Contents

• Watch an 86s video about working with Events
• Introduction
• Create a New Event
  • Basic Event Details
  • Event Image and Description (Optional)
  • Calendar Setup 
  • Attendance Setup 
    • Choose Who Can Attend
    • Select the Event Language
  • Check-In Setup
    • Enable Self Check In
    • Add a Mandatory Check In Form
    • Configure Child and Family Check-in
  • Event Publication Setup
  • Recurring Events Setup (Optional)
  • Location (Optional)
  • Managers (Optional)
  • Member View Options (Optional)
  • Save Your Event
• Edit an Event
  • Edit a One-Time Event
  • Edit a Recurring Event or Its Occurrences
• Delete an Event
  • Delete a One-Time Event
  • Delete a Recurring Event or Its Occurrences
• Registration and Payment Setup (Optional, Paid Feature)

Watch an 86s video about working with Events

Introduction

Organizing church events is easy, with ChMeetings’ dedicated Events module. Here is where you can create events, share them with people, manage volunteers, register and check in participants, retrieve related lists and reports, and more. In this guide we will be learning how to manage an event within this module. 

Create a New Event

To add a new event to ChMeetings, please follow the steps below:

• Go to the Events module. Here is where you will see a list of any existing events.

• Click on Add Event.

You are now ready to configure your event, within the dedicated Event window.  

You will notice that this window has two tabs:

• Details, where you can configure all the details related to your event, like title, dates, description, attendance setup, etc.

• Registration, where you can set up registration/ticketing for the event. Everything related to this, including the ability to enable registration, is found in this tab.

In this guide we will explore the Details tab, to learn how to manage the main details for the event. To learn about registration management, please see Configure Event Registration And Payments

Basic Event Details

Add the following basic details to your new event:

• A Title.

• A Start date and time.

• An end date and time.

• Whether this is an all day or multi-day event.

Event Image and Description (Optional)

If you want to add an image and a description to your event, please toggle the Image and Description switch to the ON position. Next: 

• Click on Add image, then browse your computer for the image you want to add. The resolution should be 620x200 pixels.

• Enter your event description text into the Description editor area.

To replace or remove the image of an event, click the Edit (✐) icon, found at the top right of the image. Here is where you can choose to Replace the Image (browse your computer for a new one), or Remove the image altogether.

The banner image can be accompanied by Alt Text, which improves accessibility for visually challenged users and members. You can add it by clicking the accessibility icon at the top right of the image, then entering the text in the field. Be sure to click OK to save your text when ready. 

Calendar Setup 

This is where you can choose which Calendar to add this event to. If you do not select one, the event will be added to the “Meetings” calendar by default. 

All calendars, except for the one dedicated to Meetings, allow you to optionally limit people’s registration to the events added to the respective calendar. If you enable this option, please enter for how many days you would like to prevent people from registering to other events within the selected calendar.  Once you add a number of days to this field within any event, then the setting will apply to all events for which you have enabled registration and that are added to the same calendar.

If you need to add a new calendar, please click the Settings (⚙) icon. In the window that comes up, enter your calendar’s Name, select a color to associate with it, or add your own HEX color code, then click Save. 

Attendance Setup 

Here is where you can configure who can attend your event: 

Choose Who Can Attend

Set Attendance to: “All”, “Groups”, “ Form Respondents” or “No One”. If you have enabled registration for this event, you can only choose between “All” people or “Groups”. 

• All means that everyone can attend the event.

• Form respondents will allow you to choose the form based on which you would like to create the event. When selecting this option, the event will only be available to people who have responded to the selected form.

• Groups will allow you to select which Groups can attend the event.

• No One is used when you just want to set up the event without making it available to anyone yet.

Set the Event’s Visibility

The default visibility for all events is Members, but you can adjust it. Here is what each options means:

• Users: The event is only visible to church staff with access to the ChMeetings Admin View (all roles except for Members). Learn more about roles.

• Members: Everyone with a ChMeetings Member Portal account can see the event, regardless of role (User or Member). Learn more about how church members can get access. Events with visibility set to “User” or “Member” are not shareable outside ChMeetings, but are visible within the Events module for Users (in the Admin View) or for Members (in the Member View), respectively. Admins must enable the My Attendance permission under Users & Roles > Members to allow attendants to view their event registrations. 

• Public: Anyone can see the event, including outside of ChMeetings, when you share the link.

Select the Event Language

If this event is for attendants speaking other languages than your usual one, then you can set an event language that is different from the default. Doing so switches your event registration process to the selected language. 

Check-In Setup

The Check-In Setup section contains several features you can use to configure event checkin. Let’s go through them below. 

Enable Self Check In

To see the Enable Self-Check-in options, your event attendance must not be set to “No One” and the visibility must be set to “Member” or “Public”. When this feature is active, people can check themselves in once the event starts. This means you don’t need to have someone check people in upon arrival. At the end of the event, the option will be automatically disabled. 

Additionally, you can enable Self Check-In using a QR Code. When this is active, you can generate and print a QR code, then display it at your event’s location. When attendants arrive, they can scan this code to check themselves in. 

When self check-in is enabled for an event, members will see a button next to it, within their list of upcoming events. This button will allow them to check in for the event, once it starts. If QR code check-in is enabled, it will be the default option on this button. Attendants will need to provide access to their camera, scan the code, then choose who to check in. They can use this feature to check-in themselves and their families. Here is what this feature looks like for members, on the mobile app:  

Add a Mandatory Check In Form

All forms you create via the Forms module will become available to select within the event editing window. This is very useful when you want to obtain information before checking people in for an event. If you choose to add a form here, it will be automatically displayed during Check In. 

If you add a check-in form, you can easily reach its responses using the Forms button on the event’s details page. This button only displays if the event has a form associated with it. Event managers can see responses without being able to edit the form.

Configure Child and Family Check-in

The Child and Family Check-in feature includes the following:

• Enable Check Out - This allows you to check people out of an event, after they have checked in. 

• Enable Check-In by Family - This feature displays a menu of family members when you select to check someone in for an event, so you can quickly tick everyone participating. 

• Enable Print Name Tags for Children and Parents - When this feature is active, a name tag will be printed for parents and children who check-in for an event. Check the preview below the options to see what the name tag will look like.
  Note: See Supported Printers to get to know which printer to use for name tags.

• Use Same Number for Family Members - When this feature is enabled, all children in the same family share the same parent security code and label.

• Include Child Name - This field lets you include the child’s name on the parents’ nametag.

• Include Custom Fields - This feature allows you to select two custom profile fields to display on the child's name tag. This is useful when you want to display specific information on the tag, such as Allergies, Nutritional Requirements, etc.

• Choose the Security Code Format - Select the format for the security code that shows up on printed name tags: 6 alphanumeric characters, 4-digit numeric, or 3-digit numeric. 

Event Publication Setup

Enable Publish On to choose the date and time when the event will be visible to members within their calendars or upcoming events widget. This way, the event will not be published immediately. Instead, you can set it up and choose when it should be made public. This option is available for both one-time and recurring events.

Recurring Events Setup (Optional)

If your event is recurring, you can turn on the Repeat toggle. This will allow you to configure the following: 

• How often the event repeats: daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, or yearly.

• The days on which the event takes place. You will have the option to select specific dates or weekdays, depending on the recurrence option you choose. For weekly and by-weekly events, you can choose specific weekdays. For monthly events, you can choose a specific weekday within the month, from first to fourth (e,g.: Second Sunday), or a certain day of the month.

• The end date of the repeat, which will represent the date at which the events stop taking place. Simply enter the date or use the calendar tool in the field to select it.
   

Location (Optional)

Here is where you can choose to display the physical location where your event takes place. You can type in the address in the Location Name field, Search Google Maps, or use the locator to automatically select your actual location. Note that this feature requires that you grant ChMeetings access to your location. Please click on Allow so that this feature can work:

• Allow while using the app will allow ChMeetings to access your location when you use a relevant feature without asking you for permission again.
• Allow this time will allow ChMeetings to only access your location temporarily, enough for you to locate yourself automatically to set the event location. If you will do this again in the future, you will be asked for permission.

Managers (Optional)

This section allows you to assign a manager to your event - whether you are creating or editing it. The person assigned as such will have access to event related features, such as event editing, registration, cancellations, check-in, volunteers, etc. However, they will not have access to the rest of your database. To assign someone as a manager, they need to have a ChMeetings account under any role (Member, Leader, etc.)

To find the person you need to add as a manager:

• Type their name in the search field or use the dropdown arrow to browse the list of available people. Click the name when found.  
• Next, click the Add button to add the person as a manager for the event.

To delete an already added manager, click the Delete ⊖ icon next to their name.

Member View Options (Optional)

If your event’s Visibility is set to Members, then you will see a section called Member View Options. These are applicable to one-time and recurring events - in which case the settings apply to all occurrences. Here is where you can enable the following options for members::

• Allow members to view volunteer schedule: Members will have an option to access the volunteer schedule for the event in question. Volunteer assignments must be made for this option to become available to members.
• Allow members to view service plan: Members can access the service plan associated with the event, if there is one created.

Save Your Event

When you have completed the sections above, please click on Save to make sure your event is saved.

Edit an Event

To edit an event, go to the Events module, where you will see a list of upcoming events. Find the event that you would like to edit, and click on it.

You will now see your main event screen, where all related details and options will be displayed. Here is where you will find the Edit feature, but its placement depends on whether the event is one-time or recurring. 

Edit a One-Time Event

If you are editing a one-time event, then you will see the event options at the top right of your screen, where you can press the […] button and then select Edit.

Edit a Recurring Event or Its Occurrences

If you are editing a recurring event and want to adjust the main event’s details, then you can use the Edit option found under the […] button at the top right. 

If you would like to edit a specific occurrence, please find it in the occurrences list on the left, then click the  [⠇] button next to it to find the Edit option for that occurrence. )You can change the start and end dates to adjust the period for which you’d like to view or edit occurrences.)

When using this option, you will only be able to edit specific details, which will only update the selected occurrence, not the entire event. Here is a list of fields you can edit: 

• Title.

• Date,

• Start Time,

• End Time,

• Image and Description,

• Available Ticket Count,

• Turn on/off unlimited tickets,

• Enable or disable cancellations within a desired amount of hours before the event,

• Self Check In,

Delete an Event

You can delete an entire event (whether one-time or recurring), or an occurrence (if the event is recurring).

Delete a One-Time Event

If you want to delete a one-time event, then please see the event options on the top right corner of your screen, where you can press the [...] button and then select Delete. 

Deleting an event will remove all data associated with it, including recorded attendance. Please confirm your choice by clicking again on Delete. Click Cancel if you change your mind.

Delete a Recurring Event or Its Occurrences

If you want to delete a recurring event, then you can find the Delete option by clicking the [...] button at the top right. This option allows you to delete the entire event, along with all data associated with it, including recorded attendance. 

Please confirm your choice by clicking again on Delete. Click Cancel if you change your mind.

If you would like to delete a specific occurrence, please find it in the occurrences list on the left, then click the [⠇] button next to it to find the Delete option for that occurrence. Note that this list only displays future occurrences of the event and those that have passed can no longer be deleted.

Deleting an event’s occurrence will remove the data and attendance associated with the selected occurrence. It will not remove the data associated with other occurrences of the same event. Please confirm your choice by clicking again on Delete. Click Cancel if you change your mind.

Registration and Payment Setup (Optional, Paid Feature)

If you want to enable registration for this event, please switch to the Registration tab and toggle Registration to the ON position. Registration is optional, and you can enable it when setting up the event or afterward, provided the event has no attendance. You can configure event registration and payments as per our guide on how to Configure Event Registration And Payments