First, please review the article
Understanding the importance of the TennisConnect Calendar
And make sure you have
configured your calendar for your organization
Complete the "Add Event" (or "Clone Event") form. Note: It is always easier and faster to clone an existing event and simply change the pertinent data (date, host, location, recurring rules, etc) :
To Clone an event go to Calendar (Monthly view), click on the event you wish to clone and choose Clone Event.
"Cloning" copies all of the event definition data to a new form to save you the effort of re-typing it. A cloned event is assigned a new event ID so the original event (and any of its enrollments) remain unaffected.
NOTE: Two common mistakes that are easy to make.... make sure you change the date of your cloned event, and review the recurring rules. If the event date is wrong or the recurring rules repeat until "a date in the past" then no events will be created.
Check this:
And check this (notice that this would be a mistake. There are not 6 Fridays between 3/5/10 and 3/15/10):
Click save at the bottom of the form and you will have created your new events.
Adding an event from scratch
To create an event from scratch go to Calendar | Add Event and complete the Add Event Form. Required fields are marked with:
Tips:
Event Information
- Show on web site does exactly that. Some TennisConnect customers create events simply to get the URL for the enrollment link and then present that link on a web page for online enrollment. This works well for seasonal programs or events not tied to a specific date and time.
- Short Description is for internal use only. When you log in to TennisConnect you land on your administrative "Home Page". The "Today at ..." pulls the event description from the Short Description.
- Your Category defines your enrollment questions
- Checking
the the appropriate boxes under Event Information for GrowingTennis
integration will cause this event to be listed and search-able on the
Tennis Welcome Center, Cardio Tennis, QuickStart Tennis, and
PlayTennis.com web sites.
Contact Information
-
Event Host appears on the consumer site. This is also the email address that is used when consumer clicks on "Contact Host", and the email address used when a participant enrolls in the event. The Event Host email contains the enrollment details such as: person making the enrollment request, participant, contact details and usrr-defined survey questions (from the category).
- Comments appear on the consumer site with a highlighter applied to the background
- Internal comments do not appear on the consumer site
Event Classification
- The check-boxes under Event Classification control whether the event is search-able on partner web sites (PlayTennis.com and any of our partners using the Get Tennis Widget). You should check each box that applies to this particular event.
Scheduling Information
- Length in days is only for a single program / event running fro consecutive days. Example include a 5 day camp, or a 2 day tournament. In this case TennisConnect will list the event on each date is occurs - very helpful for customer using the "day" view.
- Event Duration is meant to rationalize the cost. Take a look at the event on your consumer calendar (example here) and note that the date, time, and cost are grouped together. If you are listing all 8 weeks of a program that costs $160.00 it looks like a pretty expensive program on any given date - so the "duration" filed was added to allow you to explain that the cost covers a multiple week period (if applicable)
- Time is used to sort the day view of the calendar in chronological order (earliest to latest)
Consumer view:
TennisConnect Administrative view:
Recurring Rules
- Notice the 3 "sections" to this rule. If the event repeats (1), repeat how often (2) and for how long (3)
- Recurring events MUST start on the day of the week of the 1st event date. Example: event date is 3/5/2010 which is a Friday, so as long as Friday is selected I can also select another day of the week (for programs meeting on Fridays and Wednesdays for instance). BUT I could not have an event that starts on 3/5/2010 recur only on Mondays and Wednesdays
Enrollment, Seating and Availability
- The options under Enrollment, Seating and Availability ONLY take effect IF your event is in an enrollable Category
- The "Show Enrolled" function will secure the enrollment roster with the same conditions allowed for online enrollment:
- If an event is only enrollable for registered members, "Show Enrolled" will only be available to registered (and logged in) web site members).
- If the event is open for enrollment to "anyone visiting the web site", then the "Show Enrolled function will be available to anyone visiting the web site
- The number of overbook seats is cumulative: a limit of 16 with an overbook of 20 will allow the 1st 20 participants to enroll as confirmed. If "Allow Stand-by" is turned ON then more participants can enroll but they will be advised during enrollment and via the confirmation email that they are in a standby status
Use Custom Payment URL
- The use Custom Payment URL allows player to enroll online and then "link" to a third party payment system (PayPal, Active.com etc) upon submission of the enrollment form.
- Customers using TennisCollect do not need to fill this in, as the TennisCollect option is automatic
Event Description
- You should include your most detailed level of who, what, why, where, when of the event description of your calendar. A solid 50% of the traffic to your calendar comes from search engines and search partners, so do not assume that your web site visitor already knows who you are, where you are, or the intended participant for this program.
Confirmation Email Content
When a participant enrolls online they receive a confirmation email immediately. The email contains a link to the event as well as the event title, contact person, date and time (if applicable).
What else would you want to put in that email? Thinking it may end up on the refrigerator or forwarded to a spouse or child, that email could be a valuable customer service and sales tool.
- Show Date and Time in Confirmation Email - the default is yes. You may have some events / programs however that are not "at" a specific date and time, but you still want to use online enrollment. You can use the event Duration, Special Notice or Event Description Content and Emial Confirmation to communicate clearly with specific instructions or "check back for draws".
- In the above example you would want to uncheck the "Show Date and Time" in confirmation email so that you do not mislead or confuse your customer.
- Use Email Template - Anytime you send an email, whether you send it or the system sends it, you may want to astyart from a template with your logo, banner, signature line, sponsor links, etc.
Related Articles:
Finer Points using the TennisConnect Calendar
Creating and using Group Email Templates
Editing future dated calendar events (single instance and recurring)
Article ID: 79, Created On: 1/2/2010, Modified: 3/29/2010