Managing Events Using CiviEvent

CiviEvent is CiviCRM's registration module. You can create any number of events, customize event and participant information as necessary, accept registration fees online, and communicate with your participants through CiviMail.

To optimize your use of CiviEvent, you should be familiar with Custom Data fields, Profiles, your Payment Processor, and Price Sets. For additional help on CiviEvents, see http://en.flossmanuals.net/CiviCRM/CiviEventsWhatis

Create Participant Roles

CiviEvent has 4 core participant roles: Attendee, Volunteer, Host, Speaker. You can customize your events by creating roles that are tailored to your needs.

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Administer → CiviEvent → Participant Roles.

    2. You now see the Participant Roles page.

  2. Click the New Participant Role button.
  3. Enter the name of the role in the Label field.
  4. If the role should be counted as a participant, check Counted?

    5. You may have roles that you want to track but not counted as participating such as your staff or clean–up crew.

  5. Enter a Description.
  6. Make sure Enabled? is checked.
  7. Click the Save button to save the new participant role.

This role is now available for use on your events.

Create Participant Statuses

Participant Statuses allow you to track the registration of your participants. E.g. has a participant paid, attended, canceled, or are they on a wait–list?

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Administer → CiviEvent → Participant Statuses.

    2. You now see the Participant Status page.

  2. Click the New Participant Status button.
  3. Enter the Name of the status type.
  4. Enter the display Label.
  5. Select a Class from the drop–down.

    6. There are 4 general classes to choose from: Positive – Yes, Negative – No, Pending, Waiting. These classes define how participants are group on the CiviEvent Dashboard.

  6. If a participant with this status should be counted as a participant, check Counted?
  7. Select a Visibility from the drop-down.

    8. Select Public if you want to allow users to select a participant status.

  8. Click the Save button to save the new participant status.

Create Event Types

CiviEvent has 6 core event types including

You are not limited to the core types. CiviEvent allows you to create as many custom event types as you need to match the inner workings of your organization.

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Administer → CiviEvent → Event Types.

    2. You now see the Event Type Options page.

  2. Click the New Event Type button.
  3. Enter the Label.
  4. Enter the Description.
  5. Make sure Enabled? is checked.
  6. Click the Save button to save the new event type.

This even type is now available for your use on your event pages.

Create a New Event

Creating events in CiviCRM is much like creating a contribution page or creating a mailing in that there are a number of sections involved. Unlike CiviContribute and CiviMail, CiviEvent utilizes a tabbed approach to completing the page rather than a standard step-by-step wizard.

Make sure you have completed the following tasks (if necessary for this event) before creating your event:

  • configured your >payment processor
  • created custom data sets/field (only if necessary for this event)
  • created profiles (only if necessary for this event)
  • created event types (only if necessary for this event)
  • created price sets (only if necessary for this event)
  • created participant roles (only if necessary for this event)
  • created participant statuses (only if necessary for this event)
  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Events → New Event.

    2. You now see the New Event page.

  2. Select an Event Type from the drop-down.
  3. Select a Participant Role from the drop-down.
    4. IMPORTANT!

    This is the role that users will automatically be assigned to when they register online. To register a unique participant for an event – such as a speaker – use Events → Register Event Participant.

  4. Select a Participant Listing from the drop-down, if applicable.

    5. Participant Listings allow you to display a list of participants on your website.

  5. Enter the Event Title.
  6. Enter an Event Summary.
  7. Enter the Complete Description for the event.
  8. Select the Start Date and Time and the End Date and Time.

    9. NOTE: CiviCRM uses a 24-hour time convention, so 8:00 AM = 8:00 and 8:00 PM = 20:00.

  9. Enter the Max Number of Participants, if applicable.
  10. To include a map on the event page check Include Map to Event Location?
    11. IMPORTANT!

    In order to use mapping in CiviCRM, you must sign up for either a Google API Key or a Yahoo Application Key and configure CiviCRM accordingly in Administer → Configure → Global Settings → Mappings and Geocoding.

    To sign up for a Google API Key, see http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html.
    To sign up for a Yahoo Application Key, see http://developer.yahoo.com/maps/simple/.

  11. To make this event available for iCalendar and RSS feeds, check Public Event?
  12. When you are ready to post the event to your website, make sure that Is this Event Active? is checked.
  13. Click the Save button to save the new event.

CiviEvent moves to:

Configure Event – Test Event

There are now a series of tabs above the data on your screen: Info and Settings, Event Location, Fees, Online Registration and Tell a Friend.

You will fill in the data on each tab, save the tab and click the next tab to enable and configure the next set of options.

On the Event Location tab:

  1. Choose a Location:
    1. If you have not used this location before, select Create new Location.
    2. If you have used this location before, Use existing Location and select the location from the Use Location drop-down.
  2. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.

    3. NOTE: You can add additional Email and Phone numbers for this event by clicking the add link next to each option.

  3. Click the Save button.
  4. Click the Fees tab to enable fees for this event (only if necessary for this event).

On the Fees tab:

  1. Select Yes to enable fees.

    2. Additional options now appear.

  2. To accept online payment, select a Payment Processor from the drop–down.
    3. IMPORTANT!

    In order to accept online payments you MUST have a payment processor such as PayPal or Authorize.net, and have setup your payment processor within CiviCRM. For instructions on setting up your payment processor, see Setting Up a Payment Processor.

  3. Select the Contribution Type from the drop-down.
  4. Enter the Fee Label, if other than the default.
  5. To accept payment at a later time, check Enable Pay Later option?

    6. The Pay Later options will now appear.

  6. Enter the Pay Later Label, if other than the default.
  7. Enter the Pay Later Instructions.
  8. If you have a pre–configured Price Set for this event, select it from the drop–down and skip to step 12.

    9. NOTE: If you select a Price Set the remainder of the options on this form will disappear.

  9. Enter the fees for this event in under Regular Fees.You can enter up to 10 fee levels.
  10. If you are offering discounts based on registration date check Discounts by Signup Date?
  11. Enter the name for the Discount Set. E.g. Early Bird Registration.
  12. Enter the Start Date and End Date for this discount set.
  13. Click Add Discount Set to Fee Table.

    14. A Discounted Fees section will now appear.

  14. Enter the discount price for each of your fees in the Amount field.

    15. On the Discounted Fees fee table, the Amount field column header will have the name of your Discount Set.

  15. Click the Save button.
  16. Click the Online Registration tab to enable an online registration page for this event (only if necessary for this event).

On the Online Registration tab:

  1. Check Allow Online Registration?

    2. Additional options now appear.

  2. Enter the Registration Link Text, if other than the default.
  3. Enter the Registration Start Date and Time and the Registration End Date and Time.
  4. To allow a user to register multiple participants, check Register multiple participants?
  5. To allow a user to register multiple participants using the same email address, check Allow multiple registrations from the same email address?
  6. Enter the time limit (in hours) for completing registration in the Pending participant expiration field.
  7. Complete the Registration Screen, Confirmation Screen, and Thank–you Screen sections following the instructions on the page.

    8. NOTE: If you are using PayPal make sure you enter copy on the Registration Screen that informs your users that they will be leaving your site, moving to PayPal, and returning back to your site after the transaction is completed.

    IMPORTANT!

    To collect additional data from your participants on the Registration Screen you will need to make use of Profiles and, often, Custom Data. If you are unfamiliar with creating a Profile or Custom Data Fields, see Working with Custom Data and Working with Profiles.

  8. Select Yes to send a confirmation email to the user.
  9. Complete the Confirmation Email section following the instructions on the page.
  10. Click the Save button.
  11. Click the Tell a Friend tab to enable Tell a Friend functionality for this event (only if necessary for this event).

On the Tell a Friend tab:

Tell a Friend functionality offer your participants a way to spread the word about your event to other possible participants.

  1. Check Tell a Friend Enabled?

    2. Additional options now appear.

  2. Enter the Title, if other than the default.
  3. Enter an Introduction, if other than the default.
  4. Enter a Suggested Message, if other than the default.
  5. Enter an Info Page Link for a link to additional information about your organization.

    6. NOTE: CiviEvent automatically includes a link to the Event Information page on your website.

  6. Enter the Thank-you Title, if other than the default.
  7. Enter an Thank-you Message, if other than the default.
  8. Click the Save button.

Add an Event to Your Website

Once you have completed all the sections of your event, you are ready to add it to your website.

To add the event to your website you may want to have two tabs or windows open to easily move between CiviCRM and Drupal. If you are unfamiliar with working in two tabs or windows, see Working with Two Windows or Tabs for Ease of Editing in the Drupal Getting Started User Guide.

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Events → Manage Events.
  2. Click the Configure link for the event you want to add.

    3. The Configure Event – Test Event page now appears. The event must be active to accept donations.

  3. Click Event Information and Settings.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
  5. If the event is inactive, click Is this Event Active?
  6. Highlight the URL for the event.

    7. It is below Is this Event Active? And looks something like: http://www.yourdomain.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=X - where X is a number.

  7. Copy the selected URL by pressing Ctrl+C on a PC or Cmd+C on a MAC (on the keyboard).
  8. If you have activated an inactive event, click the Save button.
  9. Open a new tab or window.
  10. Navigate to the location (page or menu) on your website that will hold the link.
  11. Paste the selected URL by pressing Ctrl+V on a PC or Cmd+V on a MAC (on the keyboard).
  12. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
  13. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Add a Participant List to Your Website

Once you have saved your event you can add a link to the Participant List on your Event Information page.

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Events → Manage Events.
  2. Click the Configure link for the event you want to add.

    3. The Configure Event – Test Event page now appears.

  3. Click Event Information and Settings.
  4. Click the CiviCRM help icon to open the help menu and access the participant listing URL.
  5. Highlight the URL for the participant listing.

    6. The URL looks something like: http://www.yourdomain.org/civicrm/event/participant?reset=1&id=X - where X is a number.

  6. Copy the selected URL.
  7. Place your cursor wherever you want the link to reside, in the Complete Description text editor.
  8. Type the text that you want as the link text such as “Click here to view participants.”
  9. Select the text.
  10. Using the WYSIWYG editor link button create a hyperlink.
  11. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
  12. Click the Save button to save your changes.