How to Add an Online Event

Before you create a form for online event registrations, you first set up an Online Event in the Event Manager in ExceedFurther. Setting up an Online Event is similar to adding any event through the Event Manager. However, there are some additional fields that are useful for your online form that you will add when you set up the Online Event in the Event Manager.

Before you add an Online Event, you may wish to create several other fields and codes:

User Defined Fields for the event definition itself. This may include such things as caterer, printer and other vendor names and contact information, committee chairman, and other details you want to remember for this event. These fields are designed using the Customize Page Layout tab in the Admin tab, selecting the Event_Add page.
User Defined Fields for the event attendees, such as food preference and tee shirt size. These are defined using the Customize Page Layout tab in the Admin tab, selecting the Event_Attendee page. These user defined fields are available for all of your events; you choose which ones you want to include for each specific event.

The Event Setup process consists of four steps. You do not always start at Step 1. It depends on how you opened the window and where you are in the process. For example, if you click on Create Online Event on the Event Manager tab, you will start with Step 1, Event. However, if you click on Add Participants from the RSVP List sub tab, you will start with Step 4, Add Participants.

You can open the Create Online Event screen from several places within the Event Manager:

From the main Event Manager tab, by clicking on the Create New Event button.
From the RSVP List sub tab, by clicking on Add Participants or Assign Groupings
From the Event Overview sub tab, by clicking on Create New Event or Edit.
From the Group Definitions sub tab, by clicking on Add Groupings.
From the Attendee List sub tab, by clicking on the Edit button.

Unless you are creating a new event, you must select an event from the list of events on the Event Manager tab before you click on Edit or any of the other buttons.

Once the Create Online Event window is open, if you want to jump directly to another step, you can move from step to step by clicking on the step names on the top. However, to ensure that your work is saved as you go, you should click on the Save and Next button at the bottom of each page to move to the next step.

Step 1 - Event

Use this step to add a new Online Event to the list of events in the Event Manager. Your administrator can make changes to the design of this screen and add user defined fields, so the fields listed may not match the fields you see on your screen.

To add an Online Event, do the following:

Enter an event code. This is a short name for the event that appears in lists and can be appended to gifts, activities, volunteer jobs, and other items associated with the event.
Enter an event name to describe this event.
Enter the date that the event is taking place.
Enter an end date for the event.
Enter the location where the event is taking place. The Location codes are defined in the Codes tab of the Admin tab and tie to volunteer locations.
Add the capacity, or the total number of people who can be accommodated at this event.
Enter the number of volunteers you expect to need for the event.
Enter your revenue goal for this event. You can add event expenses as you proceed with your planning. The net raised will be this revenue goal minus the expenses you enter.
Select the current status for this event.
Select the primary contact person for this event. This person should be someone in ExceedFurther. You can add someone if they are not already there.
Add any comments to this event definition.
Enter information into any user defined fields.
Select the user defined fields for event attendees. These are available online as people accept the invitation and are entered into the attendee list.
Select a category for this event. Categories are defined on the Codes tab of Administration. Categories can be used to group events when you create your online event registration forms.
Select a Gift Reason. This Reason code is added to all online ticket purchases. You can also define different Gift Reason codes for each ticketing option defined in Step 2, below. If you define Reason codes for ticketing options, those will be used instead of this one.
Enter a Contribution Name. This is added to all online purchases.
Add a Registration End Date. This is used online to automatically close registrations.
If you wish to enable your event registrants to post to Facebook about the event, click on the FB Share button and add a note in the FB Text field. This note will appear when someone shares the event on Facebook.
If this is a paid event, click on the Is Paid check box. This will allow the online registration form to collect payments.
If you wish to allow people to cancel their attendance, and receive a refund, click on the Allow Cancellations button.
1. Note that this option is not currently available on the online registration form.
Fill in the details of the event location. This information is available to be added to your online event registration form.
Click on Save and Next to go to Step 2.

Step 1a - Edit Event

Use this step to make any changes to an existing event. To edit an event, do the following:

Make any changes to the code, name, date, capacity, comments or any of the other fields available.
Click on Save and Next to continue to Step 2.

Step 2 - Ticketing Options

At this step you create ticketing options for the event. A ticketing option is defined with the following fields:

Ticketing Code and Name. The Name appears on your online registration form.
Price
Number of guests
Quantity available
Sort order as it should appear online.
Whether it is offered to the public online.
Whether it is available as a single reservation.
Reason and Fund codes to be used when it appears as a gift.

The ticketing options can appear online, and an attendee can select more than one option when they register for an event and pay for all of the selected options with a single payment.

To add ticketing options, do the following:

Click on the + in the top of the grid.
Fill in all of the fields for the option.
Click on Save to save the option.

Step 3 - Groups

At this step you can create groups, such as tables or golf foursomes. For each group, you can add a group name and capacity. In Step 4 you will assign attendees to these groups.

To add several groups (such as tables) at once, do the following:

Enter the number of groups you would like to add.
1. You can add or subtract from this number later if you need to.
Enter a general name for these groups, such as "Table" or "Foursome."
1. You can rename individual groups after they have been created.
Enter the number of seats per group.
1. For example, if you are having a dinner with a capacity of 240 people and you expect to seat them at tables of 8, you would add 30 groups (tables) each with 8 seats.
Add any notes that you want about these groups.
Click on Save.
1. The list of groups is automatically created, each with the name you entered in 2. above, followed by a number, as in "Table 013" for table 13.
If you wish to change anything about any of the groups, either the name or the capacity, click on the group you want to change and click on the pencil icon at the top of the grid.
Make your changes to the group name, capacity and notes.
Click on Save.
If you wish to remove a group, click on the group you want to remove and click on the Delete button.
You can continue to add groups, change group names and capacity, and delete groups.
When your groups have been set up as you want them, click on Save and Next to go to Step 4.

Step 4 - Add Participants

You add participants to build your event RSVP list that you use to send your invitation and then track responses. This screen displays two lists, a source list on the left and a participant list on the right. You use arrows to move names from one list to the other.

For online events, invitees can sign up and purchase tickets online. When someone signs up online for an event, you use the Online Transactions process to bring this information into Exceed Further. The process compares names and addresses and either marks the invitee in the RSVP list as having responded or adds a new invitee to the RSVP list. Note that you do not have to add participants to the RSVP list ahead of time. You can simply add names to the list through the Online Transaction Process as they sign up online.

You can build your list from several source lists:

The list of participants from another event.
Another list that you have created and saved under My Lists.
One of the Quick Lists of names which you can filter directly at this step using the filtering properties of the list or the drop down Filter above the list.

Before you can add participants to this list, they must have a bio record in ExceedFurther. This is the list that is used to send invitations.

To add participants to your list, do the following:

Select the source of names for your list from one of the following options:
1. To copy from another event, click on Event and select the name of the event. Then in the RSVP Status drop down, you can narrow down the names from the prior event based on their RSVP. For example, you can limit the names to only those who attended or everyone except those who did not respond. Click on Go.
2. To copy from another list that you have saved, click on My Lists, select the list from the drop down and click on Go.
3. To start from a Quick List, click on the list name (All Names, All Households and Orgs, All People). Use the filter to narrow down the list and then click on Go
The list of names you have selected appears on the left side of the screen. Select the names from that list that you would like to invite.
You can select all names by clicking on the check box at the top of the first column.
Click on the right arrow button to move the names into the list on the left.
Names that are already on the list are not added again.
You are given several options for adding names to the list:
1. Add all names - this adds all names as they appear in the list on the left.
2. Add one participant record per couple plus individual names - this adds each couple as a couple but does not also add the two people separately. Individuals who are not part of a couple are also added.
3. Add one name per household/org - if the list includes households or organizations, or several names from the same household or organization, this includes only the primary name as a participant.
If you wish to remove a name from the participant list on the right, select that name and click on the left arrow to remove it.
Repeat the above steps to add names from other lists.
You can use the drop down list of RSVP statuses in the top of the grid of participant names to view a subset of the names based on their status.
To invite participants from the list, select the names to invite and click on the Invite button that is in the top of the grid. This takes you to the New Mailing screen where you can select the invitation template and send emails or letters.
You can also invite people from the Participant List tab of the Event Manager.
If you wish to change the RSVP status of a group of names in the list, select the names and click on the Update Status button in the top of the grid. Select the new status for the names and click on Go.
When you have finished building your participant list, click on Save and Next to go to Step 5.

Step 5 - Assign Groupings

When a participant accepts the invitation, whether online or offline, they have the opportunity to enter the number of attendees associated with this participant. For example, if they have purchased a table, there might be 10 attendees. The participant may or may not know the names of the attendees at the time that they accept. If more than one (for an individual) or two (for a couple) attendees are associated with the participant, and the names are not provided, place holders are created for the additional attendees until you are ready to add their names and assign them to groups.

Once you have heard back from your participants and are ready to assign the expected attendees to groups, you can use Step 5 for this purpose. This screen displays two lists, a participant, or RSVP, list on the top left and a grouping list on the right. There is a vertical line between the two lists that you can use to slide to the right to increase the window size holding the participant list or to the left to increase the window size holding the groupings.

The RSVP list includes only those whose RSVP status is Accepted.

To assign attendees to groups, do the following:

Click on the name of a participant in the list on the top left.
1. The list of attendees associated with this participant is displayed below.
Make any changes to the names in the list by typing names directly into the list.
If a guest name is already in ExceedFurther and you would like to ensure that the person's attendance is included on their Bio Event tab and in their journal, you should look up their name and add them to the attendee list, by doing the following:
1. a. Select the row in the Attendee list where you want to put the guest's name. If this is a new guest and you want to increase the number of attendees rather than replace an attendee name, do not select a row.
2. b. Enter the person's first and last name in the search boxes. Press Enter after you have entered the names.
3. c. From the list of names that appears, select the name of the guest.
4. d. If the name is not on the list, use the +P icon at the top of the list to add a person or household to ExceedFurther.
5. e. When you have returned to the Assign Groupings screen and the correct name appears, click on Replace Attendee to replace the name in the row you selected in the Attendee List.
  1. Click on Add Attendee to add a new row to the attendee list with the name of the guest.
If you wish to change any of the user defined field preferences for an attendee, click on the pencil icon next to the name to view and change the preferences.
If you have new "Seat With" information or notes, add those to the names.
Once you have updated the guest names, you can assign them to groups by clicking on one or more check boxes in the attendee list, selecting the group from the Groupings list, and clicking on Assign.
1. The names appear in the Grouping list and the Grouping numbers appear in the Attendee list.
If you want to move names around within a group, you can use your mouse to move names up and down in the list.
1. You can also use your mouse to move a name from one group to another.
If you choose to assign more people to a group than there are seats, you are given two options:
1. Expand the grouping size to accommodate the number of guests you want to assign.
2. Assign as many guests as will fit into the remaining seats in the grouping but do not assign the remaining guests.
You can make changes to a grouping, to change the name or number of seats, by selecting the Grouping from the list and clicking on Edit Group.
If you need to add additional groupings, click on the Add Groups button.
If you need to remove a grouping, select the grouping and click on Delete.
You can view a grouping as a graphic of a table with chairs, and with guest names assigned to each chair. To use this view, click on the Graphical View button at the top of the screen, select the grouping to view and click on Go.
1. A graphical view gives you a visual of what a table will look like once everyone is seated.
Each set of guest names associated with a participant is assigned the participant's name as their host. For example, if Joe and Mary Smith bring 8 friends, Joe Smith is shown as the host for himself, Mary, and each of the 8 guests.
You can also mark someone in each grouping as the Group Leader. To select the leader for a group, select the group from the list on the right and click on Edit Group. Select the group leader and click on Save.