quantity What's better than a little spice? A whole lot! Now that we see what's possible, let's look at how to set up fees. Setting Up Fees You can add, edit and delete fees in the Fees section of the Registration Template. Fee List Click the button to create a new fee. Fee Editor 1 Name This will be used for the label that goes above the fee selection. 2 Options Here is where you'll make the determination of whether the fee has multiple options. When selected, it will display a key/value input that allows you to enter optional text as well as the cost. 3 Enable Quantity Pretty obvious what this does (enables the quantity picker). 4 Discount Applies Sometimes you'll want the discount calculation to apply to fees, sometimes not. 5 Is Active Check this box...

Welcome - Event & Calendar Guide

The power of Rock's tools is the synergy they bring when they work together. This is certainly true in the area of event management. So as not to overwhelm though we’ll start by describing each of the available tools as a stand-alone component. Once we have that complete, we'll dive into how you can use them together for mind-blowing results. Enable SSL Be sure to enable SSL on your website before taking registrations with payments.

Calendars - Event & Calendar Guide

There are three components that make up Rock's calendar capabilities: Calendars, Events and Event Occurrences. Calendar Components One might wonder why we need separate events and event occurrences. Couldn't we just put the schedule on the event and be done with it? That would certainly work, but there are cases where the same type of event, say Baptism, happens repeatedly. Having separate event and event items allows us to do things like list all the upcoming baptism dates. Event Calendars Every organization has the need for multiple calendars. Even a small organization will have a public and private (internal) calendar. Most will have several more. You can administrate calendars under Tools Calendars. Out of the box Rock ships with two pre-configured calendars: Internal: Used for internal events like staff meetings, retreats, etc. Public: For events targeted towards your members and attendees. Events Can Be Placed on More Than One Calendar Sometimes you'll have an event that should be displayed on more than one calendar. Rock supports this. An event can be on any number of calendars you'd like. Calendar List You can add additional calendars by selecting the add button in the upper right of the panel, as pictured above. When adding or editing a calendar you will see the screen below: Calendar Details 1 Name The name of the calendar. 2 Active Whether the calendar is currently active. 3 Description A quick reminder of what the calendar is for and how it should be used. 4 Icon CSS Class...

Bringing It All Together - Event & Calendar Guide

Hopefully you're starting to see the symbiotic relationship between event registrations and calendar events. The fact that they share the same manual should tell you that they go together like peas and carrots (or steak and potatoes). We've also seen that groups can be linked to registrations, and that content channels also have a role with calendar events. You might be wondering how you're going to manage all these items for a specific event. We did too, so we worked hard to make it as simple as possible. Here’s how. While you can link registrations, events, groups and content channel items many different ways, here's the easiest: Create your event group that the registration will place registrants into. Create your calendar event and occurrence. While editing your occurrence select the Add Linkage button. There are a few linkage options for you, which we’ll summarize here and then describe in more detail below. No Registration Required: Select this option if you’re not linking the event to a registration. This lets you link a URL Slug to the event without needing a registration instance. Create Registration Instance: This lets you set up a new registration instance directly from the calendar occurrence instead of creating it separately and having to link them later. Use Existing Registration Instance: If you already have a registration instance created then you can use this option to link it to this event occurrence. After saving the occurrence, you can optionally enter any content channel items you need for...

Wait Lists - Event & Calendar Guide

We know your events are going to be popular. So popular, in fact, that you probably won't be able to fit everyone. Don't worry, Rock's wait list features will ensure that you can manage the crowds. Let's take a look at how these features work. Registration Entry You can enable the wait list features on registration templates. Then, you'll configure the maximum number of registrants on registration instances. When the event is full, individuals will see the message below when they attempt to register. Wait List Warning At this point, the individual can decide not to register or to add themselves to the waitlist. Let's look at a slightly more complex scenario. What if there is only one spot left and the person is hoping to register two individuals? When they arrive at the page, they'll see a normal registration page. But, when they select more people than there are slots available, they'll get the message below. Wait List Warning (Partial) In this case, let's assume that they would like to continue with registering both kids for camp. You'll notice that the registrant entry screen below looks fairly normal but has an additional notice at the top reminding them that this individual will be fully registered for the event. Registrant Screen As they move to register the second child, they will notice that the reminder is now warning them that this individual will be on the wait list. Careful observers may have noticed that the number of entry fields has...

Discounts - Event & Calendar Guide

People often ask, "Do you have quantity or early bird discounts?" Well, Rock has something better. Rock's discount feature gives you a ton of flexibility to create discounts customized for your organization's needs. Want to provide a discount code? You can do that. Want to offer a discount for families registering more than three children? You can do that, too. How about a unique combination of both of these only for a limited time and you want the discount to be automatically applied? Yep, Rock's got you covered. Let's take a closer look at these options and how they work. Discounts are listed in the Discounts section of the Registration Template. Here you can add, edit and delete discounts. Discount List Click the button to create a new discount. Discount Editor All of the discount options are available in the Discount Code screen. From here you can create whatever combination of criteria you want for each discount. One Discount Per Registration Instance Keep in mind that only one discount can be applied to each registration instance. If multiple discounts are set up to automatically apply, and if the registration qualifies for all of them, then the first discount listed in the template will be applied. When a discount is automatically applied, it can be manually replaced with a single other code. OK, let's take a closer look at each of the discount options. Discount Codes Discount codes allow you to give individuals a code to reduce the amount of their...

iCalendar Feed - Event & Calendar Guide

Once you have your event calendars up and running, you can use Rock's iCalendar feed feature to create dynamic calendars in Outlook, iOS, OSX iCal, Google Calendar and Android. This means you and the members of your organization can have access to event calendars right in your pocket. The iCalendar feed is accessed by URL, which you add to your email client or calendar program. The process will vary depending on the program you're using, but most programs have an option for adding a calendar from an internet address. Once you add the event calendar URL to your program, it will sync and stay updated with that calendar in Rock. Calendar Settings and Formatting There are a couple of things about the iCalendar feed you should know before going forward. First of all, any security added to calendars is enforced, so you need to have access to any non-public calendars you want to use with the iCalendar feed. Second, Rock takes care of providing and formatting the calendar content. You can, however, customize the calendar's description by adding the following Lava to the Lava template: " {{ EventItem.Description }} {{ EventItemOccurrence.Note }} (Remember, Lava templates can be found at Admin Tools Settings Defined Types Lava Templates.) OK, let's take a look at the iCalendar URL itself. Calendar URL The calendar URL has a specific format: "http://rocksolidchurchdemo.org/GetEventCalendarFeed.ashx?calendarid=1 This sample URL provides the feed for a calendar located at rocksolidchurchdemo.org with an ID of "1". There are three parts to the URL:...

Check-in Registration - Checking-out Check-in

A check-in kiosk can also be used by a volunteer to register new families or add guests to existing families. Although the experience is as simple and smooth as can be, it's not intended to be used by your guests. We recommend you pair the kiosk with a friendly volunteer who is good with quick data entry. On a kiosk with this mode enabled, after searching for a family you will see new Add Family options whether you find a match... Select Your Family ...or not. Select Your Family To speed up the process, when adding new people you will see only the essential fields -- although you can configure what other optional or required fields (person attributes) you want to capture during these steps. Organizations will typically add additional information not essential to check-in at a later point when there is more time. Add Person Editing Families Did Maddie bring her friend Alex to church with her? No problem. Adding guests of a family is a breeze with the 'Can check in' relationship. Just select the new 'Edit Family' button and add Alex with that relationship. Edit Family Adding a Guest Editing Family Members We've even enabled some duplicate detection so you're less likely to end up with another Alex Decker in your system. Select or Edit Family Members There are a few things to note regarding duplicate detection. When adding multiple 'guest' adults, if one of them matches a person in Rock, the other new adults (and new...

Check-in Registration - Checking-out Check-in - NextGen

A check-in kiosk can also be used by a volunteer to register new families or add guests to existing families. Although the experience is as simple and smooth as can be, it's not intended to be used by your guests. We recommend you pair the kiosk with a friendly volunteer who is good with quick data entry. On a kiosk with this mode enabled, after searching for a family you will see new Add Family options whether you find a match... Select Your Family ...or not. Select Your Family To speed up the process, when adding new people you will see only the essential fields -- although you can configure what other optional or required fields (person attributes) you want to capture during these steps. Organizations will typically add additional information not essential to check-in at a later point when there is more time. Add Person Editing Families Did Maddie bring her friend Alex to church with her? No problem. Adding guests of a family is a breeze with the 'Can check in' relationship. Just select the new 'Edit Family' button, then 'Add Individual', then and add Alex with that relationship. Edit Family Adding a Guest Editing Family Members We've even enabled some duplicate detection so you're less likely to end up with another Alex Decker in your system. Select or Edit Family Members There are a few things to note regarding duplicate detection. When adding multiple 'guest' adults, if one of them matches a person in Rock, the other...