How to configure an event

#NB Event Setup

First step is to create your event page in NationBuilder control panel. For an event to be visible in users Event Dashboard - it needs to be created underneath the events_calendar Calendar in NationBuilder:

• https://together.nationbuilder.com/admin/sites/12/pages/982/events

After creating your event - add all the necessary detailed information here:

• Headline (name of the event) and Event Intro (description)
• Time, Timezone, Length
• Venue name, Location and Address, Max Capacity
• etc.

Make sure the following settings are configured:

• Accept RSVPs = checked
• Allow guests + 1 = unchecked
• Show who RSVPed = Checked
  • NOTE: if this is unchecked - you won't be able to mark anyone has attended.

Additional recommendations:

• Max Capacity - might be best to leave at 0 ("unlimited") - as we could have issues if the event is at capacity and then you need to signup / RSVP someone new at the event - might prevent you from letting them RSVP.... meaning they can't be marked "Attended" and won't be able to submit ideas.
• Show sidebar, Show stream, Show social slider - I would recommend turning these all off - as this will show activity like "Eric Austin has RSVPed" at the bottom of the event page.

RSVPs config:

• After RSVPing, what page should they land on next? thanks_for_your_rsvp
• Tag RSVP with: *NAME OF THE EVENT* RSVP

Attendees config:

• Tag attendee with: *NAME OF THE EVENT* Attendee

Activation for Event Dashboard

There are just a couple more steps required to get your event working as intended under the Event Dashboard workflow.

Facilitator tag

To designate someone as facilitator for your event - you will need to tag the event facilitator:XXX where XXX is the facilitator's user ID. Note that this also means - facilitators must be signed up on the website.

So for example - if I want Eric Austin to be my facilitator:

1. In the NationBuilder control panel - click the "People" tab on the left
2. Search for "Eric Austin" and click into their signup record
3. Look at the address bar and copy the user ID from the end of the URL.
   • For my example: https://together.nationbuilder.com/admin/signups/175634 so the user ID is "175634"
4. Go back to the event and add the facilitator tag
   • For my example: Adding the tag facilitator:175634

Attendee Idea Form

To allow your attendees to submit ideas during/after your event - you will also need to create a designated Feedback page as subpage for each event page in your calendar.

After creating your Feedback page - in the Feedback settings tab:

• When finished, what page should they land on next? *PARENT_EVENT_PAGE_SLUG*
• Tag a person who leaves feedback on this page: (Optional suggestion - maybe *EVENT NAME* Idea Submitted ?)

In the control panel for the Feedback page, go "Settings", then "Social media":

• Prompt for posting = unchecked

Event Customizations

Hiding one or more policies from an event

You may want to remove one of the policy categories from the feedback section of an event. This functionality was added 12 August 2024 to accommodate the individual policy "open forums".

To hide a policy - add a tag "hide_policy:XXX" to the event's nested feedback subpage. You can add or multiple tags for a given event feedback form.

For example - the "Good Work open forum" - only wants to collect feedback on the "Good Work" policy - because of this we add 4 tags to the nested feedback page:

• hide_policy:rebuilding_aotearoa
• hide_policy:ending_inequality
• hide_policy:securing_our_future
• hide_policy:other

Not Requiring Attendance

By default - RSVPers must be marked "Attended" by a Facilitator to be able to leave feedback. This is done via the Facilitator dashboard "Attendee Check-in" section. If you want to allow RSVPers to leave feedback - without requiring attendance -you can do so by tagging the event:

• attendance_not_required

Extended Event Times

Events usually take place over a couple hours on a given date. However - we have been running some "open forum" via video call. If you want to allow users to be able to watch the recording and then leave feedback - it is suggested to replace the Event duration (NB control panel) and change it from hours long to days long. This will keep the event on the calendar as long as it is still set to published. By default NationBuilder moves events from "published" to "expired" at the end of the day after an events duration has ended. So if an event has ended already and you want to extend it - you may need to also update the status to "published" after you have extended the duration.