Reserve Spots for Large Events

If you're hosting a large event for multiple groups, like a camp or retreat shared among churches, you can let leaders reserve spots without having to provide information upfront about the people they're bringing. For these situations, follow the steps to use two Signups instead of one.

First, use a Simple Signup to take reservations without payment and get an early headcount from leaders. Then, follow up with a Detailed Signup to gather information and fees from the individual attendees.

Tip

If you need to gather group rate deposits or fees with reservations, use two Detailed Signups.

1. Collect Reservations with a Simple Signup

Create a simple signup geared toward leaders to reserve the number of spaces their group will need. If space will be limited, use capacities in your selections or set the number of total registrations you can allow overall.

The settings will reflect the open reservation time frame.

• Name the event something with "Early" or "Reservations."

• Add automatic open/close dates and times for the reservations, which should be well before the event.

• Reservations that are open to the public can be shown on Church Center. If you'd like the reservation to be invite only, select Do not include (direct link only) to keep the signup hidden, and send out the signup's link to people in an email.

Create selections to sort people by roles, age groups, times/dates/locations they're attending, activities, etc. Leaders will choose the number of people participating in each selection, so name them clearly and in a way that describes exactly what they are registering people for.

Add registration questions to gather the name of the church/organization or other general information about each group.

Provide Next Steps for Leaders

Create a custom confirmation email in your reservation signup that includes the next steps you want leaders to take.

If you've already created the detailed signup, include a link to it, so leaders can start registering the individuals in their group immediately or share it with their attendees to have them fill out.

Tip

If you haven't already created the detailed signup, you can send an email later!

2. Create a Detailed Signup

Create a detailed signup to gather individual attendee information and collect fees. This signup will gather information on the individual people attending.

The settings are based on who is registering for the event.

• Name the signup something different from your reservation signup.

• Since you want this signup to be invite only for people who registered, select Do not include (direct link only) to keep the signup hidden, and send out the signup's link to people in an email.

• If leaders are registering their attendees, set the option to allow Household members and others outside their household

  If attendees are filling out their own registrations, select the Self only or Household members only options.

Notice

When you allow people to register others outside their household, new profiles will be created for everyone they register. Check out our tips for cleaning up extra profiles after your event.

Set up your selections based on how you need to divide the attendees during the event, and then create assignments to organize people into groups or locations.