First, set up online registrations for both attendees and volunteers using a Detailed Signup. When you create the signup, you will be prompted to set the name and the first date/time of the event.
Add the selections based on pricing and how you plan to group kids during the event, such as teams or classes organized by age or grade group. You can also add a selection for volunteers.
When you're creating your selections, choose which fields of important personal information you want to collect about the attendees that will be using each selection. This information will update their People profile.
From the Settings tab in the Manage tab, add times for your entire schedule for the week of VBS. These times will show up on the event itself.
If you typically break people into teams at VBS, you can set up assignments with filters. If you're using the integration with Check-Ins to take attendance or print labels, these assignment areas will be made into the check-in locations in Check-Ins, which allows people to check in to the right "place" and even have that "place" printed on their nametag.
Tip
To assign people based on the filters set up for each assignment area, go to the Unassigned tab, and then click Auto Assign.
Finish setting up your event, and open it for people to register!
Once the signup is created, you want people to be able to register. From the Registrations event, click View on Church Center and copy the URL to share it with people.
Create a list of parents in your database and send them the event.
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Enter your rules based on the kids you want to invite to register for this event.
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Select household adults of matches, so your list results contain parents of the kids your rules search for. They're the ones you want to email, after all.
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If you know some of the kids don't have parents in their household or have become inactive, check these boxes to include those people as well.
Once you create the list, send them a Church Center announcement or a styled email with MailChimp to keep track of who has opened and seen the message.
Tip
Don't forget to email people who volunteered or attended last year!
Communicating with volunteers is key to making VBS a great week for kids. Schedule all your volunteers in Services, so they know the schedule of each day and where they're supposed to be.
Create a new Service Type for your VBS, setting the frequency to Daily, and add each day as a separate plan.
When you create the first plan, use these tips to easily schedule people to the plan once they've registered.
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Add the event time as Service Times as well, and add additional times for rehearsals or call times as needed.
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Make sure your Service Type frequency is daily.
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Add any order of service elements including any attachments , and then copy that plan as many times as you have days.
Once your plan is in place, create a Secure Team, and add positions to the team.
Once your team and positions are set up in Services, you can automatically add people to those positions as they register.
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Create lists in People for each of the assignment areas from your Registrations event.
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Use automations to add registered attendees to their position in Services.
When people register, they will be added to the correct list the following morning and the automation will add them to the appropriate team.
Use needed positions to define how many people you want to be in each position. When you're ready to schedule, load all your plans into the matrix and click auto-schedule to add people into positions on the plans.
Once people are in their positions, click email these people, customize your message, and send an email to all your volunteers. The email from the Matrix will show all the dates and times, so let them know they can use the buttons in the email to do the following:
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Confirm for all dates.
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Decline for a day they won't be there.
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View the schedule.
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Respond to the email with any questions they have for you.
It's time to greet all those people with smiling faces! From the Registrations event, choose how you want to take attendance.
From the event in Registrations, click Attendance, and then choose how you want to take attendance.
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If you don't need to print labels, you can have a record of who attended the specific event by taking attendance in Registrations.
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If you want to print name tags, choose the Checkistrations event that you want to create, based on the assignments you made previously. This event will be created in Check-Ins.
The rest of this section is based on checking people in with a Check-Ins event.
Notice
You can also create an event in Check-Ins separately from Registrations.
Pro: Events can have show at/hide at times, use the balanced check-in feature, and use the Services integration for Volunteers.
Con: Registrations information, such as balance due, assignments, and missing forms, will not be carried over.
If you create the Check-Ins event based on assignments, you can switch between assigned area lists on the Roster Station.
If you check someone in who hasn't registered for the event, they will show up as a Guest, but they will not be automatically registered for the event and will not show up on the list the next day.
Tip
If your church uses the Church Center app, people can pre-check their kids in and simply scan a QR code to finish and instantly print their labels when they arrive!
You can create a custom label to print when people check in. If you're using the integration, your labels can include the Registrations selection, add-ons, and the signup's logo!
At the end of VBS, check out kids using their security tag with a scanner at a Manned Station. On the Admin side, add a filter for not checked out to see who you might have missed.
When you're ready to start checking kids in again the next morning, open the stations locked to the VBS event and start checking in!
Once VBS is over, don't forget to follow up with people who attended! Try these options:
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Send a follow-up email to all the attendees.
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Create any reports you might need.
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Clean up your applications by archiving your event, service type, and setting people to inactive.
Since there are never any contracts for using Planning Center applications, you can downgrade the subscription of any of the applications you were using if you no longer need them. All the information will stay in the application in case you need it in the future as long as you're still subscribed!