Creating A Free Event In Action Network
Things To Do Before Starting
Before creating your Event in Action Network there are a few things you'll need to do to make life easier.
- Confirm the location of the Event. If it's an online event make sure you have the meeting links ready to go before you publish your Event page on Action Network.
- Plan how you'll communicate any change of plans to attendees. Not everyone will be subscribed to email.
- Confirm the contact information of the host(s) so your attendees know who to contact with any queries.
- Think about any questions you may want to add to your Event registration form.
- Set up your Page Wrappers and Email Wrappers in advance if you don't already have them.
- Establish if you want the Event to be members-only or open to the wider public.
- If you haven't already, set up your defaults in Action Network to remove the need for manual editing each time you create an Event.
Creating Your Event In Action Network
1. From the Actions menu move your cursor over Events and click on the + icon.
2. Give your Event a title. There are two fields to complete here– the Administrative Title, which will be seen only by Action Network Administrators, and the Event Title, which is the public-facing name of your Event. The Administative Title is optional, but it's a good idea to use a consistent naming convention so you can easily identify Event types later.
3. There are two checkboxes beneath the Event Title. For almost all events you'll select the box to confirm your Event has an end time. For online events, you should also tick the box marked This Event Has No Physical Location.
In this example we'll be creating an Event with no physical location. If you're creating an in-person Event you can find out how to make your map accurate here: Making Sure Your Map Is Accurate When Creating Action Network Events.
4. Set the start date and time, and end date and time if applicable, using the calendar picker that appears when you click into the relevant fields.
5. Once you've set the Date & Time you'll be prompted to set the time zone for the Event. This only applies to Events with no physical location. If you're creating an in-person Event the time zone will be determined by the location.
You can find out more about setting time zones here: Setting The Time Zone For Action Network Events With No Physical Location.
6. Add the host's contact information. This is optional, but it's a good idea to always provide at least an email address which activists can reach the host at. For in-person events it may be more useful to include a phone number as well so that attendees can contact somebody on the day.
7. You can add a Banner Image to your Event if you want to., but this is optional. To do so, you just need to click on the grey bar labelled ADD BANNER IMAGE and follow the instructions.
8. Now, you simply need to add a description to your Event. This can be simply made up of text, or you can use the formating options at the top of the description box to add images, videos and formating.
9. On the right of the page you will see the Event registration form. By default, this will capture everything you need to register someone for your event. But you can select Edit Form at the bottom to capture any other information you need.
Why not add extra form fields to capture any accessibility requirements, or to capture questions people want to ask at the Event ahead of time?
10. There are two optional changes you can make at the bottom of the form. Selecting Allow Attendees To Bring Guests is more useful for in-person events, and will enable attendees to register additional guests which will count towards your overall number of attendees. You can also amend the Send RSVP button to include your own text. In this example we've updated it to read Register Now.
11. The final thing to complete on this page is the maximum number of attendees. This prevents events from becoming oversubscribed, and is useful for ensuring that your number of attendees doesn't exceed the limits of your Zoom account for example. Remember to factor in any guests who won't be registering via this page- for example, speakers or hosts.
12. Once you're happy with everything on the page click on the button marked SAVE AND GO TO NEXT STEP.
13. You'll now be presented with a preview of the Thank You page that your attendees will see once registered. There are three main sections you'll need to edit. The first two appear at the top of the Thank You page, and can be thought of as a headline and summary message. You can update these with any messages you like.
14. The third section to edit is the Instructions For Your Attendees text box. This text box allows you to add in links, videos and other formating options, but as a minimum should include instructions on how to attend. For example, you may want to include a link to a Google Map of the event location, phone numbers for hosts or the Zoom link for your event.
15. Once you're happy with everything on the page click on the button marked SAVE & PUBLISH.
Optional Steps
The Progress Bar
When creating your event you'll see a toggle switch marked PROGRESS BAR at the top of the registration form. This will give a visual indication of how many people have registered and will be visible to anyone visiting the Event page. It's up to you if you want to include this, and may be useful if your event has a limited number of places available.
Removing Sharing Options
On the Thank You page your attendees, by default, will be presented with sharing options. This allows them to easily share Events on social media, or via email. If your Event is intended for members only you can select Remove Sharing Options to prevent these from being displayed. There's also an option to Edit Sharing Options if you want to have more control over the default sharing messages attendees will see.
Next Steps
Your Event is now live, and can be shared, but there are a couple of extra steps you can take before promoting it.
Setting The Page Wrapper
Choose the Page Wrapper you want to use to ensure your Event page matches your local party's visual identity. If you don't do this your page will feature Action Network branding. To select the Page Wrapper pick it from the dropdown menu labelled Page Wrapper and then click on SAVE PAGE WRAPPER.
If you haven't set up any Page Wrappers yet just head to this guide to find out how: How To Set Up A Basic Page Wrapper.
Turn Off The Discussion Board
By default Action Network Events have the Discussion Board enabled. This may be useful for events attended by a small number of people, but will trigger emails to all attendees whenever somebody adds a post to the board, which can quickly become annoying. To turn off the Discussion Board first select Discussion from the tabs list.
Then click on the toggle switch to turn off the Discussion Board.
Customising Email Responses
It's always a good idea to customise the email responses attendees receive to make sure the text is relevant and that joining instructions are shared. To edit the emails your attendees receive click on the Responses tab.
From this tab there are two email notifications that you can update. The Auto-Response email, and the Event Reminder email. If you have defaults set up some of the fields may already be populated for you. There are four fields to update for each email:
- The Wrapper: This is the email wrapper that will be used to add your local party branding to the email.
- Subject: This is the subject line of the email attendees will receive.
- From: This is the name that will be displayed as the sender- you could use your local party name or the name of the event host.
- Reply-To: This is the email address recipients of the email will be able to reply to. It's important that you use a Green Party email address whenever possible to reduce the likelihood of the email being viewed as Spam.
If you haven't yet set up an email wrapper you can find out how here: How To Set Up A Basic Email Wrapper
Once you're happy with the four fields above you can amend the text of the email itself, to include any information you'd like to share. Zoom meeting details, a link to the agenda, or anything else that may be useful to attendees.
You can simply repeat these steps for both emails. Remember that anyone registering within 24 hours of the event start time won't receive the reminder email, so it's important to include all essential information in the first email. Once you're happy with the content of your email responses simply click on the button marked SAVE RESPONSES.
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