Set up event types
Define the kinds of event your group runs, and the defaults each one applies
An event type is a template for a kind of event you run often, such as a community stall. Leaders pick a type when they create an event, and setting the types up once means your leaders don't have to get those choices right themselves.
Admins only
Event types live at Settings > Event types, alongside Settings > Configurations, and only admins can reach them.
What a type sets
Every event created from a type inherits three things:
- The tags the type applies.
- Whether leaders are asked for an address.
- The RSVP confirmation email.
Creating an event type
Open Event types
Go to Settings > Event types, where you'll see every type you've defined, with its status and which one is the default.
Start a new type
Click through to New event type.
Name it and choose physical or virtual
Under General settings, give the type a name and choose whether it's Physical or Virtual.
Set the tags
Set the tags the type applies, and every event of this type is given those tags, which makes them findable and reportable later.
Write the confirmation email
Under Default autoresponder, set the subject and body of the email a supporter gets when they RSVP to an event of this type.
Save
The type becomes available to leaders creating events straight away.
Addresses for virtual events
For virtual types you're asked "Would you like leaders to enter addresses for virtual events?".
- Say no for something genuinely online-only, and leaders aren't prompted for an address that doesn't exist.
- Say yes for a hybrid.
The confirmation email
Leaders can override the autoresponder per event, but most won't, so this is the message that actually goes out. Write it as the confirmation you'd want to receive.
Choosing the default
One event type is the default, and it's what a leader gets if they don't choose, so pick whichever type your group runs most often. Set it with Make default on the type you want, and you'll be asked to confirm, because it changes what every leader sees next time they create an event.
Retiring a type you no longer use
Use Mark as to switch a type between Active and Inactive.
- An inactive type stops being offered for new events.
- Events already using it keep working and stay reportable.
Why there's no delete
Removing a type would orphan the history of every event that used it, so retire the type and leave that history intact.
Fewer types than you think
It's tempting to create a type per campaign, but types are about how an event behaves — physical or virtual, what it tags, what the confirmation says. If two types would differ only in name, use one type and distinguish the events by their own tags.