Events Event Sessions

Events Event Sessions

Events Event Sessions Objective: To understand what a session is and how it can be used within the events system. This document will show how to create event sessions as well as manage session registrants. Events Notes Series: This document is part of a series of notes regarding the Yourmembership.com Events System. We ve organized the notes into different steps for you to follow. When working with events, we recommend viewing our events documents in the following order: Step 1: Event Registration Forms Step 2: Event Registration Tickets Step 3: Creating an Event Step 4: Event Sessions (THIS DOCUMENT) Step 5: Managing Events Step 6: Managing Event Registrations If you have not yet reviewed the previous documents in this series we recommend doing so before continuing with this document. What is an Event Session? An event session is a designated period of time devoted to a particular activity that occurs during your event. Sessions can be utilized for conferences, meetings, trainings, workshops, forum discussions and any other activities that you would allow event registrants to attend. A session can have a name and description, start and end time as well as a seat limit. You may even charge payment in order to register for a session. These sessions are intended to fall within the timeframe of the overall event. For example, if you have a 2 day Conference with workshops on Saturday & Sunday, you may create individual sessions spanning out both days to allow users to select which workshops they wish to attend during the 2 days. Creating an Event Session After an event is initially created you can begin to setup any sessions you d like associated with the event. We ll outline the steps needed to create an event session below. 2

Navigate to the Features menu tab > within the Left Rail Menu, select the Calendar & Events section. Hover over the List View icon (three blue lines) to the left of the event name and select the Manage Sessions option. On the Event Sessions page, select the Add a New Session link to create a new session for the event. Below we ll outline the configuration options (in bold) available for creating an event session. 1. Name: Enter the name of the session which will be displayed to event registrants. Be sure the name provides some sort of description of the activity as this name will draw users to select it. For example, if there is an Opening Statement to kick off your event the name of the session could be something like 2015 Winter Conference Kickoff Ceremony. 2. Presenter: This field allows you to highlight a specific individual who may be speaking at the particular session. If your Kickoff Ceremony has a special guest speaker you d like to highlight you can put their name within this field. 3. Event Name: This field will automatically be populated with the name of the event you are currently creating the session for. 3

4. Start Date: Utilize the calendar icon to enter a Start Date for when the session takes place. The Start Date is a required field. 5. End Date: You may also enter an End Date for the session if desired. The End Date is not required. 6. Start Time: Enter a specific time for when the session is to begin. Entering a Start Time is a required field and helps to organize the different sessions available for the event. 7. End Time: Enter a specific time for when the session is to end. (Quick Tip: It is recommended to include an End Time so that registrants not only know the length of the session but also how much time they ll have free to potentially register for other available sessions) 8. Allow Overlap: Choose whether or not you d like registrants to select multiple sessions occurring at the same time. A session that is allowed for overlap can be selected by the registrant in additional to other sessions that allow overlap or sessions that do not have overlapping Start & Stop times. (Quick Tip: A session starting at 8:00:00 AM and ending at 10:00:00 AM can be selected during registration along with another session that starts at 9:45:00 AM as long as both sessions are marked as Yes for the Allow Overlap option. If one of these sessions is not marked to allow overlap, the registrant will receive a message during registration stating the session cannot be selected because it overlaps another session) To prevent registrants from selecting sessions with overlapping Start & Stop times, mark No for this option. 9. Max. # of Registrants: If applicable, enter the maximum number of event registrants that can attend this session. 4

For example, if you have a training workshop where the room has a maximum capacity, enter that number within this field. 10. Required Tickets: If you wish to charge payment for the selection of a session during event registration you can choose an event ticket from this area. Please note, that if multiple tickets are associated here the registrant may only choose ONE required ticket. (Quick Tip: You must have event tickets created in order for them to appear within the Required Ticket Listing. It s important to only select a ticket here if you wish to charge a registrant a fee to attend a session for your event. You DO NOT want to select your overall event tickets in this area. Please review our Event Tickets notes document for more information regarding event tickets) 11. Optional Tickets: If you wish to have an optional payment for the selection of a session during event registration you can choose event tickets from this area. Please note, if multiple tickets are associated here the registrant may choose more than one ticket. 12. Content Editor: The content editor provides you the ability to add some description and details regarding the session. 5

Any information provided within the content editor will be visible to the registrant on the frontend 13. Click the Save button to save the session. Managing Sessions Once sessions have been created for an event they will be listed on the Event Session listing page. Within this area, you can administratively create session groups, edit existing sessions, manage session registrants as well as manage session certification/credits (if applicable). 6

What is a Session Group? Session Groups can be used to create tracks or categories for sessions available within an event. For example: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Tracks (groups) or Morning, Afternoon and Evening Activities (groups). Without Session Groups created, sessions that are created for an event are grouped by Start Date automatically. Creating a Session Group On the Event Sessions Listing page, click on Add a New Session Group to create a session group. Below we ll outline the configuration options (in bold) available for creating a Session Group. 1. Name: Enter the session group/category name. For example: Advanced Course Track. 2. Event Name: This field will automatically be populated with the name of the event you are currently creating the session group for. 3. Single-Select: Utilize this setting if you wish to allow the event registrants to select only one session that is included within this group. If Yes is selected a registrant will only be able to choose from one of the sessions within the session group to attend. 7

4. Select Sessions for This Group: Select the appropriate sessions that should be grouped into the session group/category. These will be listed under the session name and available for selection during the event registration process. (Quick Tip: We recommended creating all of your individual sessions first and then create the Session Groups so that you can easily categorize the sessions into their appropriate session group) 5. Click the Save button to save the session group. Session Listing Page Options You can view all associated sessions and session groups within the Event Sessions Listing page. For any Session Groups created you have the ability to sort the order in which the groups will be displayed on the frontend. Navigate to the Features menu tab > within the Left Rail Menu, select the Calendar & Events section. Hover over the List View icon to the left of the event name and select the Manage Sessions option. You have various options available for each session that we will outline below. 8

1. Session Options a. Edit Session: Click on the Edit pencil icon to edit an existing event session. b. View Session Registrants: Click on the people icon to view/manage session registrants. (Quick Tip: Managing Session Registrants will be further explained later in this document) c. Credits-Professional Development: Click on the book icon to assign certifications/credits to be awarded for attending this event session. d. Delete Session: Click on the trash can icon to remove this session from the event. (Quick Tip: In order to delete an event session you must first delete ALL registrants of that session) 2. Session Information a. Start Date: Displays the Start Date of the session. b. End Date: Displays the End Date (if configured) of the session. c. Start Time: Displays the Start Time of the session. d. End Time: Displays the End Time (if configured) of the session. e. # Registrants: Displays the number of registrants that have selected to attend this session as of today s date. 9

(Quick Tip: You can click on the number displayed under the # Registrants column to view the actual list of session registrants) Managing Session Registrants This section of the document will explain how to view/manage registrants of an event session. This can be done individually or in bulk. You can follow the same navigation path, click on the Features menu tab > within the Left Rail Menu, select the Calendar & Events section. Hover over the List View icon to the left of the event name and select the Manage Sessions option. Bulk Session Registrant Management On the Event Sessions listing page click on the View Session Registrants people icon. We ll outline the available administrative options on the Session Registrants page below 1. Attendee Summary for this Session 10

a. # Checked-In: Displays the number of session registrants that have checked-in. (Quick Tip: Checked-in is referring to registrants who have been marked as attended or that were physically present at the session) b. # Not Checked-In: Displays the number of session registrants that have not checked-in or that have not been marked as having attended the session. c. Total Registrants: Displays the total number of event registrants who selected this session during their registration. 2. Options a. Edit Session: Click on the Edit Session link to edit the session details (ie: session name, start date, start time etc.) b. Manage Sessions: Click on the Manage Sessions link to return to the full event session listing page. c. Manage Registrations: Click on the Manage Registrations link to view the full registration list of the entire event. d. View Event Details (Edit): Click on the View Event Details link to be taken to the frontend to view the individual event page. Clicking on the Edit link takes you to edit the configuration settings of the entire event. e. Export Session Registrants: Click on the Export Session Registrants link export the session registrants to a.csv file. 3. Session Registrant List a. Filter by Status: Utilize this dropdown menu to search through registrants of the particular session 11

i. Doesn t Matter: Select this option to view ALL session registrants. This is the default selection. ii. Not Checked In: Select this option to view ONLY session registrants who have NOT checked in or that have not yet been marked as attended. iii. Checked In: Select this option to view ONLY session registrants who have checked in or that have been marked as attended. (Quick Tip: The session Checked In status of Yes or No directly correlates to session attendance. If a session registrant is marked as checked in, they physically were present at the event session) b. Registrant Name: This column will display all of the session registrants for the event. The name of the registrant is a hyperlink which will direct you to the Registration details page for the individual registrant. The Checked In column will display whether or not the registrant has checked in or been marked as attended for the session. c. Actions: You can utilize this dropdown menu along with the session registrant checkboxes (to the left of registrant name) to perform the corresponding action to the session registrants in bulk (Quick Tip: You must check the box next to the registrants name first in order for the action to be applied) 12

i. Delete Selected Records: Select this option to delete all selected registrants (check box to the left of registrant name) from the session registrant listing. (Quick Tip: Deleting the record will only remove the registrant from this particular session. Any other sessions the registrant may have selected will remain unaffected. However, if an invoice was associated with the registrant s session, it WILL NOT be automatically voided. You will need to administratively void the invoice and/or make an adjustment. Please review our Recording Payments/Adjustments notes document for more information) ii. Mark Selected as Checked In: Select this option to mark all selected registrants as physically present & attended the session. iii. Mark Selected as Not Checked In: Select this option to mark all selected registrants as having not been present for the session. iv. After making one of the 3 selections click on the Submit button to perform the action. Individual Session Registrant Management In addition to the actions listed above you can also administratively mark individual session registrants as checked-in or attended for a session. It is important to mark session registrants as attended so you can track who was physically present. If you are awarding credits for professional development/certification for the session, marking a session registrant as attended grants the individual the amount of credits that are available. This section of the document will outline how to mark session registrants as attended on an individual level. Navigate to Features menu tab > within the Left Rail Menu, select the Calendar & Events section. Hover over the List View icon to the left of the event name and select the Manage Registrations option. 13

This will take you the list of all Registrants for the particular event. We ll outline the steps to mark session attendance individually below. 1. Locate the event registrant and click on the Edit (pencil) icon to the left of their name (Quick Tip: You can utilize the Search Filter to only show registrants of a particular session to help identify the individual registrant). This will take you to the Event Registration Details page for this registrant. 2. On the Event Registration Details page scroll down to the Sessions listing section (Quick Tip: Any session that has been created for the event will be listed) 3. If the Registrant had selected a session during the event registration process you ll see a Yes for the Registered? column. 14

4. To mark the individual registrant as checked-in or attended simply toggle the No under the Checked-in? column to Yes. (Quick Tip: The status will update automatically. You do NOT need to click the Submit button in order to save the change. This action will also automatically award credits if any certifications/credits have been configured to the session) 15

Events Event Sessions This concludes the 4 th Step in the Event Series notes documentation for Events Event Sessions. Be sure to continue to Step 5 of the Event Series which covers Managing Events. Events Notes Series: Step 1: Event Registration Forms Step 2: Event Registration Tickets Step 3: Creating an Event Step 4: Event Sessions (THIS DOCUMENT) Step 5: Managing Events Step 6: Managing Event Registrations 16